Well, look at me. 2 posts in 2 weeks. I must be on a roll.

Today's post follows on from the previous one, because now that we've got a company... well it would only make sense if the company had a product.

The product came out today, and it's called Westmonster.

Westmonster is a website edited by Sadie Smith, and it focuses on the ins and outs of British politics, politicians, and political coverage.

Here at Westmonster we believe political life's too important to be taken seriously (as someone famous once said). We plan to give you a slightly sideways look at what's going on in the corridors of power and how our brethren in the meedja are reporting it. With the marketplace already crammed full of online news sites, blogging grandads, collectives of comrades, ascendant right-wing blogs, and outright tinfoil hattery in some cases - well, we figured we couldn't knacker the discourse any further. Right? Right?

In short, Westmonster aims to bring you what's going on in Westminster, from the insane to the mundane.

Go on over, have a look, and let us know what you think.

Posted by ElectricOrange at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yeah, it's been a long time since I posted anything on this blog related to where I am and what I might or might not be doing. I've been busy, and I'm now at liberty to reveal what I've been doing. It's called MessyMedia.

MessyMedia is a new digital publishing venture in the UK that I've founded with my former Yahoo colleague and now business partner Lloyd Shepherd.

Over the course of many years (and many beers) Lloyd and I had an ongoing roundtable discussion, mainly around the internet and politics. Right around the time I had firmly decided to move back to London, Lloyd was reaching the conclusion that he needed to move on from his work as well. We put our heads together, and Messy is what we came up with.

What is it then? I'll let you read the introductory post to our corporate blog to get a general sense. But the truth is that we both believe firmly that digital tools have lowered the bar to publishing, and that people are failing to take advantage of that -- particularly in the UK.

The established players here are worried about cannibalising their existing print businesses and lacking the focus necessary to adjust their models for the new publishing world. On the other hand, quite a lot of what's being published digitally by smaller publishers in the UK tends to either be hyper-nichey (like that?) or just prattle.

We see ourselves fitting somewhere in between the two. Focusing on quality, entertaining writing, and reaching for a wide, broad-based audience, we want to mess up the world of publishing in the UK.

Thus, MessyMedia.

We'll be launching our first title in the coming weeks, and more in the coming months. Keep your eyes open for it, and I certainly hope you like it.

Posted by ElectricOrange at 1:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)