Saturday, June 10, 2006

My Top Political Blogs

As you may remember from THIS post earlier in the week, I've written an article for Tribune Magazine next week on the right wing and left wing blogospheres. They've also asked me to compile a list of Top Ten Conservative and Top Ten Labour Blogs. So while I'm about it I'll do my Top Ten LibDem Blogs, Top Ten Non Aligned Political Blogs and Top Ten Foreign Blogs. I'm not saying these are the best blogs, but they're the ones I like and visit most often. And yes, I've done my Top 20 Conservative Blogs rather than Top Ten. I couldn't leave people out, could I?!

TOP TWENTY CONSERVATIVE BLOGS
TOP TEN LABOUR BLOGS
TOP TEN LIBERAL DEMOCRAT BLOGS
TOP TEN NON ALIGNED POLITICAL BLOGS
TOP TEN JOURNALIST BLOGS
TOP TEN FOREIGN BLOGS
1. Kiwiblog (NZ)
3. Oz Politics (AUS)
4. The Corner (USA)
6. Tim Blair (AUS)
7. GOP Blog (USA)
10. Fightback! (NZ)

51 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not Melanie Phillips under Journalists' Blogs? (I agree with Stephen Pollard and Peter Hitchens.)

Foreign blogs: Not The Gates of Vienna with the formidable Fjordman???????? Not Bruce Bawer's blog? Not Little Green Footballs? Wha'??? Instead the once brilliant Andrew Sullivan. Go to Little Green Footballs and the technical brilliance of Charles Johnson who owns it and now constantly breaks stories before the MSM and at least give it a look.

- Anonymousette

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

Tory Ted said...

Heh, I love undeservedly sneaking in at number 10 on the Foreign blog list becuase you only link to ten of them.

Slagella said...

Tim Worstall, Brian Micklethwaite non-aligned? Bit of a redefinition required, here.

Ellee Seymour said...

Congratulations to Paul for topping your list of political bloggers, he seems so genuine.

I'm amazed and delighted to get a mention on your list, I only started four months ago. Thanks.

dizzy said...

cheers Iain :)

Archbishop Cranmer said...

(Sigh).

Still, I think too much.

Iain Dale said...

anonymousette, I don't real melanie Phillips I'm afraid. I don't know any of the other foreign blogs you mentioned.

Slagella, well they're not Labour, they're not Conservative, they're not LibDem, so what would you call them?

Cranmer, you nearly sneaked into the non aligned category. But you think too much! By the way, you seem to have taken that remark very seriously - it was meant as joke, you know!

Anonymous said...

No Darbyshires?

Bob Piper said...

Yer man at WestBrom Blog is going to be deeply offended Iain. He is not non-aligned, he's an active Tory!

Thanks for the mention.

Anonymous said...

Guess you haven;t read Slugger O'Toole on N Ireland.

What about Daily Kos?

Anonymous said...

No Austin Mitchell MP's blog among the best Labour ones?

Unknown said...

Chher for the plug Iain.

James

Tim Worstall said...

I’d say I was non-aligned, yes. I despise the social authoritarians of the right just as much as I do the economic ones of the left.

Archbishop Cranmer said...

Cranmer, you nearly sneaked into the non aligned category. But you think too much!

Hmmm... so it is more 'deferred success' than 'failure'. I am heartened.

Archbishop Cranmer said...

...I know these are your top political blogs, and subjectivity reigns, but wouldn't a little objectivity enhance your judgement?

I mean, some of these favoured bloggers of yours have absolutely no traffic (I mean none), and are clearly blogging with themselves. When I was at school, we had another name for that.

If they are saying nothing new, or nothing that anyone can be bothered to interract with, why do you rate them? How can a blog which has a truly global audience (according to Clustrmaps), gets over 100 hits every day, and involves bloggers in contentious debate, fail to make it into your 'top blogs'?

Of course I talk of my learned blog, but the question is sincerely general.

Leighton Andrews said...

Thanks for the plug, Iain

Leighton Andrews

Croydonian said...

Iain - thank you Sir. Not that I think I'm worthy.

Anonymous said...

