Only an hour left to do your BOTY nominations

We're all being a bit cool about the Liberal Democrat Voice Blog of the Year awards this year. Usually there are lots of posts begging for nominations, but it's been a bit quiet. I'm not proud, however. I'd really appreciate a nomination from somewhere.

Maybe people think there's plenty time left to do it - but there's not. Nominations close at 5pm tonight. You can nominate up to three people in each category

• Best new Liberal Democrat blog (started since 1st September 2011)
• Best blog from a Liberal Democrat holding public office (The Tim Garden Award)
• Best use of social media / campaigning by a Liberal Democrat (The Andrew Reeves Award)
• Best non-Liberal Democrat politics blog
• Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year

So, if you're bored at work in the last hour of the working week, distract yourself by sending an email to helen@libdemvoice.org with your choices. 

Nick, Neil, Matthew and I vie for Lib Dem Voice's Big BOTY

In an every expense spared but otherwise unrivalled for glamour, gossip and unconfined debauchery awards ceremony tomorrow night, those lovely people at Liberal Democrat Voice will dispense the Oscars of the Liberal Democrat blogging world. Not since the days of the Erics on Multi Coloured Swap-Shop has something been coveted so much.

The "Best Picture" equivalent is the Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year. This year is a difficult year to be nominated because it means that you've literally got to wrest the trophy from the arms of the cutest elephant in the history of time who won it last year. The four nominees have presumably been chosen for their perceived ability to cause distress to a fluffy animal. Oh dear. That'd be me then. I'm in excellent company. Neil Monnery, Solution Focused Politics and Nick Thornsby.

In the other categories, Lisa, our own Queen of  Spiderplant Land is up for the best use of blogging and social networking for Lib Dems pointing, a very funny take on how we Lib Dems let our index fingers do the talking.

Jennie and Daddy Alex are up for best posting. I can't choose between them. Don't ask me to. But these are two passionate, fantastically articulate, fearsomely intelligent bloggers at their best.

In the award for a Liberal Democrat elected to public office, Daisy Benson is full of information and incisive argument while Lady Mark dispenses wisdom from Suffolk, often from trains.

And in the Newbies category, we have an embarrassment of riches - the 21-today Mr Potter, the thought provoking and feminist Political Parry, the master of the lurid headline, Richard Morris' View from Ham Common and The Yellow Bastion of Social Liberalism.

One sadness - no Andrew. But surely there has to be a tribute to him. I think the most fitting thing would be to name the best use of social networking award the Andrew Reeves award.

And don't forget you can vote for the best non Lib Dem blog over at Lib Dem Voice. For me, it was Political Betting. 

Get your BOTY nominations in by Friday - and remember Andrew Reeves

Those lovely people at Liberal Democrat Voice are having their annual every-expense-spared but entertainment rich blog awards ceremony at Federal Conference in Birmingham. As I write this, the Divine Ms Duffett is running around like a mad thing constructing the Blog of the Year (BOTY for short) awards themselves out of  sticky back plastic, toilet roll holders, metallic spray paint and diamante crystals.


They are asking you to nominate up to 3 blogs in each category by e-mailing the Divine Ms Duffett herself, on helen@libdemvoice.org by this Friday. The categories are as follows:

Best new Liberal Democrat blog (started since 1st September 2010)

Best blog from a Liberal Democrat holding public office (The Tim Garden Award)

Best use of blogging / social networking / e-campaigning by a Liberal Democrat

Best posting on a Liberal Democrat blog (since 1st September 2010)

Best non-Liberal Democrat politics blog

Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year

The rules in full are here.


I want to have a quick look at the Best Posting category today and when you nominate, I'd really like you, as with the Total Politics awards, to remember Andrew Reeves.


He wrote some punchy stuff in his last year - here are some examples.


An analysis of the Press Complaints Commission decision to uphold complaints against the Daily Telegraph who sent undercover reporters to record Lib Dem ministers being, well, Lib Dem.


Talking about the resignation of Tavish Scott as Scottish Lib Dem leader.


A brief post taking the mickey out of Scottish Labour's zero tolerance approach to literacy.


A personal post about the NUS Scotland LGBT mental health campaign.


Away from politics, he and I argued about Ann Widdecombe on Strictly. We almost came to comedic blows when I failed to be impressed with Gavin Henson, too but that's another story.


And there was his tactful response to Peter Lilley who suggested that Liberal Democrats and Conservatives could fight as a Coalition. "I did think initially you had perhaps overdone the Christmas sherry somewhat, either that or you were talking out your backside."


There are plenty more you could choose  - go and have a look for yourself.


