Our weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere reaches its quarter century, which we celebrate by featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (5th – 12th August), together with a personally-selected quintent you might have missed but shouldn’t have.

Live from Washington DC, here are the top of the blogs this week:

1. New job, now I can criticise the party! says Duncan Borrowman.
He hints at his retrospective opinions of controversies during his time gagged by professionalism… but keeps us waiting.

2. My top 50 Lib Dem blogs by Norfolk Blogger Nich Starling
In the first outbreak of this week’s stattomania, Nich tells us which 50 Lib Dem bloggers he loves most.

3. Mayoral selection on Duncan Borrowman’s blog
Duncan takes a second spot this week, with unfettered ponderings on our London mayoral selection.

4. Another boring Iain Dale Post by Mark Pack on Lib Dem Voice
Mark tells you his post is boring in the subject line, and it’s still the fourth-best read of the week? You people…

5. Mark Oaten: I don’t remember it that way… on The Diary of Chris K
‘Apparently, all Mark Oaten really wanted to do was abolish prisons, but those nasty Lib Dems wouldn’t let him.’

6. EXCLUSIVE: Have Conservative Party staff been lying to the BBC? by Mark Pack on Lib Dem Voice.
Mark continues to demonstrate what can be done by one man with Google and a grudge. I think I’m less distrubed by the lying allegation than the fact that Tory Central Office wrote so many words on the specifications of their broccoli logo.

7. Is this what Ming meant by being more spikey? from Lib Dem Voice
Norman Baker wins the attention of the blogosphere, by being spikier than a hedgehog in a cocktail stick factory.

Then here are five that tickled my ribs or raised my eyebrows this week:

8. A New Liberalism from David Boyle? from Jeremy Hargreaves.
Enter herein, you policy wonks and ideologues, and sup on a feast.

9. Lib Dems Pull Silly Faces 😛 on Letters from Letterman.
Letterman showcases the comedy potential of YouTube’s freeze frames.

10. It’s Time to Get Tough on the Chinese Communist Party’s Human Rights Record Ming says Liberal Legend II, Toby Philpott
Is this the first time our Olympian leader has been fisked by one of his own members?

11. The Liberal Green Challenge on Tristan Mill’s Liberty Alone Blog
Tristan finds a distinctive voice on how liberals should be environmentalists, continuing a long–bubbling Lib Dem blogosphere debate.

12. Roy Hattersley vs John Stuart Mill refereed by Jonathan Calder Esq., proprietor of Liberal England
‘How lucky we are to be living in the 21st century and not the 19th! The poor Victorians had to make do with John Stuart Mill as a philoshoper, but we have Roy Hattersley.’

And here ends the first week of your summer drought of Stephen Tall. I’ll be back with another Golden Dozen next week.

* Stephen Tall, who blogs at A Liberal Goes A Long Way, is away from his keyboard. Richard Huzzey is not.

Featured? Add this to your blog post!

<a href="https://www.libdemvoice.org/top-of-the-blogs-the-golden-dozen-25-1167.html"><img src="https://www.libdemvoice.org/images/golden-dozen.png" width="200" height="57" alt="Featured on Liberal Democrat Voice" title="Featured on Liberal Democrat Voice" /></a>