ConDems Trident Review

In a surprise move today the Secretary of State for Defence, Dr Liam Fox, reveals the new power supply for the UKs new generation of budget Trident submarines which doubles as a disguised periscope to prevent detection. It is thought that these new subs will be able to sit right up close to the coast of nasty nations like Denmark without being spotted.

Photo credit, Andy S-D

Who’s Missing

Following on from my discussion with “HD” on Wikio rankings, page rankings and "nofollow" we now have the Total Politics Top 25 Green Blogs published by Iain Dale. And true to form most of those top blogs are publishing the list with links, which means they are pushing those blogs up the rankings and cementing their places at the top leaving the rest scrambling around for crumbs.

But what is really interesting is who is not on the list. It is always easier to see what’s present but far more difficult to spot what is missing. Last year Molly was missing, not through any fault of her own but simply that she was not categorised as Green. Had she been in the correct category she would have been 7th. So, who’s missing this time?

This year the most notable absentees are Natalie and Sue [6 and 7 below]. This is not because their blogs are no longer good or popular but that they have somewhat neglected blogging for some real and useful work on the doorstep. I don’t know about the others, but I expect the story to be similar although some of them do seem to be up-to-date with recent entries. So, here are the links to the no-shows with last year’s ranking. Better luck next time chaps and congrats to those who made it.

6 Philobiblon
7 Green Ladywell
12 Anglo-Buddhist Combine
13 Joseph Healy for Vauxhall
16 East is Green
17 Green Construction UK
20 Whirled Peas
22 Green Left
23 Greenman's Occasional Organ
24 Croydon Greens
25 Greenpeace

Double Yum!

Miss Weggis has found the kitchen and has been having lessons from her mum.

Apple and Rhubard, both FREE!

Endorsements

Well, it’s time to come out of the closet and give my endorsements to those candidates I am supporting in the Green Party Leadership contest which will take place at the Birmingham conference next month. Here it is:

Top Green Blogs 2010

Over on Green Reading, Adrian Windisch has compiled a list of “Top Green Blogs” for 2010 from the rankings of a so-called “ranking” [checks spelling] site called “Wikio”. Now you may think I’ve got the hump because I’m not included, and you’d be right, but that’s not the point here. You see, I have some evidence to suggest that “Wikio” is not all it’s cracked up to be.

They [Wikio] say that:

The position of a blog in the Wikio ranking depends on the number and weight of the incoming links from other blogs. These links are dynamic, which means that they are backlinks or links found within articles.

Only links found in the RSS feed are included. Blogrolls are not taken into account, and the weight of any given link increases according to how recently it was published. We thus hope to provide a classification that is more representative of the current influence levels of the blogs therein.

Moreover, the weight of a link depends on the linking blog’s position in the Wikio ranking. With our algorithm, the weight of a link from a blog that is more highly ranked is greater than that of a link from a blog that is less well ranked.

Well that seems all rather incestuous doesn’t it? You link to your mates and they link back – that’s why Dale & Co remain where they are and why it is so difficult for Greens to break in to the big time.

So, to that evidence. Earlier this year we had a new kid on the block – a “Lemon” [Liberal Democrat]. His name is Jesse Boucher and he started a blog with an open Site Meter, now closed. He does not get much in the way of traffic, maybe 2-3 visits per day if that and if you look at Ice Rocket there is only ONE reference to his blog from the also local Barkingside 21. Yet B21, according to Wikio is on 3833 whereas our Jesse is on, wait for it, 2796. Now, the link is from a lower ranking blog and is the ONLY one so how does our Jess get his rating? Beats me.

So, I thought I’d have a look elsewhere. I tried Technorati but Jim Jepps wasn’t ranked at all. That can’t be right. So here’s the Top 24 Green Blogs as per Ice Rocket. And what a surprise they are: The daddy of Green blogging has to settle for third place and NUMBER ONE is Cherie Booth’s brother [although he’s never admitted it] Philip at Ruscombe Green. Well done mate.

1 - 7963 Ruscombe Green
2 - 8281 Another Green World
3 - 12032 Daily (Maybe)
4 - 15107 Greenerblog
5 - 19145 Coventry Green Voice
6 - 22779 Barkingside 21
7 - 23145 Ruperts Read
8 - 24978 Scortched Earth
9 - 29047 Flesh Is Grass
10 - 32094 Green Reading
11 - 39219 Greenmans Occasional Organ
12 - 43950 The Third Estate
13 - 45291 Green Ladywell
14 - 46462 Dispatches from the cat
15 - 52484 The Green Room
16 - 78115 Gaian Economics
17 - 86933 George Monbiot
18 - 115226 Weggis
19 - 132072 Greens Engage
20 - 140199 Jonathan Poritt
21 - 162495 Mysterious World Matt Blackall
22 - 192762 Green Construction
23 - 225239 Green Gabbles
24 - 282045 Peter Cranie

So all those links above now count towards the "Wikio" rankings, except that the weighting for this unranked blog is minus 10, so sorry about that.