“It is absolutely clear that Raoul Moat was a callous murderer, full stop, end of story. I cannot understand any wave, however small, of public sympathy for this man. There should be sympathy for his victims and the havoc he wreaked in that community. There should be no sympathy for him.”

More interestingly, the British government also subsequently contacted Facebook and asked for the content to be removed. Facebook has declined to remove the comments. That’s right. A Prime Minister isn’t a community manager. Here’s why:

- A community manager doesn’t enforce a view. Disagreement is allowed in every online forum. Actually, it’s encouraged. More than that, dissent and plurality is the point. All comers are welcome. A community manager should encourage diverse views, not damn them. Unsavoury opinions are cool. There's something wrong when a community manager censors an opinion simply because he or she disagrees.

- A community manager doesn’t silence conversations. We marshal them. We sometimes moderate them but we always enable debate. But it’s usually the style and the words that we deal with, rather than the content. Threats of violence are right out. Swear words, in most communities, aren’t permissible. Freedom of speech is, generally, golden. Silence isn’t.

- A community manager isn’t a CEO. A Prime Minister is. He or she has more important things to do than meddle with the online discussions. A CEO should leave the moderation of an online community to people who are experienced. It’s hard for a CEO to see that sometimes, but they do need to learn.

- A community manager is accountable but not elected. They should seek approval by being good at what they do and not for currying favour by what they say.

Why not Brighton, I thought? But then, I am merely 50 miles from London and have hardly any cause for complaint. I took a look at all the hustings announced on LabourList. Welsh members can go to Cardiff. Scots members have missed the Glasgow opportunity. It's not just about about location though. Many of these hustings are by invitation only. But the vast majority are in London.

I've made a wordle of announced hustings locations to illustrate the point. I worry that our Labour leadership election is predominantly for journos, insiders and wonks only. That's even more depressing than it being focussed on London.

Kerry McCarthy MP, Labour's Twitteratrix, has said that the London-centric geographic bias is because the candidates have "day jobs" in London. I think that's a weak argument.

Frankly, if any candidate wants to win this race they should make a point of visiting 90% of CLPs over the next 3 months. It is possible.

“It’s like being dumped. I’m tired. I’ve cried a couple of times. I’m emotionally drained. I have nothing to do. My routine is broken. I have time on my hands and no desire to do any of the things that need doing. Dazed. A friend said I was making no sense in the pub last night and I hadn’t even started my pint.”

Does it all sound a bit Dusty?:

I remember walking back home at about nine in the morning on May 7 after a glass of wine or two at a fellow activist’s house close to the count at the Brighton Centre. I remember being jeered (yes, we were) by victorious Green supporters awaiting their conquering heroine. But not much else is vivid about the weekend after the General Election.

I wasn’t angry though. And I’m not bitter. Over the course of polling day, I confessed to several friends that I though the Greens would win Brighton Pavilion and I can appreciate the historic significance of Britain’s first Green MP (although I thought the way Caroline Lucas MP compared herself to Keir Hardie in her maiden speech displayed breathtaking audacity).

I also take some heart from the results. What did the Conservatives want from Labour to win an outright national majority? They had Iraq, recession, Gordon Brown and a lack-lustre national campaign from Labour. And yet they still couldn’t win! Cameron couldn’t even match John Major’s 1992 result.

Also, the Greens and the Tories argued that Labour would come third in Brighton Pavilion and we came a very creditable and quite close second. The Green majority of 1200 or so isn’t gargantuan. We were not “rinsed”, as one Green Councillor crowed on Twitter.

The Green victory was well won. They spent a great deal of energy and money on getting this seat. The results across the three Brighton and Hove parliamentary constituencies were good for Labour. Of course, we didn’t win a seat but we did come second to the Tories, with a narrow 500 votes between us, and the Greens overall were fourth after the Liberals. That augurs well for the City Council Elections and also shows we aren’t a spent force.

But what has cheered me most of all has been the determination and energy of activists and party folk. Labour in Brighton has lots to do. And there’s much discussion to be had. And we’re doing it. May 6th changed everything and we’re already responding with ideas and actions. We need radical ideas and action and it was good to get out and about in Portslade yesterday to try some of our new ideas out. Tom French is doing well in the council by-election in St Peter’s and North Laine.

For me, I think one of the most important things that we need to get better at is working with the Green Party. We share many common values and we have common enemies to oppose. Brighton and Hove City Council is a bad council and the small ‘c’ conservative government is starting to show its real colours. In this brave new world of coalitions, I think there is a thirst from voters to see more cooperation and less conflict. I also don’t think the “you had 13 years to sort it out” attack line cuts much mustard when your kids’ school is having its funding slashed.

Everything changed on May 6th. That’s the thing about defeat, I think. You are forced to learn from it. Victory is affirming.

Here are several of my favourites.

Gentle disorganisation at my Labour Committee Room. The number taking sheets were so old they had Walworth Road as the Labour Party's address.

I'm always paranoid on Polling Day. I worry that I have crossed the wrong box. That's why I took this pic. Throughout the day, I'd check back and make sure I'd voted for the right woman. I had.

