Spot The Bloggers

Via Iain Dale's Diary comes news of the Top 100 Left of Centre UK Blogs (2007).

I know I'm stateside, but I haven't heard of three quarters of them. Part of the reason that I'm blogging about the list is so that I have an easy accesible link to the list in what might be a coming election period, and 'cos I want to name and shame some of the bloggers listed in the Red Hot Top 100:

9 - Dave's Part Should be top five, at least. Somebody has been interfering with the ballot.

21 - Three Score Years & Ten The blog of Harry Barnes. Who thought someone could be a MP for 18 years, and come out the other end a decent person? Always had a soft spot for HB, because of his columns in the old ILP magazine.

29 - A General Theory of Rubbish He swears a lot, and has been known to send me contraband Irn Bru flavoured rock candy through the mail. Good man.

31 - Austin Mitchell MP Refused to buy a Socialist Standard off of me one time. Known as a wit in the House of Commons, because it was rumoured he once told a funny joke thirty years ago.

35 - Shiraz Socialist I knew one half of the Shiraz's - Volty - when he was a cadre member of the 'tha matgamnite wing of old man 1904'ery'.

38 - Hak Mao The acceptable face of the Drink Sot Toon Blogging Army.

63 - Gauche Paul Anderson's blog. He doesn't blog enough. He doesn't gossip enough about his nefarious ultra-left past in his posts.

81 - Random Pottins Always readable, always fucks up his hyperlinks.

But no room on the list for Socialist Unity Blog; The Scottish Patient or, it has to be said, Lenny's Blog? Strange omissions, IMHO.

I'm not a fan of Lenny or his politics, but you can't deny that the bloke gets the hits. Socialist Unity Blog and the Scottish Patient are always readable and, in SUP's case, has played a central role in publicising the current Galloway/SWP shakedown within Respect. The SWP's Central Committee goes to bed at night cursing Al Gore for inventing the t'internet.

Last Word

And of course the SPGB blog, Socialism Or Your Money Back, isn't on the list. That would mean that we acknowledge that we are part of the left . . . and we can't have that.

No, This Is The Last Word

Andy N. over at the Socialist Unity Blog has compiled his own list of Top 101 Left Blogs. Honorable mentions to:

31 - Another Green World Derek Wall's blog. Totally unreadable, IMHO, but come the Green Revolution, it's handy to have a former subscriber to the Socialist Standard with his hands on the levers of power.

33 - Socialism Or Your Money Back The SPGB momentarily think of doing a Marlon Brando, but at the last minute bottle it and do a Sally Field instead.

80 - Spaces of Hope Its placing in the top 101 adds another five years to the life of the World in Common collective.

81 - Reasons To Be Possible Highly literate blogger who refuses to use spellchecker. If he wanted to, he could produce one of the best blogs out there. Bastard.

95 - From Despair To Where Maybe Andy included FDTW as an afterthought in a hastily constructed top 101. A shame if that's the case, 'cos Stuart and Dave's blog pisses over the majority of blogs on the list. No offence to the offended blogs, but it's always got something original to say, and says it with good grace and humility. So why the fuck they're blogging is anyone's guess.