Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 252nd weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (11-17 December, 2011), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

1. Tories hold Coombe Vale with increased majority by Dan Falchikov on Living on words alone.
“This breaks a 24 year duck for Kingston Conservatives who have failed to win any by-election in Kingston Borough since 1987.”

2. How Ed Miliband could be PM by Christmas. ish. by Richard Morris on A View from Ham Common.
What would happen if a Vote of No Confidence were called.

3. Are the Lib Dems really pro-European? by Iain Sharpe on Eaten By Missionaries.
“Time and again I let slip in conversation to a Lib Dem colleague that I don’t quite share the party’s zeal for the European project only to be told that neither do they.”

4. Europe and the Liberal Democrats: we’re at our best when we believe in something by Mark Valladares on The View from Creeting St Peter.
“If you’re not in the room when the big questions are discussed, you’re not fighting for Britain’s interest, you’re watching as other decide your future for you,” says Mark.

5. Lessons from Feltham and Heston on Jonathan Fryer’s blog.
“The campaign probably needed more of a persuasive national LibDem narrative: why should people vote LibDem nationally at the moment?”

6. Europe: Clegg got it right..and then completely wrong… by Angela Harbutt on Liberal Vision.
On Nick’s handling of the post-veto situation.

7. Since when was it ok to violently throw someone off a train? by Caron Lindsay on Caron’s Musings.
“I think the Scotrail conductor was wrong to accept the offer of help he received to have the guy removed,” says Caron.

And now to the five blog-posts that come highly recommended, regardless of the number of Aggregator click-throughs they attracted. These are normally chosen using the LibDig bookmarking website for party members, the site where you can highlight blog-posts you want to share with your fellow Lib Dems. Remember, though, you’re still more than welcome to nominate for the Golden Dozen a Lib Dem blog article published in the past seven days – your own, or someone else’s – using the steam-powered method of e-mail … all you have to do is drop a line to [email protected].

8. Education isn’t a political football by Rhys Taylor on Ramblings of a Lib Dem.
“The issue of education and RCT is beginning to be a bit repetitive now. Having blogged about the farce Labour led RCT Council made over the restructuring of post-16 education in the county borough not so long ago, the Government’s new ‘banding system’ only highlights the failings of RCT on education.” (Submitted by rhystaylor92 via LibDig.)

9. Alex Salmond complains bitterly to Cameron over EU veto – but fails to say what he would have done by Caron Lindsay on Caron’s Musings.
“Caron on the SNP’s opportunistic response to the Cameron and Europe.” (Submitted by oneexwidow via LibDig.)

10. Small row in Europe, not many hurt by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England.
“Lashings of common sense on Europe (albeit a little superseded by events).” (Submitted by stephenftall via LibDig.)

11. Is it REALLY necessary to be that aggressive? by Mark Valladares on The View from Creeting St Peter.
“Why I love Lady Mark. End of.” (Submitted by caron via LibDig.)

12. What would Clegg say if he wasn’t in Government? Lib Dems have lost their most effective voice by Matthew Gibson on Solution Focused Politics.
“What we are seeing is the result of Clegg having been put in a box and having lost his voice. As a result the Lib Dems have lost their voice and so we shouldn’t be surprised that our poll rating is so low. The country misses Nick Clegg, but more importantly, the country needs Nick Clegg.” (Submitted by MatthewJ via LibDig.)

And that’s it for another week. Happy blogging ‘n’ reading ‘n’ nominating.

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