Welcome to the Golden Dozen, returning from its Summer Break to bring you our 485th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the five most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (13-19 August, 2017), together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed, with one or two from earlier in the Summer.

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.  How the 2017 General Election was nearly far, far worse for the Liberal Democrats by Mark Pack on Mark Pack.
And why the answer is building a core vote.

2. Sir Geoffrey Boycott wins Tweet of the Day by Jonathan Calder on Liberal England.
It’s all about him.

3.  How badly will hard Brexit split the Tories? by Peter Black on Peter Black .
Peter highlights Anna Soubry’s Guardian article in which she said she might be prepared to join with like minded people to ensure a softer brexit.

4. Why I don’t think Jacob Rees-Mogg as next PM is as far fetched as it currently sounds by Nick Tyrone on Nick Tyrone.com.
He’s pretty much in line with Tory members, argues Nick, if he can get that far.

5. UKIP MEP threatens to resign over leadership candidate by Peter Black on Peter Black.
As Peter puts it, how can he even remain in a party which allows her to be a member?

And now to the seven 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

6. Autism friendly clothing (and clothing stores) by Jennie Rigg on I spent AGES hanging round the Rue Morgue in a gorilla suit and what do I get?
Does anyone ever ask people with Autism what they want – and sets out a few clear guidelines.

7. What liberalism means to me by Andrew Hickey on SciEnce! Justice Leak!.
Andrew describes how liberalism is often misrepresented by the left and outlines the basic principles of what we believe.

8. A patriotic front against Brexit by Jonathan Fryer on Jonathan Fryer.
Is it time to wrap ourselves in the Union Jack as well as the EU flag?

9. Why is the UK so badly governed?  by David Boyle on Radix.
Is it because we fail to develop and encourage leaders?

10. Gina Millar, your anti Brexit list needs revising for the future by Louis Mian on A Liberal Perspective.
Or, you might have backed a few more Lib Dems and fewer Labour people who voted against the single market

11. Ban on military personnel and Brexit by Helen Belcher on Challenging Journeys (Phase 2).
Brexit makes it more difficult to access EU – which has implications for those businesspeople from marginalised groups.

12. Why is a jolly good fellow always jolly?  by Jane Chelliah on Feminist Mama.
It might be because life has always been good for them and given them tonnes of privilege

As a bonus, here is a post from Dave Gorman on Liberalism5 – What is the difference between Brexit and the death penalty?

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