Of all the slebs and national party people I met during the General Election, Sir Patrick Stewart was my favourite by a parsec. Graceful, charming, erudite. This picture could be called 'celebrity socialists'. Bassam, Fanshawe, Stewart and my favoruite star: Nancy Platts.

I didn't really know what to expect trafficwise but this is quite useful and entirely as you might expect. Once the general election was called at the start of April, traffic ticked up with noticeable dips at the weekends. In the last few days, starting on the bank holiday, traffic rose to peak on polling day itself.

Traffic in run up to the election

Personally, I’ve found them a little dull. Cameron kept pushing for them and must surely be regretting that. He wasn’t as good as good as he reckoned he’d be. As a former secretary of the Eton College Debating Society, I must also say I think he rather let the old school tie down. Georgics for you, Cameron!

Clegg showed why the Liberals have always wanted these debates and Brown didn’t screw them up. That feels like victory enough for Labour.

Should we have had them before? Maybe. Blair, Major, Ashdown would have been good. But Thatcher vs Kinnock would have been better. Would the SDP have made more of a breakthrough if they’d have had the coverage? Maybe. But Clegg, although insubstantial, really is a natural.

Further back. Attlee vs. Churchill. Clem could’ve rebutted Winston’s claim that Labour would need a Gestapo. Think of that. Further back! Asquith and Lloyd George! Gladstone and Disraeli would have been fun. Well, Disraeli would’ve been funny. Gladstone would have been serious and by far the more clever. But then, I think he actually was a secretary of the Eton College Debating Society in his time too. I think Gladstone was also in Pop (was he?). I don’t think Cameron was. But then I wasn’t either.

And then way back, let’s go way back. What about Cromwell versus King Charles? A fourway? William of Normandy, Harold Godwinson, Harald Hardrada and Edgar the Atheling! Caeser and Brutus. Jesus and Pilate…. Adam and Eve.

I’m just not sure about hustings. I’m certain that they don’t deserve their revered status as a set piece at any election. They aren’t a sort of crystalising moment for electors.

I’ve been to a few this time around and I think they’re great. But I wonder how many people change their mind or go there because they are undecided. Not many, I venture. I certainly don’t think they should be considered as so sacrosanct in the election process. In fact, a lot of what some candidates said as downright dreary.

It does rather depend on the format. But personally, I find the question from voter and answer from candidate format rather stifling. It makes several assumptions. Not least that the candidate has an answer. Very often the person asking the question has rather more expertise to share. It is not a discursive environment.

I do think they play a part. But in this campaign I’ve seen more interesting exchanges on the doorstep, at smaller less formal meetings and also better discussions on the phone. And from a time point of view, sometimes one-to-one minutes can be more valuable than one-to-many.

My Polling Card

The postal votes are out there now. In Brighton Pavilion, something like 10000 voters will be voting postally. It’s astonishing.

It’s also tantalising to wonder what those ballots cast could tell us but that must elude us. The postal vote packs went out last week and a great percentage have been returned already.

It does make me wonder a bit. Gordon Brown had his gaffe last week (and plenty of people have said to me that they think he had a point) so what if Cameron or Clegg have one of similar magnitude this week? Will people who have already cast their ballot regret their promptness?

It has also changed the dynamics of the local campaign. We’ve been calling and cajoling our friends to make sure they send their ballot paper back in good time. A good chunk of Labour support has hopefully already made their vote.

I voted by post in 2005 because I was away with work. I found it a very unsatisfactory experience. I like going to the polling station, marking my cross and dropping my paper into the box. It feels more real, somehow.

Anyway, public service bit coming up. If you have opted to vote by post and don’t get it into the post in time, don’t forget that you can drop it off (signed and sealed) into a polling station on polling day itself.

The stripy socks of good fortune.

I walk down a street and the first thing I wonder is how the doors are numbered.

I haven’t taken a go on Facebook Scrabble for 4 days. I’ve skipped my beloved pub quiz several times and that NEVER happens.

Red garments are being worn more. Blue and green ones. Not so much.

My jacket pockets are full of elastic bands.

I asked a friend how her baby was. She told me. I told her that was great. I then praised Labour’s achievements including tax credits, Sure Start, childcare and maternity leave.

I have a special list called: To do after May 6th.

I have eschewed pizza for weeks because that will doubtless form a bulk of my diet in the last week.

My West Wing quotes per day rate has doubled. And doubled from quite a high base.

I have done just enough laundry to keep me going until polling day. Lucky boxers (and my “stripy socks of good fortune”) are ready and waiting for Thursday

I know the candidate’s show size.

The penultimate scene is of the Conservative PM, Charles Kendrick, accepting victory in the early hours of the day after Polling Day:

“I have to say news has only today reached me, informing of just how grave the economic situation is – perhaps graver than we have recently thought. That means we shall be busy even in what we know may be difficult times ahead.”*

The scene has a sense of doom because the Conservative win their narrow victory by making promises in the campaign they had no intention of keeping and planned to blame the economy all along to roll out their true, hard policies.

It’s as true this week as it was in 1992. If Cameron becomes PM, expect him to tell you that it’s much worse than he imagined. The little shit.

* That's the direct quote. I hope Sir David doesn't mind me borrowing it.