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Thanks to everyone who voted for Scarlet Standard in the Total Politics Awards. I am utterly thrilled to have been voted 4th best Labour blog and to be the top single-authored Labour blog! It means a great deal to me so thank you, thank you, thank you!
This week a special treat! This one is a recommendation from a reader (yes I have one).
It’s a post of such astounding ostrichicidal tendencies that it feels almost cruel to burst the gossamer bubble in which the blogger seems to live.
The problem can be summed up in two quotes: “We have, very successfully, kept most of these tendencies under control by being part of the Coalition and we should celebrate that. Imagine what the Tories would’ve done without us.” – see the problem mate is that most of us are imagining that, and we simply can’t think what would be different.
and my personal favourite: “It’s time for us to stand up and remind people that if they don’t like what the Coalition is doing, there is another way: vote Liberal Democrat next time!” Yes kids, if you don’t like this Government – vote for it!
Don’t get me wrong, there are some excellent Lib Dem blogs out there (This guy is lovely for example – but a bit Bracknell-centric for the blog roll). This is not one of them.
A new feature entirely inspired by this week’s winner, I have decided to highlight the most ridiculous posts I have read (of any party persuasion – if I was running this a few months ago, this piece on Labour Uncut wouldn’t have escaped) in the week.
This week’s post- sadly almost inevitably these days – comes from Lib Dem Voice. It’s this spectacular own goal from Matt Gallagher. Lib Dem voice is not the interesting read it used to be. It’s almost parodic in the dissonance between the vast, vast majority of the articles which aren’t simply – as you would rightly expect – pro-coalition, but are almost Maoist (New Labour?) in their purity of thought. This runs to two strands: How great the coalition are, and how awful Labour is.
In a month where the main party political story was the Lib Dems reneging on a pledge (not a manifesto but a signed seperate pledge) made not six months beforehand, this attack on labour seems at best ill timed, and at worst defensive rubbish. As – to their credit – the commentators on the piece seem to recognise.
So for his Karl Rove like ability to attack in others that which you are most guilty of, well done Matt Gallagher! You are the inaugural Worst blog post of the week!
It’d been a bit of a manic week this week with me interviewing for and getting a new job so apologies that posting has been light. I’ll catch up with my thought over Easter and post again.
In the meantime – here are some of the most interesting blog posts I’ve read in the past few days:
Hopi Sen on the Big Society Conservatrick exposing the sham of the Tory Big Society.
Sunder Katwala and David Willetts MP debate the failure or otherwise on New Labour (may post my thoughts on this over the weekend)
Tim Montgomerie on the need to be loyal this close to the election (for which I have some sympathy for his position, if no idea of how it could ever work)
