Will even loyalists waste time over such banalities?

The above is reproduced from today’s pages on LabourList and reports on a new feature – a weekly bottle of champagne to the person writing the comment of the week.

The prize is not a bad idea of itself and it should get a bit of interest – but just read this week’s winner. That’s hardly thought provoking stuff and if this is the best they’ve got then what does it say about the quality of the rest of their contributions?

The critical factor is whether the site’s overall approach will generate traffic and build up the “web community” that party spinners have been going on about? My view is that it has a long way to go with Draper & Co yet to work out what the ingredients are.

One suggestion (and I am trying to be positive): The most dominant feature of British politics in the three weeks since Draper’s operation got off the ground has been Labour’s sharp reversals in the opinion polls. These, as John Cruddas was saying, have hit the party really hard and have been largely responsible for the atmosphere of gloom that seems to be emanating from Brown Central.

So why isn’t LabourList covering the polls in a serious and objective manner? Yes the news is dampening spirits but the more there’s understanding of the mechanisms involved then the easier, I would suggest, it is for loyalists to take.

So to take one example a major factor in Labour January decline has been a big reduction in the “certainty to vote” responses from Labour voters. To explain this would go some way to helping and be a good function for the site.

Polling also provides a good platform to remind visitors, with the detail, of the massive challenge that the electoral system creates for the Tories. The fact that a vote lead of 8/9% might be needed to ensure an overall majority would help put poll ratings in their proper context.

On PB we try to look at developments and seek to assess their impact on political outcomes. On the basis of what we’ve seen so far I don’t think that Labour’s web strategy will do very much.