Gideon Rachman takes a look at politicians who blog and he’s not that impressed:

Political advisers around the world are clearly giving the same advice to their bosses. Blogging is meant to let politicians communicate directly with voters in a folksy style. In practice it makes aspiring statesmen sound like Mr Pooter, the character from Victorian fiction whose Diary of a Nobody was famous for its banality.

I think he’s got a point.  It’s okay for me to tell you about my dinner last night, or what book I’ve been reading and to do the pooterish stuff of a million blogs, but do you want that from leading politicians?

Of course it needn’t be that way.  I thought the Pensions Reform blog from James Purnell and the DWP was an excellent example of how to take a look at a subject; open, informative, just the right side of chatty and interested in what people had to say.

But if politicians blogs become the internet equivalent of the answer to the “what’s on your i-pod?” that seems to be doing the rounds at the moment I wouldn’t be surprised if Mr Rachman’s friend who said “blogging is over” isn’t right.

Further reading:

Pickled Politics – Gordon Brown needs to embrace blogs