Total Politics Awards - vote for Andrew Reeves

You will have seen the massively unsubtle Total Politics Blog Awards link on your right. Or if you haven't, may I respectfully suggest that a trip to the optician might be a good idea.

I would really appreciate any votes you might care to cast my way. It's been a challenging year to be a Liberal Democrat blogger, particularly in Scotland. Being in Government has its highs and lows. What has been great for the Lib Dem blogosphere, though, is that it's flourished since the 2010 general election. When Labour were in Government, only a few people dared put their head above the parapet to defend them, but there are loads of new, exciting Liberal Democrat bloggers this year. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed the journey with me. It's not going to get any easier any time soon, but I love blogging my way through it all, with the occasional bit of light relief of writing about Doctor Who or F1 to help me keep a grip on my sanity.

The main reason for this post, though, is to ask you not to vote for me, but to use one of your 10 votes, preferably a very high one, to vote for Andrew Reeves Runninng Blog.  As Graeme Littlejohn observed in his obituary of Andrew, this blog had very little to do with exercise - although he did write a bit about his sessions with his personal trainer last year. Over the years, Andrew wrote punchy, pugnacious posts which made their point with all the subtlety of a pneumatic drill. When he was in playful mood, he would make us laugh till we fell over. I remember when he died that an opposition blogger pointed out that he could occasionally be shameless, but they still loved reading him. SNP blogger Scot Goes Pop paid tribute to him here.

We are still feeling his loss acutely. There's not a day goes by when I don't think of something I need to tell him, or imagine how he'd react to an issue. I think the most fitting tribute of all would be for Andrew to top the Liberal Democrat blogosphere in these awards, and for him to win Liberal Democrat Voice's Blog of the Year. These are our last chances to acknowledge the enjoyment we've all had reading his posts - whether serious or cheeky - over the years.

Remember that poignant post which made us all cry when he and Roger were married earlier this year.

When he was suspended  from Twitter last December

Remember how we shared his anger over the deaths of two police dogs.

He wasn't over impressed by invitations to join the Labour Party.

In this last year, he branched out into sports reporting, bringing ice hockey matches to life. 

He might have been wrong in his last post, but he was at his pithy best just two days before he died.

It's fair to say he wasn't a huge fan of John Lamont, the Borders MSP who stood against Mike Moore for Westminster in 2010 - especially when he changed his mind on the Borders Railway.

He was proud to challenge homophobia wherever he found it.

And then there was the smut. For my birthday last year. And celebrating Glasgow's, er, big boys.

Let's honour Andrew when we cast our votes in the coming awards season.  For the Total Politics poll, they have changed the way you vote this year - rather than send an e-mail, you go to this link. You need to vote for between 5 and 10 political blogs. If you don't regularly read that many, there are plenty suggestions on my blog roll. Most are brilliant, from across the political spectrum- although a few are there just so I can keep an eye on what they're saying. I'm sure it'll be clear which is which.