Tabloid Edition

Britblog Roundup # 135

A little late but still as delicious as ever.

Britblog Roundup # 134

Over here.

Britblog Roundup # 133

Over here, curated by that Greek chappie.

Britblog Roundup # 132

Over here. Lots there this week.

Britblog Roundup # 131

Over here.

Britblog Roundup # 130

Stepping into the breach as I am, these summer hols do make it difficult to keep rotas going, don't they?, I bring you this week's Britblog Roundup, the 130 th so far in our little extravaganza.

The first thing to make note of is the campaign running across a wide variety of blogs, covering the full panoply of political and pro- or anti- war orientations (well, perhaps not the barking moonbat end but still...) about those Iraqis who have worked for and with the British troops in Iraq and are now faced, as we pull back and or out, with being murdered. Dan Hardie is the go to man on this so I'll just direct you to his latest on the subject. One very important note to make. It's not about 91 people, or just translators: all those who aided us and who are danger because they did so should be covered.

While we're on this public service side, telling our rulers what we think, could you go here to something I did elsewhere. Tell Jacqui Smith and her myrmidons what they should do about drugs in this country, they've asked for your input.

Sticking with people I work for, this from Tom Bowman I thought was most amusing. Some people haven't quite grasped the meaning of "indoors" yet, just as the Government cannot understand "private property".

A message to the CBI and industry from Pootergeek: instead of complaining that no one studies science any more and then asking that such studies be subsidized from the tax money, why not just pay scientists more yourselves: you know, apply a little of that free market pixie dust?

Me again (I will stop this and get on to other's nominations in a moment, I assure you): some people just haven't quite understood this blogging lark yet, have they?

So, what would happen if McLaren's boss, Ron Dennis, took over from Alan Sugar on The Apprentice?

Hope for all us wannabe journalists: if you're not, as Rose Hacker isn't, past it at 101 years old then there's still time to polish that prose, eh?

Francis follows up on yet another IT screw up with our money, courtesy of Whitehall. Amazingly, these are the people who are going to put all of our details on a database to "protect" our identities.

So, do the Olympics bring openess to dictatorships, or do they buff their reputations? Liberal England appears to disagree with his Dear Leader on this one.

Harry Hutton opines on Paul Krugman. Much too kind perhaps.

Not directly British, but as both South Africa and the Mugabe regime blame us for what is happening in Zimbabwe, a report from the front line.

An interesting observation on partition indeed. Part of the answer might be that what is now Pakistan didn't think very much about Bangladesh then either, which is why they separated.

So why does the BBC now think that Radio Caroline is just feel good history trivia? Is it because it's no longer a threat?

So just what would a woman want to do if she woke up as a man? No, neither peeing standing up nor enjoying farting make the list.

A breakfast rebellion and quite right too. Once you find out quite how repulsive Dr. Kellogg himself was you'll understand why cereals taste the way they do.

Age vertigo: yes, it happens, and the next stage after this one is to find that it's your schoolfriends' kids who are applying for your old job. After that, the judges start to look young and you're done for.

The interface between feminism and Japanese arts and crafts: the beauty of the objects just about overcomes the theory.

The Gaian Economist makes a good point: whether it's called speculation, or everyone else is doing it, or momentum investing, it's still not all that sensible.

Even English lefty types are becoming unimpressed with Obama. Not that they have a vote, but it's indicative.

A review of Abby Lee's book, Girl With a One Track Mind, from a feminist perspective.

Something that everyone can agree is worthwhile about The City, Simpson's Tavern.

A report on light pollution and the covering of the countryside.

Diamond Geezer reports on the London Triathlon. How things have changed, eh, swimming in the Thames without a stomach pump in sight?

It's the detailed stuff that matters: find out about tree preservation orders and for the initiates, spot the public benefit, private cost problem.

Harking back to an earlier age, or, has society gone to the dogs?

And finally, yes, there's still time for you to help Iain Dale write his next book.

That's it for this week, more next and keep the nominations coming in to britblog AT gmail DOT com. Until later:

Toodle Pip!

Britblog Roundup # 129

Is over here.

Britblog Roundup # 128

Is over at  Liberal England.

Britblog Roundup # 127

Over here.

Britblog Roundup 126

Over here.

We've currently got a tie in with Radio Five Live each week so please do make sure that you're continuing to send in your nominations to britblog AT gmail.com

Britblog Roundup 124

Over here.

