Get Listed In The 2008-9 Blogging Guide

Cross-posted from Question That

For political bloggers, particularly those based in the UK

Iain Dale is looking for blogs to be listed in the 2008-9 Guide to Political Blogging, which will be published in September by Total Politics in association with APCO Worldwide.

If you have a blog and it isn't listed here, or it is but it is in the wrong category (see below - some libertarian blogs are under 'Conservative', for example), leave a comment here...

Conservative blogs; Green blogs; Labour blogs; Left-wing blogs; Lib Dem blogs; Libertarian blogs; Non-aligned blogs; Plaid Cymru blogs; Right-wing blogs; SNP blogs; UKIP blogs.

Also, separately, The Witangemot Club (campaign for an English parliament) has opened the voting for its annual blog awards this week. Vote here.

Blogpower Roundup - Ian_QT

As Blogpower's newest member, I am only too happy to host the 2nd in what I hope will be a long-running series of weekly Blogpower Roundups.

Because Blogpower encompasses a wide variety of types of blogs, I have divided this roundup into 3 loose categories: Politics, Humour, and Miscellaneous.


Starting with Politics...

If I have the capacity to nominate a 'Post of the Week', then I hand the virtual golden statue to CityUnslicker of Capitalists@Work, for his summarization of the state in which the UK economy finds itself after just over 12 months of "Brown-out".

Brown, of course, doesn't see it quite like that - apparently us consumers are to blame (Critical Faculty Dojo)! On a related issue, Grendel is justified in telling Brown to get stuffed. Wolfie at Two Wolves really gets across quite how ridiculous Brown's paternalism is - and who the real culprits behind the 'food crisis' are.

Across the Atlantic, a 'food crisis' of a rather different type. An Insomniac highlights the absurdity of 'Wafergate' and the non-existent 'right not to be offended' that a certain type of religion-adherents can't get enough of exercising.

The 'Big Brother By-election' (Guthrum) in Haltemprice & Howden came and went this week. Was David Davis a fool or a hero for calling it (Tom Paine)? Were the Green party justified in claiming their second place (with under 8% of the vote) was a success (Norfolk Blogger)? Was the £200,000 spent a waste of public money, or relatively trivial (The Thunder Dragon, Matt Wardman)?

Another sort of liberty - that of the blogger: Harry's Place was sued by the British Muslim Initiative this week (Pub Philosopher, among others). My politics are a long way from those of HP, but this is one blog that needs defending at present. In Wales, a threat to online free speech of a different type as sacked civil servant blogger Christopher Glamorganshire takes his case to tribunal (Miss Wagstaff Presents).

The Tin Drummer ladles on the irony in his approach to a worrying story that belongs in the realm of satire, as does Benedict of A Conservative's Blog over the astounding tale of the confessing murderer who was sent to the back of the queue in a South London police station. Paulie (Never Trust a Hippy) wonders why the Irish were asked such a stupid question on June 12th.

At Cynical Chatter, The Morning Star chronicles his battle with depression, here describing the associated feelings of lowered self-esteem. Calum Carr campaigns for Mental Health For All at his blog pseudonymously, however he and his wife were named in an article published in the Edinburgh Evening News in which he details their struggle to get help from the NHS.

In London, Heather Yaxley of Greenbanana looks at the Porsche/GLA congestion charge controversy from a PR point of view. In Iran, Gracchii (Westminster Wisdom) gives a political view of 'Persepolis'. Finally, Bearwatch speculates on Zimbabwe.


Humour:

Some politics/humour cross-over to start with: Letters From A Tory is being crippled by Royal Mail cutbacks!

More satire from The Fake Consultant: All Suspicious Persons Will Be Monitored! and from Adelaide Green Porridge Cafe who asks if Scottish people are sick of being made fun of?

I know, I know, we shouldn't feed trolls. But sometimes it is just irresistible. Dirty European Socialist has pushed all the right buttons by starting a one-man 'Boycott The Tory Blogs!' campaign. Andrew Allison and Guthrum take the piss.

Apparently the search term that leads more people to Harry's Place than any other is 'roaring fork peace coalition adam holland'. No, I'm not too sure about that either. Split your sides with plenty more where that came from at The Wardman Wire.

Perhaps not to everyone's taste, but Theo Spark's camel-toe video (definitely NSFW) find made me grin, as did this photo of a very pointless 'special offer'.

