Following up my Twitterati post, you can now check to see if your MP is one of the (very small number of) MPs on Twitter with Tweetminster.

It’s inspired, I believe, by the US version, Tweet Congress and its Liberal Democrat page carries the party’s official Twitter feed, as well as the most recent posts from our twittering MPs.

Coming at you via the new QuickPress window in WordPress 2.7, here’s a plug for the imaginatively-titled (the last time I make a throwaway remark at a Lib Dem Voice team meeting) Tangerine Book:

It’s a collection of some of the best pieces from Liberal Democrat Voice. If you like to hold words in your hand, rather than see them flash up on a screen, the shop is here.

As Twitter slowly ekes its way into the public consciousness – and it has a considerable way still to go – various… people you’ve heard of… or might have heard of… famous people… OK, celebrities… various celebrities have signed up and started twittering.

So who are these slebs, and where be they? Here are an assortment of folk you may have come across by rough category.

Politicians and government

Chris Reed has already discovered that there are only four MPs currently on Twitter – and that’s if you count Number 10.

• 10 Downing Street (official tweets from the PM’s house)
• Tom Watson (Labour MP for West Bromich East)
• Lynne Featherstone (LibDem MP for Hornsey & Wood Green)
• Jo Swinson (LibDem MP for East Dunbartonshire)
• Grant Shapps (Conservative MP for Welwyn Hatfield)
• Al Gore (former VP of the US of A)
• Andy Reed (Labour MP for Loughborough)
• Graham Watson (Lib Dem MEP for South West England and Gibraltar)

The UK Parliament also has a feed, as there are official and unofficial accounts for various government departments. And, of course, there are various feeds for US election candidates, including the now fairly quiet (and never that human) Barack Obama feed.

Musicians

• Britney Spears (formerly @therealbritney, she’s a singer and the posts come from her team and herself)
• Dave Matthews (of the Dave Matthews Band)
• MC Hammer (yes, seriously, MC Hammer of “U Can’t Touch This” fame)
• Patrick Wilson (the drummer from Weezer)
• Imogen Heap (singer I saw live in about 1997)

Actors and broadcasters

• Brea Grant (plays Daphne Millbrook in Heroes)
• Greg Grunberg (plays Matt Parkman in Heroes)
• Robert Llewellyn (actor, comedian, broadcaster and writer who played Kryten in Red Dwarf)
• Wil Wheaton (best known as Wesley Crusher on Star Trek, he’s a blogger, writer, stand-up comedian, poker player…)
• John Cleese (actor, writer, comedian and Python, probably most famous for his party political broadcast for the Liberal/SDP Alliance)
• Stephen Fry (of A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, QI and V for Vendetta fame – as if you didn’t know)
• Rory Cellan-Jones (BBC technology – and sometimes business – correspondent)
• Tina Fey (from Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock)
• David H. Lawrence (plays Eric Doyle in Heroes)
• Jonathan Ross (of Jonathan Ross Show fame)

Writers and artists

• Paul Cornell (writer of three episodes of <DOCTOR.WHO>, plus other TV, books and comics)
• Warren Ellis (author of comics and novels)
• Zoe Margolis (author of the book and blog Girl with a One Track Mind)

plus various tech journalists.

Sportists

• Andy Murray (tennis player of “Come on, Andy!” fame)
• Will Carling (described on his Twitter feed as “old has-been rugby player”)

Internet celebrities

• Robert Scoble (blogger and technical evangelist)
• Kevin Rose (founder of Digg.com)

and no doubt, by definition, many more.

So… who have I missed?

How’s this for tag lag? Lynne Featherstone tagged me with this meme 14 months ago. Better late than never – and there’s nothing like a meme to get me blogging.

My first political memory was probably from November 1990. (I definitely helped deliver leaflets in an election prior to 1997 but I don’t know if it was 1987 or 1992 – or, I suppose, whether it was a general election at all.)

I was in my first year of secondary school when Margaret Thatcher was seriously challenged for the leadership of the Conservative Party. What with her being PM – not to mention the area being quite Tory – it was a big deal and I remember us discussing it in one of our lessons.

Knowing pretty much nothing about politics, I was convinced that she would win. This was probably a symptom of having lived my entire life under her premiership.

Time makes fools of us all.