The Parliament web team have launched a new News site for the new parliamentary session - and hurrah, it's done in WordPress.

I can't really claim any credit for actually doing any of it, despite what you may have read elsewhere. The internal development team did a considerable amount of customisation, most of which won't be immediately visible to the reader, before I ever came along. I didn't do a lot more than pick holes in it for a day or so.

It's definitely a 'news site' rather than a blog, and the layout sits comfortably alongside the likes of the BBC. It's a brave move to commit to putting big photos on every story, but if it's sustainable, it'll pay dividends. There's a little way to go as regards the editorial; but these are early days, and the direction is unquestionably the right one.

Their plan is to make heavy use of WordPress's fantastic RSS functionality. There's already a very detailed subject (category) taxonomy showing on the site; and of course, once everything's tagged, it's relatively easy to use category-specific RSS feeds to surface the headlines on other sites. Other departments might, for example, want to integrate into their own pages a list of Parliament's latest news on their particular topics..?