New CF website!

About a week ago I stumbled across a prototype CF website at a blogspot address. It's all set up and ready to go now and the URL ConservativeFuture.com has been redirected to it within the last hour so do check it out.

This is great news. It uses very simple, user-friendly blog software that can be updated immediately without having to jump through the hoops required for sites on the CCHQ server. It is basically a youthy version of the Party's website that includes relevant Party news and things like viral videos and games.

It really baffled me that something like this couldn't have been set up a year ago (for free, in five minutes). That marginal seats were a priority or that the CCHQ web team was busy didn't excuse the fact that the website - the first point of contact for many interested young people - was completely static. Hopefully it will become a regularly updated source of information on what's going on in CF world.

I've always said that I was hoping to be put out of the job in that respect. Whilst CF Diary pragmatically filled the gap in the market and I was happy to provide the news service, it is obviously not ideal for an unofficial site to be the only place for official news! The potential for the site now that it seems to be free from its shackles is massive.

Well done to Michael Lunn for getting it up and running so quickly. I'm sure he would appreciate any constructive feedback on what you'd like to see on the site.

Here's one suggestion for starters - one thing I kept meaning to do was build up a Google map like the LibDems' Flock Together network. Anne-Marie Bray gave me the inspiration and I got as far as getting a friend to set up a test page but didn't get around to setting it up properly. Perhaps this could be integrated into the new site so that people interested in getting involved can find out where their nearest branch is easily?