Dan, over at Wikio, has again kindly forwarded me the latest rankings.
Interesting movers include Labourlist’s breakthrough into the top-five, and Labourhome also getting a top-ten spot. So regardless of Gordo’s toxicity, Labour is still alive and kicking*.
This is actually the main blog list, but the mix is pretty politics-centric anyway.
*Mind you, take away the thousands of Tories with nothing better to do than troll Labourlist, and the thing probably wouldn’t make the top 30, never mind top-5.
Thisreally is much ado about nothing — it’s no different to the expenses nonsense. They’re all at it. It’s what they do. They fiddle and they scheme, and one or two, might actually do some work once in a while.
Politicians like to claim that they’re morally superior to us, or that they’re in the know about things we’ll never comprehend, but in reality they’re like the rest of us: a mix of shirkers, workers, liars, pervs, twats and smart-arses (have I missed anyone?). MPs are no different to that bunch of goons and loons you work with. No better, and probably no worse. It’s the anthropology, stupid.
Guido’s desperate to make this a big deal because it feeds his gargantuan ego. Is it really news that politicos scheme against one-another? No, don’t be so daft you silly hypocritical gonad.
If the political blogosphere really is going to be the antidote to the MSM, rather than its desperate echo-chamber, we really have to be better than this.
Posted: March 30th, 2009 | Author:Aaron | Filed under:media, travel | Comments Off
…if you have any passing affection for the English language, you HAVE to read Gill’s latest review in The Sunday Times. Gill sculpts his words with all the genius of Michelangelo and the bile of a spurned lover ::
…I bet she was livid for getting turfed off an aeroplane, having to be told off by a customer anger facilitator and spending another four hours in an airport, all for calling some big bloke in a uniform an arsehole. If she’d known, at least she could have called him a suppurating sphincter-faced poxed toothpick-pricked moronic dribbling lackey loser of an arsehole.
Never has a Murdoch coin been better spent, than on Gill’s salary. Fact.
It is of course terribly sad and tragic and unfair that she has died, yet the hysterical and hypocritical reaction of the press which once or twice in the past have pretty much called for her piggy head to be stuck up on a spike, is something to behold.
On one hand it is ludicrous to compare her to Princess Diana and yet on the other there is probably no more apt parallel. They were both vilified by the media that they openly courted and both might end up practically canonised in death.
The controversial Barclays memos, which the bank has blocked The Guardian from publishing, have been submitted to WikiLeaks - the anonymous online document database.
Today Barclays secured the continuation of the gag order, including a provision which stops the paper from pointing its readers in the direction of the Wikileaks page.
Sunny is requesting that bloggers step and in and link to the memos, making a mockery of Barclays’ attempts to block public knowledge of their alleged deception. Click here to view.
Why do Republicans break out the pitch forks and light the torches every time there is perceived impurity around them in the party? Why do we enclave so well and why don’t we do “join” well? Even more to the point, why do Democrats seem to avoid this problem?
Really? The Democrats - you do mean the lefies, right? - are more unified and disciplined than the right?
The defining characteristics of left-wing politics are its gargantuan schisms. Personally I’d rather share a taxi with a moderate Tory, than I would many of the authoritarian lefty apologists who frequent some of the left’s more odious blogs.
Let’s be honest for a second. The GOP has been one of the most organised and “on-message” political organisations ever. For years it’s been standard practice for talking points to be filtered down from party mandarins to the foot soldiers. Not since Obama’s run for the DNC nomination have the American left seen such a savvy network.
The politicians. The rightwing media. The GOP activists and henchmen. They’re all in on it, and for a while, it worked.
4-years ago, the permanent Republican majority looked a real possibility, as the Republicans controlled the political agenda and set its tone.
Now, with the Rovian dream of conservative dynastical rule in tatters, a leadership vacuum has led to various warring factions vying control of the Republican Party.
