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@iaindale's "Daley Dozen" never mentions the top Labour blog @LabourList
Iain Dale publishes a “Daley Dozen“. It is not exactly clear what this Daley Dozen is supposed to achieve, but presumably it is meant to represent the best of the blogosphere. Most casual observers have observed that it tends to present far right Tory views, mainly Euroskeptic ones where possible, and it never presents a non-Conservative view unless strongly in praise of the coaliton or highly critical of Ed Miliband. Keen observers have in fact drawn exactly the same decision.
Labour List is edited by Mark Ferguson, by most observers, extremely well. It acts as a hub for intelligent debate about contemporary issues in Labour; it certainly does not indulge in crazy tribalism, and certainly does not shy away from debate. It is a flagship blog for Labour, in producing breakthrough journalism such as this article on Chris Grayling’s crime figures.
It is therefore somewhat surprising that in a sample taken from November 7th 2010 – November 30th 2010, it does not feature once in Iain Dale’s “Daley Dozen”, compiled as the best of the blogs by Grant Tucker and Iain Dale. In fact, 50% of the top 12 Labour blogs haven’t appeared once in this period of about 3 weeks at all.
The Top 12 is as follows, with the figures in brackets the number of appearances in Iain Dale’s “Daley Dozen”.
1 (0) Labour List
2 (4) Tom Harris MP
3 (0) Hopi Sen
4 (1) Next Left
5 (2) Alastair Campbell
6 (4) Political Scrapbook
7 (1) Luke Akehurst
8 (2)Labour Uncut
9 (0) Penny Red
10 (0) Hadleigh Roberts
11 (0) Socialist Unity
12 (0) Anthony Painter
And what was the Daley Dozen of Dozens in this time period? A fairly predictable list, but it was worthy to see Ed Staite, a media analyst, who is described by Boris Johnson as, ““A veteran master of strategy and all round general of the political battlefield – I would recommend him to anyone who wants to win any comms battle” Dale has blogged frequently on how much he will be sad to see Tom Harris MP. It is sad for Dale’s readership that the death of Tom Harris’ blog may mean a relative lack of representation on a regular basis of any Labour blog in the Daley Dozen, if this Daley Dozen is as influential as Iain Dale claims. On a positive note, the pressure is on Political Scrapbook to post articles which attract the attention of Grant Tucker or Iain Dale, being known officially as a’left-leaning blog’. Paul Waugh is well known to be highly critical of Labour, especially Gordon Brown. Finally, congratulations to Stumbling and Mumbling, which describes himself as an “extremist not a fanatic”. This blog (here) looks very intelligent indeed. The full list is as follows. Many congratulations to @WalaaIdris whose entertaining and passionate posts do deserve leading this list, which incidentally consists of 128 blogs in total (not this one, curiously). This is undoubtedly a massive tribute to the ‘Daley Dozen’ that they cover so many blogs in a matter of 3 weeks, with no particular favouritism, when they could have showed much more preference towards certain blogs. However, the fact that LabourList does not appear once is either a reflection on their view of LabourList generally, or the Conservatives, or rather Iain Dale, is very partisan – and very proud of it.
1. Walaa Idris
2. Dan Hannan
3. Tom Harris
4. Paul Waugh
5. Guido
6. Political Scrapbook
7. Norman Tebbit
8. Dizzy
9. Mark Wallace
10. Benedict Brogan
11. Ed Staite
12. Stumbling and Mumbling
Blog recommendations for http://shibleyrahman.com
Although the blog is left-leaning, I enjoy reading it, because it gives a fair and balanced perspective, which isn’t the case with many aligned blogs.
Walaa Idris, popular Conservative Blogger, speaker and political activist
http://www.walaaidris.com/blog/
Dr Shibley Rahman’s blog and website are one that I read on a daily basis. His non-partisan and open-minded thinking appeal to the less tribal of political followers, and always make for thoughtful discussion.
Spidey, popular Liberal Democrat Blogger, political activist and Executive Committee memner for West Woking Liberal Democrats.
http://www.spiderplantland.co.uk/
I can’t recommend his website highly enough. Dr Shibley Rahman brings a dazzling intellect to political debate. If you want knee-jerk, tribal reactions, go elsewhere! Shibley’s opinions are always balanced, never clouded and definitely worth reading.
Sue Marsh, the ‘Diary of a Benefit Scrounger’ blog
http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.com
Razor-sharp thinking and the only Labour blog I read – Shibley’s a gem among rocks!
