10. Liberal Burblings - actually, Paul Walter goes from strength to strength, as he has already pointed out. Having actually opted out of all awards and lists, it should be noted that he's actually pretty good.
12. Because Baronesses are People Too... - sadly, my other half's blog fell foul of the tendancy of others to fail to realise that blogging, and responding to bloggers, is not the be all and end all of everyone's life.
17. Schneider Home - James last blogged on 28 December. Since then, nothing, not even an indication that he had given up. Was it something we said?
19. Dib Lemming - probably one of the remoter bloggers, deep in West Wales (I know, I've been there), Stephanie Ashley appeared to have given up the blog within weeks of last year's poll. However, there was a posting on 1 August, and I'm assuming that you're very busy, Stephanie. There are many of us who would like to see you back though...
20. The Real Blog - David Boyle is one of Liberal Democracy's more erudite thinkers, not prone to firing off opinions left, right and centre and, in truth, tends more to pamphlets and books rather than pithy commentary, although I'm sure he could do it if he wanted to. Nineteen postings in eight months indicates that he probably doesn't.
25. A Load of Old Stodge - another of the more mature (in years, at least), the demise of this blog is almost certainly another case of too few entries, not enough prominence. Where there's life, there's hope though...
27. Jo's Jottings - one of the more spectacular implosions in recent Lib Dem blogging history. Controversial, edgy, before finally dying in an orgy of blood and unpleasantness. It was fun to watch until it stopped being fun, if you see what I mean. However, Jo Anglezarke is back, blogging fairly regularly and keeping it calm and measured.
30. Liberty Alone - Tristan Mills was one of the Lib Dem blogosphere's earlier libertarians and, whilst I often disagreed with him, he was able to raise a decent argument. However, it appears that he has allowed his membership to lapse, and his blog has gone fairly quiet, so one assumes that he probably wouldn't count as a Lib Dem blogger anyway.
31. Redlands Liberal Democrats - A collective effort, Daisy Benson, Kirsten Bayes and Glenn Goodall continue to blog, giving the administration in Reading a regular admonishment for being pretty useless.
33. Brian Robson - another councillor, this time in Lewisham, Brian continues to reach out to voters in Lee Green.
34. Suz Blog - ironically, Susanne had long been expelled from the Party when 2008's poll was held. Another who used her blog in a gallant attempt at self-immolation, she still blogs, is a regular host of Britblog Roundup (as is our own dear Liberal England) and is still at the centre of a veritable spider's web of family.
40. Neil Woollcott - From the end of the Central Line, Neil covers events in Epping Forest, a place where the BNP demonstrates why they can't run a whelk stall but are quite capable of hurling a brick through a window.
41. Paint the Town Orange - Helen has gone establishment in her new role as part of the Lib Dem Voice collective and, as Jonathan Calder has already noted, that tends to mean death for a blogger. Perhaps more ukelele podcasts might help?
46. Do As You're Told - actually, this is a bit of a con, as it's Charlotte's old blog. So, she's not quite emerged from nowhere. Even so, a rise of forty-five places is pretty impressive...
48. A Radical View - one of our younger bloggers, Alasdair Wood wrote a searing condemnation of the Liberal Youth elections which I banned from publication in 'The Libertine', Liberal Youth's in-house journal. So he published it on his blog instead. And then stopped blogging...
49. Bridget's Blog - the woman who may well be the next MP for Islington South and Finsbury continues to report on her campaign. She's still fragrant (I had a bit of a crush on her, albeit more than twenty years ago...), and would add a touch of English rose to the Commons when she wins.
50. Susan Gaszczak - a name I can pronounce nine times out of ten, but has given up blogging. Somehow, I doubt that you've heard the last of her though...
And so, there you have it. A sign of the strength and depth of Liberal Democrat blogging? Or of the fact that, at the lower end of the chart, small numbers of votes can have a dramatic effect? Who knows? And who might we lose next year?
Mark, Helen seems to have another blog at http://helenduffett.blogspot.com. in addition to her ldv fabulousness.
ReplyDeleteI aten't dead... just yes, very busy. Business to run, manic smallperson to bring up single-handedly, politics is taking a necessary back seat for a bit. Thanks for remembering me, I still think of you too :)
ReplyDeleteAwww, warm fuzzies for a dull morning!
I stopped blogging as my GCSEs were coming up. I'm thinking of restarting some time. The article about the elections didn't have much to do with me stopping. You were justifiable in banning the article from the Libertine.
ReplyDeleteNice to no my disappearance isn't unnoticed!
Great shame about Schneider Home disappearing, that was a great blog.