Looking through my posts, here are a few which sum up a year in the life of Caron's Musings.


I've wanted on many occasions to take Labour's hypocrisy and ram it down their throats. I had a good go on this one on the abolition of the Health in Pregnancy grant.


Then there was the time I said our MPs must veto plans to make the unemployed do community service.


A personal post on my experience of being bullied at school and how it stayed with me for years, if not decades.


Taking the Daily Fail to task on domestic violence


And not really minding that Nick Clegg and David Cameron got on


This was a hard one to write - on the immediate aftermath of our electoral meltdown. Heartbreak. 


And then that turned out not to be the worst thing that was going to happen this year - a very raw "First Day without Andrew Reeves."


Finally, How the SNP "done it"


I'll try and have a look at some of the other categories before Friday's deadline.

Bloggers get Fluffy Justice!

At long last, the lovely Elephant has won Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year at a sleek and posh awards ceremony at Conference in Liverpool. You probably know much I like him by the number of times I link to him, so you'll have gathered that I don't mind not winning what Jennie charmingly described as the Big BOTY at all. Two years ago, outraged at his failure to make it from constant nomination on the shortlist to winning the title, a Bloggers for Fluffy Justice Group was established on Facebook! It's good to see that its wish has finally been granted.

Nor do I mind not having won the best posting, which went to Andrew Hickey for this brilliant letter telling a few home truths to Labour.

In other news, Nick Barlow won the best use of Social Networking for creating the Twitter hashtag #NickCleggsfault which parodied the mud that all the papers were throwing at him.

Alex Folkes won the best blog from a Liberal Democrat holding public office for A Lanson Boy.

And Nick Thornsby won best new blog.

I've felt very well looked after today.

As compensation for not getting to Liverpool, my husband cooked me this amazing steak dinner.

And if I had been there, I probably wouldn't have noticed this lovely posting from Paul Walter.

And the honourable mentions I got in this one from Daddy Alex

And then this one from Fraser MacPherson.

My cup runneth over indeed!

BOTYlicious! A Minister, a Legend, an Elephant a Walrus and me

I was chuffed to bits earlier when the BOTY (Lib Dem Voice Blog of the Year) shortlists were announced. It's not that I was hanging on and refreshing the page at the anointed hour of 12:30. In fact, at that time I was in the dentist's chair with skooshie things and suckie things in my mouth. I even got to be Mayor of my dental centre on Foursquare.

However, when I got home at around 12:50, I did have a wee look - only to see on Twitter that the event had been delayed due to "technical reasons" until 1 pm. I wondered if that was Helen Duffett showing her dark side, just messing with our heads just a little bit.

Anyway, I had maybe nurtured a small hope that one of my posts might have made it into the best post category - and it had. I was completely gobsmacked to have been shortlisted for the Blog of the Year as well. I will win neither of these awards, because I am up against amazing competition in both categories. The category Jennie describes as the Big BOTY contains Lynne Featherstone, our Minister in the Home Office who's been responsible for doing away with the thing my best post nomination was arguing against, Mark Reckons, whose brilliant, incisive, blog is (hopefully temporarily) no more, the lovely Elephant and a blog called Politicomaniac written by someone called Joe Jordan, who, I'm reliably informed, didn't play football for Scotland in the 1970s. His Twitter name is teh_walrus.  

In the best post category, I'm up against the Elephant, his Daddy Alex, Mr Hickey and Liz Williams. You can see why I am feeling incredibly privileged and honoured to be in such company in both groups.

The shortlists reignited in me a desire to go to Conference in Liverpool for the every expense spared glittering awards ceremony on Saturday night, but it's just not practical. For a start, it's a lot of money when I'm not working, especially booking at this late stage.  And it would involve finding accommodation and entertainment for the 3 of us. Anna has been quite happy to put up with her mummy devoting huge amounts of time to the Liberal Democrats - as long as I'm there at bedtime. A fair deal, I'd say, but it does mean that the cheaper option of coming to Liverpool on my own isn't there.

Two final things - gosh, this post is getting more like a Kate Winslet acceptance speech by the word. Firstly, I do need to say a big thank you to Stephen. I wouldn't have known how to set up a blog if it hadn't been for him. Nor would it ever have had any links or photos in it. He's always given his advice and help freely and graciously. I hope I can be the same sort of support to other bloggers or potential bloggers.

