Alastair Campbell goes AOL

In Piers Morgan's 'The Insider' he describes Labour's 1997 campaign HQ as a "ruthless machine with the latest technology to support it." However, Tony Blair's former media henchman Alastair Campbell doesn't remember it quite like that and on Radio 4's Start the Week he admitted to his technophobe tendencies during a discussion about politics and the internet.

Now out of government (or so he would like us to believe) he has written about what he calls technopolitics for AOL and reveals: "I have had to learn to do things for myself a lot more. Allelujah, I can do e-mail." Well done, Ally! He's not so evangelical, however, about the power of the web and says it is unlikely to quickly replace TV as a medium to broadcast communications to mass audiences. Campbell believes its future role in politics lies in different directions - building campaign networks, fundraising, local information and stirring debate.

The US has shown the way. For a quick lowdown read Steve McGookin's, take on it. He's currently writing a doctoral thesis at the University of London on the intersection of politics, the media and the internet.

Sad geek warning: did you know Estonia (or E-stonia as my Baltic brethren like to brand it) was among the first to experiment with net voting. Well, I thought it was interesting anyway.