Me me me!

OK - I don't want to sound like a self-indulgent prima-donna here, but today I'm going to write about me . . . yes, that's right, lil ole me! me me me me me!

Sound interesting? Mmm, well wait and see, though you'll be less than surprised to hear that this bout of self-indulgance has been inspired by a politician - the Labour ex-Minister and election supremo Alan Milburn.

In Wednesday's Guardian, Mr Milburn wrote a really interesting article about how the new challenge of progressive politics was to face up to the "me generation" and their disconnection from the mainstream political process. Milburn described the "me generation" as being "people more aspirational than ever who want to exercise control over their lives", and how this group was "less deferential to power and more used to democracy". Interestingly he also said that he thought the me generation "may feel empowered as consumers but not as citizens".

So it looks like a vote from Labour in favour of learning from the consumer world, as seemingly political parties have finally woken up to need to move towards a more participative mode of politics to suit the wants of a new wave of demanding citizens, who, like spoilt teenagers, won't do what they're told by the know-it-all grown ups.

To really understand how much ground Mr Milburn and his political side-kicks have to make up, I'd suggest they flick on their TV, go down to the local news agent or surf the net. Programmes like Big Brother, magazines like OK! and the phenomena of blogs and other consumer-generated content show just how ingrained the "me generation" is over whole swathes of the UK population.

It seems everyone is now obsessed by power and the cult of the self. Everyone has the power and technology to be a journalist. Everyone has the chance to live the fame dream, in however small or insignificant way - from posting their photo on Friendster for friends to see, to appearing on Big B. And to the annoyance to the political elite, it's becoming increasingly evident that the "me generation", like a bunch of power junkies, need to get their hands on more political power - and if they don't get it, they're going to throw their democratic toys out of the pram . . .

So following on from Raul's last post about the downfall of Boots in the Netherlands, I'd suggest the politicos learn from the painful failures of the likes of Boots and jump on the brand participation bandwagon before the consumers refuse to shop and political parties are forced to close.

Unfortunately like Boots, the Labour party isn't in a position to bale out of the UK and focus their investment in other countries. Or maybe they do, and that's why they're so interested in setting up new democracies around the world . . .