And finally, there are things in the blogging world that mean even more than being shortlisted. Sure, I am very grateful and honoured for that, but it was Jennie's words that made me jump up and down with happiness. The poor hamster was the only creature around to cuddle at the time, so he got the brunt of my tears of joy and I'm not entirely sure he understood why.  But I'm sure you'll understand the effect of these words from another of my blogging heroes. She's talking about the Dreaded Curse whereby BOTY winners tend to stop blogging.

My plea to the judges is a simple one: give it to Mark Reckons. He's already closed his blog anyway, so giving him the award can't do any more damage. In the name of everything sacred and true, don't give it to Caron or Millennium: I couldn't live without those two on my reading list, and it's not worth the risk.

Awards and shortlists are wonderful, but lovely comments like that are irreplaceable. And the feeling is very much mutual!

The BOTYS - Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year suggestions

So, finally, we've got to the Big One, the Grand Prix, the Cordon Bleu Jaune: the Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year.

There are lots of fantastic Lib Dem Blogs out there, but my suggestions for the shortlist are in my opinion the pick of the bunch. They all have different strengths, specialities and reasons to love them.

First up, the best blogging elephant in the history of the world's very fluffy diary.

Key strengths: strategic capitalisation and making up funny nicknames for people; explaining things about tax and the economy in a way that's not only comprehensible, but interesting; taking the time to really deeply analyse an argument; a love of Doctor Who.

Specialities: the economy - nobody can explain how to deal with a deficit quite like Millennium. His analysis of the Coalition's first hundred days shows why. Also special aptitude for dealing with the crap that the Fail and its evil brothers and sisters come out with. I loved his report of what his Daddy Richard would have said at the Special Conference on the Coalition:

During the election, we we're attacked – attacked by both other parties – for our policy on immigration, and it was because we allowed them to frame the question, to define immigration as the "problem".

Immigration is NOT the problem – the problem is housing, the problem is jobs, the problem is employers forcing wages down, the problem is pressure on services… immigration is a scape-goat for these things, a convenient excuse from a Labour government that had let down its own voters.

Conference, I live in Tower Hamlets, one of the most diverse Boroughs in the United Kingdom. And, yes, despite lying in the shadow of glittering wealth at Canary Wharf, one of the poorest. Look at our history: Huguenots in Spitalfields, Chinese in Limehouse, Jews in Cable Street, Bangladeshi in Brick Lane… these weren't people coming to "sponge" off us; they were coming to take up the opportunity that a free and Liberal society offered.

David Cameron is being hailed as "the new Disraeli"; when Disraeli was Prime Minister there weren't any Little Englander worries about immigration; people were welcomed for the talents that they could bring.

Britain is built on immigration. We are stronger for immigration, for all those people with get up and go who got up and came here, to these lucky islands.

But it's more personal than that. My partner is Alex Wilcock – you may have heard the cheers for his intervention – and his Mum is a "Non-EU immigrant". If there'd been a cap on immigration, I might never have seen my Alex.

This little pachyderm sums up for me what liberalism is all about. He's been on the shortlist for the last 2 years - will it be 3rd time lucky for the top prize?

I had thought that Mark Thomson's Mark Reckons blog would have been an absolute certainty for the shortlist if not the award before his announcement last week that he was stopping blogging.  He has had a ground-breaking almost 2 years and his absence will leave a huge void.

Key strengths: strong, evidence based posts on controversial subjects like drugs; clear headed stuff on political reform; live Question Time chats; in depth interviews with key people like drugs expert Professor David Nutt.

Specialities: a strong voice in the Blogosphere against blanket prohibition without evidence, particularly in relation to drugs. I still think his post linking MPs' expenses to the safety of their seats, which was picked up by Polly Toynbee, did more to advance the cause of political reform than anything else in my lifetime. And then there was always the fact that his blog contained more common sense per square inch than most.

Here he writes in response to a father, whose child was bitten by a dog, who called for a ban on dogs "anywhere children play". Well, that's plenty of scope for a start, including houses.

Mark's response was to express sympathy for the child's injuries but to then say:

I am sorry for the injuries and distress caused to Mr Evans and his son but I just wonder what he thinks the result of such a ban would be. He already makes it clear that he has dogs and he muzzles them. I expect most law abiding and responsible dog owners already do this anyway.

So what we would be left with are the people who do not give a flying toss about the law or responsibility still letting their dogs off in the play areas. In my experience* these people will just ignore any rules so the result is likely to be that the responsible dog owners find one more place they cannot take their dogs. I also wonder how you would define "where children play".

"Banning" things does not stop them from happening. It does however mean more money being spent on trying to enforce the rules and various other side effects. People should think more carefully before calling for bans.

We are really going to miss his approach and I hope that his circumstances will allow him to resume his blog at some point in the future. He had also become an excellent representative of the liberal viewpoint on the media.