Britblog Roundup 123

The Britblog Roundup number 123 is over here.

Britblog Roundup # 122

Is over at Clairwil's.

Britblog Roundup # 121

Is over here at Gracchi's place.

Britblog Roundup # 120

Is over at Philobiblon.

Britblog Roundup #119

Is over at Liberal England.

Britblog Roundup #118

Is over at Clairwil's.

Britblog Roundup #117

Is at the Dustbin of History.

Well done that man.

Really rather interesting D2's take on that super school.

I've no real idea whether a school as big as this can work,

Interesting because when he came around here to comment he stated that he'd been to one larger. D2 may not be to everyone's taste and he is known to have some strange ideas but I will concede that he is educated. So one of the two statements is a tad light on the actualite there.

Britblog Roundup # 116

Is over at Redemption Blues.

Nicely done and I especially liked the Overnight Editor at the bottom.

Britblog Roundup # 115

Over at Poon's.

Britblog Roundup 113 and 114

Is over at Mr. Eugenides.

Britblog Roundup #111

Is over at Liberal England.

Britblog Roundup #110

Is over at Clairwil's.

Britblog Roundup #109

The all new super-improved subcontracted out Britblog Roundup # 109 is here.

Britblog Roundup #108

Is at Poon's.

Britblog Roundup

Is over at Mr Eugenides, starting off its peripatetic new life.

Britblog Roundup #106

OK, thank you to everyone who left ideas about what should happen with this extravaganza. Something between a travelling show and something at its own dedicated site was the consensus: certainly no one person wanted to take on the entire weekly responsibility (probably sensibly). There are enough people who have agreed to take part responsibility to have it moving around 6 or 7 blogs, roughly a once every two month cycle. Or, if someone would like to open a blogger (or something) site, get it up and running and then those various people can all be logged in as writers and thus pass the baton around themselves.

The email address for nominations will stay the same (britblog AT gmail GOT com) and we can simply pass on the password to those initiates into the Order of Britblogdom. Now, I'm all in favour of and strongly believe in spontaneous creation of order: however, who wants to take on the scheduling responsibility, making sure that one person does pick up the baton each week?

Let me know as I'd like this to be the last Roundup that I do here. Of course, you should continue to make your nominations to the above email addy.

First up is an interview with an Englishman abroad. Tim Newman on life and Russia.

The write up of a run. Gordon Mclean with an interesting experiment.

It was on the Monday morning the gasman didn't call.

The Future is a Foreign Country thinks the Telegraph should stop employing socialists.

Chris Dolley with the real reason those MOD psychic tests were abandoned.

Poetry on the Underground inspires poetry about the Underground.

Peter Black AM doesn't quite remember a John Redwood speech in quite the same way that John Redwood does. Peter also thinks that this was a bad idea:

John Redwood is known chiefly for three things in Wales...sending a substantial chunk of the Welsh Office's budget back to the Treasury, unspent;

Opinions on the wisdom or not of that can differ of course.

An investigation of whether private equity does indeed add value or not. You might want an acountant to help you through this.

An interesting idea: let's tax divorce. After all, we know that if we tax something we get less of it.

The Devil's Kitchen and Dr. Richard North seem to be squaring up for another little battle.

Liberal England: one of the reasons Tony Blair is so keen on ID cards and the white hot heat of technology is that he doesn't actually understand or use it.

Philobiblon on China's top down environmental planning.

The Ship of Fools: no, not Parliament at all.

Poetry, needlepoint and wasps: no, it's not from Natalie Solent either.

There really was a Geoffrey Gildenballocks you know!

We might think the Victorians were very uptight about sex: a new exhibition will uncover (sorry) the truth of the matter.

Mind the Gap insists that all of the problems to do with body image are the fault of capitalism.

How not to start your driving career: when the instructor asks you to get out of the car.

An excellent invention, anti-blogging, writing about the things you don't care about.

Tom Reynolds goes off to Casualty for a stunt.

Nee Naw considers a life of crime as a dognapper.

And that's it for this week, hopefully by next week we'll be in a new place and with a new host(s).

Until then....Toodle Pip!

Britblog Roundup #105

Apologies, apologies, a day late, I know. I'm horrendously busy at present.

In fact, after two years of doing this I think it's about time to pass the baton on to someone else. Anyone interested in doing this on a weekly basis? You can do it at the same place each week or pass it around as you wish, but I think I do need to bow out of trying to run it. Those interested please have the conversation in the comments here and we'll see what the consensus decision is.

