Ellee Seymour

David Milliband and I are now officially having a conversation. This time two days ago he had never heard of me and now I am urging him to be open about his views on all issues, not just ministerial matters, when he updates his blogs. I’m delighted that someone else has blogged him endorsing my views. I really have started a conversation here - and with a Minister too.

If anyone else has strong views about this, please send a comment to myself or the Minister himself. Simply click on his name in the opening paragraph and scroll the page down to 19th March where my entry will appear. I agree entirely with Geoff Jones that replies should be published too - otherwise it is a one-way conversation. His entry appears under mine.

Fellow newshounds might enjoy logging on to Nick Robinson’s blog, the bespectacled BBC political correspondent. I see he is also a favourite of David Milliband, who has so far failed to include my comment on his site - very bad form if he is promoting honesty and open debate - maybe later.

When I first saw Nick on the Beeb, all I could see was the heavy dark frame of his specs, but he has grown on me. He has a very jolly smile and comes over as a very pleasant person. He also has a very similar precise presentation style to his predecessor Andrew Marr, though some might consider it dumbing down. His entry into blogsphere urges people to read on “because this blogging business is soemthing special”.

Nick’s Newslog describes how he welcomes the opportunity to have a conversation with his viewers and the subject of sleaze has been a favourite topic over the last few days. He acknowledges that a good weblog can change the relationship between a politician and the public and I’m sure many more besides David Milliband will be blogging too in the near future.

Here is Alan Connor’s expert view on this. From Alan’s site, I discovered the Boris blog. Poor Boris fell off his bike last week on his way to the House of Commons. He has so far had an amazing number of comments about this, 54 so far. Although he has relinquished his editorship of The Spectator, his blog lives on….