My third choice is going to be Jennie Rigg, which I'm sure will be much to your surprise because I never mention her and I never ever say that she's one of my favourite bloggers and I hang on her every word, do I ? Her blog is plain speaking, often provocative and passionate.

To me her key strength is that she reaches outside the confines of the political blogosphere - she writes for ordinary people, not just political junkies. I liked how she basically did a series of personal tailored manifestos during the election  this one to a friend of her's with no interest in politics. She explains what the Liberal Democrats stand for  in appealing and engaging terms, and she'll tell the Coalition Government exactly what she thinks of it, as she did here in a recent post talking about their crusade on benefit fraudsters:

If ever there was any doubt about the fact that the Golden Rule* (he who has the gold makes the rules) is still fully in force, compare the media coverage of and political rhetoric about the two crimes I mention in the title of this post. Benefit Fraudsters are scum; feckless, worthless criminals; living immorally off our taxes. Tax Evaders are barely mentioned at all, and when they are they are mentioned in the kind of force-of-nature way that rapists are mentioned in victim-blaming discourse...

Her specialities can be summed up as freedom, feminism and fandom. The range of things she can write knowledgably about, though, is enormous -science, law, the reality of living on a low income.  I like her reality checks on the "blokeosphere" and her attempts to change things.

My final suggestion is Cicero whose Songs often scare the living daylights out of me but are prescient warnings of danger ahead. See this prediction on house prices from the start of the year:

The outlook for the UK in 2010 is now as grim as it has been for nearly 40 years. Many argue that the fall in sterling will rescue the economy. Unfortunately British manufacturing now comprises only 11% of the economy and the bulk of economic activity is now in the public sector- all a falling Pound is doing is importing inflation. So in addition to emergency government spending cuts sometime in the mid year, we will see much higher inflation- and a rise in interest rates that will finally undermine the UK housing market. Although self-interested groups have been pointing out that housing has become more "affordable" the fact is that this affordability is based on ultra low interest rates. They fail to note that the historic average Bank of England base rate is 5%. Meanwhile the ratio of price:rent in the UK is still 20% above its long term average. The combination of inevitably rising interest rates and large job losses in the public sector can only mean a significant real fall in house prices. Either the currency will collapse or housing prices will.

His specialities are international affairs, particularly, but not exclusively, affecting Europe in general and those Baltic states he loves so much specifically. In fact, here he can see the positives in Estonia entering the Euro and sets out the challenges ahead for the UK.

He recently predicted a grim future for the US if the right wingers get their way - and the comments his post attracted kind of proved his point.

You have to read his blog from behind a pillow sometimes, but he shows the need for those who believe in a  distinctive, liberal, internationalist future to keep working , not just here but across the world.

So here ends my series of posts on the BOTYs.  Whoever you are going to nominate, don't forget to let Helen Duffett of Liberal Democrat Voice have your e-mailed nominations by tomorrow on helen@libdemvoice.org.uk.

The BOTYS - Best non Liberal Democrat politics blog

We're almost there with BOTY nomination suggestions. The penultimate category is best non Liberal Democrat politics blog.

I am going to repeat last year's nomination, which actually made the shortlist, of J Arthur MacNumpty, whose thoughts are ghost written by SNP activist Will Patterson. In 1000 years time, when the internet as we know it is seen as some ancient anachronism, Will's well written weekly analysis of the workings of the Scottish Parliament in the 21st century will be a valuable and probably unrivalled resource.  He may not have much time for Liberal Democrats, but he is actually very liberal in outlook. He's also as into constitutional geekery as any Liberal Democrat electoral systems expert I know, as this series of posts shows.

Anne McLaughlin is an MSP in Glasgow and Indygal Goes to Holyrood is the latest in a series of blogs she's written. She wears her heart on her sleeve, which I think is a good thing. She has done so much to help Florence and Precious Mhango, the mother and her 10 year old daughter facing deportation and here she writes emotionally about their ordeal.

I'm finding it difficult to find a Labour blog to nominate, because most of them are just annoying me too much at the moment with the varying degrees of hypocrisy and bile they are venting into cyberspace. I would have chosen Yapping Yousuf, but since he graduated earlier this year, and stopped blogging, he's shut down his blog so I can't even link to it. There is always Eric Joyce, though, whose work opposing the Digital Economy Bill will appeal to many Liberal Democrats. Since then, he has formed the All Party Parliamentary Group of which our own Poster Boy on these issues, Julian Huppert, is vice Chair.

