I attended a Social Media Summit #LewisSMS

MarkReckons has done a review of the event which I also attended see here. This was originally going to be attended by Iain Dale but he had to pull out due to the event being moved to a later time. Iain Dale was replaced by Paul Waugh from the Evening Standard who blogged on the event here. Steve Webb Liberal Democrat MP was also originally due to attend and he also had to pull out which meant that there was no Lib Dem representation at this event.

I don't often attend these events as my blog does not only cover national issues but also local issues however I was interested in seeing for myself what an event like this is like. I had already made my own mind up as to the importance or not of political blogging. I still believe that you need a readership which includes the reporting and political classes to have any influence on any stories one might have as well as a good local base who can spread the word.

The best part of this event for me was being able to meet fellow bloggers and professional commentators such as Paul Waugh. I was also able to speak to Labour MP Tom Watson whose Gamers Voice facebook website I had already joined and a subject I blogged about here . It was quite bizarre to have people waiting for me to finish my conversation with an MP on the console games.

As most people at this event are on twitter I was also able to add some new twitter friends. Many of whom I meet in person first before following them on Twitter.

So despite my initial scepticism on going to this event I feel it was well worth it. I look forward to discussing after the general election what effect blogging, Tweeting and social media like Facebook and Myspace had(if any) on the outcome of the next general election.

Why is Paul Bettison not on the Bracknell Tory primary shortlist?

There is an interesting story that the deputy political editor of the Evening Standard Paul Waugh has on his blog today.

He has reported that Conservative Home are saying that Paul Bettison, leader of Bracknell Forest Borough Council has been excluded from the shortlist for the upcoming open primary.

There are suspicions that the reason why this may have happened could be partly due to criticism Bettison made of Conservative Party Chairman Eric Pickles' use of language around so called "bin taxes":

I wish Eric Pickles would stop calling them bin taxes. It is very galling. They are bin charges. They are not taxes at all. You pay for the service you get. The current system of invisible waste charges is much more like a tax. I know what it is like to be in opposition, but many of us Conservatives are in power in local authorities, trying to run waste services, and he is not helping us.

(BBC News 26 November 2008)

Paul also reports criticisms Mr Bettison apparently made of Shadow Chancellor and key David Cameron ally George Osborne's plans to cut council tax.

I don't know the ins and outs of this but what I would say is that open primaries are supposed to be just that, open. If a successful and leading local Conservative politician has been excluded from the shortlist, whatever the reason then this does not say much for the democratic process that these primaries are supposed to embody.

I would be interested to hear what other local residents think about this.