When you start a new business, there are many things you need to do and many other things you ought to do which never cross your mind. Starting a magazine is no different. One of the things none of us ever thought of was joining the Press Complaints Commission and subjecting ourselves to its regulatory regime.

Indeed, I have to admit that even if it had crossed my mind, I would probably have dismissed it as I thought that the PCC only applied to newspapers. Possibly a shameful admission, but I might as well be up front about it.

Some weeks ago, Tim Ireland, who runs the Bloggerheads blog, tried to make a complaint to the PCC about our inclusion of his blog in the Total Politics Guide to Political Blogging. As we were not members, he could not do so.

I then decided to investigate what PCC membership entails, and to cut a long story short, as of today, we have signed up to the PCC Code of Conduct and are being invoiced for a subscription fee.

So if any reader wishes to make a complaint and is not satisfied with our treatment of them, they have legitimate recourse through the PCC.