Iain - I honestly would have thought Gates of Vienna would have been up your street. And No Pasaran from the brilliant, bilingual Dissident Frogman for sharply observed takes on Europe.

- Anonymousette

Anonymous said...

Cranmer, the reason political blogs like this or CH don't acknowledge or rate your blog is because you talk about things that the politicians refuse to. Your latest post is excellent and of crucial constitutional importance, but it's way over the heads of the UK's present blogging ability/mentality. Don't give up!

Anonymous said...

Quiet Bob! I’m just glad to be on any list - I have only been blogging a few months! As for being an active Tory, I don’t think I push it down peoples throat in every single post. Fair and Balanced - just like fox news. ;-) Cheers Ian.

As for hits cranner, according to my blog editor homepage I have had anything between 10 right up to the highest of 122 hits a day, and according to cluster maps I have had visitors from as far as China to North America. Since I moved to blog.com my visits have shot up, but the number of comments have dropped - I think it’s the rigmarole you have to go through with the verification process, but it doesn’t mean no one is reading.

Chris Palmer said...

James Cleverly should have been higher than 14th I would have thought.

No suprises that I didn't get on there. Nobody seems to read my blog anyway - clearly I don't have enough Lib Dem hate posts...

Anonymous said...

Bob Dale?! I am the only person there most days. Some of the posts are slightly bizarre to say the least. The latest is a rant about Cliff Richard. I only go there for a laugh, and it never fails.

Depends on your definition of "the best" blog. Recess Monkey is the more influential.

Anonymous said...

Foreign blogs without the Daily Kos www.dailykos.com - THE us democratic grassroots blog, and a triumph both technically and in terms of content/content filtering? And mentioned in the Observer article you highlight...c'mon now...

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the mention, my hits have shot up today!

Anonymous said...

oops have managed to cross Iain and Bob into one person. Presumably Bob Dale would be a Lib Dem. Well if you multiply a positive with a negative you get a negative.

Iain Dale said...

theymademe, until I read the Observer today I had never heard of the Daily Kos!

Archbishop Cranmer said...

Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms Anonymous,

Thank you for your kind comments, and (I assure you) I shall not give up.

Unfortunately, because you are Anon, I have no idea if you are one of the Anons who frequents my blog, or my Mum. But thank anyway.

Mr Ash,

Your blog clearly attracts traffic. The point I was making to Mr Dale is that surely the success of a 'political' blog should be determined by the extent to which people are inspired to interract with it? This, of course, is determined by the originality of the content. Most of these 'Conservative' blogs are either regurgitating Mr Dale's or CH's or Mr Fawkes' posts. I can't see what 'pleasure' they therefore give Mr Dale, nor why they make his 'top 20'. Since it is neither for hits, comments, nor originality, I can only assume it is because he likes their face. If so, he should encourage Mr Rickitt to start his own blog, and then he can be placed at No.1...

Iain Dale said...

Cranmer, you've become very bitter and twistd and that last remark does not become you. I also don't agree with your assessment of the merits of the Conservative blogs. Of course these things are subjective. I made clear that these were blogs I liked and visited most often. It doesn't mean that they are necessarily the best. I just happen to like them. I visit your blog from time to time. Obviously I would visit it more often and be able to judge its merits if it had a link on my blog. But as you don't likn to me on yours, I haven't! In terms of hits I suspect you have more to gain than me. Wanna do it?

Archbishop Cranmer said...

Mr Dale,

If you had suffered my fate, you might yourself be bitter and twisted.

I have considered your kind and generous offer, and have linked you from my blog. I even made the first move, as a gesture of my faith in your good self. This is, however, subject to one condition... that I am not pigeon-holed 'miscellaneous' - anything but that, please.

Iain Dale said...

Cranmr, pray where would you like to be put?

Anonymous said...

It's not a blog as such but politicalwire.com is very comprehensive in terms of US electoral politics (congressional and gubernatorial as well as presidential). It also linkes to oddles of blogs etc which is how I first found Kos, Wonkette, etc.

Archbishop Cranmer said...

Well, I should like to think that you might visit me daily for spiritual refreshment and edification, but, failing that, since, like you, I am too old to be a Conservative candidate, how about 'English & Eurosceptic'?

Anonymous said...

