Next Left is placed 15th in the overall top 50 political blogs in Britain, according to this year's Total Politics blogging poll. We were chuffed to be voted fourth most popular Labour blog and number six in the overall left-wing category.
Many congratulations to Left Foot Forward on the achievement of becoming number one left-wing blog in time for its first birthday, and to LabourList for topping the Labour blogs poll for the first time.
Iain Dale points out in Total Politics that left-of-centre blogs take up four of the top 10 places and seven of the top 20, compared to 1 in 10 and 4 of 20 last year, a point also made made by Left Foot Forward. (Dale writes that the main issue for the right is that there "has been no new blood" on the blogging right, except for the promise shown by the hyper-energetic Norman Tebbit). By contrast, it is good that there seem to be dozens of new entries among the left blogs, with Political Scrapbook and Labour Uncut having quickly established good followings, while there are a few on the list that are new to me. So it is well worth flicking through the overall 100s if you are looking for some new voices in the party debate to add to your bookmarks and blogrolls.
And the death of New Labour may be much exaggerated, if this top of the Labour blogs pops snapshot is any guide, since our esteemed colleagues Tom Harris, Alastair Campbell and Hopi Sen are all again in the top five Labour blogs. (And made-up insiders suggest that Tom Harris - again ranked first among blogs in categories for MPs and Scots - might have kept the Labour crown too under an AV count).
Apart from LabourList's broad church of party opinion, Next Left's hyper-moderate gradualist liberal social democrat centre-leftiness probably makes us the Trots within that small group - despite Hopi Sen's transparently Mandelsonian front - though proper lefties like Penny Red and a plural range of Labour and left perspectives can be found across the top 100.
Thank you to Next Left readers who voted for the blog in the poll, suggesting that there is some audience for our ongoing attempt to win the "longest-ever blogpost published in a single column" award.
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Top 10 Labour blogs
1. Labour List
2. Tom Harris MP
3. Hopi Sen
4. Next Left
5. Alastair Campbell
6. Political Scrapbook
7. Luke Akehurst
8. Labour Uncut
9. Penny Red
10. Hadleigh Roberts.
... full top 100 list, including links.
Top 10 left-wing blogs
1 Left Foot Forward
2 (3) LabourList
3 (1) Tom Harris MP
4 (2) Hopi Sen
5 Liberal Conspiracy
6 (8) Next Left
7 (4) Alastair Campbell
8 Political Scrapbook
9 (5) SNP Tactical Voting
10 (6) Luke Akehurst
... full top 100 list, including links.
If there are other - even newer - blogs springing up that we should be reading, please do let us know in the comments.
2 comments:
some good blogs here
http://goodbutchery.yolasite.com/news.php
ISTM that blogging is essentially an activity of opposition - as many Tory bloggers are probably going to find to their cost over the next few years.
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