Sharpe's Opinion
Wednesday, 21st Jan, 2009
Blimey. It looks like the Internets won
Tom Steinberg on the retraction of tomorrow’s vote on parliamentary transparency:
This is a huge victory not just for transparency, it’s a bellweather for a change in the way politics works. There’s no such thing as a good day to bury bad news any more, the Internet has seen to that.
Over 7000 people joined a Facebook group, they sent thousands of emails to over 90% of all MPs. Hundreds of thousands of people found out about the story by visiting TheyWorkForYou to find something they wanted to know, reading an email alert, or simply discovered what was going on whilst checking their Facebook or Twitter pages. Almost all of this happened, from nowhere, within 48 hours, putting enough pressure on Parliament to force change.
Make no mistake. This is new, and it reflects the fact that the Internet generation expects information to be made available, and they expect to be able to make up their own minds, not be spoon fed the views of others. This campaign was always about more than receipts, it was about changing the direction of travel, away from secrecy and towards openness.
A round of applause for MySociety and Tom Steinberg. I’ve been saying for ages that the internet is the future of politics. I don’t know why people are so cynical about it.
Comments
Great stuff and pats on backs to all those who took part on this issue.
Some concern about future issues being treated as ‘spam’. Suppose we would have to use pen and paper again.
Remember the Webcameron days?
Now that it’s workled once, everyone will want their turn in the spotlight and it will become a complete mess, with MPs ceasing to read their emails for the weight of campaign correspondence.
But that’s not the point. The point is that bloggers are not being ignored any more. And when the big name bloggers all rally behind an issue, Westminster is going to be forced to listen.
Yes yes and more yes!
I was going to write a virtually identical post, so thanks for saving me the effort. This is not even the beginning of this kind of change. We need to get that bright light shining into the nooks and crannies.
Blue Eyes
January 21, 2009 at 4:53 pm