The Poor Mouth marks the start of the Scilly season with a rather ill-thought-out job advert.


Miscellaneous:

There's been some stupendous photography showcased on Blogpower's blogs this week. DeeJay of Age Is All In The Mind got this post off to a great start with their safari photos from Tanzania, one of which illustrates this round-up.

Finding Life Hard has been holidaying in France, Sally In Norfolk has been Sally In Ireland this week, while Canadian JMB at Nobody Important has been a tourist in her own country, taking some lovely photos on a family day out in Steveston, British Columbia.

Closer to home, MJW at Observations From The Hillside has a review of the Ealing Beer Festival.

Onto food & drink: Coffee blog Cafe Grendel has a cafe review from Perth, WA with photos. To make something to eat with our coffee, we have tempting recipes from Chervil at Green Living - St Martin's Bread; and Sicily Scene - Pan Bagna.

Back in front of the keyboard again, Crushed By Ingsoc envisions his Internet Eden. Bob Piper has an overview of the main players in the UK political blogging scene from a left-blogging perspective. At Question That, I get down to the nuts & bolts of social bookmarking tools as I finally move into 2008 in the way I save pages for later reference.

Finally, Tuscan Tony has a test for you all. No sneaky peeking at the answers!


Non-Blogpower Blogs:

A few highlights of the week from outside the Blogpower community:

• Let Them Eat Bighand Thornyhead! The day after Gordon Brown exhorts us to cut down on food waste, take a look at the feast he is sitting down to (via Guido Fawkes)
  
  
• Chris Dillow on the uselessness of aggregate statistics when talking about violent crime rates.
  
  
• A Very British Dude on why he is in favour of direct democracy.
  
  
• Runaway leader of my personal 'best new blogger award' nominations, Leg-Iron of Underdogs Bite Upwards, on why photo-bloggers had better watch out. From the same blog, some rare praise for David Cameron.
  
  
• What if somehow New Labour were to win the next election? Old Holborn at LPUK blog is drooling in anticipation. No, really.

Blogpower Roundup Peace Love and Goodwill Edition

In the spirit of moving forward, I have decided to author a regular roundup of Blogpower Posts that have caught my eye. Please go and take a look for yourself.

First up Ellee Seymour worries about the cost of groceries. Not the expensive stuff, but some of the loss leaders that the supermarkets are trying out.

The days of cheap food have gone. Or have they? Tesco and Asda are waging a price war to entice shoppers, with Asda already selling ten staple items, including bread, eggs and butter, for only 50p from today.

And what kind of a life can a 2 pound chicken have? Answers on the back of a savings coupon to this blog. And Happy Birthday Ellee.

Chervil always has some good sustainable ideas and her latest is the no dig garden. I built one of those at our last house, and unfortunately it still involves spades.

Ruthie has had it with snarky bloggers. Surely not us Ruthie?

Too many online discussions are marked by hatred, ignorance, and a dogmatic us-versus them mentality. The false bravado of anonymity only throws fuel on the fire.

Obviously the Internet can be a useful tool for the news media— the ease of fact-checking, the ability of bloggers and individuals to weigh in quickly on important issues, the instantaneous dispersement of news to the masses.

But when it comes to the consumption and discussion of hard news, I'll take a newspaper I can hold in my hand and an earnest face-to-face debate any day over the split-second snarkiness of the virtual world.

Very topical for Blogpower actually. Pass the Newspaper?

Make sure you don't piss of this blogger? I wonder how close that is to Theo's Blog Central Control Tower?

Matt Wardmann on the other hand suggests that we just need to take time out.

It’s incredibly hard to withdraw. A 24/7 society no longer has natural space for slowing down and silence. One counsellor, dealing with inmates in a young offenders institute, discovered that many of the young people were coming to her worried by the voices they could hear in their heads. She realised that, disconnected for the first time from a constant world of noise, it was the first time they’d been able to hear their own thoughts.

Pub Philosopher on the other hand highlights how bloggers really made a difference in China.

Kizzie brings a human face to the tragedy that is Zimbabwe. Warning, very confronting post.

Perhaps a trip to Ladakh would help to sooth the soul. The Conscious Earth wraps up his trip to this part of the world with some fantastic photographs.

