Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 309th 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 (13-,19 January 2013), 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. Just when you thought it was safe to select a PPC by Simon Titley on Liberator’s Blog.
David Cameron still wants those boundary changes. Will the likes of the SNP let him have his way?
2. Has the fall in party membership finally ended? by Simon Titley on Liberator’s Blog.
An analysis of membership figures and some recommendations.
3. A game every Lib Dem should play by Richard Morris on A view from Ham Common.
And I did. There’s 15 minutes I won’t get back. There is a huge irony at the end which I won’t spoil for you.
4. The internet eats itself over transsexuals while Stephen Tall rides to the rescue by Charlotte Henry on Digital Politico.
“Just because a certain group, in this case identity politics obsessed lefties, shout loudest doesn’t mean they should be the only people that get to speak. That is not what the internet is about” says Charlotte.
5. At least one Conservative MP may oppose boundary changes by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England.
Jonathan finds Lembit’s successor in Montgomeryshire wants to keep things the way they are.
6. 23% say they want Lib Dems in Government by Rich Clare on A brief history of liberty .
And that’s from YouGov.
7. Julie Burchill: not in my name by Jennie Rigg on Jennie Rigg
“I consider trans people to be human beings whose thoughts and experiences are just as valid as my own. I can’t understand but I can empathise and I can listen.”
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. So the poor are getting poorer while the wealthy enjoy tax cuts, right? by Rich Clare on A Brief History of Liberty.
Rich says not – and has a graph to prove it. (Submitted by Rob via Twitter.)
9. The dead parrot 25 years on by Andrew Page on A Scottish Liberal.
Some reflections on the occasionally heated merger negotiations and Voices and Choices.
10. In a blog post to be published today, Mr Barlow will say… by Nick Barlow on What you can get away with.
Nick says that one reason speeches used to be important is that nobody knew what the orator would say before they said it.
11.“Paperless NHS” puts the vulnerable at risk by Zoe O’Connell on Complicity.
This post is enhanced by reading it with the #transdocfail post Zoe links to within it.
12. Why don’t people trust politicians? by Maelo Manning on Libdemchild, aged 13 .
“Politicians are not down to earth because they are too engulfed in the Westminster bubble.”
And that’s it for another week. Happy blogging ‘n’ reading ‘n’ nominating.

<a href="https://www.libdemvoice.org/top-of-the-blogs-the-lib-dem-golden-dozen-309-32741.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>
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
One Comment
On No 2, the post on Libdem membership. To understand membership figures we need to see them in context.
The fall in party memberships since the early 1950s has been massive –
The Tories have fallen from an estimated 3.4 Million in the early 50s to 130 Thousand last year, a loss of 96%;
Labour are doing much better, falling from a claimed membership of one Million in 1952 to 190 Thousand in 2011.
The Labour experience in Government is not cheering, their membership fell pretty much every year till 2009 with a big drop at the start & steadily lessening falls thereafter.