 Malc in the Burgh doesn't blog as often as he used to but his thoughtful observations on Scottish and Welsh politics in particular are always welcome. He's an eclectic mix himself, part Green, economically conservative, socially liberal and passionately Nationalist, there's something for everybody. I liked this recent post, where he took apart Labour's Scottish Justice Spokesman over comments he'd made on Megrahi's release.

I guess it's interesting that my nominees are all Scottish - but for those of you from other parts of the UK, this is a chance to have a look around some of the excellent blogs on offer up here.

The BOTYs - suggestions for Best Post on a Liberal Democrat Blog

Ok, readers, this one I'm handing over to you.

There have been thousands of brilliant posts on Liberal Democrat blogs over the past year and to do a retrospective justice, I would have to have kept a record of them all, or at least go through my postings where I'v linked to good articles.

Sorry, but I just don't have the time, so rather than direct your thoughts, I'm going to leave it to you to suggest any postings which have moved or inspired you in the comments and I will nominate them.

If you want any pointers, you might find some ideas by looking at Caron's Corkers

You can also make your own choices, closing date tomorrow, by e-mailing helen@libdemvoice.org.

The BOTYs - Best use of blogging/social networking by a Liberal Democrat.

Last year this award was won by Jo Swinson for the genuine and prolific way she used (and continues to use) Facebook and Twitter, giving a glimpse into her real life as well as her public duties.

This year, I think that it's going to be hard to beat Nick Barlow, Liberal Democrat Colchester Councillor for #nickcleggsfault on Twitter which was his way of dealing with the onslaught of ridiculous tabloid smears on Nick Clegg in the wake of his fantastic performance in the first Leaders' Debate. Within hours, it had caught on and Nick was being blamed for everything from Libby in Neighbours being in a bad mood to Starbucks not having people's favourite muffins.  Humour is always a good response to bile and this one really caught the imagination and was mentioned all over the media, including the BBC News website.

Now that I don't work for Willie Rennie any more, I am under no obligation to be nice about him. However, I was a great admirer of the way he combined use of Facebook and Twitter to interact with people. He took casework from both and answered questions from constituents all the way through the election.  My favourite moment was a tweet from him during the horrendous snows of January. To put it in context, it was at a time when Fife was in the process of running out of grit for the roads. People on Facebook were, to say the least, quite critical of the Council's performance and Willie had spent a lot of time taking up their concerns and passing on the latest advice. He'd also been pressing John Swinney, the Scottish Minister responsible, to provide more grit for Fife. To say emotions were running high, and understandably so, would not be an exaggeration. So there's Willie, walking round London, tweeting this

has just passed a pile of grit on Westminster Bridge and is tempted to stick it in his bag for the journey back to Fife.

People appreciated this spur of the moment  humour and his Facebook wall was filled with collective laughter.

He also used his Facebook page during that time to keep people informed about school and nursery closures which was very useful to many people.

The online rapport he'd established with people definitely helped  the day his Twitter was hacked, though. It automatically feeds through to Facebook so I woke up one morning to a message from a friend of mine alerting me to the fact that Willie's status was, shall we say, out of character. Readers will be glad to know that I, along with his Facebook friends and Twitter followers responded by taking the mickey, mercilessly.

Another good example of social networking was the integrated Labservatives campaign which covered a blog, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube during the election. I don't know who's responsible for that - I expect someone in the Cowley Street campaigns department, but it was definitely well done. I can't link to it any more as all traces were tactfully removed after the formation of the coalition government, which is a bit of a shame. It may not be eligible for the award as it might be too much of an official party thing, but Gorvid Camerown deserves his swan song.

The BOTYs - Best blog from a Liberal Democrat holding public office.

This award is all about the blogging efforts of our Parliamentarians and Councillors. It's often difficult to find the time amidst representing constituents, holding down a day job if you're a Councillor, doing the campaigning stuff that will get you re-elected and trying to find some hours to recharge your batteries.  Maintaining a blog on top of all of that can be a real challenge.

My first suggestion as a nominee for this award is Lynne Featherstone. As parliamentary candidate, constituency MP and now a Minister in the Home Office, she has kept going, using her blog not just as a platform to tell people things, but also to engage in a real and genuine dialogue with her readers. Whether she's writing about equality issues, local constituency news or asking her readers what they think about private money going into the Health Service, she shows that the power has not gone to her head and she's still the same person we've all admired all of these years.