What about putting Clive Davis in the Journalists' Blogs? He's a damn sight better than any of the duffers you've listed there.

Jonathan Calder said...

Thanks for the plug.

Anonymous said...

Iain - if you can stomach the politics (sort of handwringy grassroots US pinko activism with a touch of stop the war about it), Daily Kos is an example of what successful political blogs of the future ought to be. Not just one contributor, but many; prioritisation of contributions by group recommendation; active editting by committed (and on the ball) rotating volunteers; and head guy more of a ringmaster and inspiration rather than active creator of content (and I respect you for the amount of material you produce on your site - but it must be a constant challenge and drain to keep up levels of quality and quantity).

Frankly, there is more content on Daily Kos each day than any one person could wade through -but because of the way it works, the good stuff hits the spot and sets the agenda for a significant sub-section of US political activists (and in a much more constructive way than the - admittedly fun - gossipy bitchy blogs you and Guido run).

If you can bear it, I recommend hanging out of Daily Kos for a few weeks to get a feel for how it works. I did in the run up to the last US election, and it was as good an entry into US politics as any number of books, newspapers or columnists.

Somebody, somewhere is going to do something similar in the UK and when they do it will be huge. Do you have the drive and the guts to try it?

Anonymous said...

Cramner, at the end of the day there are more important things in life than all of this. Dont get upset over a link. :-)

Croydonian said...

Cranmer - or might I call you Thomas? - you have rather nailed your political colours to the mast by registering at a certain political forum that will remain nameless.....

Paul Linford said...

Iain, I'm extremely honoured.

Cranmer, for what it's worth, I think your blog is quite good.

Patrick said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Archbishop Cranmer said...

Mr Ash,

Thank you for restoring a sense of perspective. The world goes to war over the lack of links.

Mr Croydonian,

I think I know the forum to which you refer. It is fairly obscure, and I may also have registered for its leftist counterpart. I haven't as it happens, but I might have done...

And you may not call me Thomas. That sort of over-familiarity is responsible for the decline of civilisation.

Croydonian said...

That's me put in my place, your grace.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link, Iain.

Neil Harding said...

Iain Dale is very dismissive of left blogs (on purpose in my opinion). I reckon he deliberately messed up the links to B4L and misrepresented the number and quality of Labour blogs listed there. HE IS A TORY, I wouldn't trust his sincerity.

He says conservative blogs are leading the way (something the Tory press) has gleefully repeated. But I don't see evidence of it really?

Look at the Left bloggers impact with the Euston Manifesto (where is the Right bloggers equivalent)? Even though I disagree with a fundamental element of the EM (You CAN reject Galloway etc without having to limit your criticism of the US government etc), you can't deny it's widespread impact.

Anyway back to the point, Harry's Place, Normblog, and Leninology seem to get plenty of hits and they are left leaning. There are loads of well read left-leaning blogs out there. Ian Dale is talking rubbish.

Iain Dale said...

Neil, you obviously subscribe to the conspiracy theory of life rather than the cock up. Whatever you may believe I corrected the errors on the links as soon as they were pointed out to me. I really do have better things to do than do what you suggest.

Read my article in Tribune this week. Your blood pressure should soar.

Shades of Blue said...

Check out Blogonymous.

Devil's Kitchen said...

Goodness, Iain, no Neil Harding on your blog list? Come on, a comedian like Neil only pops up once in a generation!

(The word verification has come up with "xs gin": I haven't, but I wouldn't mind...)

DK

Anonymous said...

Was just wondering where Paul Burgin is on your 'top 10' labour bloggers??? Especially when you consider he has been nominated for a 'bloggers4Labour' award...any ideas?

Anonymous said...

Smarter than she looks: erotica writer Suz deMello's political blog

at http://www.myspace.com/politicallyopinionated

don't be misled by the candy-lipped backdrop; she is one smart 22 year old

Anonymous said...

Check out ThePathLessTaken.blogspot.com and if you would, leave a comment..

Anonymous said...

http://elpresident.wordpress.com

Dick said...

You can find these blogs organised as news channels, just like TV channels, on THIS SITE

The site presents the top blogs in the USA, UK, Canada, and Australia all organised according to the different countries.