Mr Watson, who posts his daily thoughts on his own 'weblog', has been campaigning for Mr Blair to make an e-mail address available to the general public, and laid down Parliamentary questions on the subject last year.

BBC: Blair on message with e-mail

In Iran many journalists, commentators and young people have set up web-based journals or blogs that document their daily lives and thoughts.

BBC: Bloggers unite to fight

In a follow-up experiment they therefore asked 23 undergraduates who had romantic partners, and who stated that they prayed at least occasionally, either to pray for their partners daily for four weeks or to think positive thoughts about them every day for the same amount of time.

ECONOMIST: Praying for your partner stops you straying