Scotland4me.net News

The Scottish Parliament (SP) have introduced a fascinating new trial (Until 22nd December 2007) mobile phone service. It is for those of us who are proficient in texting. Ideal for those moments when you are on a packed train and wish to let your Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) know. Just get your mobile phone out and text a message to 80011. Just one word of caution you need to make sure that your messages start with the letters SP. And if you are going to be verbose (could be the case if the train is delayed) messages greater than 160 characters in length need to be split over many messages all starting with the magic letters SP.

I can hear you all say – but I don’t know whom my MSP is? Well they have an answer for that. I have tried the system. You enter SP as your text message followed by a space and your post code and hey presto – within seconds you have your elected MSP and a list of all those that have been elected on list system. So it caters for all politcal flavours. The only downside – information is currently only processed from 9 to 5. It should have been an easy task to automate this bit so it would function 24/7 but that seems beyond its capability at the moment!

On the other hand if you can’t sleep at night the Scottish Parliament have the answer – just text SP WORKS followed by your name and address and they will send to you their brochure – “How the Scottish Parliament Works” in the post.

Besides sending text messages to your chosen MSP, finding out whom he or she is and receiving the brochure you can also ask questions about the Parliament (including visits) send in feedback about Holyrood events and exhibitions. The cost to you is the cost of the sent text message. The Scottish Parliament say a standard network text charge will apply. Your mobile operator should be able to let you know what that charge is.

The Scottish Parliament say in their documentation we will be able to forward messages to named MSPs, but that any further action, such as issuing a reply, will be a matter for the MSP in question.

	Scotland4me.net	'News'
	'Scottish Parliament e-texting Service'
	The Scottish Parliament (SP) have introduced a fascinating new trial (Until 22nd December 2007) mobile phone service. It is for those of us who are proficient in texting. Ideal for those moments when you are on a packed train and wish to let your Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) know. Just get your mobile phone out and text a message to 80011. Just one word of caution you need to make sure that your messages start with the letters SP. And if you are going to be verbose (could be the case if the train is delayed) messages greater than 160 characters in length need to be split over many messages all starting with the magic letters SP. I can hear you all say – but I don’t know whom my MSP is? Well they have an answer for that. I have tried the system. You enter SP as your text message followed by a space and your post code and hey presto – within seconds you have your elected MSP and a list of all those that have been elected on list system. So it caters for all politcal flavours. The only downside – information is currently only processed from 9 to 5. It should have been an easy task to automate this bit so it would function 24/7 but that seems beyond its capability at the moment! On the other hand if you can’t sleep at night the Scottish Parliament have the answer – just text SP WORKS followed by your name and address and they will send to you their brochure – “How the Scottish Parliament Works” in the post. Besides sending text messages to your chosen MSP, finding out whom he or she is and receiving the brochure you can also ask questions about the Parliament (including visits) send in feedback about Holyrood events and exhibitions. The cost to you is the cost of the sent text message. The Scottish Parliament say a standard network text charge will apply. Your mobile operator should be able to let you know what that charge is. The Scottish Parliament say in their documentation we will be able to forward messages to named MSPs, but that any further action, such as issuing a reply, will be a matter for the MSP in question. Article by Charles Litster	.
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