Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #224

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 224th 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 (29 May – 4 June), 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. An illiberal Liberal Democrat Conference? Give me a break. by Charlotte Henry on Virtually Naked.
Charlotte calls the increased security measures for Birmingham conference “fairly standard”.

2. Liberal Democrat Conference 2011 – The most ‘illiberal’ yet by Lisa Harding on Welcome to Spiderplant Land.
Lisa says it’s an “illiberal attack on our civil liberty and right to keep our personal information private”.

3. Andrew Reeves in ten Blogposts by Stephen Glenn on Stephen’s Liberal Journal.
“A collection of ten of Andrew Reeves’s blog posts that show the depth of the man.”

4. Birkenhead Liberal Democrat Party Constituency Executive Suspends John Brace by John Brace on Bidston & St James Liberal Democrats’ blog.

5. So the problem is apparently not the poor HQ staff, but the police. on Jennie Rigg’s blog.
Jennie on Conference security.

6. In Memory of Andrew Reeves by Lisa Harding on Welcome to Spiderplant Land.
Lisa pays tribute.

7. Andrew Reeves on Lynne Featherstone MP’s blog.
Andrew was Lynne’s former Head of Office.

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. Ban Spanish cucumbers and all fresh produce as a precaution by Andrew Reeves on Andrew Reeves’ Running Blog.
“Andrew in typically down to earth, pugnacious style calls for the EU to be as robust with Spain as they would be with us. Sadly, Andrew’s last post.” (Submitted by Caron via LibDig.)

9. Lib Dems making serious mistakes with use of language: How to get the language right to recover by Matthew Gibson on Solution Focused Politics.
“Language is the life blood of politics and for the Lib Dems who need to be more distinctive from the other parties and persuasive to the public, the party’s use of language from here on in is crucial.” (Submitted by MatthewJ via LibDig.)

10. The Forgiven Simon Hughes and Farron’s Caron Test by Caron Lindsay on Caron’s Musings.
“I like it when Caron tells people off. She gets a response and is very nice about it. Simon Hughes must have been very eloquent in his reply. Well done Caron!” (Submitted by lisaharding42 via LibDig.)

11. An Open Letter To My MP: Steve Brine (Con) by Andrew Emmerson on The Yellow Bastard.
“Andrew writes a very eloquent letter to his MP Steve Brine over his increasing tribalism and pot shots at Nick Clegg since the AV referendum was lost.” (Submitted by lisaharding42 via LibDig.)

12. Council to help ex-forces personnel find a home on Paul Edies’s blog.
“Paul shows how he as Edinburgh’s housing and social care convener is trying to make it easier for service veterans, who often find themselves homeless and vulnerable after fighting abroad, to get housing.” (Submitted by Caron via LibDig.)

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

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