Scottish Lib Dem leader Tavish Scott has an interview in today's Sunday Herald.
On the whole it's fairly unremarkable stuff and I wouldn't normally have bothered blogging about it. However, one phrase he used is worthy of comment, when he said that we needed to be "part of the YouTube generation".
I agree with the sentiment, but we really need to match words with action. I blogged during the leadership election about the poor way in which all three candidates were using the internet. And I don't think much has changed since then.
Tavish's own website is still as dull as it was during the leadership election, and apparently he hasn't done anything newsworthy since November 28. And nor are there any YouTube videos to be seen.
But at least he does have a website listed on the Scottish Lib Dem site, unlike four Lib Dem MSPs: Mike Rumbles, Hugh O'Donnell, Jim Hume and, surprisingly, former party leader Nicol Stephen. That's 25% of the parliamentary party without a website listed on the main party site. Things are slightly better among our Westminster contingent, although Alan Reid and Bob Smith don't have websites listed, while Charles Kennedy's doesn't seem to have been updated since 2004.
Things aren't all bleak on the internet front for us. The Scottish Lib Dem website has had a redesign recently and I think now looks pretty good. And as Stephen Glenn noted earlier this week, Tavish does now have a presence on Facebook.
But I think we as a party have a long way to go before we really can claim to be part of the YouTube generation. And Tavish, how about showing an example by becoming the first Scottish political leader to have your own blog?
Posts
A History of the World in Admin
6 years ago
2 comments:
Alan Reid certainly did have a website which he used to share with George Lyon. Mike Rumbles certainly had one during the last leadership contest and I was looking at Jim's website today.
The new Scottish website is better than the previous abomination, but still fails to live up to the excellent content site when Anne Horner was the volunteer webmaster - that whole episode was another case of the Scottish party machine gunning itself in both feet!
Three comments on the new website:
1. Why don't our Scottish Peers merit a mention.
2. Why are contact details for all Scottish Local Parties available on the Federal Website but not on the Scottish?
3. You would think that the Office Bearers and members of principal party committees might also merit a mention.
I'll keep a further thought under my bunnet lest I'm seen as disloyal.
I hear a rumour that there is going to be an very welcome and long overdue improvement to the blogging position shortly.
Post a Comment