(Also @LiamRhodes, popular Conservatives tweeter)
Liam Rhodes, popular Conservative Blogger, CoAmber Valley Conservatives
http://www.onenationtory.com/
The site is great and the content even better. Shibley does a great job and this site is a testament to his hard work!
Andy Kinsey, Creative Director, Andy Kinsey Designs
(Also @andykinsey, popular Labour tweeter)
http://www.andykinsey.me/
In moments of lucidity, Shibley Rahman breaks through barriers of subjects normally considered taboo such as dementia, alcoholism and a unique but welcome brand of Labour party politics…worthy of your bookmark.
“Rightly Wry, Satirically RIGHT” Conservative Blogger
(Also @Parlez_me_nTory, popular Conservatives tweeter)
http://www.wicksie.com/
Shibley’s blog is excellent, providing interesting insightful opinions and some alternative views, a good read.
Jimmy Chen, Ethnic Minorities Officer in Colchester CLP
I very much like the blog exactly as it is. I find it immensely readable, and altho’ we’re both ‘Lefties’, I enjoy your sometimes alternative slant on the movement. Gives me food for thought!
@yorkierose, popular Labour tweeter
Competition Winner : Walaa Idris and 'Strictly English'
Many congratulations to Walaa Idris, whose blog site is here, for submitting a near-perfect answer to my question earlier. She wins a copy of ‘Strictly English’ by Simon Heffer, which is a detailed discussion of the use of the English language.
PS Her (Blue) blog is well worth a look!
Well done to:
Here is the complete solution
Prize competition – spot the mistakes in a blog post
Walaa Idris, in her popular blog, posted an article as advice for the blogger Darren Bridgeman.
Bad spelling and grammar are evident in all our blog posts. Walaa offered this really helpful advice:
My advice, as someone who knows how you feel, because I felt embarrassed whenever I misspelled words and made such obvious mistakes, but I found although some who correct me do it for their own self satisfaction, most truly care and just want to help me. Even though I continue to correct and pay extra attention to every word I type, still, I make many mistakes. Somehow I feel like the Ambassador of all the poor English speakers and writers and as such feel it is my duty to ask you to reconsider – so please rethink your decision.
Here is the text of a mythical blog post. There are at least 14 errors in it, identified in Simon Heffer’s “Strictly English” as common grammatical errors in the English language. It may be purchased from Amazon here.
Blog post by Troubleblogger
This week has been an extraordinary week in British politics. For example, one blogger has alleged that a Tory MP has left his wife for a woman, while she is fighting malignant melanoma.
Yesterday, there was a very interesting debate in the House of Commons on student finance. The excellent discussion demonstrated the problems of making policy in a Coalition government. The difficulties is probably compounded by the fact that Vince Cable is using data which is probably out-of-date. The thing is that none of the options for the future of student finance are credible.
Some of the options proposed to Lord Brown are inforgettable. To be fair, I would of thought that some of the options proposed would have seemed impressive to the Institute of Fiscal Studies. However, raising tuition fees is now a distinct possibility following the Browne Report. The problem is that Clegg said that he would not never go there.
In terms of feedback, the Labour Party must be feeling good. The concertos of criticism from Liberal Democrat voters were not nice to listen to. In a sense, it was if Miliband was trying to collapse a house of cards. Some commentators just got personal. For example, yesterday, some people, working for the Times especially, called Vince Cable ‘an ugly monster’, but this is perhaps tad unfair. I wonder what Andy Marr would have made of that?
It is difficult to know who came out of worst – Clegg or Cable. Some think it’s better if Cable had quitted his cabinet post, given his beliefs. Commentators wrote on Cable giving his speech whilst being transmitted on Sky.
There’ll be a debate on it: I don’t know if I’ll go. Under the circumstances, it should be interesting, don’t you think?
You can download the text of the blog post Blog poste.
Have a go at spotting the mistakes in them. Feel free to email your entries to Dr Shibley Rahman, management@lawandmedicine.co.uk
The winning entry will get a copy of this book, Iain Dale’s Guide to Political Blogging in the UK. with no expenses spared!
Alternatively, you can, again, buy it off Amazon UK.
Dr Shibley Rahman
Queen’s Scholar, BA (1st.), MA, MB, BChir, PhD, MRCP(UK), LLB(Hons.), FRSA
Director of Law and Medicine Limited
Member of the Fabian Society and Associate of the Institute of Directors
