John’s Labour Blog: No 2 (ish) Trade Union Blog 2010

"The horror! The horror! ...despite being toppled by them from Number 1 spot as (tongue firmly in cheek) “trade union blog of the year” I do offer (obviously insincere) congratulations to the new No 1 blog- ToUChstone!

See results here by the trade union supporting website TIGMOO (“This Great Movement Of Ours”) run by New Media wizard, John Woods. This is the forces of light and reason (aka British trade unions) answer to Total Politics and Tory Iain Dale’s “Annual Guide to Political Blogs”.

I’ve been No 1 for the past 2 years but alas this year...

1: ToUChstone (2)

The TUC‟s public policy group blog, offering current affairs comment by the organisation’s policy staffers and guest contributors. Having probably the largest blogging team of any union blog pays off in terms of content and readership.

http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/

2: John's Labour blog (1)

Finally deposed after two years at the TIGMOO top spot, this one-man blog by a UNISON convenor has a strong focus on Labour party activism through the UNISON Labour Link and on developments for union pension’s activists.

grayee.blogspot.com

I had thought of asking John W for an affiliate block card vote to decide things but for some reason...anyway, inspired by Ultimate Big Brother I’ve emailed John to warn ToUChstone that - watch out comrades -this time next year ...I’m coming to get you!

:)

Total Politics Blog Poll 2010

I’ve just emailed my current top ten blogs to the “Total Politics” annual blog “Beauty Parade”. Total Politics impartiality is obviously somewhat dubious since it is owned and run by Tories (with a supposedly “neutral” board overseeing) but it is the political website of choice for many serious politicians.

Thankfully - you are not allowed to post on who you have selected since I am sure that it I will leave some blogging folk I have left out - just a little bit miffed at me for doing so.

Needless to say one cherry short of a Schwarzwalderkirschtorte was not one of the 10:)

You have until 31 July to take part.

BTW - This is the list I compiled in 2008 (but never got round to sending). It has changed since.

(picture of the demonstrators outside the Miss World competition in London 1970. Some of them later broke into the event and threw floor bombs at host, Bob Hope and the contestants . I use to work with one of the protesters in the 1980's, Jake Prescott, who in 1970 dressed up for the first time in his life in a dinner suit in order to get into the venue. Jake then later went off to make other type of bombs).

John’s Labour blog: The Number One (ish) Trade Union Blog 2009

John’s Labour Blog has for the second year in a row been declared as the “Number One Union” blog by TIGMOO an “aggregator service for blogs about unions and unionism in the UK” which links to 120 UK union blogs.

TIGMOO ranks the 25 top union blogs and describes this blog as

1: John's Labour blog (1)
Last year’s top spot retained again for this blog by a UNISON convenor reporting on his work and union issues in general. The blog has a strong focus on Labour party activism through the UNISON Labour Link and on developments for union pensions activists.
grayee.blogspot.com.

“The blogs in the TIGMOO network have been ranked according to four equally weighted factors: Traffic ratings generated by Alexa.com, number of posts in the last 8 weeks, number of comments in that time, and the number of inbound links found by Google”.

Please note that TIGMOO also state “these measures have a huge margin
of error, especially when dealing with smaller sites, and of course measuring quantity doesn’t always predict quality, though all the 25 listed here are certainly well worth checking out”.

TIGMOO started off this rating last year during the TUC annual congress and state that “This guide is a play on Iain Dale’s Total Politics Guide to Political Blogs, which annually ranks hundreds of blogs from across the political spectrum”

Not that I pay much attention to such stuff – after all - was I at all bovvered that the wreakers and splitters at Tory Boy Iain Dales “Total Politics” sabotaged my top 100 “Left Wing” ranking this year?

No, of course not. All the true bloggers I have ever met have been honest, gentile, mild mannered, consensual, polite, modest, moderate, uncompetitive and contemplative souls, who simply poor scorn on the very idea of such ranking and league tables and surely agree whole heartedly with this very sound sentiment below (but nothing else)

"If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same"

68th top “left of centre” blog

Found out that “John’s Labour blog” has come 68th in the top 100 of “left of centre” blogs as reported on Tory boy Iain Dale site.

“These blogs were voted for by the readers of more than 75 UK political blogs and the readers of TOTAL POLITICS Magazine.

Each person voted for their top ten blogs. Their favourite was awarded ten points, their second favourite nine points and so on down to one point. 1,142 people cast a vote”.

Not sure whether this is good or bad? Being in the bottom 50 isn’t something to shout about I suppose, but it is surprisingly quite pleasing to read that some people have obviously found this blog interesting enough to vote for.

I didn’t actually vote in the poll but I suppose my top 10 would be:-

1. Labourhome (7th)
2. Dave Part (10th)
3. Labour & Capital (63rd)
4. Bloggers4Labour (21st)
5. Normblog (20th)
6. Harry Place (12th)
7. Hope Sen (2nd)
8. Rupa Haq (44th)
9. Luke’s blog (6th)
10. TIGMOO (not listed I think?)

However, to be frank, sad person that I am, I enjoy reading most blogs from time to time.

Congratulations to everyone, especially the top 3 Tom, Hopi and S&M!

This is the full list: -

1. Tom Harris MP2. Hopi Sen3. Stumbling & Mumbling4. Liberal Conspiracy5. Recess Monkey6. Luke Akehurst7. LabourHome8. Tom Watson MP9. Ministry of Truth10. Dave's Part11. Sadie's Tavern12. Harry's Place13. SNP Tactical Voting14. Socialist Unity15. Paul Linford16. Labour Outlook17. A Very Public Sociologist18. Obsolete19. Ordovicius20. Normblog21. Bloggers4Labour22. Theo's Blog23. Kezia Dugdale's Soapbox24. Beau Bo D'Or25. Bob Piper26. Forgesian Thinking27. The Daily (Maybe)28. Stuart King29. Lenin's Tomb30. Pickled Politics31. Never Trust a Hippy32. Chris Paul's Labour of Love33. Bloggerheads34. Chicken Yoghurt35. Bethan Jenkins AM36. Conor's Commentary37. John McDonnell MP38. Neil Clark39. Adam Price MP40. Snowflake541. Jane's the One42. Progress43. Two Doctors44. Rupa Huq45. The F Word46. Fat Man on a Keyboard47. Cynical Dragon48. Scots and Independent49. Byrne Baby Byrne50. Rachel North London51. Drink Soaked Trots52. Adam Smith was a Socialist53. Tory Troll54. Penny Red55. Kevin Maguire56. Nosemonkey's Eutopia57. Five Chinese Crackers58. Grimmer up North59. Guerilla Welsh Fare60. Welsh Ramblings61. Kerron Cross62. Three Score Years & Ten63. Labour and Capital64. Mars Hill65. Wheeler's Website66. Indygal67. Tartan Hero68. John's Labour Blog69. Charlie Beckett70. Ian Bone71. Another Green World72. Harpymarx73. Blog Menai74. Kerry McCarthy MP75. The Exile76. New Direction77. Lancaster Unity78. Modernity79. Organised Rage80. Madam Miaow Says...81. Calum Cashley82. Clairwil83. Councillor Terry Kelly84. Stroppy Blog85. Shiraz Socialist86. Labour Left Forum87. Amlwch to Magor88. Defend the NHS89. Jon's Union Blog90. Paul Flynn MP91. Scribo Ergo Sum92. Andrew Burns's Really Bad Blog93. Don Paskini94. Oliver Kamm95. Bid for Freedom96. Macuaid97. Reading Marx's Capital with David Harvey98. Sit Down Man99. Tygerland100. Jon Worth Euroblog