All the news that's fit to print - or tweet!

At one time the minutes of a parish council were affixed to noticeboards round the locality, and the villagers would gather to digest the words of wisdom  - or one of their number, more lettered than his neighbours, would read them out to the assembled throng. Then came village newsletters, including this joyous one from Pampisford, Panser News, "Panser" being a local abbreviation of Pampisford, rather like Godmanchester near Huntingdon used to be "G'mster" But I digress.

Now most parish councils have a website where the minutes and notices are posted, some have email circulation for the newsletter, and some have twitter accounts and facebook pages. So for example, the next meeting of Whittlesford parish council in July, where two big planning applications are coming up, should be well attended, and word will get round, electronically. But there are people who may not have access to e-mail, or facebook, because it is a technological bridge too far, or because they can't afford it. People still write letters to me, sometimes to complain, sometimes to thank me for something.

So I guess what I think is that during this period of what the communications experts call "channel shift" to an almost entirely digital age, we need to make sure that those dependent on the older channels, often quite isolated people,  are not left out, and are encouraged and supported to access what for most people is routine.