Political Blogs, especially on British Politics

The Political Blogo-sphere

No wonder bloggers are in an up-beat mood. As one myself, I share their enthusiasm. One reason for me starting my own blog just over a year ago (apart from being an incurable know-it-all) was the desire to explore a form that is fresh and unpredictable and not — yet — the property of an incestuous metropolitan elite.
Extracted from a contribution Harry’s Place, 14th February, 2006

There is little need to introduce the concept of the ‘blog’ to young people- one report I read recently suggested that as many as one in three regularly either run or contribute to one. More likely to need a little translation are their teachers who are almost certainly less familiar with this new phenomenon. A ‘blog is an online web diary- very like a website- to which regular additions are made. There are now millions of them worldwide and they deal with a huge variety of topics. They are easy to set up and free- type ‘blogger’ into Google and follow the instructions to become a ‘blogger’ within ten minutes or so. Mastering the IT required seems easy for those with the right proclivity and(therefore) for the younger generation but less so for those wrinklies, like me, who join the learning curve at the very bottom and then proceed up it like a geriatric snail in a wheelchair.

Many blogs are merely slightly elaborate vanity statements: ‘Here I am, this is me, aren’t I great?’ This is fine for the person concerned but has limited interest for the rest of us. But most have something to say; for example, my son, Markus runs one, along with some mates, which provides him with an opportunity to voice his opinions on rock music- a big enthusiasm- as well as the nature of life in general. Their blog is a lively read. But there are thousands of specialist blogs covering just about every aspect of human activity. It follows that there should be quite a few focusing on politics and so there are. Blogs have acquired some political importance of their own. In the USA, where bloggers abound to an even greater extent, newscaster Dan Rather resigned, claim bloggers, after their revelations hit cyberspace; Senate Republican leader, Trent Lott, went the same way.

According to Wikipedia, the online user written encyclopaedia, the first weblog was fashioned by computer programmer, Jorn Barger. As long ago as 1997 he began to make regular postings to his site- Robot Wisdom- most of them on the Arab-Israeli conflict; a topic which concentrates the minds of many thousands of bloggers. The term weblog was shortened in 1999 by Peter Merholz, who began using the term as a ‘crude’ joke; it caught on both as a noun and a verb. What is the appeal? Obviously those who blog feel they have something to say so blogs are especially suited to political topics, the beauty of the medium compared with the usual media outlets being that it allows instant comment and to a worldwide audience. Most blogs also provide the facility for comment by readers and debates based on a single post can sometimes exceed its original length several times over and rumble on for weeks while the host blogger has moved on to completely new ground.

It might appear logical that bloggers are more radical than conservative, seeking to use this new instrument to undermine the walls surrounding established power both domestically and internationally. The answer is that all shades of opinion flourish and co-exist. Anyone wishing to put their views out there can do so; some are passionate protagonists, others are calmer, analytical commentators, the category in which I like to think my own blog falls (see below). The latter group probably think their thoughts as worthy of consideration as the opinion formers writing the columns and editorials in the mainstream press, or directing the newsrooms of the broadcasters. But however much of a rival they may be to the regular media, most political blogs are parasitic upon it. Some blogs acquire vital pieces of information before anyone else but many use what the media serves up and then offers comment. What is undeniable, as The Guardian commented, is that

‘What has emerged… is a fully fledged alternative wing of the opinion industry.’

As already hinted at, there is a recognizable dollop of vanity involved in blogging; this outlet, after all, is very personal, very much them. They often sit in front of their screens for many hours each day and, just like new parents, are very keen to attract new visitors to view their pride and joy. Such visits can be monitored by a number of agencies on the web which record such numbers and most bloggers can tell you precisely how many visitors they attract each day or month.

News and analysis which appear on the blogs sometimes infiltrate the media as hacks rip off material which they think is useable. In Iraq, The Baghdad Blogger, Salam Pax, attracted a substantial readership in the west for his diary of occupation by US and UK troops as well as trips to Washington and a column in the Guardian. China’s rulers maintain the repressive policies which caused the Tiananmem Square massacre in 1989 and in 2006 Google was forced to bow to pressure to apply controls to its operation in that country. However, internet usage in China has surged from two thirds of a million in 1997 to 110 million in the present day. And there are now an estimated 5 to 10 million blogs all communicating with each other, the Chinese people and the rest of the world.