Next up is the Hon Lady Mark, Parish Councillor for Creeting St Peter in Suffolk. His many talents include taking us through the sometimes dramatic process of being the Returning Officer for Liberal Youth, trying to encourage open and genuine debate about the Coalition and the future strategy of the party, and keeping us informed of Ros Scott's activities in the Lords. He is very wise and venerable and I always look forward to his Thoughts From the Train. And I didn't mention his beard at all........oh wait....

Cllr Fraser MacPherson in the last week alone has talked about homelessness, the new exam for 4th year secondary pupils, the selection of both candidates for the Dundee seats, and posted us a lovely Bee Gees video to get all nostalgic to.  His frequently updated blog is a must read for constituents and people interested in politics alike.

Cllr Paul Edie is actually eligible for this award and would be a worthy winner. I was desperate to nominate him for the new blogger award, except he started his blog 5 days too early to qualify, much to my annoyance yesterday. I find his blog extremely interesting because he's in charge of Housing and Social Care in Edinburgh which is as you can imagine no easy job. He's been very successful in the role and as well as writing about national issues, he ensures we're all aware of the achievements the Liberal Democrats have made in the City of Edinburgh Council.

Meral Hussein Ece is one of the newest Liberal Democrat peers and a fellow Muser. She hasn't blogged very often in the past year, but when she does, her humanitarian and knowledgable perspective on international affairs is always interesting and welcome. I'm looking forward to more observations on her new role from her.

And there's always the wry and erudite observations of Peter Black on such diverse subjects as amulets protected by angels (you can imagine what he did with that one), Welsh affairs and standing up for Councillors in the face of unnecessary and illiberal interventions from the Standards people.

So there you have it - a talented bunch of people, any one of whom would be a fitting winner. Watch this space for my suggestions for the remaining categories.

The BOTYs - Best new Liberal Democrat Blog suggestions - and a flaw in the rules?

Last week I promised you a few suggestions for the Lib Dem Blog of the Year awards, to be presented at a glittering, every expense spared ceremony at Party Conference in Liverpool next month.

They will publish their shortlists before Conference, and will make them up from nominations received before the deadline this Friday. You need to e-mail your choices to helen@libdemvoice.org.

The first category I want to feature is that for next new Liberal Democrat blog. I thought I had my nominations for this one all sorted, but Edinburgh Lib Dem Councillor Paul Edie may be wondering why his ears are sore and burny at the moment. It's because I have spent the last ten minutes calling him names of such profanity and depravity that I can't possibly repeat them here. And why? Because he started his excellent blog on 27th August 2009, five days before the date when he'd become eligible, 1st September.

I wonder if there is a bit of a flaw in the system - under the rules,as far as I can see, blogs started in August can never be considered for the Best New Blog award because they miss out on the previous year's because nominations have already closed (and not that they would have had the chance to build up a readership and reputation in a month anyway), and on the next because the cut off date is 1st September. I wonder if this could be revised.

Anyway, Paul's blog is extremely good, reporting on the City of Edinburgh Council's achievements from a Liberal Democrat perspective, and commenting on national issues with the occasional foray into frivolity and football. He would be a worthy winner of the best new blog award.

So too would Jeremy Rowe, who at least waited until October to start his blog, Men in Suits. I like the way he writes with passion, humour and honesty about politics and  very occasionally F1. I hope you note my magnanimity in nominating him after he implied that I was shameless and disgusting..

Nick Thornsby is another new blogger who deserves a mention. He's blogging regularly and was particularly impressive earlier this year on the firestorm created by the Labour Party about the 55% dissolution rule.

In just a couple of months, Rachel Olgeirrson has written some incisive posts on such issues as Sheffield Forgemasters (from a position of knowledge as she comes from Sheffield), the death of David Kelly and this on the 2 week Cancer target, written from her hospital bed as she was being treated for Leukaemia.

Watch this space for some more nominations for the other categories over the next few days.
..

Return of the BOTYs - the Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year Awards

The wonderful Helen Duffett is again in charge of the Liberal Democrat Voice Blog of the Year Awards, affectionately known as the BOTYs.

Time is running out to nominate your favourite blogs - the deadline is next Friday, 27th August.

They are looking for nominations in the following categories:

Best new Liberal Democrat blog (started since 1st September 2009)

Best blog from a Liberal Democrat holding public office (The Tim Garden Award)

Best use of blogging / social networking / e-campaigning by a Liberal Democrat

Best posting on a Liberal Democrat blog (since 1st September 2009)

Best non-Liberal Democrat politics blog

Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year

All you need to do is send your nominations to helen@libdemvoice.org.

I have lots of suggestions for each category and I'll be discussing them in greater detail over the next few days.

