My annoyance then was more about the fact people wanted to discuss every failure by NL under the sun rather than the substance of the article itself.

Your annoyance demonstrates a lack of understanding about how the executive works; all Ministers are bound by collective responsibility thus can be questioned about everything the government does.

I love the contempt the Tory rank and file have for people who work in the public sector. I mean, no policeman ever vote Tory do they? No Doctors or nurses or teachers or judges, nobody in the military ever votes Tory, oh no. All those Majors and Admirals they never vote Tory. Nobody at the Ministry of defence or the Ministry of agriculture ever votes Tory.

No, they all get paid by the private sector and live off their private pensions.

Probably because most of the left do very little else -working for the State or students.

Strangely (and I’d have thought similar when I first started out) you couldn’t be more wrong. Most of the Lib Dem blogs I read (in fact most of the blogs I read full stop) are written by people who also have a very busy work and personal life. And very few are working in the state sector.

In fact, I used to post a lot more on various blogs when I was in a full time private sector management role than I do now I’m a part time freelancer and primary childcarer (I had planned to post this afternoon, instead I got attacked by demands for help glittering). The most prolific blogger I know is my fiancée, who writes 4-5 posts per day, in various places, minimum. And she also has an energy sapping full time job.

The best blogs are written by those with the most knowledge—thus someone in a job has more knowledge, generally, than someone who has yet to start one (like a student). The more I study around this area (one of my consultancy gigs is using the internet to communicate with customers/voters/ etc), the more I become aware of the old truism, “if you want something done, ask a busy person”.

The best bloggers are those who fit it in between a hectic life, one of the best I enjoy reading writes most of his posts while travelling all over the world on business, after you’ve read all your briefing papers, what else do you do in the departure lounge?

So, as counter-intuitive as it seems, your assumption is actually completely wrong.

So what does this vaunted “freedom” of the private sector amount to in practice? Your greed and his sloth.

Yes, to avoid left-wing LAs going bankrupt and to ensure their residents received at least a minimum level of services. Its now used by Labour to gerrymander votes.

Also? As observed here and elsewhere on a number of occasions, the majority of the top ten blogs are either avowedly left wing, left aligned or neutral. The Liberal Democrats have more blogs as a proportion of their membership or voting numbers than either of the other two main parties.

Probably because most of the left do very little else -working for the State or students.

This is now the split between Labour and Tories. The former the party of the controlling, suffocating centralised State and its minions and the latter the party of the free private sector and true liberal-minded people.

The reason that the Left is crap on the internet in the UK is largely due to the centralising tendency. The UK Left (arguabky all Left) is about central control.

Bwa ha ha ha ha.

*tries to calm down*

Ha ha.

Sorry.

Um, Richard? I have no idea who you are, but I’m assuming from your comment that you are a Conservative supporter?

The party that when last in Government removed much of local Govts revenue stream, centralised control of as much as they possibly could, and introduced and expanded the principle of ‘capping’ so that it has become the norm?

Also? As observed here and elsewhere on a number of occasions, the majority of the top ten blogs are either avowedly left wing, left aligned or neutral. The Liberal Democrats have more blogs as a proportion of their membership or voting numbers than either of the other two main parties.

Your facts are wrong, your understanding is lacking and your hyperbole is punctured. Never mind, eh?

Has the troll ever said anything as ridiculous as that? So economic interest is not an issue then?

And Greedy Tories never vote for their economic interest ? All those rich people in the south of England who are going to vote Tory because they want to pay less income tax and no inheritance tax, they are not voting for their own perceived interests then?

This is typical of the Tory mentality. Total contempt for anyone who does not vote Tory, and a ludicrous belief that Tories vote for some higher calling than pure self interest.

“the Westminster bubble press hacks worship Iain Dale and Guido Fawkes but that doesn’t translate into votes since they preach to the converted”

That contradicts itself. The Westminster bubble and press hacks themselves have influence, so influencing them has a disproportionate effect. If they are talking about issues raised by blogs, even addressing those issues in a practical way, or using arguments they have seen on blogs, then this will influence the wider world. If you can only influence a few people, then who would you choose to influence if you wanted political advantage?