Bloggers are the logical outcome of the communications revolution caused by the internet and the flood which has grown from the trickle a decade ago cannot, it would seem, be stemmed. An article by Charles Arthur in The Guardian 9th February 2006, gives more data on the extraordinary explosion of the blogosphere: 60 times bigger than three years ago and doubling in size every 5.5 months. There are 75,000 created every day and 13.7 million bloggers still posting three months after their creation. ‘The blogosphere is indeed-as Arthur comments- in ‘rude health’.

Teachers, of course, might find them useful and students of politics too. The Guardian now runs a daily digest-it recently took up a whole page- of what the bloggers are saying on current topics. And back on Thursday 17th November 2005 their G2 tabloid section ran a feature on ‘Britain’s most Influential Political Bloggers’ some of which are covered within this article; they tend to cover a wide range of subjects but many of them tend to be international in flavour.

Normblog-http:// normblog.typepad.com/normblog/
I will start with the oldest blog I know and that is run by a former colleague of mine, Norman Geras, fellow cricket fan, political philosopher and retired professor of Government at Manchester University. ‘Norm’ prides himself on being one of the first bloggers out there and on his number of ‘postings’ (blogging jargon for entries) as he posts virtually every day and sometimes several. He focuses on politics, especially the Iraq War- which he supported partly for its toppling of Saddam- and the Israel-Palestine conflict but he posts on topics like British politics, cricket and indeed anything which takes his fancy (a slight criticism: he tends to fill his site with rather too many long copied pieces). Norm is one of a closely networked group of bloggers who constantly read each others work and exchange comment on it. There is a cheerful irreverence in the tone but they clearly feed off each other and help produce some excellent discussions: informative, witty and innovative. The blogosphere is definitely not mainstream.

Guido Fawkes- http://5thnovember.blogspot.com/
Next I would choose Guido Fawkes, a blog which takes its name for the person who tried to blow up parliament and who takes irreverence to new levels. It has become one of the most popular in the country, claiming daily ‘visits’ of 5000 and monthly ones of 100,000. Guido’s niche is political gossip within the Westminster village and he must be well connected as he seemed to know all about the Mark Oaten affair well in advance of the regular media. I suspect Guido is not a single operator but several political anoraks staring at their screen for 12 or more hours a day. But the results are impressive- visit the site and see for yourselves.

Harry’s Place- http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/
This blog is described as the result of its founder trying to make sense of 9-11. It has rapidly gained popularity and now receives some 9000 visits a day, focusing on the Arab –Israeli conflict, US politics and the particular issues which catch the interest of its contributors.

Samizdata- http://www.samizdata.net/blog/
According to its title page this blog is produced by a ‘bunch of sinister and heavily armed global illuminati, who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and private property.’ The name originates from the illegal pamphlets and news-sheets which passed through the repressive media walls of the USSR before 1991 and which did their bit to bring about the collapse of the old communist dinosaur. The founder of the blog is Perry de Havelland but he is assisted by a team of fellow contributors, some of whom work advising business on how to exploit the bloggospere for their own ends.

Andrew Sullivan- http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/
This is another of those longtime blogs which has done much to establish the subculture. Sullivan is a British, gay conservative commentator on mainly US politics and is always worth reading, whether on his blog or in the Sunday Times. For students studying American politics Sullivan is extremely useful and he is recommended highly, especially as the links found on his site are a gateway into other very useful blogs on US politics. The same goes for the links readers will encounter in the blogs suggested below on British politics.

Blogs on British Politics
This group of bloggers which could prove useful to both teachers and students of the subject. There are some ‘core’ sites which aggregate and direct web users to the items they seek. The most useful of these is Britblog -at http://www.britblog.com/ - which provides such a service and is well worth visiting. This site offers categories for blog surfers and under ‘politics and government’ there were over 300 listed when I last looked - the variety is fascinating. For the purposes of this article I’ll mention a few in particular. Dispensing with false modesty(of course), I’ll lead off with my own.

