Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 186th 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 (5th – 11th September, 2010), 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. Let Norwich serve as a warning to Nick Clegg on Nich Starling’s Norfolk Blogger.
‘The Lib Dem vote was down in almost every ward, despite some really good campaigns and an effective local MP who is already building a reputation as a good constituency representative.’

2. Charles Kennedy personally responds to my criticism on Neil Woollcott’s blog.
And re-iterates his previously stated position.

3. Are Labour Preparing to Lose in Oldham East & Saddleworth? on Nick Thornsby’s blog.
‘Labour have already begun telephone canvassing voters in the constituency from their central phone-bank.’ I wonder if they’ll ask voters what they think of their MP sending out leaflets like this?

4. Another Liberal Democrat rebellion in the Commons on Mark Valladares’ Liberal Bureaucracy.
The four Lib Dem MPs who rebelled this time: Mike Hancock, Martin Horwood, Bob Russell and David Ward.

5. Past hope, present disappointment and future hope: canvassing on a Hackney estate on Mark Pack’s blog.
Good luck to Lib Dem by-election hopeful Ben Mathis for this week. You can read more about the contest here.

6. ITV’s Daybleak – breakfast at the undertaker’s on Paul Walter’s Liberal Burblings.
‘Honestly. ITV have spent millions on coming up with this set design and they end up depressing us all, when all we want is to be cheered up.’

7. A glimmer of hope for Lib Dems in Waltham Forest on Neil Woollcott’s blog.
Celebrating the good news of Mahmood Hussain’s election as a councillor by a belated four months.

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. Day 3536: For Labor Day… Your “Which Monster Are You” guide to the Labour Leadership Contenders, or Why They Are All Dreadful on Millennium Dome, Elephant’s Very Fluffy Diary.
“The Millennium Elephant is inspired by the Labour leadership contenders’ performances in the TV debate to assign them various monstrous characters from dungeons and dragons. Hilarious :)” (Submitted by Niklas Smith via LibDig.)

9. It’s too late now, Tony on Sara Bedford’s Always win when you’re singing.
“Sara once again sums up hypocrisy in a short well-aimed post.” (Submitted by matthewb via LibDig.)

10. Child Detention is a red line issue – end of story. on Caron Lindsay’s Musings.
“‘We will end the detention of children for immigration purposes’ — so says the Coalition’s Programme for Government on page 21 and this is what I expect to happen, despite this week’s story in the Guardian saying the Government is climbing down on this.” (Submitted by andrew.reeves via LibDig.)

11. Politics – who cares? on Sarah Whitebread’s blog.
“Sarah tells tribalists, ‘We need to start debating ideas’.” (Submitted by helenduffett via LibDig.)

12. In the Kingdom of the Dull… on Charlotte Gore’s blog.
“Charlotte Gore comes out of holiday-imposed isolation to give us her take on the Labour leadership election: the candidate with the least personality will win.” (Submitted by Niklas Smith via LibDig. And, yes, I know Charlotte isn’t a Lib Dem any more; Golden Dozen rules are occasionally made for breaking.)

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

Featured? Add this to your blog post!

<a href="https://www.libdemvoice.org/top-of-the-blogs-the-lib-dem-golden-dozen-186-21102.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>