Total Politics Top 100 Journalists Poll - Write-in campaign for women bloggers

I decided, seeing as my health seems to have taken a bit of a dive this last week, to have a quiet Saturday morning with Earl Grey and bacon sandwiches working through my online to-do list of blog posts to write and surveys to do.

The first of these was the Total Politics Top Political Journalists poll, which closes next Tuesday, 2nd November. My only worry was that I wasn't quite feeling charitable enough this morning to do a fair job of it. Actually, I gave much higher marks than I expected to. You have to give each individual journalist marks out of ten which is actually very satisfying, much more so than I'd anticipated.

I only gave one perfect 10, to the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg because I think the quality of her work, particularly in the aftermath of the election, has been outstanding. She is the clear star of the year for me.

There was a question about bloggers, too. Do not underestimate the intensity of the tantrum I threw when I realised that only two women had been included on the whole page, and those were Kerry McCarthy and Nadine Dorries. There are four women in the Total Politics Top 50 blogs of 2010. Admittedly, Laurie Penny was rightly included as a journalist earlier in the survey, but there was no Charlotte Gore, or Anna Raccoon, who deserves recognition for her work, even though she has recently given up.

What about Lynne Featherstone, a well known blogger who has written for years as a campaigner, an MP and now a Government Minister actually making things happen? Leaving her off that list is And Jennie, who has been writing about this sort of thing for ages, and Sara, and the Divine Ms Duffett, Tracy Cheetham, Mary Honeyball, Claire French, Caroline Lucas MP,  Subrosa or Kezia Dugdale? Much as I love the Liberal Democrat Voice boys Mark Pack and Stephen Tall, I don't see why they have been included in the list and Sara Bedford and Helen Duffett haven't.

I've thought of a way that we could raise awareness of these and any other wonderful women bloggers you might read regularly while also enhancing the Total Politics survey.  What I'd suggest is that you complete the survey as normal. On the last but one page, there is a space to include anyone that they'd left out or forgotten. Use that space to add in as many good female bloggers as you can. Then encourage as many people as you can to also fill in the survey. That way, they become aware of more female bloggers, and their survey has more credibility because of increased participation. A win all round, I'd say.

Anything you can help to boost the signal of this post would also be appreciated.

Remember, the deadline is Tuesday, so let's get the word out quickly.

Subrosa no more

Politics, they say, is a tough old world. It can be, but I've survived in it quite amicably for over quarter of a century. I don't mind being involved in robust and at times torrid debate. In fact, if truth be known, I've found it easier than in some other things I've been involved in. You tend to know exactly where you stand with people, for a start.

Being involved in politics has been good for me - it's given me most of my friends, some of whom are lifelong and I love being part of a super community of Lib Dems across the whole UK and beyond. In the blogosphere, too, I've come across some really good, bright and funny people who more than make up for any slight hurt feelings at harsh comments.

What I'm trying to say is that while politics and blogging can be as frustrating as hell sometimes, I don't let them get me down. It's only if anything threatens my friends or family that I get really upset. I tend to be quite protective of the people I'm involved with. Mostly so of my lovely family, of course, but also of friends. And during the last few elections when I've been responsible for our candidates, I've wanted to give them as much support as was humanly possible. The phrase mother hen was used more than once about me in jest, and probably appropriately.

I am upset this afternoon to read that Subrosa has stopped blogging, completely out of the blue. It's not as if she wants to, either, but someone has found out her identity and has made her aware of that in a way that has made her uneasy. Stephen has also expressed his sadness at what's happened.

I don't agree with Subrosa on a fair number of issues, but I've enjoyed reading her blog and discussing things with her over these past few months. I love the sheer range of the things she posted about - the funny little video clips and Hootsmon headlines that would brighten a dull afternoon. Her passionate support for our troops and her doubts about the continuing mission in Afghanistan will be very much missed in the blogosphere.

On a personal level, she has shown me nothing but kindness and support during my illness. I'd only have to say I was worried about something on Twitter and she'd provide me with really good information and references to hslp me.

I can kind of get the desire to find out who is writing anonymous blogs if they're putting out defamatory material, but there are many anonymous bloggers who have perfectly valid reasons for wanting to mask their true identity. It makes me angry that people can't respect that. Subrosa's blog was of the highest quality and she didn't indulge in any sort of personally abusive behaviour. I was horrified earlier this year when the Nightjack blogger's real identity was forced out by the Times newspaper. There you had a serving Police Officer who was able to give us a valuable taster of what his working life was like, an insight that helps understanding.

There are some people who for various reasons can't or won't blog under their own names but their viewpoints and experiences are worth reading about, they inform, they challenge and sometimes they delight. Subrosa is one of those bloggers.

I'm going to miss her, especially as she's one of the relatively few female political bloggers in Scotland. There is a bit of hope, though. She says that

"Who knows, perhaps when investigations are complete I may feel I can return, but I would have to be totally convinced the safety of my family and home were not at risk"

It's awful that someone who has done no more than entertain and challenge us with her thought provoking blog feels she has to give it up because she fears for the safety of her home and family. I don't know who it is who has uncovered her identity and it may be that they actually meant no harm and will be able to reassure her on that point and she'll be back soon. The nature of the blogosphere is that people will drift in and out, but I'm very sad that someone has felt forced out in these circumstances.