The news that David Steel is about to say he won’t be a candidate, leaving the way open for Paddy Ashdown to become the first elected leader of the new Social & Liberal Democratic Party will strike panic in many a British computer journalist’s breast: as the most reliable rent-a-quote on any controversial computer topic under the sun, Paddy Ashdown has long been every news editor’s stand-by for a comment to spice up a story that still lacks something, and the worry is that with all the chores involved in running the party, he may be too busy to return journalists’ calls so punctiliously as in the past.
