Party poopers
by Paul Miller
Tom and I have written the cover story of tomorrow's FT Magazine about the fall and fall of mainstream political parties. Our argument is that if they don't radically rethink the way they organise themselves, they could well bite the dust. It's a theme we'll be talking about more at Labour Party conference.
David Lee
Poli-Idol - surely it will represent the ultimate in the commodification of politics, and the zenith (or nadir) of style over substance. but, hey, it's what "the kids" want...
what kind of shelf-life would these new tv gameshow politicians have?
however, with interactivity ingrained in the pop idol format, could the poli-idol approach represent a unique way for the public to re-engage in the political process, in an era of steadily declining voter turnouts.
after this, then maybe they will have a world poli idol, like they did for pop idol over the christmas break. now that could be really interesting!