Sebastian Payne

I was helping my friend Robert Oliver, a local counsellor and Conservative Party member yesterday with his campaign in the upcoming local elections. In an email, he mentioned that a special guest was coming to the area to help with the campaigning. This turned out to be William Hague - one of the top members of the party and previous party leader! I was delighted and brought my Nikon and dictaphone along with me. Unfortunately, I forgot to charge my camera fully and after a lot of shooting the previous day, I ran out of battery but I did manage to grab this shot with my iPhone.

The photographer from the Sunderland Echo (complete with Nikon D2x) has a photo of me with him, that I will try and gain a copy of. It was a fantastic opportunity and I have new respect for William. He did some door-to-door knocking brilliantly and answer a few questions of mine honestly. Good to see that high-ranking politicians can still find the time for the simple things and helping local counsellors. I will edit and gather the audio later today and upload it to the tubes.

After reading the front page of The Daily Telegraph today, which boldly proclaims

Barack Obama has told voters that he will become US President if he wins the Democratic Party's New Hampshire primary on Tuesday

Quite a interesting statement, considering most of the odds have been on Clinton until the Iowa primary this past Thursday. Sure, until now there has been no real proof (apart from opinion polls) on who is going win the nominations but it is important to remember that it is just one primary/caucus with more to come in the future. The previous Clinton did not win Iowa in 1992 and came second in New Hampshire, which started up his momentum and began the trail that led him to the Oval Office. Seems too early to be making statements such as these, does it not? The New Hampshire primary on 8th January is going to be very interested and we will see how well Obama does. Now, onto something tech related and slightly less political.

I was browsing through BarackObama.com, the official website of his presidential campaign and was thoroughly impressed. It's everything you would expect in 2008 for a site - clean, bright and plenty of ways to get interactive. He's on Facebook, MySpace, Flickr and YouTube to name a few. Beside his policies, a candidate who himself (or his campaign) see to have a grasp on technology is certainly one I would vote for. Let's say Gordon Brown announced an election tomorrow and prospective voters like myself went to either the Conservative or Labour party sites. Hmm, not very impressive. The Conservative's site are the better of two in my opinion - their design matches in with their traditional colour scheme with a modern flair and has plenty of information to offer. You couldn't call the Labour site bad but it doesn't strike as being modern and in touch with people. Is this the nature of the whole country or just those in power?

However when you get down to a personal level, it gets far worse. The official site of David Cameron, someone who is roughly equivalent to Obama. Both of them represent people (as an MP and Senator respectively) but neither are head of their countries yet, and may never be. His site design is obviously old and has gone without a refresh in several years. It even has a Java news box - how 1999! Comparing the two to me shows the different dynamics of Politics in the UK and US at the moment. The US is full of energy with some of the most interesting candidates in many years and the UK has a Prime Minister we did not vote for and so far, has little dynamic. Most people want an election but nothing seems to be happen. The photo of Obama's supporters (top of entry) really makes me wish I was in the states, working on a campaign. Something exciting in Politics that one can get involved with.

(Image Source - Barack Obama on Flickr)