Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 385th 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 (3rd-9th August, 2014), together with a hand-picked quintet, 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. A franker reason than usual for changing parties by Mark Pack on Mark Pack’s blog.
Why one Lib Dem switched to the Tories.

2. Six new Liberal Democrat peers by Paul Walter on Liberal Burblings.
A warm welcome from Paul to the latest recruits to the red benches.

3. Colin Rosenstiel barred from standing for the Liberal Democrats by Mark Pack on Mark Pack’s blog.
Sad news from Cambridge.

4. Liberal Democrat President election 2014: the first round of leaflets by Mark Pack on Mark Pack’s blog.
Introducing three of the four presidential hopefuls.

5. Allegations that Guildford Conservative councillor falsely claimed to be a barrister passed to the CPS by Mark Pack on Mark Pack’s blog.
Does prosecution beckon for Monika Juneja?

6. We will remember them: the fallen MPs by Stephen Glenn on Stephen’s Liberal Journal.
“a list of the young men who were Members of Parliament from all parties who fought and died in World War I.”

7. Was Nigel Farage a racist at school, singing Hitler Youth songs? by Mark Pack on Mark Pack’s blog.
With 5 out of 7 entries I think it’s fair to say Mark wins this week’s Lib Dem Internet.

And now to the five blog-posts that come highly recommended, regardless of the number of Aggregator click-throughs they attracted. To nominate a Lib Dem blog article published in the past seven days – your own, or someone else’s, all you have to do is drop a line to [email protected]. You can also contact us via Twitter, where we’re @libdemvoice

8. In Praise of… Council staff by Richard Kemp on But what does Richard Kemp think?
“Last night for the eighth year in a row I had to take to the airwaves to defend council staff against the amateur and incompetent attacks of the Taxpayers Alliance.”

9. Combining Targeting with Growth on Dave Page’s Jazz Hands, Serious Business blog.
“While it’s clear that the majority of our resources must be dedicated to campaigning until polling day, I think
there’s room to look to expand, using the General Election as a driver.”

10. The unfolding tragedy of Israel/Palestine by Matthew Green on Thinking Liberal.
“… darker forces are driving both Israel and the Arabs, and they are in no mood to listen to Western liberals.”

11. What do we learn from World War One? by Wera Hobhouse on Wera’s Blog.
“… the only public and political conclusion from remembering WW1 is to work towards a Europe where the stupidity of a war like WW1 is never contemplated again. Being part of the EU is a good start.”

12. Borismania by Alex Marsh on Alex’s Archives.
“It would surely be good if more people engaged with politics, but the idea that we should therefore recruit a showman to entertain us seems like a leap of illogic too far.”

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

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