If you want to nominate posts for next week's extravaganza you can do so, as usual, by emailing the URL to britblog AT gmail DOT com.

First up is Harry Hutton's excellent suggerstion on what to do with the smoking snoopers. Bid mild, actually.

The Barrister Blog has a round up of the legal blogs in the UK worth peeking at.

The Psychiatrist Blog notes that at times, "love" has been a diagnosed disease. I'm sure there are worse ways of picking a mate.

The NHS Blog Doctor has his weekly BritMeds Roundup.

Did you know that most Textphone numbers advertised actually get you through to a voice phone? Great help if you're deaf, don't you think? Whichever idiot thought that little idea up seems in need of having a new one ripped.

Local localism. Allotments are to be bulldozed to make way for a footpath for the Olympic site. That path to be used for four weeks. Yes, the planning decision is being appealed: looking forward to the 2014 Games are we?

Mr. Dodge has obviously been reading a bit too much Little Green Footballs.

Central News has some fairly forthright proposals for reform of the welfare state.

Matthew Illsley is having a sale of the books he used in the research for his book, The Future is a Foreign Country. I have, sadly, owed Matthew a review of it for absolutely yonks. Meticulously researched it comes to conclusions that will horrify any europhile. I wouldn't say that I agree with all of this thoughts but on the idea that we must leave the EU he's spot on. Well worth the money.

Liberal England has been terrorised by George Osbourne leaping out from behind his yoghurt pots.

Dave Weeden on the decision that all pet owners have to take at some point. Doesn't make it any easier though, knowing that the day will come.

Gracchi on race in ancient Greece and Rome. Distinctions were made of course, but not upon colour.

What happens when you fill a boat on the Thames with women? Femmes on the Thames.

A mad dogs and Englishwomen day on holiday.

The result of Sir Francis Drake giving a boy an orange.

Serious stuff on a blog: a guide to Roman camps.

A personal take on the right to die, or not, as the case may be.

This isn't really what's expected in this modern world. Wogs and the English.

Fat really is a feminist issue.

Bid on the reincarnation of Charles Darwin in order to fund the Beagle Project.

Do you go to market to buy an aardvark or log into eBay?

Notes from the life of a peripatetic musician.

It would be very difficult to call this summary justice.

So, just what would you do in this situation?

And that's it for this week. Those who might want to take over this interesting little burden from me please make your pitch in the comments.

Toodle Pip!

Britblog Roundup #104

Once again, your nominations for those posts from the Britblogging community that you think should be seen by us all. You can make suggestions for next week's extravaganza by emailing the URL to britblog AT gmail DOT com.

The big news today on the blogs is an old newspaper piece dug out of The Guardian archives. Pickled Politics has it in full,  Chicken Yoghurt, Bloggerheads and Tom Watson MP have all taken down their posts awaiting the retraction that Guido Fawkes got from The Guardian and Harry's Place has a good discussion of the issues. The thing is though, the silliness of the entire process. I thought that part of the point about these blogs things, part of the driving ethos, is that we don't actually believe what we read in the papers? After all, we've caught enough journalists spouting their heads off without their knowing what they're talking about, haven't we? Why believe this piece, just because it shows an ideological opponent in a bad light?....ah, yes.

On to more important things: Flaming Nora has invented a new art form, poetry from spam email titles.

1820 thinks that Cuban agricultural techniques should be brought to Scotland. Deep fried sugar cane anyone?

Did you know that Brian May has a blog? Yes, you can tell it's written by a guitarist.

SuzBlog has the video evidence that Neil Innes was in fact correct: there really are urban spacemen.

Something to applaud: a sensible development aid package, deliberately structured to maximise the impact of market forces on public health. As Owen Barder points out, really, who would have thought that such a thing was possible?

Signs of the times to come: Jacob Rees-Mogg is willing to work with the Liberals.

Thinking about the Welsh Assembly elections? Peter Black AM gives us the handicap.

Here's an idea about Lord's reform: why not a tri-cameral legislature?

Bird flu: wild birds infecting farms or farms infecting wild birds?

Mr Dodge would like to know what we really shoud be spending the tax money on.

And that's it for this week. Short, I know, but I can only post those pieces that are nominated now, can't I?

Until next week then:

Toodle Pip!

