Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 349th 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 October, 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. By-Election Night 10 by Dan Falchikov on Living on words alone.
Dan’s weekly by-election preview.

2. The crazy world of Jeremy Browne by Simon Titley on Liberator’s Blog.
It wasn’t his economic liberalism that makes him so unpopular in the party, but his lack of action on civil liberties.

3. Jeremy Browne should defect by the Fact Collector  on Matter of Facts.
He might make the Tory party more liberal, argues thsi piece

4. What voters think would happen if the Tories were able to govern on their own without the Liberal Democrats by Richard Morris on A view from Ham Common.
More welfare cuts, fewer tax cuts for poorest, more NHS changes. The message is getting across, then.

5. Karren Brady launches Tory campaign by Charlotte Henry on Digital Politico.
Charlotte predicts a seat of some description in the offing. Could she join her Apprentice colleague Alan Sugar in the Lords?

6. Labour on welfare benefits by Peter Black on Peter Black.
Noting for future reference (s0 you know where to find it in 18 months when you need it), without sorrow or anger, Labour’s Rachel Reeves’ uncompromising words on welfare.

7. Why Theresa May’s feelings may not get her very far very fast by Richard Morris on A view from Ham Common.
It’s all about being rational.

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. References to sexual activity on media that is deemed appropriate for children by Jennie Rigg  on Engerfield Nursing Home for the mentally disordered.
We need to be careful when giving the Police sweeping powers which may be open to abuse. If you’re a reasonably respectable white person it might not matter but…

9. Blogging on by Cicero on Cicero’s Songs.
But with a different focus as, he says, Britain becomes more confused and leaderless

10. The only “mistake” Gloria De Piero made was daring to be successful by Charlotte Henry on Digital Politico
As Charlotte points out, why is Gloria having to explain herself while there’s no outrage directed towards the man who took topless photos of a 15 year old?

11. Paul Brant – a sad loss to Liverpool by Richard Kemp on But what does Richard Kemp think?.
A tribute to a resigning opposition councillor and an insight into the hard graft involved in public service as well as the rewards.

12. The first liberal in my family by Mira on Mira’s Picture
This is a fascinating story of Mira’s great x4 grandfather who fought the Tories in 19th century Devizes.

And your big bonus this week is the the fantastic Collection of Lib Dem Music videos by Stace Williams on Stackee. I meant to put this in a few weeks ago and completely forgot. This will keep you chuckling for hours. Perfect for a long dark Autumn evening, particularly to have in the background while artworking  or doing data entry.

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-349-36840.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. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social