A little self indulgence on blogging

As my 'bloggers block' seems to have burst today I thought I'd witter for a few lines about blogging and me. I generally blog when I'm angry or amused about something (see earlier posts today regarding Cameron and the Tories) and when I feel that I may have something to contribute to a debate on issues. I'm fully aware that my style can be a touch awkward and my punctuation would have a teacher of English reaching for a shotgun but this is mine, my outlet, my rant & scream at this big, bad, unjust old world which, if the media were to be believed, is populated only by Tories, Gnats and fumbling Labouristas. It may not be the most articulate Lib Dem voice and may often criticise the 'establishment' in our party but at least it's another heart-felt advocate of Liberalism.

What constantly astounds me is that other people read this. To be voted at number 32 in the Lib Dem list and number 26 in the Scottish list by the readers of 'Total Politics' had me go WTF????? Then to discover that I made it into position 99 of the Wikio top 100 political blogs really stunned me, particularly as both came after a period of blogging inactivity.

There are many, many better, more informative, more interesting and more rounded blogs than this, which I regularly read. Probably my absolute favourite - certainly amongst Lib Dem blogs - is that of Alix Mortimer (now I'll have caused great huffs in hundreds of Lib Dem bloggers across the country). The People's Republic of Mortimer won 3 of the 6 categories at the recent Lib Dem bloggers awards. If I compared Alix's efforts to a beautiful hand-built Bentley then an appropriate comparison of my efforts would be a 1980's Lada or, if truth be be told, a 70's Trabant. But that's not to denigrate my own stuff - it's just different and I simply do not have the talent with words and punctuation which Alix and many others do.

I fully intend to continue to enjoy blogging and to keep writing, from the heart, in the usual 'machine-gun' style and I will always continue to be amazed that not only do people read it, but they come back for more! Thanks for stopping by.

Bit of an ego boost

Lets make it quite clear, I do not blog for positions on tables or for awards or nominations thereto, I blog because I enjoy it, it gets things off my chest and because I'm vain enough to think that my views and opinions are worth sharing.

However I must admit to being a bit chuffed to discover that this blog has been listed on the other Iain Dale's list of Top 50 Lib Dem blogs at number 32 and also on his list of Top 40 Scottish blogs at number 26. This despite the fact that I've barely been blogging for the past few months.

Only two fellow Scottish Lib Dem bloggers beat me in both the Scottish and Lib Dem ranks - Stephen Glenn who blogs in West Lothian and Councillor Fraser McPherson from Dundee. Well done both.