Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen #60

Welcome to the 60th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (6th-12th April), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed.

Let’s get straight down to it, in descending order of popularity:

1. Will the real Lib Dem leader please step forward on Bob Shaw’s Lib Dem Revolution blog.
Who was behind a brief flurry of interest (well, a dodgy article in the Independent) alleging the Lib Dem leadership race could have had a different ending had 1,300 late-arriving ballots been counted?

2. Those revolting Labour MPs on Peter Black AM’s blog.
Hard to imagine what must be going through Labour supporters’ minds at the realisation their Government is hitting the poorest in society by scrapping the 10% tax rate.

3. Should Chris Huhne really be leader? on Stephen Tall’s [who he? – Ed.] A Liberal Goes A Long Way blog.
Is it really likely those 1,300 late-arriving ballots would have changed the leadership result?

4. Why are bloggers deserting Lib Dem Blogs? on Bob Shaw’s Lib Dem Revolution blog.
I wonder what event taking place on 1st May could be distracting political activists right now?

5. How Long Has Brian Paddick Been a Liberal Democrat? on Gavin Whenman’s Gavin’s Gaily Gigest blog.
Just click through for the answer.

6. Lib Dem 3% drop in ICM poll…….is Nick Clegg to blame? on Linda Jack’s Lindyloo’s Muze blog.
That’s 1% for ever 10 women…

7. Is there a life after politics? on Stephen Tall’s A Liberal Goes A Long Way blog.
Two posts in the top seven, eh? I should try this blogging lark more often.

And now to the five slots we reserve under the category ‘well worth reading even if they didn’t get the most clicks this week’. No readers’ nominations this week, so they’re all down to me… Remember, if you do want to highlight a Lib Dem blog article published in the past seven days – your own, or someone else’s – all you have to do is drop me a line at [email protected] (providing the web-link and author, and any tagline comment you care to have published). This week, three relate to the current London mayoral race – which is all the excuse I need to plug the current Lib Dem Voice poll, asking who you would give your second preference to (assuming Brian Paddick is your top choice).

8. How to rig an election – your contributions welcome on Alex Folkes’ A Lanson Boy blog.
Go on, readers, don’t be shy.

9. Don’t expel Martin Ford on Iain Rubie Dale’s Anything Caron Can Do blog.
Sticking up for a fellow Lib Dem whose colleagues forgot their manners. See also Bernard Salmon’s The Sound of Gunfire blog article, Martin Ford is innocent.

10. Another reason why encouraging Boris Johnson is a really, really bad idea… on Jo Christie-Smith’s blog.
Don’t vote for Tories, it only encourages them.

11. Voting for Boris Johnson: A Sacrifice for the Greater Good on Jeremy Hargreaves’ blog.
Vote for Tories, it’ll show them up for what they truly are.

12. The morning after the night before: the moment when it looked like Paxman might punch Johnson on Lynne Featherstone MP’s Parliament and Haringey Diary blog.
Quote of the week: “Newsnight’s Jeremy Paxman grilled the three main candidates for Mayor last night. Personally – I thought Jeremy won hands down.” (Personally, I thought Paxo contributed much to making it the most tedious, unenlightening televised debate I’ve seen).

Anyway, that’s it for this week… Happy blogging. And campaigning.

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