Guide to Blogging 2007: Top 100 Left of Centre Blogs

The GUIDE TO POLITICAL BLOGGING 2007 is being published on Monday. Featured among the 288 pages are a myriad of blog lists. Now for the TOP 100 LEFT OF CENTRE BLOGS.

There are all sorts of theories as to why the left wing blogosphere in Britain hasn’t really taken off, many of which are discussed elsewhere in this book. But it is a truism to say that there is not a single left leaning blog which attracts a mass audience and the kind of influence enjoyed by several right of centre blogs. The challenge for the left over the next twelve months is to put that right. This list of the 100 best left of centre blogs has been compiled by a group of Labour bloggers. It reflects much of the voting in the main top 500 blogs list in that Recess Monkey is considered to be the top rated left wing blog in Britain. In some ways, it’s an odd choice as posting has been irregular and the monkey got a lot of egg on his face for prematurely announcing the death of Margaret Thatcher earlier in the year.

Labour MP Tom Watson follows closely behind (in fact he missed out on the top position by only one point in the voting!) in second place. Watson was one of the first blogging politicians in the country and while his blog has gone through long periods of inactivity, his resignation from the government last summer made the first Minister ever to resign to spend more time with his blog. And he used it to the full. He’s become prolific in the number of times he posts, although his one line posts often serve to irritate rather than inform. He’s become amazingly partisan, but if there are five Labour ‘must-visit’ blogs, then Watson’s is one of them.

Kerron Cross and Bob Piper were last year’s top two, but have dropped down to three and four respectively. Bob Piper got so fed up with attacks on him by the Tory blogger Prague Tory last year that he gave up blogging for a couple of months. But he returned, with a new blog design and soon picked up where he left off. He’s got a sense of humour to die for and can see through waffle and obfuscation with a searing wit. Kerron Cross is also a very funny chap – sometimes a bit too funny even for himself! Kerron could be the big left wing Blogger which the left is constantly searching for. But he’s got to break out of funny stories to do with parliamentary lavatories. My suspicion is that he likes what he does and doesn’t wish to change.

In common with its LibDem counterpart, Labour Home hasn’t really hit the mark. ConservativeHome has left both of them trailing in its wake. Its position at number 5 in this list is somewhat surprising. The weakness of the left wing blogosphere is highlighted by the
highest new entry, Chris Paul’s Labour of Love at number eight. Paul seems to spend half his time commenting on me or what I have commented on. His conspiracies and paranoia are often hilarious to read, but if this is a true representation of the left of centre blogosphere then God help us all.

Dave’s Part is perhaps the best known blog on the extreme left. Written by Trotskyite David Osler it is brilliantly written and often extremely insightful. It deserves a higher position than number nine.

But don’t let me try to persuade you that there aren’t good and upcoming left of centre blogs. While they may take great delight in slagging me off to their hearts’ content, the Ministry of Truth (new entry at nineteen) and Tygerland (twenty four) are two blogs who like to take a forensic approach to an issue. The Ministry of Truth in particular seems to write a book, rather than a blogpost sometimes, and gets to the heart of the matter. He sometimes gets it wrong (don’t we all) but on other occasions his forensic detective work has given a story a much needed push.

Note that the second number denotes the 2006 position. Two dashes means the blog is a new entry.

1-- Recess Monkey
2-7 Tom Watson MP
3-1 Kerron Cross
4-2 Bob Piper
5-3 Labour Home
6-17 Bloggers 4 Labour
7-32 Newer Labour
8-- Chris Paul's Labour of Love
9-8 Dave's Part
10-35 Luke Akehurst
11-73 Fair Deal Phil
12-- Chicken Yoghurt
13-- Paul Flynn MP
14-- Bloggerheads
15-5 Antonia Bance
16-- British Bullshit Foundation
17-9 Mars Hill
18-4 Harry's Place
19-- Ministry of Truth
20-- John Angliss
21-70 Three Score Years & Ten
22--Rupa Huq
23--Skipper
24-14 Tygerland
25-- Jag Singh
26-13 Mike Ion
27-- Parburypolitica
28-- Byrne Baby Byrne
29-19 General Theory of Rubbish
30-- Stumbling & Mumbling
31-21 Austin Mitchell MP
32-100 Snowflake 5
33--Grimmer Up North
34-42 Richard Corbett MEP
35-- Shiraz Socialist
36-30 Labour Humanatist Group
37-- Drink Soaked Trotsykite Popinjays for War
38-- Hak Mao
39-65 Jane's the One
40-10 Jon Worth Euroblog
41-61 Omar's Blog
42-76 Miranda Grell
43-29 Political Hack UK
44--Tigmoo
45--Jon's Union Blog
46--Peter Wheeler
47-- Theo Blackwell
48-12 Normblog
49-- Political Penguin
50-- Johninnit
51-31 Snedds, 52-74 Stephen Newton's Diary of Sorts 53-- Blood & Treasure 54-- Geoff Sez 55-62 Brighton Regency Labour Party 56-39 Ridiculous Politics 57-23 Barry's Beef 58-- Idiots 4 Labour 59-- Some Random Thoughts 60--John's Labour Blog 61-- Bexley Young Labour 62-59 Skuds' Sister's Brother 63-50 Gauche 64-57 Pootergeek 65-- Fat Man in the Bathtub 66-- Social Europe 67-- Furber World 68-- Labour Left Forum 69-24 Leighton Andrews AM 70-- Political Futures 71-- Conor's Commentary 72-- Obsolete 73-72 Black Triangle 74--Five Chinese Crackers 75-81 Baggage Reclaim 76-- Tales from the Sports & Social 77-- Stroppy Blog 78-- Stuart Bruce 79-- Cloud in Trousers 80-- Gordon's Gofer 81-- Random Pottins 82-- Wongablog 83-- Yorkshire Ranter 84-- Book Drunk 85-- Citizen Andreas 86-- Labour and Capital 87-- Michael Meacher MP 88-- Complex System of Pipes 89-- A Big Stick & Small Carrot 90-- Mike's Little Red Page 91-- Potlatch 92-- Unoriginal Name 38 93-- People's Commissar of Enlightenment 94-93 Rhod on Public Affairs 95-- Sharp Side 96-80 Gareth Griffiths 97-- Never Trust a Hippy 98-- Some Day I Will Treat You Good 99-64 Could have been a contender 100-- Darlington Councillor