My 2012 top 12

It's that time of year for retrospectives, so I thought I'd share with you my 12 most read blog posts of 2012. There's a bit on welfare reform, quite a lot on Scottish politics and issues to do with the referendum, and a couple of posts on the portrayal of women in the media. In reverse order:

12, So, what was Jo Swinson doing in Private Eye? Talking about airbrushing and body image as she had another success with the Advertising Standards people over airbrushing.

11. Are you fit to work? I was annoyed the other day when somebody said to me that I never wrote anything against welfare reform. There are two posts in the top twelve on the subject and there have been many more over the course of the year.

10. The Sun's Page 3 has seriously outstayed its welcome.  Our attitudes to women's breasts are totally mucked up when you can be almost slung out of a cafe for breastfeeding, yet the same establishment has the Sun on offer for its customers to read.

9.  Pass the smelling salts - F1 rumour mill is scaring me. And it all came to pass, too. My least favourite driver ever takes my hero's job at one of my favourite teams. The only good thing about it is that Eddie Jordan was proved right.

8. SCVO's Alison Elliott proves Willie Rennie's point My take on a public spat between Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie and the SCVO, whose chief exec was, in my view, a bit too familiar with an SNP Special Adviser.

7.  What should the Spartacus Report mean for the Welfare Reform Bill? A report showed flaws in the Government's thinking on disability benefits. What should have happened was for the whole thing to be reconsidered. Sadly, that didn't happen. That doesn't mean those of us who want to see sick and disabled people treated fairly give up.

6.  Nikki Thomson: 30 December 1967 - 28 June 2012 A post I never wanted to write about a friend gone too soon. Today would have been her 45th birthday. Miss you, Nikki.

5.   How very dare you, Joan McAlpine? Come the day after the Referendum, the job of living together in peace and harmony will be much easier if the pro-independence side can quit the "if you don't agree with us you're anti-Scottish" nonsense, and the pro UK side leaves out the Patriot vs Nationalist nonsense.

4.   "People think Guantanamo is closed" Reflections on an Amnesty demo to mark the 10th anniversary of the notorious US prison camp.

3.  So Yes Scotland's failure is my fault. Well, the nationalists never take the blame for anything...

2.  Alex Salmond booed, twice, but why don't we hear so much about it? Our First Minister got the Osborne treatment both at the Paralympic parade in Glasgow and the Tattoo - but unlike Osborne's booing, the press weren't that interested.

1.  Yes Scotland must be desperate. So, there I am, minding my own business one lunchtime, and then I find out via Twitter that my photo is on the front page of the Yes Scotland website. The cheeky monkeys!