After last nights Champions League Quarter Final between Manchester United and Chelsea ended, through a combination of tweeting and facebooking and googling ( note the new verbs) the whole world knew the score within seconds of the final whistle.
Manchester United fans from Algeria to Zaire could be heard cheering.
How different from my childhood when the results were either broadcast on the Radio or you had to wait for the Manchester Evening News Pink Final before the result was known, the Pinks own final edition was last published in 2000 because it had been overtaken by more instant news media.
Instant news is now available 24/7 with the goals shown in videocasts on your mobile.
I am still amazed by email.
Back in the day you would have a pad of that blue lined paper called, I seem to remember, Basildon Bond and an envelope, then you would have written a draft in pencil before carefully copying out the letter in your best pen, a couple of smudges later, with the wastepaper basket rapidly filling you would have a 'fair copy'.
Then you would go down to the Post Office for a stamp and, after telling the man behind the counter all your business, who the letter was for etc. He would take it off you, three weeks later the Post Man would struggle up the stairs cursing and blinding and there would be a reply.
Manchester United fans from Algeria to Zaire could be heard cheering.
How different from my childhood when the results were either broadcast on the Radio or you had to wait for the Manchester Evening News Pink Final before the result was known, the Pinks own final edition was last published in 2000 because it had been overtaken by more instant news media.
Instant news is now available 24/7 with the goals shown in videocasts on your mobile.
I am still amazed by email.
Back in the day you would have a pad of that blue lined paper called, I seem to remember, Basildon Bond and an envelope, then you would have written a draft in pencil before carefully copying out the letter in your best pen, a couple of smudges later, with the wastepaper basket rapidly filling you would have a 'fair copy'.
Then you would go down to the Post Office for a stamp and, after telling the man behind the counter all your business, who the letter was for etc. He would take it off you, three weeks later the Post Man would struggle up the stairs cursing and blinding and there would be a reply.
But now is now.
It is miraculous really.
Of course high speed communication is not new, for e.g. there were Beacons.
They were fast and effective, whether it was the Spanish Armada or the Border Reivers, beacons would be lit and the news spread rapidly from Beacon Hill to Beacon Hill, until all were warned.
A friend of mine tells the story of teaching a lesson about Beacons and setting a small test question, What happened when the villagers saw the Pirates?
One child wrote: They rushed up the hill and set fire to the deacons!
Pity the poor Deacons.
Now my Post Man brings pieces of paper advertising stuff I neither need nor want, from double glazed windows to yet more insulation, all paid for by the sender, almost invariably it is torn up at the door and immediately placed in the recycling.
Anyone who wished to communicate with me over anything remotely sensitive or important or urgent sends me an email or a message on facebook or tweets me.
So communication in the big society is key.
In Cumbria there is a great campaign to extend broadband into the valleys of the Lake District where reception is difficult and where electronic communication is poor.
On holiday in Scotland last year the only place where mobile 'phone reception could be had was in the middle of the bridge over the river, so on damp August mornings holiday makers would gather to make their calls, like so many villagers lighting their rain soaked Beacons.
We were more fortunate because we worked out that the local hotel had wi-fi and we could sit outside in the car and 'borrow' the signal from their router so not only did we have mobile communication but email as well.
But if we are so sophisticated that we can communicate so readily and easily without resorting to Beacons, why do we have to go into a polling booth and scrawl our crosses on a ballot sheet?
Why can't we do it on line, or by 'phone or email?
And why do we need to elect politicians to shout abuse at each other in the House of Parliament and then decide to raise our taxes? Why can't we simply have a referendum whenever an important decision needs to be taken?
TV appears to have shown the way with Big Brother and Pop Idol and the X Factor. Apparently more people voted on these reality 'phone-in shows in recent years than in General and Local Elections.
My TV remote has a voting button, perhaps we need more experiments to extend the franchise and encourage more people to participate in the democratic process.
It might be a way of extending the reach of the big society and making it more interactive .........
It is miraculous really.
Of course high speed communication is not new, for e.g. there were Beacons.
They were fast and effective, whether it was the Spanish Armada or the Border Reivers, beacons would be lit and the news spread rapidly from Beacon Hill to Beacon Hill, until all were warned.
A friend of mine tells the story of teaching a lesson about Beacons and setting a small test question, What happened when the villagers saw the Pirates?
One child wrote: They rushed up the hill and set fire to the deacons!
Pity the poor Deacons.
Now my Post Man brings pieces of paper advertising stuff I neither need nor want, from double glazed windows to yet more insulation, all paid for by the sender, almost invariably it is torn up at the door and immediately placed in the recycling.
Anyone who wished to communicate with me over anything remotely sensitive or important or urgent sends me an email or a message on facebook or tweets me.
So communication in the big society is key.
In Cumbria there is a great campaign to extend broadband into the valleys of the Lake District where reception is difficult and where electronic communication is poor.
On holiday in Scotland last year the only place where mobile 'phone reception could be had was in the middle of the bridge over the river, so on damp August mornings holiday makers would gather to make their calls, like so many villagers lighting their rain soaked Beacons.
We were more fortunate because we worked out that the local hotel had wi-fi and we could sit outside in the car and 'borrow' the signal from their router so not only did we have mobile communication but email as well.
But if we are so sophisticated that we can communicate so readily and easily without resorting to Beacons, why do we have to go into a polling booth and scrawl our crosses on a ballot sheet?
Why can't we do it on line, or by 'phone or email?
And why do we need to elect politicians to shout abuse at each other in the House of Parliament and then decide to raise our taxes? Why can't we simply have a referendum whenever an important decision needs to be taken?
TV appears to have shown the way with Big Brother and Pop Idol and the X Factor. Apparently more people voted on these reality 'phone-in shows in recent years than in General and Local Elections.
My TV remote has a voting button, perhaps we need more experiments to extend the franchise and encourage more people to participate in the democratic process.
It might be a way of extending the reach of the big society and making it more interactive .........
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