Tuscan Tony sympathises with the police in Wales when facing crank calls. I wonder if they came on a bicycle and did they have mandatory UFO identification training?

Welshcakes on the other hand wishes her water supply was a bit more rationale. I can sympathise, living in water challenged South Australia. When I lived in the Philippines however, we had two hours of non potable water a day first thing in the morning. If you didn't catch it then it was a half mile walk to get more in the evening. I developed a taste for Coke in the morning and San Miguel in the evening. At least they were potable.

Speaking of utilities, Wolfie looks back at enthusiastic American promotion of Nuclear Power in Iran. OK it was before the Mullahs. Sort of similar to the US backflips in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Following up on this, Jams O'Donnell focuses on the first draft of the US invasion plan for Iran I can say that I have actually watched this movie with the kids. Even they were incredulous.

Tom Paine considers the role of books in his life over a Moscow lunch.

I glance at my watch. I gaze at the dust-jacket, irritated. A life measured in books. Since childhood, an unbroken hiss of author noise muffling my own thoughts. Books measured by the time they linger. This one was too good; too fast. The world is loud and annoyingly clear without the author’s hiss. I listen.

Grendel has useful advice for those like me who are on Scout Group Committees. I just joined last month. I have been allocated the needed task of Quartermaster. Grendel will be fundraising, which as he observes is an important role for groups like this. I am sure he can put his real life skills to work there.

Ian Grey, recently departed from Blogpower has thoughts on other things.

Ian, one of the founder members of Blogpower has contributed a lot to the organisation taking on many roles, most recently one of the administrators during a very tumultuous time. We wish him well in his new friend of Blogpower role.

And that is all I have time for today. If you are interested in doing a roundup for whatever reason or focus that you are interested in that incorporates a Blogpower focus, then just let me know and we will set you up with a login.

New Member ------ Question That

It gives me great pleasure to welcome Ian_QT, of Question That, as our newest member of Blogpower. I know he has some links already to members of this group but if you are not familiar with his site please go over and explore and introduce yourself in the comment section.


His site has now been added to the blogroll and I am sure he will be displaying it along with the BP banner very shortly, as a fully fledged member. Could anyone displaying the html BP blogroll please make this addition to it?

As a member of the Libertarian Party in real life, I wonder if Ian would like to join the chapter of the UK Libertarian Party in Second Life, recently formed by fellow Blogpower member Tom Paine and Bag.

Application for Membership --- Question That

We have a new application for membership from a Libertarian blogger, Ian_QT, who blogs at Question That, and who describes himself thus: For moderate libertarianism, not-so-moderate EU-scepticism and real democracy. He discovered Blogpower via Matt Wardman and since I see some of our members on his blogroll, I am sure he is already familiar to some of you.

Please take a look at Question That and make your feelings known in the comment section here. Any objection will move the discussion and voting to the mailing list, with comments subsequently being closed here.

NB: The blog name has now been corrected. Apologies to Ian_QT.

Andrew Allison -- A Conservative View

It gives me great pleasure to welcome Andrew Allison, of Andrew Allison --A Conservative View, back into Blogpower as a returning member. As one of the founding members we are very happy to see his name back in the blogroll, to which he has now been added.

I'm sure he will be again displaying the banner and the blogroll in the very near future, although he is a very busy man with the David Davis campaign.

Please go visit his site and welcome him back and for those newer members who do not know him go over and introduce yourself.

Reapplication for Membership in Blogpower, Andrew Allison ---A Conservative View

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Andrew Allison of Andrew Allison --A Conservative View has applied to rejoin Blogpower. Most of you will know Andrew very well but for those of you who do not please take at look at his blog. Andrew is very involved in the campaign to re-elect David Davis so there are some very interesting posts at his blog.

Please make your wishes known in the comment section.

The Next Step

In the recent vote we had in Blogpower, regarding putting a limit on the number of members, the decision in favour of doing so was passed by a slim majority of one vote. With that in mind the three of us have looked at the situation and since the membership had been as high as 70 at one time, in fact the heading of the blogroll in the sidebar says "We happy close to six dozen", and we all dealt with it satisfactorily, we have decided to make this the new limit. In addition 22 out of the 37 who voted wanted either 70 or more or no limit so we feel this number will be acceptable to the majority.

