Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 304th 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 (9-15 December 2012), 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. Resignation: Tom Wood, Chair of Liberal Youth by Tom Wood on The Libertine.
Tom steps down and will concentrate his Lib Dem work on Portsmouth. “Sorry it had to end so soon but it’s been a hell of a ride.”

2. Simon says but is wrong by Stephen Glenn on Stephen’s Liberal Journal.
Stephen is not pleased with Simon’s assertion that Government should seek faith leaders’ agreement on equal marriage.

3. The Cabling of George Osborne by Jonathan Calder  on Liberal England.
The mental images that headline conjured were not quite borne out by the text…

4. Nick Clegg stands up for cleaner by Caron Lindsay on Caron’s Musings.
The Deputy Prime Minister makes time to write a letter in support of a cleaner disciplined for asking him to support the living wage campaign.

5. UK Tax Distribution by Carl Minns on Thoughts from Hull.
“One chart, one graph, no words.”

6. The end of elected dictatorship by Alex Folkes on A Lanson Boy .
How Liberal Democrats are giving power back to local councillors.

7. Bizarre UK Government decision on Church in Wales by Peter Black AM on Peter Black.
If Church of Wales is included in equal marriage legislation, a further act of Parliament will be required if it changes its mind.

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. George Osborne thinks he can win by appealing to mean-spiritedness. I think he’s wrong. by Mark Thompson on Mark Thompson’s blog.
Mark says George is retoxifying the Tories. (Submitted by Alex via Twitter.)

9. Chasing GDP growth is destructive – we need an alternative by Chris Richards on On Liberty Now.
“How can we have infinite growth on a planet with finite resources? We should seek to value more than just the market value of what we produce.” (Submitted by Chris via LibDig.)

10. Religiosity and the Census – helpful infographic by on Matt J McLaren on Wisdom and Power.
“An overview at the data from the census on religiosity and a brief look at the implications of such for public policy.” (Submitted by Matt via LibDig.)

11. “Suggestions similar to John Stuart Mill”  says Twitter by Jennie Rigg on Jennie Rigg.
Jennie finds Twitter’s suggestions a little wanting.

12. Doctor Who 50 great scenes 50: The Eleventh Hour by Alex Wilcock on Love and Liberty
There was no way I could do a Who-free dozen after the weekend I’ve had, meeting David Tennant and the like. And many Liberal Democrats will be interested in Alex’s rundown which will take us to the 50th anniversary next year.

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

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* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings