This week I succumbed, only for the sake of family bonding, to the latest craze sweeping the planet, or at least that part of it that can afford a mobile phone with enough 4G data to do it. Pokemon Go is, actually, a good thing. If it does nothing other than get the nerds some Vitamin D, it will have succeeded. It’s also a pretty social occupation. It’s great to see crowds of people gathering around landmarks actually talking to each other. The speed at which phrases like “I only have to walk another 5k to hatch my egg” have become normal is quite staggering.

Everyone seems to be doing it. Even the Lib Dem Press Office claimed to me that they were hunting Pokemon in a London car park when they found this:

So look what has been found knocking around a London car park… Where on earth did that £350m figure come from… pic.twitter.com/DHSOEpmWKK

— Lib Dem Press Office (@LibDemPress) July 15, 2016

If I have to catch these beasts, I decided I would make the experience enriching by naming them after Lib Dem women who inspire me. So, at the time of writing, I have a Daisy B, Daisy C, Hannah B, Shirley W, Jo S, Christine J, Sophie B and Jennie R. So, at least then I can think of the endless energy of Ms Swinson, the international globetrotting to save us from Donald Trump of Ms Bettsworth and Ms Rigg’s compelling and pithy way of calling it like it is as I go about my day. This list is by no means exhaustive. I just have to catch the Pokemon first. So if someone hasn’t been named and you think they should be there, they probably are. Those last three sentences were added in after the reaction to a similar post on Facebook last night.

I’m now slightly anxious that people won’t like the Pokemon species they have been allocated. Trust me, it’s random. I know very little about their individual characteristics and care even less.

Within days of the app coming out, there was chatter on social media about how the Lib Dems could use it for campaigning purposes. Setting lures at the end of delivery routes was touted as an incentive.

Manchester Lib Dems are getting people together to have a Pokemon hunt on 3rd August.

Have you heard of any other ways in which Lib Dems, traditionally early adopters of new technologies, are using this?

This wasn’t even published before I received a complementary follow-up which you will be able to read tomorrow morning.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social