Currently we have 56 members on the blogroll, so we will be accepting new members once again. During the voting procedure we had an application from a former member to rejoin and a new application for membership from a writer/editor who is a former editor of the New Statesman, who may be of interest to many among us. We will contact them now and confirm that they wish to proceed and will be asking you to vote on them as soon as we hear.

JMB Ian Grey Colin Campbell

Change of Membership

David (Baht at) of Bradford Degeneration is no longer a member of Blogpower and can remove his link to Crushed by Ingsoc, who remains a member.

Thank you

HTML Blogroll - updated

Okay, folks - here is the updated HTML blogroll. Please take a moment to make sure that a) I've included you, and b) I've got your URL and name right.

Thanks.

<!-- Blogpower HTML blogroll begins -->
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://aconservatives.blogspot.com/">A Conservative's Blog</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://atangledrope.blogspot.com/">A Tangled Rope</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://adelaidegreenporridgecafe.blogspot.com/">Adelaide Green Porridge</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://fakeconsultant.blogspot.com/">Advice from a Fake Consultant</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://ageisallinthemind.blogspot.com/">Age is All in the Mind</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://andrew-allison.blogspot.com/">Andrew Allison</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://beamansworld.blogspot.com/">Beaman's World</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.pageflakes.com/tom.paine.ashx">Blogpower Homepage RSS</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://defendingtheblog.blogspot.com/">Blogpower HQ</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://braveheart-does-the-maghreb.blogspot.com/">Braveheart Does the Maghreb</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://brummierepublic.blogspot.com/">Brummie Republic</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://cafe-grendel.blogspot.com/">Cafe Grendel</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://thecornishdemocrat.blogspot.com/">Cornish Democract</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://corporatepresenter.blogspot.com/">Corporate Presenter</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://criticalfacultydojo.blogspot.com/">Critical Faculty Dojo</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://crushedbyingsoc.blogspot.com/">Crushed By Ingsoc</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.deeplyblasphemous.blogspot.com/">Deeply Blasphemous</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://elleeseymour.com/">Ellee Seymour</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.liz-and-harvey.blogspot.com/">Finding life hard?</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://chervil-earth.blogspot.com/">Green Living</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://grendel-grendel.blogspot.com/">Grendel Grendel</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://greenbanana.wordpress.com/">Heather Yaxley-Greenbanana</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.hells-handmaiden.com/">Hell's Handmaiden</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.hercules-28704.blogspot.com/">Hercules</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://higherthebetter.blogspot.com/">In Search of High Places</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.wholeheartedly-sudaniya.blogspot.com/">Kizzie</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.lettersfromatory.com/">Letters From a Tory</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://lookingforavoice.blogspot.com/">Looking for a Voice</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://onewalesgovernment.blogspot.com/">Miss Wagstaff Presents</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://mutleythedogsdayout.blogspot.com/">Mutley the Dog</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://nevertrustahippy.blogspot.com/">Never Trust a Hippy</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://nobodyimportant-jmb.blogspot.com/">Nobody Important</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://observationsfromthehillside.blogspot.com/">Observations from the Hillside</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://this-is-sparta.blogspot.com/">Ordovicius</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://pubphilosopher.blogs.com/">Pub Philosopher</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://ruthie-zaftig.blogspot.com/">Ruthie Zaftig</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://sallyinnorfolk.com/">Sally In Norfolk</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.museinmeltdown.blogspot.com/">Sempiternal Horizons</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://sicilyscene.blogspot.com/">Sicily Scene</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://cityunslicker.blogspot.com/">The Cityunslicker</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://consciousearth.blogspot.com/">The Conscious Earth</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.lastditch.typepad.com/">The Last Ditch</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://the-morningstar.co.uk/">The Morning Star</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://norfolkblogger.blogspot.com/">The Norfolk Blogger</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://thepoormouth.blogspot.com/">The Poor Mouth</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://thethunderdragon.blogspot.com/">The Thunderdragon</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://thetindrummer.blogspot.com/">The Tin Drummer</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.theospark.blogspot.com/">Theo Spark</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://tuscantony.blogspot.com/">Tuscan Tony</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://blog.twowolves.co.uk/">Two Wolves</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/">Wardman Wire</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://gracchii.blogspot.com/">Westminster Wisdom</a>
</li>
</ul>
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