Have your say - Labour Party policy - open to members

If you are a member of the Labour Party and want to have a say in shaping the next Manifesto click here.

Comments

[Dave Cole]

I hope that this is put up as an official service within Members Net post haste.

xD.

[Peter Kenyon]

Dear Dave

Me too. But that's only going to happen in the light of Dianne Hayter's letter if there is substantial pressure from the membership. Did you see the Save the Labour Party Press release? It includes a link to the letter.

http://www.savethelabourparty.org/080517_NEWS_RELEASE_03.pdf

[Colin W]

I must say, having had a look at it, that I'm not that impressed - I'm not surprised the Party hasn't shown any interest in making this an official feature. I don't think that would have added anything useful to the policymaking process. I suspect that the Party's lack of interest is more to do with it just not being a great idea than with "fear of debate", or however you want to criticise them

It's very fiddly and unwieldy, and not at all easy to see where people have added comments and where they haven't. If you want to make the documents more open, then they need to be much more user-friendly than this. I don't think there's really much scope here for constructive discussion, which I think is what you're aiming at. Maybe it would have been better with different software, but I doubt it - I think it's the concept that's the problem, rather than the precise format.

Also, who really cares what the average word-length of each sentence is?

I have views about several of the documents, and I hope to suggest some amendments to my CLP. But I won't be raising them on your "Have your say" page.

[Peter Kenyon]

Dear Colin

Many thanks for your comments. No Party officer or official has requested a demonstration or discussed possible enhancements. STLP believes this prototype is the start of a more collaborative policy making process.

It's actually quite easy to see where Comments have been added. Just use Find on this Page (Ctrl + F )in the drop-down menu under Edit on the Menu Bar and key in the word 'Comments'. Then click Next until you reach the end.

For a full list you can go to the bottom of the document and click the Comments only link.

What we know for certain is that the Party is not offering any service which enables members to see what others have said in respect of any part of the PiP documents. Instead there is a risk that members suggestions will continue to disappear into the 'Black hole' that has been Partnership in Power.

This maybe clunky, but then so were the first telephones. telegraphs, telexes, computers and so on.