Five Per cent

While it is nice to be voted into the Top Green Blogs via that nice Mr Dale’s Total Politics, it is much more interesting to see how we Greens are fairing against the opposition. So, the overall list rankings, which only go up to 300, are the vital test.

52 (34) The Daily (Maybe)
61 Bright Green Scotland
73 (52) Two Doctors
87 (155) Barkingside 21
99 (137) Another Green World
128 (239) Gaian Economics
168 George Monbiot
169 (227) Rupert Read
184 Mabinogogiblog
192 (257) Ruscombe Green
215 Weggis
272 Jane's Political Ramblings

Last year there were 10 Green bottles blogs in the top 300, this year 12. Sadly, [wipes tear from cheek] Jim has dropped out of the top 50, BUT we are up from 2 to 5 in the top 100. Here’s Dave Brubeck.

Ed's Up

So, the Trade Unions Labour Party have elected a new leader.

Milibrother the younger came up on the rails and beat his older brother by a short head.

He is Kinnochio's chosen man, who was, let's face it, quite a good Leader of the Opposition. So he knows how to pick 'em.

But honestly, what a fucking mess of an election procedure. If I was a Labour Potty Member I would withold two-thirds of my membership subscription.

Quote of the Day

“The trouble with banning smoking in pubs is that you can now smell the toilets when you walk in”

- Matt in the New Fairlop Oak.

Expressions for Atheists

Since we’ve had the Pope over here having a pop at atheists I thought it’s about time we came up with some atheist nomenclature. Here goes:

Darwin Almighty

Richard H. Dawkins

Sweet Baby Dawkins

Charles Darwin on a bike.

Please feel free to add more in the comments.

Awesome

The yellow dots are aircraft in the sky during a 24 hour period. Stay with the picture. You will see the light of the day moving from the east to the west, as the Earth spins on its axis. Also you will see the aircraft flow of traffic leaving the North American continent and travelling at night to arrive in the UK in the morning Then you will see the flow changing, leaving the UK in the morning and flying to the American continent in daylight. It is a 24 hour observation of all of the large aircraft flights in the world. Scary. World Air Traffic 0-24h

Rights and Responsibilities

Caroline Lucas on the “cuts”

"Lib Dems are apologists for the most brutal, savage cuts in a generation"


"Cuts that affect people like the woman who came to my surgery a few weeks ago, desperate to be re-housed because she, her partner and child were all living in a single room in Brighton, and she was expecting another child very soon.”

One room?

One word!

CONTRACEPTION.

That’s Life

Out in Japan there is the case of two Greenpeace activists who exposed widespread corruption in Japan's whaling programme, and have now been given a one year suspended prison sentence. Yet the criminals behind the whale meat embezzlement walk free.

Strange isn’t it how whistleblowers are vilified by the establishment yet protect those who break the rules.

Even stranger that those who break the rules, invoke them when it suits.

And as if by magic in Today's Guardian:

And some year for the Green party as members meet in Birmingham for the annual conference. The party, still bright and relatively new, has yet to succumb to the dead hand of sophistry and spin. And yet they realise that some things are best kept under the surface. One such is the claim that too often a sympathy for the plight of Palestinians spills over into full-blown antisemitism. These claims have been made before. That's why the party sought to address them by setting up an antisemitism working group. But good intentions, we understand, were not enough, and thus it apparently became necessary to remove the chair and disband the committee. We have a problem, say worried members. No we don't, says the leadership; and if we do we'll deal with it. It's under the surface for now but bubbling up fast.

Just for Jesse

This is what the current edition of 'Private Eye' has to say about the plight of the Lib Dems:

BURIED 57 FOUND ALIVE

There were scenes of jubiliation last night in London after contact was finally made with 57 Liberal Democrat MPs buried under a Conservative government over 100 days ago.

"As we'd heard nothing from them in weeks we'd naturally assumed they'd all perished," said a jubilant Liberal Democrat councillor.

Despite the initial euphoria, rescue workers were more downbeat about the long term prospects for the trapped Liberal Democrat MPs, saying few are expected to emerge from underneath Kenneth Clarke alive. Said one, "I'm doing every thing I can to save them from being shafted."

Hat:Tip Noel Lynch

Top Councillor Blogs 2010

Last year, 2009, there were no Greens in the Top 30 list. This is probably because those Green councillor blogs had not been put into that category. We know definitely of one, Sue Luxton, who is not eligible this year [wipes tear from cheek] on account of not getting re-elected in May. So there may well be others in this boat.

But now that we Greens have wised up to getting ourselves correctly categorised, packaged and slapped on the counter CONGRATULATIONS are in order for Rupert Read, Philip Booth and Andrew Cooper who fly in at numbers 10, 11 and 26 respectively.

Also a mention for Roger Evans who falls a couple of places to 19. Yes I know he’s a Tory but he does stand his round in the pub.

Full 2010 list here.

Balls Brothers

Apparently there is a leadership contest going on in the Labour Party to decide whether it is going to be New Labour, True Labour, or Blue Labour. There is a Vote Match gizmo doing the rounds to help those who have a vote to make up their minds. It is obviously asking the wrong questions, see below, but maybe it’s because I’m not a Labour Party member or that I am rather fond of Abbott Ale.On the other hand it might just be that we are not rational beings but emotional beings. Where we make decisions based upon how we feel rather than evidence. Had I a real vote it would go to Milibrother the Younger but that said they are all far too left wing for me.

10 Things we didn’t know before Tony Blair published his memoirs