There has been some conversation about where Labour Home should go next. These are my reflections.

I have been chatting with fellow geeks about whether to ban Tories from Labourhome, particularly after the swamping from trolls that we have seen in recent days.

There is a halfway house. I could, pretty simply create a new status of writer who can only comment and not write articles.

What do readers think?

Has Labourhome become a principal mouthpiece of Labour politicians who seem to be cut off from reality?   

As ever, I agree with Polly Toynbee that the eclectic mixture of policies discussed at the NPF, like labelling fur products, don't inspire. They don't tell people who we are, and what we stand for.

We as a government, have talked right more than we've acted right. We've needlessly isolated Labour supporters who can be proud of many achievements, and rightly angry about right-wing symphonys on many policies.

I'm seeing minus comments (-2 new comments) appearing on some threads?

Is this a bug or are we having some censoring?

Never noticed it before...

     New Statesman co-owner buys LabourHome blog   

Led by The News of the World, the mainstream media has misrepresented Labourhome's June poll.

We introduced a survey last month that successfully captured the mood of Labour's grassroots. Senior Labour figures have mentioned to us that they found the results intriguing and useful - and so we've now launched another one for June.

Here's the link for this month's grassroots survey - please do pass the link on to all the Labour supporters you know! We'll close the survey on June 15th, and announce the results on the 16th.

Labour Grassroots Survey: June 2008

A Labourhome.org survey of 330 party activists has illustrated the extent of the challenge Gordon Brown faces in order to rebuild confidence in his leadership.

This is the first Labour Grassroots Survey and we will be tracking perception of Labour's Cabinet Ministers. The key figure each month will be the change from previous months, however, these figures show a severe denting of confidence in some of Labour's leading figures.

Respondents were asked how they would rate the Cabinet on a scale of 1-10 and the scores are in the table above.

The poll closed before the announcement yesterday of the increase in the Basic Rate Tax threshold, so includes none of the effect of that decision, however, it is notable that while Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown himself languish beneath all other Cabinet colleagues, David Miliband, Alan Johnson, Hilary Benn and Jack Straw, all feasible future leaders of the Labour Party, monopolise the top of the Cabinet rankings. Even fifth placed John Denham is widely respected and could be seen as a future leadership contender. Ed Balls, also seen to be positioning himself for the succession, is rated in the lower half of the table, just above Defense Secretary Des Brown, who it is rumoured faces a deshuffling in favour of John Hutton.

The Prime Minister has promised to listen more - take part in our survey and we'll make sure the party's leadership is presented with the results. Pass the link on to all Labour supporters you know!

Labour Grassroots Survey - May 2008

Here's the link to the results: http://www.labourhome.org/story/2008/5/14/103031/794

sexist bias at Labour Home?   What are you? Please click the poll.

In the left column of the main page of Labourhome.org, you can now sign up to a newsletter that we will produce for the site. You can also tick another box if you would like to receive updates from our candidate for treasurer of the Labour Party, Mark McDonald.

It appears that Guido Fawkes (aka Paul Staines) is threatening legal action against a fellow blogger, an action that he has threatened before when aspects of his time as a member of the FCS at Humberside FE College were called into question.

Why does LabouHome still persist in having a link to the Guido gossip blog?

If you still link to the blog of Mr Staines can I ask that you think again?

Now the dust has settled, it is time to explain what happened. Last week I posted about Money Shop and Payday UK on Labourhome who have high street stores which target vulnerable “customers” with unsecured short term loans and charging up to 1330% APR.

I got some very useful comments. Labourhome commentator “Rwendland” pointed out that even in the land of the free; many US states limit the amount of interest that can be charged on loans. They are even called usury laws. Other countries also have such laws. In Canada they have a legal limit of 60%.

So there are precedences to ban this vile practice.

For those who want to play about, here is the link to a space where you can start hashing out a manifesto.

Here are the suggestions that came out of the debate on what Labourhome should do in the future. Thanks for all your suggestions. Please indicate your support or opposition to the ideas - and of course add more ideas if you like.

Thanks

Alex Hilton
alexhilton@gmail.com
07985 394 950

Comrades, Here at Labourhome, we're really pleased at how the community is growing and how the writers and contributors are increasing in number and in breadth of opinion. But what are the next steps we should take to build an online community for Labour members and supporters?

The Daily Mail has referred to this website in an article about the retirement of John Prescott.

I have left the comment below on their site - who knows whether or not they will allow it to be published...?

I'm keeping a list here of all the comments I delete. I have no intention of maintaining this in perpetuity. I have faith that most of the writers will stick to an unwritten code if it is made a little clearer.

I've been a member of the Labour Party for almost 9 months now, but I've been visiting this website for longer. I always viewed it as a useful way of determining the mood inside the party, speaking to fellow party members and discussing the policies that effect us and our party. But that seems to no longer be the case.