Skipper- http://skipper59.blogspot.com/
I started my blog, in May 2005, through the encouragement of a friend who runs something similar though on the arts, aesthetics and related topics (worth visiting at http://mantex.blogspot.com) and he guided me-and still does- through, for me, the dizzy rapids of blogger technology. I write mostly on British politics though occasionally I stray into more exotic areas of the subject; for example I posted once on Turkmenistan, [but only to remind ourselves that we need to thank providence we do not have a president like theirs whose extraordinary -and probably treatable -ego has led him to rename January after himself and insist every citizen reads an unreadable book he has authored]. I see my blog as an extension of the work I have done all my life: teaching and writing on politics, mainly British politics- the difference is that I provide everything free of charge. I’m just fascinated to drop my own thoughts into the pool of the blogo-sphere and see what happens. Norm tells me that to acquire a goodly regular bunch of readers one has to establish links with other bloggers- thus creating one’s ‘blogroll’- choose good titles for one’s posts and, it goes without saying, post as often as one can. Most posts are like short articles but as I write longer briefings for my current affairs classes and for other groups of students, I publish those on my companion site Politics Considered at: http://heatonnorris.blogspot.com/

Paul Linford- http://paullinford.blogspot.com/
This is a former parliamentary lobby journalist who has relocated to Derbyshire presumably to enjoy a better standard of village life than can be found in Westminister. He continues to comment on the political scene however, via this blog, podcasts and weekly columns in a variety of local and regional newspapers including The Derby Evening Telegraph. Paul’s comment tends to reflect his insider contacts and feel for the game of politics as well as enthusiasm for such non mainstream causes as the Campaign for an English Parliament. Informative and useful for anyone wanting an alternative well informed view.

Honourable Fiend- http://www.honourablefiend.com/
This is a lively site with some excellent comment e.g. in the wake of the smoking ban, evidence is cited of a 20 percent per year increase in smoking among the under 25s in Ireland since their apparently successful ban on smoking. Much of the writing is witty and irreverent though, for my taste, some of it is too much for the sake of irreverence. Well worth keeping an eye on.

Chicken Yoghurt- http://chickyog.blogspot.com/
This site, run by Justin Keating, is unusual in that it focuses on local politics around Hove. So visitors will find themselves plunged into local issues like the hegemony of Tesco’s or whatever. Keating filled his blog prior to the 2005 election with stories about the local campaign, interviews with candidates and voters. As The Guardian commented, it provides: ‘a version of ‘citizen journalism’ increasingly prevalent in the US that threw into relief how little of the same seems to be going on in British blogs.’

Oliver Kamm- http:oliverkamm.typepad.com/blog/
Oliver Kamm is an interesting case of a writer, broadcaster and Times columnist using his blog as an extension of his professional activities. He writes on a range of international matters, including Iraq, the Balkans and British politics, viewing himself as a liberal. Yet a liberal who can argue in favour of fox-hunting can also support the banning of smoking. He is unashamed of supporting the Iraq War, arguing that we should be ‘proud’ of inflaming ‘Islamist totalitarian opinion’ by our involvement in that country. Kamm also becomes engaged in long controversies which can become tedious to wade through. His endless debate with Noam Chomsky even managed to attract a ‘stalker’ who wrote letters to public figures claiming to be a ‘friend, confidant and representative’ of Kamm. Blogging must have come of age if one can attract thereby such celebrity accoutrements.

Blogs by Members of Parliament
These are an obvious location for anyone seeking information, arguments and ideas about British politics. Not all MPs run them but of the ones that do, I’d recommend typing into Google those by: Tom Watson, David Davis, Boris Johnson, Richard Allen and Shaun Woodward. Other MPs are joining the ranks of those with either blogs or websites so regular checking of the web will bear fruit as politicians come round to making themselves accessible to the web audiences.

How useful are Blogs for Students?
Blogs can be useful for stimulating interest-always the key for any teacher- and providing new slants on current issues. But I would advise students to be:

1. Selective- there is much irrelevance out there.
2. Aware, if possible of any bias which might inspire the blogger concerned.
3. Not to assume what is published on the web is the gospel truth as much of the blogosphere is contentious and some of it ill-informed.

Should students start their own blogs?
I don’t see why not- it’s fun and a useful way to develop IT skills and some more sophisticated political literacy. But beware, the Guardian (17/11/05) article mentioned that ‘Harry of the eponymous ‘Place’’ recently announced he was giving up his blogging for work and family reasons’. Another veteran blogger doubted it: ‘He’ll be back because blogs are like crack and you can’t ever give it up…You’re never cured-you’re only in remission. You’re only ever a recovering blogger.’
B.J. 16/2/06