Self-appointed king of UK political blogging Iain Dale has compiled lists (see, even the more professional-seeming bloggers can’t avoid them when they’re stuck for content) of what he considers to be the best political blogs in the UK.
Unfortunatly, but fittingly for an amateur with deluisions of adequacy, he’s taken what potentially could be a good idea and cocked it up. You can see his ad-laiden, corporate whore-out fest of an e-book here. Though do beware, it is a PDF.
To be quite frank, I couldn’t give a XXXX about the Conservative blogs. I do read Guido Fawkes and Tim Roll-Pickering on a regular basis, and that’s all I need to know.
However, since I am a proper dirty lefty (on account of getting rawkusly pissed last night at Sofie B’s birthday bash) I’m more interested in the Labour blogs. Of course, there will be the pillows-and-puppies-socialism brigade, lead by a vanguard generally consisting of Adele (of Yours For A Labour Government), Tom Millner (NewerLabour) and Matt Dongahue (Dirty Leftie). Of course, when they’re not coming out with fuckwitted things (like this, this and this respectively) but there are some interesting little gems hidden in there (sometimes quite deeply) and they do represent a key section of the Compassite left in the Labour Party, so for people like me they’re essential reading - sometimes much more essential than the political hacks on Harry’s Playground. In any case, they do get a good readership and probably deserve to be in there.
However, there are other, much more left wing, blogs out there in the blogosphere, for example, the excellent efforts of Team Stroppyblog and Team Shiraz Socialist. Both have a very diverse readership and offer perspectives that are quite sadly generally lacking in the blogosphere, especially Stroppyblog (though Sofie B’s Volsunga does make a good effort, it just doesn’t have the readership - no offence, Sofie). Both do have quite a good readership, judging by the comment boxes on both sites, and who link to them.
But neither Teams Stroppy nor Shiraz are in Dale’s top 100 lists. Any of them.
There are also some other problems with Dale’s listings. Out of the top five, four of them have pro-Conservative leanings. The fifth is a LibDem. Kerron Cross (hilariously referred to as “Labour’s Iain Dale” by… er… Iain Dale) - the top Labour Blogger in Dale’s top 100 general list comes sixth.
He says this in his introduction…
“As well as the first ever list of the Top100 UK Political blogs, there are also lists of the best Conservative, Labour LibDem and non aligned political blogs in this guide. I make no apology for the fact that these lists have been chosen by a committee of one – me. The method I used was to mark each blog out of ten for the following categories – design, frequency of posting, humour, popularity, writing, personality, comment, independence of thought, range and interation. You’ll probably disagree with all my rankings, but at least it’ll give you something to argue about on your respective blogs!”
Of course, Dale is entitled to his opinion on various blogs. Indeed, he could say “KitNotes is a big pile of steaming monkey jizz” for all I care (the day I seriously listen to a Conservative is the day I will take myself out the back and do the honourable thing with an AK-47) and it still wouldn’t matter. However, who the hell appointed this committee of one? Various political-lobbying organisations have ’sponsored’ the book but it’s not just an ego-boosting exercise for Iain Dale.
Have a look at the Top 100. Then work out the number of Tory, Lib Dem, and Labour (loosely) blogs there. Notice anything?
Some may love the smell of napalm in the morning, but the stench of Conservative cronyism reeks on and on in the blogosphere - if Iain Dale’s got anything to do with it.
Thanks Kit. There are others missing as well which I would have thought should have made it, especially when I see the ones that did. Perhaps we are a bit to stroppy and not enough pillows and puppies
I mean we compile lists of who we would shoot come the revolution and don’t have Kinnock (puke) as a hero….
Not to sound self important, but it’s Miller. And ‘fuckwitted’? you shite!
If you disagree with me, just leave a comment, and tell me why, I would be interested to hear your response.
This post was mostly for people who consider themselves to the left of me anyway…
And actually, I don’t see why the other two posts from the old ‘vanguard’ are fuckwitted either. Adele’s supports the role of unions in the labour party, with which I would think you would agree, mine support s a more direct and democratic (as well as popular!) variety of worker’s control, and Matt’s declaration that the CPGB aren’t popular in the labour party is excellent factual observation.
Good to see you reading Shiraz Socialist though, and excellent blog indeed…
anyway, strop over…
Honestly Tom, you aren’t half a sensitive soul at times.
If I were to leave a comment against every comment I personally thought was fuckwitted, I’d never do anything else. Unfortunatly, I have to work for a living, so that somewhat limits my activities on the internet.
