Flash in the arse via Blamerbell Briefs
He's gone. And so soon after his relaunch too.I wonder what tipped him over the...
Housekeeping via Blamerbell Briefs
Thought I'd do a bit of post-election spring cleaning. There's been movement in the sidebar, with some candidate blogs moving up to become AM blogs (OK, just the one) and others disappearing altogether.I think it's unfortunate, incidentally, that certain candidates and ejected AMs have decided to delete their blogs. Blogging is, after all, a conversation. And when you're having a chat with someone and it doesn't go your way, you don't punch their lights out and tell them to forgot everything you've ever told them. I would have preferred to see those blogs preserved as relics of the 2007 election campaign. They might have made interesting reading in twenty years time.Never mind, we are never short of new blogs entering the fray. I am now linking to Thoughts of Oscar, Glas, New Welsh Right,...
You, my friends, signify nothing via Blamerbell Briefs
I'm so sorry to have to tell you this... But you, my friends, signify nothing. That's the message from Rhondda AM Leighton Andrews. Returning to his normal blog, the man who is now in possession of one of the largest Labour majorities in Wales has given the following appraisal of the Welsh political blogosphere:I wasn't that impressed with the so-called 'Welsh blogosphere' during the campaign...Too many blogs, including this one, seemed more interested in gossip and rumour. When that spreads to the BBC, it's bad news. The Beeb should apply the same standards to its blogs as to the rest of its news coverage. I do agree with this one that the absence of competition in the Welsh news media gives more opportunity for bloggers, but having now caught up with some of the blogging from election...
Are you reading THIS or the Western Mail? via Blamerbell Briefs
Blogs are as popular as regional newspaper websites as online sources of local news.That's the somewhat surprising finding of Ofcom in their latest research into the future of news, which has not yet been published in full.Here in Wales, the massed ranks of politicians who have been so sceptical about blogs might wish to review their position. Something of a blog revolution has occurred in recent months - you need only move your eyes slightly to the left and examine the links in my sidebar as testament to that.When I last counted in December, 12 AMs kept a blog. Now it's around 15. But the real blossoming has occurred among Assembly candidates and other interested observers. They've realised, I presume, that a great number of people are completely turned-off politics the way it is...
Top Welsh political blogs via Blamerbell Briefs
Who's the most popular Welsh political blogger? Well, it's impossible to tell as the internet still has no central database of blog rankings. The next best thing is Technorati, which ranks blogs according to how they fit into a network of links. Problem is some blogs get a lot of links but perhaps not so many hits. This particularly applies to politicans who are linked to from all angles on account of their profile and status. So, don't be surprised if the following list is weighted heavily towards the elected politicians at the top.Anyway, I've knocked up a list based on those Technorati scores just for the hell of it. These are the political blogs that I know about and that I've linked to. If you're on this list please do link back here, then we can all be one big happy Welsh blogging...