Apropos of nothing, by the way, does the LibDems’ head honcho drive a Mercedes Bing?

Meanwhile, Labour are in Manchester for the first time since 1918 to start their annual shindig at the GMex centre on Sunday.

The last time I went to the GMex was to see Crowded House on their final British tour.

Someone in the audience passed Neil Finn a blow-up sheep.

What will the audience send up the front for Tony Blair on his farewell appearance, I wonder?

The Tories will complete the big three’s round of backslapping and or biting in the militant pensioner hotspot of Bournemouth from October 1 to 4.

A few days after that UKIP finish off with an all-embracing festival of inclusivity in, wait for it, Telford.

I may be the only person in the whole world who finds it mildly amusing that UKIP – one motto: “Let’s get our country back” – are meeting at the Telford International Centre.

Must have been because the Telford Go Away You Funny Foreigners Centre was shut for the weekend.

What’s really noticable about all the parties – and yes I know, other political persuasions are available, see any BNP “truthcast” for details – is the way they’re embracing the internet.

If you missed the Lib Dems live in Brighton, for instance, you can relive the sheer thrill of it all at http://www.libdems.org.uk/conference/index.html including a host of video and audio content.

It’s not yet clear what the Greens will be offering in competition for the party conference BAFTAs but follow a few links off the current conference home page at http://www.greenparty.org.uk/nextconference and you can “send exciting and funny e-cards to your friends” and watch a few videos of events past.

Hugged

And if you thought the Blues were trying to nick the Greens’ verdant clothing, the Reds are at it too on their conference website at http://www. labour.org.uk/conference2006.

The Tories may have hugged the tree with their new “vote blue, go green” message, but Labour are tying to get you to adopt one by joining up with SERA to buy a tree for the future of mankind.

Here I have to confess to feeling a bit thick – as two short planks indeed – because I haven’t a clue what SERA stands for and the website at http://www.sera.org.uk steadfastly refuses to say, but it does offer nice pictures of windfarms and cows.

Labour don’t appear to be much into webcasts, but the website is heavily into blogging.

It offers a number of locations where conference attendees can sit in comfort in front of a computer and excite the masses with their daily doings.

And what of the Tories?

Their website, now adorned by the Rhubarb and Custard-style flora, at http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=conference.2006.page looks a bit bare at the moment, but contains much promise for the future – including video and blogs, RSS and podcasting – the whole new media smorgasbord.

Apart from being very blue, when it’s not being very green, the website has a recurring theme.

That theme of course is David Cameron.

David stares wistfully, purposefully, confidently and serenely from virtually every page, tie on, tie off, looking left, looking right, looking straight ahead. And if all that gets too much, you can go wild in Telford with the UKIP funsters at http://www.ukip.org/newconference2006.php.

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