Not a reference to Labour Hame this time (although of course Bomber Admin is never far from my thoughts), merely an announcement that I'm back from my travels, after an epic four-hour ferry crossing from Calais to Dover on Monday in the midst of the remnants of Hurricane Katia. I finally arrived at my hotel in Newcastle at 4.45 on Tuesday morning, and the woman at reception gave me a wicked smile, announced she had just released my room, before adding "You're very late". Well, there was no real arguing with that, was there? I took some pictures of the sea at Calais, but I'm still in the photographic dark ages, so I'll have to wait to get them developed.
Anyway, I should have made it clearer that I was heading off for a little while - the Rugby World Cup post was pre-scheduled, albeit cunningly written as if it wasn't! In particular, apologies to Stuart Dickson that I wasn't able to blog on the polling alerts he sent me by email.
And many, many thanks to all of you who voted for this blog in the Total Politics Awards. Irritatingly (and inexplicably) they appear to have scrapped the Scottish section of the awards altogether, so it'll be difficult to make a direct comparison with previous years. Jeff Breslin's masterplan for finally displacing Tom Harris from the number one slot may also have been cruelly thwarted as a result! However, I was delighted to spot that Scot Goes Pop does appear on the list of the UK's top 75 left-wing blogs, at number 48. I won't be able to add a 'vanity badge' to the sidebar this time, though, as they only have one for the top 10!
UPDATE (3pm) : It seems I spoke too hastily - although they didn't appear to be 'slated in', the Scottish and Welsh lists were suddenly published today. Scot Goes Pop is eleventh on the Scottish list - which means I've missed out on the top 10 badge by one place! Aaaaargh! Seriously, though, I'm really thrilled with that result, and thanks again for all your votes. Warm congratulations to everyone who features on the list, and especially to Tris and Munguin on the success of Munguin's Republic, which has rocketed twenty-nine places up the rankings to eighteenth.
Congratulations, James, I'm not sure why as we grow more and more independent, Total Politics thought it a good idea to scrap the definition between the UK countries' lists.
ReplyDeleteStill, as a consolation, it must be nice to be an international success!
I have to say though, that it amuses me to see some of the titles that are being classified as "left wing".
Oh, and welcome back. I hope you had a good break. The daily doze of amusement and good common sense mixed together was greatly missed here. I trust you have good sea legs.
Thanks for the welcome home, Tris. I once got horribly sea-sick on a cramped overnight crossing to Rotterdam, and since then I've come to the conclusion that the only remedy is lots of fresh air. So, mad though it may seem, I stayed out on deck for most of the four hours!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations are due to you and Munguin as well - in spite of what I said earlier, the top 25 list of Scottish blogs has just appeared, and Munguin's Republic is there!
And more than halve of those 25 are Independence inclined.
ReplyDeleteFury as laughing Cameron brands Scots ‘stupid’
Why were Scottish Labour MPs laughing as I can understand the hyena LibDems?
Well done indeed, James... a great position, well deserved.
ReplyDeleteNumber 1 next year, I very much hope.
Thanks for your good wishes too. I'd never have known if you hadn't dawn my attention to it.
Jim Murphy insights
ReplyDeletehttp://www.holyrood.com/articles/2011/09/19/murphy-to-take-central-role-in-referendum-campaign/
http://www.holyrood.com/articles/2011/09/19/flying-the-flag-for-labour/