In cyberspace, no one cares if you scream...

Blogging, the last refuge of the person with too much time and not enough proper hobbies.

I've tried this malarky before, but my blogs were so sporadic that their brilliance slipped through the cracks. Well, that's what I tell myself - the reality is of course that in a super saturated environment, yet another well-meaning blog is lost in the multitude.

So why start again?

Well, I am passionate about politics, and I believe that it is important to work actively on that passion. Cyberspace provides a good opportunity to meet and debate with a number of people, some who share your views, many who disagree and an even bigger number who are just plain bonkers. I want to try and share some of my thoughts with those who might be interested, leaving myself open to challenges and disagreement in order to improve my own political knowledge and coherence.

Who am I, I hear you all asking. (Anyone?) Well, my name is Jamie Cooke and I live in God's own city of Glasgow. I work in the field of democratic education (seriously, it's more fun than it sounds! Well, for me anyway - I wouldn't want to speak on behalf of the participants!) encouraging greater knowledge and participation amongst Ethnic Minority communities in Scotland. Oh, and I'm a Labour Party activist.

Yep, the one person who is actually reading this has just given up, haven't you? Please don't go, I'm not all bad. My Labour Party activism is rooted in my desire to make the world a better place and improve chances for all - surely we can agree on the aims if not on the means? As well as being active in Labour, I am a member of the Fabian Society, the Henry Jackson Society and the Electoral Reform Society - quite an eclectic mix, I'm sure you would agree. I feel I have a broad approach to politics, believing that it is important to explore the ideas of political opponents - just because they are in a different party doesn't mean they don't have any decent ideas that I can stea...I mean implement.

My intention for this blog is to try and use it as an opportunity to talk about politics, democracy, citizenship and much much more. Of course, the devil is in the detail and it may well turn out that nobody reads/I get bored and it goes the way of so many other blogs. However, I am keen to try and stick it this time. I've chosen the title because I will try and talk a lot about Scottish politics - I believe in the Union, but I also believe that there is a lot of important work going on in Scotland which doesn't always make it into the consciousness of the Westminster Village elite. I'm sure plenty of other topics will come along (for example the US Presidency etc) but hopefully we'll manage to explore some Scottish topics.

Anyways, I should really stop typing now. If anyone does read this, feel free to say hi, introduce yourself, bookmark me or anything that may demonstrate that I am not alone in this big bad world.

Till next we meet

Jamie