On-line tools

The "census tick-box issue" is one of many which these days attracts on-line campaigns; so many that I can't keep up with them all. Until yesterday I had never heard of the Pledge Bank, a way of recording on-line your sentiment in favour of this or against that.

Needless to say there was a Pledge Bank campaign about the desirability of a Cornish tick-box on the census form. It had set a deadline of 1st January to collect 1,000 names. Among the 639 names which the Pledge Bank did record, I notice "inbred product," "Complete Sad Arse" and "Oh my GOD...get over it!!! YOU'RE NOT A COUNTRY!!!" This latter entry appears twice.

I'm sure many of the 639 names are real people - I assume Julian German, Graeme Hicks and Scott Mann are the same people who also serve as Cornwall councillors. Interestingly, Mebyon Kernow leader Dick Cole doesn't appear to have signed up.

You do have to wonder about the effectiveness of on-line tools such as the Pledge Bank. I can't see it making much progress in Libya at the moment.