But, in defense of my ‘fuckwitted’ comments in respect of the three I chose:
- You make it quite clear that you are opposed to all privatisation. How you can make the removal of services from even the tenious grip of democratic control and hand them over to the private sector - that bastion of workers’ democracy - is up to you, but please let the rest of us know.
- Adele makes it quite clear that she sees the relation between the Labour Party and the unions as a master-client relationship - that the unions are just clients of Labour, and that they’re really good because they give Labour candidates money and stuff. Um, I thought unions were supposed to unionise workers - oh, it’s there, just tacked on as some afterthought.
- Matt didn’t say that the CPGB aren’t popular in the Labour Party. He said they didn’t have the ‘country’s’ interests at heart.
Shiraz Socialist is a good blog, but even volty says you need to be more radical. As, probably, does Jim Denham - a comrade of mine.
Oi, you cheeky fucker, I get about 250-300 hits a day, more when I talk about porn (though I guess they don’t count… it’s all about the commenting, eh?)
I, rather shockingly, get more than that.
And I don’t talk about porn.
Would I have been mentioned on your blog if it wasn’t for my “attack” on your wallet at that party?
Yes, David.
Oh, and in Comment #3 - I said:
“You make it quite clear that you are opposed to all privatisation.”
… when I should have said …
“You make it quite clear that you are not opposed to all privatisation.”
Ah, good old AWL, taking a patronising attitude to students as usual lol
I wasn’t arguing for privatisation, where I agreed with the author of the original article was that knee jerk nationalisation is no more socialist than privatisation. Like I said, the only type of ownership I’d encourage as a matter of ideology is the co-operative. I also like not-for-profit companies, because profit is the problem, rather than competition per se. But I’m opposed to them in the sense that I’d rather they were co-ops.
Adele is Labour first union second. When she was active in the TU movement, both were equals. Mind you, I can’t really talk for her I suppose. just an observation.
Matt did say the CPGB were unpopular, but granted, he did say the above too. Do you as an AWL member think the CPGB have the country’s interests at heart? Would you perhaps like to join them?
I find that the most frustrating aspect of politics from a personal advantage point of view is that I’m too far left! But I’m just doing what I believe. The fact that I don’t agree with the priest, let alone yourself, doesn’t worry me… nevertheless, I am willing to give anyone’s arguments time, apart from fascists and the SWP. As trots go, the AWL are my faves.
And what’s so bad about Kinnock?! ;op
DONOGHUE. If you’re going to give me a backhanded compliment, at least spell my name right.
And of course socialism is about pillows and puppies. If it was about shooting, killing and purging (hasn’t that already been tried somewhere??) who’d be interested?
Re my post, I did say the CPGB didn’t have ‘the country’s interests at heart’ but I said it with the caveat of it being through the Labour Party. We both know (and I don’t think any of us will disagree) that any ‘far left’ or Communist party (I’m not going to use the word socialist, because we have two very different definitions of the word) would much prefer the Labour Party to break up thereby making the task of removing the wool from the ‘proletariat’s’ eyes that little easier.
I don’t think it’s in the interests of the country for the Labour Party to disappear and for a new ‘mass workers’ party’ to spring up in its place. Now, with this in mind, the CPGB (as do AWL) support McDonnell openly because he is the most left wing candidate and therefore most open to the ideas of the CPGB. My feelings are that if these groups really cared about the state of the Labour Party they would support McDonnell, but they wouldn’t make it so open. It doesn’t take much to realise Communism isn’t a very popular ideal in this country, especially not in the Labour Party.
Oh, and let me make sure I actually said this somewhere: ‘The CPGB are not at all popular within the ranks of the Labour Party.’
You can quote me on that if you like
Patronising? Hardly. Your problem is that you take offense far too easily. For someone who claims he doesn’t mind taking arguments on, you’re quite happy to scream “pinkbaiting” when someone actually does. Now, that really *is* offensive.
Unfortunatly, since you are a student, you do probably have more spare time than I do, that’s not an insult, just a statement of fact. I’d like to spend more time commenting on people’s blogs but like I say, I work insane hours for poverty pay, and my spare time during working hours is currently spent unionising the call centre I work in - I shall write a longer blog at some point later on about this.
I never said you argued for blanket privatisation, I said you wern’t opposed to all privatisation - which is true. Personally, I’d like to have as few services under the yoke of private capital as possible, but preferably I would like to see all means of production under workers’ control. At least, by calling for nationalisation under a bourgeois government, I have consistency. Your advocacy for public services to be undertaken by private capital - no matter how limited you think this should be - somewhat undermines your call for co-ops everywhere.
