#Liverpool - Highlight a problem and automatically tell your council....

For most of my life political career, since joining the Labour Party in 1995, I've had the engagement of people in the political process as a personal passion.  Working for the Labour Party during the Wirral South By-election, we had a youth mobilisation campaign targeted at first-time voters, that I believe was the most sophisticated used before (and since) without overt political party politicking.

There is huge amount of potential in the likes of www.theyworkforyou.com in connecting people with small g government and working for an MP, I already see the impact such sites have had.  But the development of new tools to focus on geographical connections, harness issue-based reporting, build local coalitions around issues, topics and problems can unleash a powerful force of human endeavour.  Local authorities should embrace such change, because of the money they can save.

Walking home from work the other day I noticed a house alarm going off, which had been blaring since the morning.  "who do you call?" I thought to myself. The Police is over indulgence (if not bad value for money) and I remembered a New York experiment where local government introduced a non-emergency emergency number.  Brilliant, I thought - except for a population as small as Liverpool's it probably doesn't make economic sense.  But with the web anything is possible....

Third party websites are now possible, where the information can be automatically passed on to the council.  Anything is possible - graffiti reporting tools - anti-social behaviour...the opportunities are endless.

When I became chair of the British Youth Council I toured the country arguing for youth participation and encouraging young people to engage. (I even opposed the UK Youth Parliament because it meant only one person would be elected and take part, rather than the youth council model which teaches every participant to represent themselves).

I went freelance 18 months ago in order to free up time to write a book, Everything every adult should know about politics, because everywhere I worked I met people who thought what I did was magical or secret, like there was dark art to speaking to your local councillor or MP.  In business the first thing I ask is whether the company has spoken to the local MP or councillor and it is often no.  We have built a society that  is so unknowledgable about how our country is run that citizens are not even aware that they can engage their local representatives.  And, frankly, I think we are all poorer for it.

I also believe local politics are going to be key to this - the great frontier of our new engaged society.  Public Affairs companies are beginning to twig, even though the loss of regional development agencies has set out-of-london decision making back by years.  But people are also beginning to realise there is a new reality shaping and in the time-honoured-fashion of only realising what you've got until its gone, they are appreciating the importance of local structures.

Sometimes I'm proud of being able to be non-political in favour of encouraging people to participate whatever their persuasion.  I think it takes a strong sense of duty to be able to challenge people to step out of their routine and think for themselves about how they feel on a particular topic.  I'm proud that I have beliefs, but I'm more proud that I can help others find theirs.  and I relish the opportunity to use as any tool possible to do that.

Twitter and Facebook are also important, but can be dangerously insular, cliquey and self-referential.  I believe this is why so many new groups start up, because the social investment required to enter an existing one is so great.  Only those that have done well, like mumsnet, show an affinity for low barriers of entry.

That is the real recipe for success.  Activists want to be able to defend or promote a change in their life, without devoting the rest of their life to it.