Also how can you assume that the media hacks (more left wing than right) and Westminster bubble are the converted? They have many different views. That’s the point of politics, in case you had missed it entirely.

Errrrrrrmmmmmm, that’s the point.

The reason that the Left is crap on the internet in the UK is largely due to the centralising tendency. The UK Left (arguabky all Left) is about central control. That doesn’t work on the internet.

You are also wrong in fact. As you point out, ConservativeHome is not part of the Conservative party. If you include that then you have to include Iain Dale and Dizzy Thinks, among others. I hardly think that anyone describing CH as “of note and scale” can leave out other Conservative-supporting online operations.

It’s a non-starter for now, honestly. Scoop is a big piece of software and I’d have to hire someone almost full time to install it and maintain it. Its flexible but I don’t know how to change it around, whereas Wordpress is relatively much easier to hack through.

This doesn’t even take into account the cost of a dedicated server and all the rest…

I expect the Tories to win the next election fairly easily and probably the one after that too, unless the European question pulls them apart from inside – the question really is, what sort of alternative with the voters be offered in ten years’ time or so when they are beginning to tire of them? Can we get open primaries, initially obviously informal caucuses, in constituencies so that candidates are adopted who are acceptable to both Labour and Lib Dem (and Green) activists locally and so positioned to reach out beyond traditional party allegiances?

In the shorter term, the Labour in-fighting after its defeat will be of unprecedented viciousness – and I was active in that Party in the early 1980s when “fraternal” was indeed a joke… both the blogosphere generally and LC in particular will have a role to play here. Do you intend to run pieces by ex-ministers defending their corner or, hopefully, say – only forward-looking articles, please?

Hard to find ordinary people blogging for the left. Judging by the voices here I would say the few lefties are
1 Young , no kids .
2 Rarely employed in mainstream industry or Commerce
3 Often Politics graduates
4 Fabulously ignorant about everything else and tricksy on their hobby horse
5 Little concerned with the particular and usually concerned with running the world

When the general election pops up , and it has to be early next year , you will see that there are many many Conservatives and others who do not have the time to devote to a quasi media career on a daily basis but who will blog as a local effort with real on thre ground knowledge . There will be a few Liberals but Labour is never going to figure much in this popular and democratic form . It is neither , it is a coalition between a Fabian elite and an economic interest who detest eachother.

Well is it not the case that LC now has a significant infrastructure and a readership base and in terms of work I am presuming you are more than capable of delgating that to an editorial team. In terms of a wider political spectrum you know I disagree and the fact is that there are international posters on Daily Kos so that simply cannot be true.

The fact is that it would solve the issue of political balance straight off the bat and actually make LC a better read all round. It would keep the mix of activism and reportage along with discussion and debate that you seem to want for the site….

My annoyance then was more about the fact people wanted to discuss every failure by NL under the sun rather than the substance of the article itself. I would apply the same if Lynne Featherstone’s articles were inundated with people complaining about the ineffectiveness of the Libdems.

now if LC was much more like Daily Kos then nobody would be able to complain about representation because they would be able to participate freely themselves…..and we also wouldnt have paranoid talk about one party wanting to ‘take things over’

Darrell – well, I did think about the Daily Kos model actually before launching LC, but realised it would require a significant infrastructure and work investment.
I do like that model, but remember that it only has about 5-6 front page posters that then highlight diaries by other people. We have a lot more front page posters from wider political spectrum.
My intended model is actually more a hybrid of TPM and HuffPo…. with a bit of dKos activism thrown in. I’m not looking at aping MoveOn, primarily because that also requires a big investment, and because a group is looking to do it beginning next year.

My bad habit/gift is speaking inconvenient truths at seemingly inappropriate times…

so thank god for a liberal-left operation that isn’t about sucking up to New Labour.

Except when a Neo Labour Minister comes on here then we all have to behave and offer them polite conversation…:P