The possibility that Gordon Brown could be leaving the Labour leader’s job has spurred our efforts to get a new masthead which is in a very different style to the old ones.

In the four and a half years since we were established we’ve stuck with incorporating pictures of politicians in one form or another on the masthead. This was good at first but it required constant updating when new figures came in and old figures went out. It also meant that the masthead itself was “memory heavy” and we’ve been looking at ways of reducing demand on the server when, like during Gordon Brown’s speech on Tuesday we are over-whelmed with traffic.

Another thing I wanted was to bring the two functions of the site closer together. This is by far and away the busiest and most read political discussion blog in the UK – it is also a resource for those who like gambling on politics. We needed to reflect the latter which we were not doing.

Thanks to the creative team at Onlineability, who came up with the design and the clever use of the “Winning Here” tag.

The colour scheme is also different and the text and the links should be easier to read however you are looking at the site. The new design should make it easier if you follow PB threads on your internet enabled mobile phone.

The new look is only one of a number of enhancements that my son Robert is bringing in. We’ve upgraded to the latest version of WordPress and are expanding our server capabilities. The night of November 4th-5th is going to be massive and we need to be able to cope.

There will be some tweaks to the design but I hope people like it.

Thanks to Andy Darley at Onlineability for all his involvement and to my son Robert for all he has done to make PB the site that it is.

NOTE If you cannot see the new masthead click CONTROL F5

Mike Smithson