What I wrote at Lib Dem Voice

July 25, 2006

And the winner was...

Just back from London, having been at the New Statesman New Media Awards, hosted by the Staggers' genial proprietor, Geoffrey Robinson, at Hyde Park's Serpentine Gallery: swanky on the inside, municipal on the outside.

(I thought about trying to live-blog it, but was worried I'd spill canapes everywhere. Oh, and that it'd look tragically sad.)

Guest of honour was David Miliband, one of my fellow nominees in the 'Elected Representative' category. Something is seriously amiss when cabinet ministers look even younger than policemen. He delivered a disappointingly thin speech - apparently the Internet is changing how we communicate, creating a two-way conversation, and this represents an exciting opportunity for citizens and politicians alike. Well, yes, David: I think we'd all kinda figured that out. Still, he did say "batshit", and diss Guido Fawkes, all of which made me laugh.

In case you were wondering, btw, I lost. Or, to give it the glass half-full spin, I was a runner-up. But, then, nobody joins the Lib Dems expecting to win prizes.

Congratulations to Derek Wyatt, Labour MP for Sittingbourne & Sheppey, whose excellent constituency site won the day. I don't feel I can begrudge him the victory, especially as his majority is about one-tenth of my own... I would, however, have been mortified if Mr Miliband's blog had won - I'm delighted a cabinet minister is trail-blazing in this way, but, please, fewer news releases, more interesting thinking.

Somehow I missed bumping into my fellow Lib Dem nominee, Jo Swinson. Apologies, Jo (maybe next year?).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, yours was the best Councillor site, so congratulations!

Matt Sellwood said...

I bet Antonia (Bance) won't be pleased to know that while she was missing the ceremony sitting in the Town Hall listening to me drone on about climate change, you were having canapes....:)

Matt