Back from holidays,having had a wonderful time with the family in Portugal. Thought I’d drop you all a line to say hello before I tackle my in-tray. Gulp.

Could Tom Watson be the coolest, most tech-savvy MP in Westminster? His blog is essential reading for everyone with an interest in data and the web. Tom’s August 7th entry made me laugh as it unveiled a curious new trend – that of data-driven parenting. Check out (or run screaming from), a new service called Trixie Tracker, which allows new parents to count their baby’s every move. From the number of diapers used to total naps taken as well as medicine dosed, milk expressed and solids dumped (I kid you not), this new software package will reduce your bouncing little bundle of joy into a bunch of meaningless statistics in no time (said entirely without prejudice, please note).

Mind boggling, doesn’t it? As if parents don’t have enough on their plates without obsessing over some digitised milk inventory on their iPhones.

I see the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) has joined the DMA (UK) in circling its wagons over the Government’s proposal to abolish the sale of the edited Electoral Role (ER) while I was away. Perhaps we could enlist the help of Michael Cross and The Guardian’s Free Our Data campaign with this issue. After all, why sell the ER when, as a community service assisting data verification and protection compliance for UK organisations, the list could be made available gratis? Debate on this issue is bound to be quite lively over coming weeks.

Anyhoo… Back to the fray. More from the trenches next week.