Mayor Mare

Blimey, I am getting very wobbly about tomorrow's Mayoral election. The result feels like a mystery, wrapped up in an enigma, locked in a riddle at the bottom of Rupert Lewis's wallet. Deep, dark and very, very hard to penetrate.

Ken's polling is OK given the drubbing the Labour Party has had over the last few months. Our poll of polls (conducted at work) put Boris on about 43% and Ken on 40%. With a margin of error of about 3% this would make the result anyone's. On the other hand Ken is notorious at polling under the pundits' predictions. Last time out he came in at about 36%, although the turnout there was a factor.

The whole thing will stand and fall on two things: the weather (which impacts the "can't be bothered" faction - more likely to be Labour than the crazy-eyed Tory zealots desperate to ruin the city, eh Rupes? EH?) and the second preferences. If enough Lib Dems and Greens pick Ken he could just make it back.

What's awful is the "Boris is a right larf" mentality knocking around town at the moment. Charlie Brooker gets it spot on. Anyone that watched Question Time last week and thought that Boris had a grip of the issues and didn't have Lynton Crosby's hand up his back, wants locking up (IMHO).

Come on now. Be sensible. Vote Ken!

Floating away...

It comes to something when you think you're sitting across from the guy who plays Barry Shitpeas from Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe on the last train to Chingford.

Oh let there be a taxi at walthamstow. I plead with you my taxi god.

Last night I lay, almost submerged in a pool of salt water. In a floatation tank. I enjoyed it - hovering in the dark between asleep and awake, piling through the work stuff in my head to deeper and more profound notions.

I felt totally spaced at the other end of the hour, like blissed, like monged. But good. Would highly recommend it. Shitpeas is looking serious - reading a script. He needs to float.

We Think

I thought Clay Shirky was good. And he is.

But I love Charles Leadbetter's book and this nifty little summary of how and why things are going to change...

Conservatives and computers

Intriguing views from David Cameron have been spilling out of Central Office recently. He's been talking about scrapping the major IT infrastructure projects in the public sector, largely because they take too long, and are too expensive.

Instead he talks about opening up these projects using Linux, or other open source software, as a way to bring about "information liberation". He says that large centralised systems for the management of information don't work - closed IT systems lead to higher risks and costs - so he wants to follow private sector best practice and open up the source code to all.

This is, though it pains me to say it, innovative. What Cameron fails to explain is how this would work in a structure like the NHS where much of the programming activity would have to conform to rigorous standards around confidentiality. But it is bold, and it shows a grip on the different approaches to programming that are out there. As I've mentioned before Labour is making valiant efforts to catch up on this agenda, but Cameron has been fleet of foot and that is worrying.

OooEEEooooooo

Only a few people will know what I'm on about so that's fine.

And my answers are:

• Donna - oh dear not sure about CT yet...
• Rose - we all went completely nuts
• Line of the night "I can't believe I'm waving at fat"
• Fear factor - Kids liked the adipose babies and all the running about. William a particular fan of the sonic pen
• Overall - poor. I like them behind the sofa, if not round next door's where there is no telly.

Government 2.0?

Here's a thing. Tom Watson, Labour MP for West Bromwich East and first blogging Parliamentarian, has used his ministerial position at the Cabinet Office to try to bring Government departments and agencies to the internet in a meaningful and intelligent way. Add to that Downing Street's entree into the world of Twitter - which makes Gordon the first European head of state to be part of the twitterverse.

Is there something stirring in the woods, as my old Chairman would say...

Here's the latest Cabinet Office release. OK, when it talks about using 'mash up' data it sounds a bit like your grandad talking about the latest popular beat combo to enter the hit parade, but it is a step in the right direction. The key quote for me is this:

"I want to move quickly. With advice from the Task Force, we will get on with improving services for our citizens to match the pace of change.”

This is actually unambiguous ministerial speak - Tom is a man of his word, and has a genuine passion about the use of online tools.

But I do think this is also a tacit acknowledgement that HMG is out of the online game at the moment. The problem is they are playing catchup, which is a long way away from the innovation that they need to be showing. But it's all good - really good.