The reviewer, one Sally McIlhone, contends that Lee’s “intellectual elitism” is pompous, and goes on to make the astonishing claim that Chris Moyles (and Jeremy Clarkson) are “immeasurably funnier than Lee”.
Seriously? People who make claims like that shouldn’t be allowed opinions. It’s beyond ignorant. Next she’ll be telling us that David Beckham’s smarter than Gail Trimble, and that Brooke Burke is nowhere near as hot as Jo Brand.
It’s about time, considering the absolute dog-spunk we’re usually fed on our TV screens, that somebody actually commissioned a programme that picks holes in the fabulously ridiculous circle-jerk that is our contemporary media. Lee’s right, most of the celeb books are complete tat, and the people who buy them are morons. And it’s about time someone said it.
Posted: March 16th, 2009 | Author:Aaron | Filed under:media | Comments Off
Paula Murray, the hateful cowbag who so cynically targeted the newly-eighteen Dumblane survivors for a facebook-sourced (it’s all the rage for two-bit hacks, apparently) front page splash in the Sunday Express, has been well and truly pwned by Tim over at Bloggerheads.
…I’m calling out Paula Murray, a “reporter” at The Daily Express who filed this utterly despicable piece [dead link, see update], as a complete and utter scumbag.
Ms. Murray, may spiders lay eggs in your head, and may their spawn eat their way to freedom through your scumbag face.
———
UPDATE: Poor Paula is in the shit (de dums), and The Express have pulled the article. This being teh internets, we have copies!
…Of course, no one is blaming Zoe Ball for every fatherless child born or catfight outside the Pink Flamingo. Or the sprawl of drunken girls splattered like guano over British city centres every weekend. Yet I do wonder.
The potency and influence of role models on modern society is sometimes exaggerated, but there is no denying that Zoe & Co started something with their glamorous, boozy buccaneering and their profligate ways. So maybe they have moved on, or at least are the recipients of a careful rebranding exercise in sobering up. Yet the legacy they have left behind continues to rise like a sick soufflé….
Oh do shut the fuck up, you preaching twat.
*Who’s not, apparently, a cheap Chinese knock-off of columnist Jane Moore.
You know, TFI Friday and I’m working the weekend. If I have to read one-more twatting media blowhard or inane self-promoting blogger, I swear I’ll swallow a gallon of petrol and light a burp.
It seems harsh to pile in on the embattled Derek Draper this morning - as it seems an unholy alliance between The Guardian and the Tory blogosphere has timed an assault to undermine today’s official launch of LabourList. And as Draper was kind enough to invite me to this morning’s launch breakfast (I had to pull out at the last minute), it would be the height of bad form to have a pop.
In the society we are trying to build, such language is plain wrong, so itís [sic] good to know that, for the first time, Tory bloggers no longer have free reign over the blogosphere.
Well, I for one am glad that our shining white knight appeared when he did. Because before he came galloping out of the mist, I was convinced we were fucked.
Oh do get some perspective, Derek. LabourList may have some high-profile politicians writing for it, but it’s a long way from gaining any serious influence in this medium. The sheer number of detractors LabourList has garnered does not indicate that the blogosphere is in flux at its arrival, it just means that bloggers are so desperate for something to write about, they’ll happily bitch for weeks about you and your site.
And let’s not get carried away with the Tory hype machine. They do have some very popular blogs, but if you think that blogging will mean anything more than a handful of votes at the next election, you’ve been drinking too much Kool-Aid (see Sunny).
The Tories have not had it all their own way. Liberal Conspiracy has made serious inroads into Tory “dominance”. And Sunny has done this by allowing talented writers to dissent from party talking points, not to mention some serious industry and resourcefulness. And even before Sunny put together LC, he and many others were writing excellent and popular blogs that pushed the liberal/leftist agenda.
So before you pat yourself on the back, and make Bush-like claims of “mission accomplished”, you ought to give some credit to those who have been fighting for progressive politics long before you penned your first blog post.
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