Date: 03 October 2006 17:55:14
Just recently a few blogs have been removed from the blogosphere because of pressure applied to the bloggers by their employers. Particularly some police blogs, and there's a medical one that seems to be the most recent catastrophe of employer paranoia (despite the fact that none of the blogs, as far as I can tell, have broken any confidences or any other rules about bringing the profession into disrepute, in fact quite the opposite in that they all seem to show a much more human face to whichever profession is being blogged about than either the bland pronouncements of the official PR departments or the often sensationalised media image).
However, in the Scottish Episcopal Church there seems to be something of a blogging renaissance going on at the moment, and it's not just us mere pew-fillers or the humble clergy (although there are quite a few of those too). Two of our diocesan bishops now have blogs (bear in mind we only have 7 dioceses, so that's over 25% of our bishops!), and I'm particularly pleased that I found Bishop Martin's blog through the blog of a resident of his diocese who is a self-confessed agnostic but who seems to be a regular reader and contributor to the discussions there. I'm really glad that, from the top down, the church is making an effort to connect with a wider audience in a way that is relevant but not cringeworthy. Too bad the police and NHS are too insecure to do the same.