When I agreed to write this monthly round up of Labour and Tory blogging I said I would aim to “keep a balance between pointing to interesting postings that we Lib Dems may have missed and laughing at the folly of our opponents”.

So here goes.

Labour

There is only one place to begin this time: Crewe.

Let’s visit their candidate’s blog Tamsin Dunwoody – One of Us for a reminder of just how dreadful her campaign in the by-election was. “Don’t be conned by soft on yobs Tory Boy” and so on and on. It’s no wonder that so many voters decided she was not so much One of Us as One of Them.

And it’s no wonder, either, that For the Union, writing on Labourhome, was disgusted by the campaign:

The class warfare stuff, although cheap, is bording just about acceptable; but one thing horrified me (on an election leaflet):

“Do you oppose making foreign nationals carry and ID card?”

Regardless of the fact that I oppose ID cards in anyway, shape or form (the mere idea is distinctly alien to Britain) – “making”, “foreign nationals” is the language of the (far) right.

Nor was Newer Labour impressed by the campaign, but his posting is chiefly notable for conveying the authentic voice of the young activist in any party:

I had hoped to get up to crew (sic) today or tomorrow, but as it happens, I remain extremely hung over, and have a driving lesson tomorrow.

And then there are the party’s financial troubles. I don’t know if the Tribune website really counts as a blog, but its article on the subject is well worth reading.

With all this doom and gloom going on, it is no wonder that Lulu (again on Labourhome but probably not the popular chanteuse of the 1960s) is calling for Gordon Brown’s head:

So, he has to go. And better to go now with some dignity – simply admitting that Labour cannot win with him as leader – that to be dragged out in a coup in six months time.

We had better end on a lighter note. Kerron Cross reveals that Anglia Ruskin University has banned students from throwing their mortarboards in the air at graduation ceremonies.

On health and safety grounds, naturally.

Conservative

Over to the Tories and back to Crewe.

Chris Whiteside quoted a deluded Labour commenter on Nick Robinson’s BBC blog:

Everywhere around the Constituency, Labour posters are proudly on display with only a scattering of Lib Dem posters.

Nowhere is a ‘Tory boy’ Timpson poster to be seen, after all, this is Crewe and Nantwich and not the old Kings road!

I spoke to everyone I saw and all but one couple were voting Labour.

While Iain Dale brought us a dispatch from within the Dunwoody bunker.

Of course, May did not just see the Crewe and Nantwich by-election: it also saw the local elections. And Matt Dean explains how the Tories did so unexpectedly well in Southampton, winning 15 of the 17 seats that were up for election.

On a different not – in not a different planet – John Redwood wants the English people to have a vote on whether they wish to stay in the Union. Another sign that the Tories are changing from a Unionist party into an English Nationalist one before our eyes?

Why do we throw away so much food these days? Dizzy Thinks thinks it is because supermarkets have been forced to change from giving Best Before dates to Use By ones:

We have been so infantilised by state regulation that most people just read the date, check the calendar, then chuck it. Having the knowledge to know when something is ‘on the turn’ or, when something will be OK if you cook it properly has been lost to lives indirectly and unconsciously ruled by regulations.

All very sensible. But do not despair: the real Tory Party is alive and well out there.

Donal Blaney wrote in advance of the Carlton Club’s vote on whether to admit women members:

The decision tonight by the Carlton Club will probably go in favour of allowing women to become full members. In part this will be because the Carlton needs new members. In voting for change yet another bastion of tradition will succumb to the demands of those who place political correctness ahead of freedom of association.

Were I a member of the Carlton I would vote no.

Though whether it is likely that he will be asked to join the Carlton is nowhere revealed.

* Jonathan Calder blogs at Liberal England and for the New Statesman.