16 June 2000
Speaking on June 14, he said there were dangers for representative democracy if the communication process were taken to its logical conclusion. With electronic referendums on issues such as capital punishment or Section 28, politicians could become 'disintermediated', he added.
'We have to be very careful with direct democracy – careful about phrasing questions. But I am afraid there is no control. You can't control what people do in this environment,' Quirk said.
He suggested that politicians, including the new breed of mayors, will soon be communicating with people through e-mails, e-panels and transactional websites. Politicians would be able to target people with particular interests, such as the environment or local libraries. They could communicate on a daily basis and adapt their policies to suit.
Quirk also described how e-mail had revolutionised the way Lewisham's employees communicate with each other and with citizens. Each week there are 50,000 internal e-mails and 20,000 citizen e-mails. He predicted that these figures would grow to 100,000 and 80,000 respectively within a year.
PFjun2000