Scots do well on Lib Dem Blog Award Shortlists

Those nice people at Lib Dem Voice have been messing with the fragile and egotistical heads of we bloggers over the last few days. They've been teasing us with hints of secrets for days on Twitter, whipping us into an anticipatory frenzy. They even gave us a couple of hours' notice that the shortlists were going to be announced at 11:25 this morning. They were on time, too and you can read the full list here.

I had never had any expectation of being included in any of the shortlists, so I wasn't surprised not to see my name in any of the categories - and then I was completely flabbergasted to discover that this blog on the shortlist for the actual Blog of the Year award. Imagine, a one in five chance of getting a BOTY. Mind you, I tend to assess these sorts of chances in the same way as John Diamond, the late and much missed (by me, anyway) Times columnist who wrote in his book C, Because Cowards get Cancer too about his feelings about being told he had a 80% or a 60% chance of survival or whatever. He said, no, actually, it was 50-50 - he'd either survive or he wouldn't. On that logic, I'm in with a 50-50 chance of victory:-)

So, having talked up my chances of winning by two and a half times, I am crushed that I am not going to be able to be at the glittering awards ceremony on Sunday night at Bournemouth. No Kate Winslet moment for me.

You know when they do the Oscars, or the BAFTAs, they do them very early in the evening, and probably for good reason, because they don't want the participants to have been drinking free booze for an extended period of time. By my the time the awards start at 10pm, all the participants will have been enjoying the delights of the Conference fringe for several hours. That's going to be fun. The spirited and opinionated Liberal Democrat nature is only enhanced by copious amounts of wine and beer so I hope that there's championship quality banter.

Seriously, though, I find myself on a list with exceptionally talented people:

the wonderful Costigan, king of smut, innuendo and tearing the Daily Fail to pieces, also up for best new blog, and with one for Best Posting;

the original and talented Charlotte, also nominated for best new blog and with two posts up for the Best Posting on a Lib Dem blog;

the man they call the Lib Dem Blogosphere's Tactical Nuclear Bastard, previous champion, with his post on the appalling reporting of Jo Swinson's expenses up for best posting, fierce, provocative, sweary and usually right;

everybody's favourite elephant - for a long time, I sported a Bloggers for Fluffy Justice banner on this blog after he was shockingly denied victory last year, cos he's brilliant as this posting on the Megrahi affair shows.

So there you have it - but what of the other Scots? Well, we've done really well, with two of our number up for the "Best Blog from a Liberal Democrat holding public office", Willie Rennie MP and Cllr Fraser MacPherson.

Alexander Ryland's Lamp of Liberty is shortlisted for best new blog.

Jo Swinson gets the nod for her fabulous tweets and use of Facebook for which she's already received public acclamation.

Finally, in the Best Non Lib Dem Political Blog, our own Mr MacNumpty makes the shortlist. Nominations were invited from all Lib Dem Voice readers and I nominated J Arthur partly because his diligent round up of Holyrood happenings every week takes some effort and is a valuable historical asset and because of posts like this , this and this. Sure, he often has a good go at the Lib Dems, but then I often have a good go about the SNP but we generally make up over a discussion on Strictly Come Dancing.

We have a lot to be proud of in the Scottish and Lib Dem Blogospheres as the various lists that have come out in this awards season have shown.

Charlotte Gore is a Witch

There, that got your attention, didn't it?

I don't, of course mean that she's a green faced, pointy hatted, broomstick riding turning people into toads sort of a person. And she's unlikely to have any self respecting kitten go within miles of her after this, #3 is the point you need to read. I betrayed my small furry friends everywhere by laughing till I cried when I read it.

When I say she's a witch, I mean it in the sense that she's a wise woman who is quite comfortable with challenging the conventional thinking of both her time and her party. A few hundred years ago, women like Charlotte, and Jennie, for that matter, would probably have been put on the ducking stool for being outspoken. Of course, in those times, you could be a man and be as outspoken as you liked and just be labelled as an eccentric and looked upon with amused affection.

Charlotte is probably about as far removed from me in the Lib Dems as you could possibly get. In essence, I am an old fashioned peace loving, tax and spend lots on lovely public services liberal hippy while she is, to say the least, a little bit sceptical about the need for ever so many public services. In other, less tolerant, parties, she and I might view each other suspciously, at daggers drawn, each of us questioning the other's ideological purity. I remember first coming across that sort of nonsense at Uni watching the Labour students. Unless you fitted into a very narrow ideological slot, you just weren't good enough for them. The good thing about this party, is that we not only practice what we preach, we relish in it. We naturally welcome diversity, be it of culture, opinion, food and ideas or whatever, see it as a chance to learn or at the very least have a very satisfying argument.

