Some Labour members (not me) were surprised by how well the Lib Dems did in 2005 and 2006 blew away the last cobwebs of complacency for many. What I was surprised by was how far the Lib Dems slipped back from 2006.

But my point is not one of electoral banter – it is about the Lib Dems as a party of the left. The further Nick Clegg moves from that the more difficult it will be not just to hold Hornsey and Wood Green but lots of other places too.

The Lib Dems won all those west country seats in 1997 because they were a party of the moderate left. It is a mistake to think that they can change their spots now and not suffer.

You are entitled to hate the Labour Party but don’t make the mistake of many in Labour who’s hatred of the Lib Dems blinds them to what is really going on with the electorate.

As it happens, I don’t tend to use the LD aggregator, I have my own feedreaders, but I was talking historically, and the comment was aimed at Lord Greaves, who is worried we might go the way of the other parties—I was pointing out to them that it’s the other way around and they’re actually following us.

But we’re talking over two years ago, which is an ice age in blogging terms, water under the bridge.

Comparing LDV to ConHome today is also erroneous, Lib Dems have always been more decentralised and less inclined to cluster around one specific site, and that’s how we prefer it.

Back then, there were very few Conservative blogs worth reading (Conservative Home really ought to rename Cornerstone Home given its Editor’s focus), and many of them are now defunct.

At the start, I linked to virtually every political blog I could find (there really weren’t that many 4 years ago) and while the Tories had more than Labour, the Lib Dems were ahead back then as now.

Of course, the non-aligned non-partizan blogs remain better than virtually all the party specific sites, still.

If you want to believe that the current fairly vibrant Tory blogs predate the diversity of the Lib Dems, go ahead, but it simply isn’t true, sorry.

apologies for the misquote; yes I had you confused with Darrell.

It was far from clear that MatGB was talking about aggregators when he talked about a set of blogs (or rather, it seemed clear that he wasn’t); I rather assumed you were deliberately winding me up and reacted accordingly.

Personally I don’t think that ConservativeHome represents all Tories, just the kind of Tories I don’t like, and it seems you are one of them.

[Abusive comments edited out - mod.]

“Conservative Home does provide a vital function because it reminds us just how awful a Conservative government was and will still be….”

to then go on to say

“But with that tone you sure aren’t making me any more favourable to the Tories.”

is a bit comical. Just who do you think you are kidding?

Aggregators are automated, and therefore it’s unlikely that they would be controlled, it’s all about making things easier for those who want to read blogs. Of course you can keep the Conservative blogosphere “more distributed”, but don’t expect me to spend more time for searching the good bits from it just because the Tories seem to be too old-fashioned to adopt modern technology.

I’m not pretending; I said I’m not a member of any party, but I symphatise the Liberal Democrats. I didn’t claim that I had voted the Tories, or ever would. (Maybe I could, if they had a much better candidate than the other parties, I actually stress the personal qualities when choosing who to vote.) But to be frank, I don’t care what you think about me and my political views, and actually they are none of your business. But with that tone you sure aren’t making me any more favourable to the Tories.

In terms of blog aggregation then to an extent you have a point, although both ConservativeHome and IDD compile content (although it is clear that this takes an editorial stance in each case). I suppose it comes down to whether you want all your information through one, centrally organised (and therefore controlled) feed or whether you prefer something a little more distributed.

Although, given the tone of your comments you strike me as the sort of person I meet canvasing who says “well, I’ll never vote Tory now” when you know full well they have never voted Tory in their life and even if you let them write the manifesto they still wouldn’t.

As I said previously in this thread, not for you or any other Tory, nut for Tony Greaves who wouldn’t like to discuss with people who aren’t members of the Liberal Democrats, I am not a member of any party, though I symphatise Liberal Democrats. I don’t even agree with all of them, but still I’m interested to read many of their opinions, like I am interested to read those of Labour and Conservative blogs, if they are made easily available.

Liberal Democrats have “LibDem Blogs – Aggregated” and Labour has Bloggers4Labour, which make following the political blogs easier for an independent interested in politics like me, but the Tories haven’t made any such effort, so I understand that as them not being interested to make themselves visible for outsiders, and therefore probably not even very interesting to read.

