It’s about bloody time they pulled their fingers out. As yet I haven’t been able to track down any more information about this new drive than what is contained within that short Press Association piece, but either way, it’s got to be better than the stagnant mess of the last few years.

Still (and no offence to fellow bloggers who may have been involved…) they should have got some better PR managers in – hardly anything on most of the major news websites two hours after the launch? No prominent pre-publicity? No website? (At least, it looks that way – the old Yes campaign one has been dead for ages.) If this makes the evening news (bar probably a brief mention on Channel Four) I’ll be amazed.

So, are they going to make a proper effort this time? The “Vote No” lot are organised (even if they have the occasional spat) and extremely vocal, and have been for ages. They’ve also got the advantage of preaching to a largely ignorant population who believe all the euromyths with the support of the majority of the media. It’s going to be a difficult fight.

As has been pointed out, this campaign should have launched ages ago: “if the Yes camp is to exploit the fluidity of opinion, it needs to seize the initiative. Crucial for a Yes result will be a well planned, powerfully sustained campaign. To a considerable extent, the No camp can afford to rest on their laurels. The pro-constitutionalists must start making up ground early.”

They’ve ballsed up the starting early part, but I suppose there’s still a year to go – and at least they’re finally making an effort. Nonetheless, us pro-EU lot have been waiting a long time for some kind of decent organisation, and been let down and frustrated by the lack of effort for years. I wish them luck, obviously, but they need to get their act together properly this time.

Hearts and minds, people – hearts and minds. We can’t just rely on the politicians getting everything through – that’s just going to piss the general public off. Without popular support it’s pointless – it’ll just become the undemocratic monster the Eurosceptics already claim it is…