Blue bash reflections

So I made it home, abandoning the younger a fitter members of the Tory blogging fraternity to their home brew entertainment.

It was good to meet up again with some of the guys from Steve Green's Pint of Badger fuelled afternoon last year. Also to get to know a few more bloggers. ( Just what is so Terrible about Terrible Tory Girl anyway ? )

Blogging's not where it was, and in many ways has gone over the initial wave of interest of a few years ago, as the media and innovators chase twitter, facebook and the semi-detached Conservative home type sites.

I suspect blogging will become the hinterland of political parties electronic presence. Few people can write about politics without becoming more involved and developing their ideas. At the same time networks are developing outside of the control of any party or body ( as Eric Pickels wisely conceeded in his brief talk ). This will continue to give blogging a form of deep long term influence. English Nationalism is perhaps the best example of this. An issue rejected by all the main parties, but a key issue for many of their bloggers.

As the general election warms up bloggers will be engaging with the issues and each other via any means possible. But the key is likely to be the wider interaction on social media - Mum's net type sites etc and the wider population starts tacking an interest for just three weeks. ( Remember how Labour tries to control the local press by getting its party members to try and write "floating voter" letters. The scope for this sort of influence has now vastly increased and we can expect the propaganda war to be relentless. )

The key moment for the blogs themselves will be after the election as the battle for ideas and the soul of the parties ( combined with perhaps two leadership elections ) gets going.