If you bother to look for them you will find they are there aplenty and have been for some while.

Sure Iain Dale and ConservativeHome hog the limelight, although Guido is broadly sympathetic and it seems a bit mean of you to miss off Dizzy. Then it depends a bit what you are after. Coffee House works well (although may be a bit formal for your taste, also the rest of the Spectator stable). A large number of MPs and PPCs blog (e.g. I know John Redwood is a bit of a bete noir in Lib Dem circles but his blog is particularly well maintained IMHO). Then there are the more personal blogs (e.g. Daily Referendum, Letters from a Tory etc etc).

This is not to say that I expect you to agree with the views expressed in these blogs or necessarily feel the need to read them at all, but they are most definitely there. Iain Dale used to keep a fairly comprehensive and well-maintained list although it seems slightly harder to dig out in his new format.

You really must be a bit delusional if you think this is true. Compare the trajectory and impact of this site vs ConservativeHome.

Of course, if you define only Lib Dem blogs as being useful to you then your statement might be correct, but that would be a bit myopic.

We had a much more vibrant and useful set of blogs way before the other two parties did. Indeed, reading and getting involved in them was one of the reasons I (and others) joined the party. I wouldn’t have had access tot he members forum two years ago, I wasn’t a member, I am now because I was able to join discussions such as this and could see that not only was it a party I broadly agreed with, but it was also a party that wanted to listen to me.

If we lock ourselves away in private for all constructive strategic discussions then the next potential members like me, for example, won’t get those benefits.

Times are moving on—reading Lynne’s blog, having Adrian comment on mine, talking to other prominent members finally prompted me to get my wallet out.

I don’t see anything in Lynne’s (rather good) post that is in need of being secret—sure, you can make additional comments in the forum if you wish, but if we all make sure that this is for public consumption then no harm.

Lynne, I mostly concur, and I think we can all benefit from sharing ideas like this, I really need to get on with helping out our local party a bit more, now the elections are over. I especially agree about the potential uses we can put to websites and improving our online presence, especially in areas we’re weak.

If you look at the votes, you’ll see that Hornsey & Wood Green was one of the constituencies in London where the Liberal Democrats topped the constituency vote, and two of the three best ward results on the list election were also in Hornsey & Wood Green.

There’s never any excuse for complacency, but your comment does remind me rather more of the mix of Labour complacency and wishful thinking that I’ve heard so many times before in Haringey (“Oh the Lib Dems are only popular in Muswell Hill, they’ll never win outside that”, “Oh, they’re only popular in the the most middle class wards in the west, they’ll never win in wards with big estates like Hornsey”, “They might have a few councillors but they’ll never win a Westminster election”, “Oh, they’re only popular in the west, they’ll never get any councillors east of the railway line” and so on…)

Nothing seemed to be done to support Brian Paddick and while Labour were out for the month before 1 May, the Lib Dems only seemed to be active in the final week.

The result was enough to suggest that Lynne’s personal bubble is slowly deflating and that H&WG Lib Dems have lost members and momentum.

In my ward, which we (Labour) lost to the Lib dems by 700 votes in 2006 we topped the poll.

No doubt someone will be along shortly to rebut all this in a second, but it is not just meant to be a bit of pro-Labour propaganda but a warning to Lib Dems that chasing the Tory vote exposes Lynne and co to a Labour revival.

Obviously that seems like a strange thing to say now, but the Tories are not going to be 20% ahead on polling day at the next GE and lots of centre-left voters will be galvanised by the prospect of a Tory government.

I was talking to a former member of Lib Dem staff at the weekend who was regretting the death of “the project” and the failure of key Lib Dems to recognise what a threat the Tory revival is to them. I fear she had a serious point.

There a zealots and trolls in all parties, and it’s best to avoid wasting time with any of them.

There are also partisan people in all who while not complete timewasters, are more than happy to take things out of context for their own agenda.

It’s not black and white tho – there are people reading LDV and other blogs who are “just voters”, and they should be included not excluded. How are you going to get more people interested by discussing things in partisan echo chambers between westminster politicos who have forgotten what it’s like to actually think who to vote for, and just how little impact it feels like a Parlimentary or EP vote has.