To be fair to Adele, it’s not just her, but she’s a good example of the tendency of right wing (don’t you dare say what you’re going to say) Labour activists to see the unions as some sort of relic, like a granddad in the corner of the room at the family gathering; fun to look at, but you don’t need to listen to. I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but who founded the Labour Party? And who gives the most cash to it? The unions are not just election fodder and cashpoints whenever Lord Levy gets his collar felt by Inspector Knacker. Labour is supposed to be a workers party, right? Isn’t it time we started listening to said workers?
And as for Matt’s comments… well, the CPGB don’t have the ‘country’s’ interests at heart, they have the working class’ interests at heart, just like the AWL (except the CPGB have really shit politics, unlike the AWL who just kick arse, quite frankly) but I’d rather have the CPGB on my side than Progress. Wouldn’t you?
(Just noticed Matt’s comment… see my reply in a second)
As for what’s bad about Kinnock… well, there are a whole plethora of reasons, but I’ll leave The Stroppy One to come back on that…
Matt, a couple of quick points because it’s late and I have to be up early tomorrow morning:
1.) Can’t you puppies-and-pillows-socialism lot have simpler names?
2.) “If it was about shooting, killing and purging (hasn’t that already been tried somewhere??) who’d be interested?” is quite disingenious. No, sod that, it’s outright bollocks. You should know that the AWL don’t stand for that - well, the purges bit at least. It’s also quite clear you’ve never met the Stalin Society.
3.) What you’re effectively saying is that the CPGB, and the AWL, should just shut up. How very egalitarian of you. It reminds me of a quote from the Spartacist League viz. the SWP: “you’ve got to silence the reds to get the workers to lie down in front of the Labour imperialist machine!”
4.) Blairism isn’t a popular ideal in Britain at the moment, but that doesn’t stop you from supporting ‘Blairism with a human face’ now does it?
Matt, why no reply to my comment about this on your site?
I think your ideas about what CPGB or AWL want for the Labour party and the working class are a bit off - I’m not interested in smashing up the Labour party to “remove the wool from the proletariat’s eyes” or anything ridiculous like that.
You make it sound like we’re against genuinely reformist parties of labour (note the small l) on the basis that they weaken the revolutionary resolve of the working class. That’s not our politics at all.
Oh, and Tom; Adele is Labour first union second - seems some people have forgotten what “labour” means…
Right, I am meant to be revising but I feel I need to respond to this.
Firstly, I have no formal ties at all with compass. I worked for them at conference this year. I agree with some of what they say.
Secondly I know I have infuriated some of the left with the Kinnock stuff; but I’m a pragmatist, no point in politics if you can’t change anything.
Also I fully support the aims and objectives of the trade union movement. I am an amicus delegate to my CLP and organised for USDAW when I worked at TESCOs. I happen to think that Mark Serwotka is one of the best of the current crop of the trade union leaders in terms of delivering for members so I cant be that right wing. I do believe that the trade unions need to change as the world changes. We are no longer fighting the same battles that were being fought in the 70s and 80s.
In terms of labour first union second, where to even start. Firstly I joined labour through the trade union movement. Also, just because I think unions need to modernise doesn’t mean I see them as an inconvenience.
Not really selling your lefty credentials very well, are you Adele?
Firstly, I have no formal ties at all with compass. I worked for them at conference this year. I agree with some of what they say.
I still think you represent the tendency that they do, even if you’re not in formal political agreement with them (though I wouldn’t hesistate to call you a fellow traveller). Working for them, by the way, indicates to me that you did have formal ties with them at one point.
Secondly I know I have infuriated some of the left with the Kinnock stuff; but I’m a pragmatist, no point in politics if you can’t change anything.
But your idea of “pragmatism” really means “abandoning socialism”. And that’s assuimg you ever considered yourself a socialist in the first place. You can change things, but if you’re chaging everything for the worse, then what’s the point of calling yourself a socialist?
Also I fully support the aims and objectives of the trade union movement. I am an amicus delegate to my CLP and organised for USDAW when I worked at TESCOs.
USDAW’s hardly a beacon of prolerarian militancy, and quite frankly, (as a a member of an Amicus GMPU chapel myself) neither is Amicus.
I happen to think that Mark Serwotka is one of the best of the current crop of the trade union leaders in terms of delivering for members so I cant be that right wing.
This is the same Mark Serwotka who voted for a sell out of the pension dispute in the civil service last year and condemned his members to a crap deal.
I do believe that the trade unions need to change as the world changes. We are no longer fighting the same battles that were being fought in the 70s and 80s.
True. But how we transform our unions is the key.
I would believe that transforming our unions requires a greater degree of militancy, rank and file control and an exertion of socialist values.