Charlotte and I can be at the opposite ends of the party and still respect each other's liberalism and, hopefully, learn from each other and have a bit of a laugh in the process. I like the way she challenges our long held perceptions in increasingly creative, often very funny ways. And this from someone who was complaining of Bloggers' Block a wee while ago.

The reason I started this post, and called Charlotte a witch was really to say that the other day, on Twitter, she started talking about the Lib Dem Blog of the Year Awards - and, you know what, just hours later, Lib Dem Voice started advertising them, so she can obviously see into the future as well as her many other talents:-).

Anyway, according to LDV, this is what the awards are all about, and how you submit your nominations for them:

"The Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year Awards, run in conjunction with Lib Dem Voice, are back for their fourth year. As usual, they’ll be awarded in a budget lavish ceremony at the party’s autumn conference in Bournemouth. (There’s further information on the event over at the Lib Dems’ Flock Together site). Click on the following links to see last year’s Shortlist and the Winners.

This year’s awards are as follows:

* Best new Liberal Democrat blog (started since 1st September 2008)
* Best blog from a Liberal Democrat holding public office (The Tim Garden Award)
* Best use of blogging / social networking / e-campaigning by a Liberal Democrat
* Best posting on a Liberal Democrat blog (since 1st September 2008)
* Best non-Liberal Democrat politics blog
* Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year

To be eligible for ‘Best blog from a Liberal Democrat holding public office’, a blog should be written by a councillor, elected mayor, assembly member, or parliamentarian.

The ‘Best use of blogging / social networking / e-campaigning award’ recognises the expanding role of both blogging and the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in politics. It’s a deliberately open category: you might want to nominate a good campaigning YouTube video, or a particularly interesting Twitter feed.

The Best non-Liberal Democrat politics blog winner will be chosen by you, dear reader (should you choose to take part). Once the judges have chosen their shortlist, these blogs will be put up for public vote here on Lib Dem Voice.

The judging panel is still being finalised, but I’ll let you know as soon as possible which judges have blogs so that you can avoid nominating them, as they’re not eligible to win. Liberal Democrat Voice and any official party blogs (such as Home Office Watch) aren’t eligible either.

You’ve got until 4th September to nominate your favourites, but the sooner the better (and you can send more than one set if you’d like). Please don’t feel the need to round up hundreds of people to nominate your blog as the number of nominations aren’t taken into account.

Send in your nominations by email to ecampaignteam@libdems.org.uk and remember to state which award category you’re nominating for, in each case."

Now, I am sufficiently far enough down the food chain not to be remotely in the running for any of these awards. Everyone expects the front runners for Blog of the Year to be Charlotte, Costigan and Mark and, to be honest, I can't really imagine anyone else getting much of a look in. I've already spoken about Charlotte, Costigan is just awesome in the way he takes the sting out of tabloid frenzies and exposes hypocrisy - and, of course, his USP is a smattering of smut throughout, and Mark has stormed to the top of the Lib Dem bloggers' tree after his famous post correlating safeness of seats with excessive expenses claims. That posting has probably done more to advance the cause of electoral reform than anything I've seen in my quarter century in this game.

If there were any justice in this world, they'd each get one of the big awards - Charlotte for Blog of the Year, Costigan for Best New Blog and Mark for Best Posting. I want to see others rewarded too, though - people like Jennie who is brilliantly outrageous. She actually got my number one vote for what she calls the Total Bollocks Awards. I bet her blog is read by more people outside the political bubble than any other, because it's down to earth, straight talking and has people doubled up in laughter at the original way she expresses herself. This is one of my favourite postings of the year from her. Actually maybe that's either Jennie or Charlotte for Lib Dem Blog of the Year.

My personal choice for best Lib Dem blog from someone holding public office would be this one because I want the Party to recognise the dignity with which Paul has dealt with a very tough year and has continued to serve his constituents, fighting hard on the local issues that matter to them. He's always been one for technology, bringing his laptop to meetings before they were fashionable, and has always been committed to using technology to bring himself closer to the people he represents.

In terms of best use of Social Networking and Blogging, I'd go for Jo Swinson. She doesn't have a blog, but she uses the web effectively and has been recognised for her efforts on this. Tom Brake, for his innovative Facebook surgeries also deserves a mention, as does the Sugar Daddy of Liberal Democrat social networking, Steve Webb, who showed everyone else how to do it.

So there's my tuppenceworth on this year's awards. Whatever you do, cast your vote for somebody and let's make this year's awards the biggest ever