E-Petitions help ‘gauge the public mood’

With no apparent sense of irony, Digital Engagement Minister Tom Watson told a Lords select committee that the Number 10 e-petitions were;

an “excellent” example of online government communication.

The top-rated petition is currently the infamous one calling on Gordon Brown to resign (over 60,000 signatures). Watson also defended Brown’s lamentable YouTube performance;

“Actually, I thought the prime minister did a fairly reasonable job on YouTube.

“For parliamentarians, we are not going to get it right straight away. But younger citizens are going to expect us to use these technologies.”

Oh dear, oh dear.