Britblog Roundup #103

Yes, it is that time again, time for your selections of the blog posts we should all be taking note of.

You can send in nominations for next week's by emailing the URL to britblog AT gmail DOT com. Any subject, any viewpoint, the qualification being from a native or resident of these isles.

First up is Dr. Crippen's The BritMeds. Still in its first flush of bouncing youth, packed with posts about health care in this country.

A blog to read in its entirety: As a Dodo, the obituaries you would like to see. This one is Loans for Peerages.

Suzblog shows that liberality is sometimes a rare commodity in the Liberal Party.

Wife in the North. Go read. Yes, that's an order.

Get your weird biology stories here, from Postman Patel.

Saltation, an Australian, finds that England has weather.

My London Your London points out that branding is hardly a modern invention.

The Capacious Handbag wants all bloggers to join in on February 12th. A Blog and Buy Day. To raise funds to build a replica of HMS Beagle and send it off in a reconstruction of Darwin's Voyage. An excellent idea: so, what am I bid for a paperback of Darwin's original  book on the trip?

Pandemian worries that she's turning into her father.

Mind The Gap is not happy to hear about family friendly specialties in medicine.

Lady Bracknell finds that there are still, to all of our considerable surprise, those offering decent services.

Cruella-Blog on the policeman who might be handling rape cases.

Apparently Shell should not sponsor exhibitions of wildlife photos.

Those X-Ray cameras: as Stroppyblog points out, how long before the images turn up on You Tube?

Good advice for those matching up to rent a flat. As Nearly Legal points out, a joint tenancy is indeed a joint tenancy.

Chris Dolley points to the obvious solution in the loans for honours case.

Gracchi on gender gaps: it wold appear that the non-aggressiveness of women is not all it has been made out to be.

Liberal England on how to win an election while losing it.

As Jonny Void points out, the Spooks are weird. Why have a website that requires permission to link to it?

Would you like to know what it is like to live in an autocracy? Try this from the Maldives. Real reporting from a blog.

John Brignell catches up with Chris Huhne going down the lies, damned lies and statistics route. Tsk, for shame.

The Englishman looks back to Charles I as an upholder of the rights of Englishmen (err??)

Clairwill would like everyone to join in in reading Councillor Terry Kelly's blog. No need for a good kicking, his own words are enough.

Peter Black AM would just like to point out, on his birthday, that 47 is simply 42 adjusted for inflation.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle would just like to point out that the new rates of Air Passenger Duty are still illegal.

And that's it for this week, more at the same time, same place, next, until then:

Toodle Pip!

Britblog Roundup #102

Welcome back again to  the listing of those posts that you think the rest of us should be taking note of.
You can make nominations for next week by emailing the URL to britblog AT gmail DOT com. Any subject, any point of view, but only posts from either natives or residents of these isles.

First up, for those who haven't seen it yet, is Dr. Crippen's BritMeds, a weekly look at the glories of our nation's health system.

Oh dear, it's probably better not to announce that you'll be blogging anonymously at the same time as using your real name to announce your nome de plume.

Shock horror: as The Whiskey Priest found out, it only takes a little power to bring out the pomposity in people. Nice joke in the response, too.

Do not attempt to access the Kennet Council parking site. You'll be a naughty boy if you do (from The Englishman).

Rare to have two posts from one blog here but if you're either paying taxes or thinking of getting ill in the UK you might want to have a look at Dr. Crippen's discovery that they're quite happy to take the money but not so keen on providing the health care.

A kitten's guide to Nigerian tuna spam.

No, you don't want to have breakfast here.  Look around the blog a bit more to find out where you would like to though.

Mr. Dodge on censorship in New Zealand.

Did you know that there is a special three fingered Kit Kat just for one country?

Central News wants to know why we don't just start offshoring our prisoners? Has a distinguished history after all.

Know your rhyming slang? The  Englishman wants to know.

My London and Yours on Leonce and Lena, something of a Ruritanian play.

Philobiblon on the things that copy editors talk about to amuse themselves: teas and tissanes.

Islington Newmania makes very much the same point as The Trouble With Diversity. Packing the A List with women and minorities is all very well but if all are still public school and Oxbridge types who've never had a real job, what's the point?

EC1 Cruise Control on that Royal blunder about Quebec.

Certain pieces of ancient lore might indeed work, although not quite in the manner advocated.

From memes to gender identity and the American Revolution at Investigations of a Dog.

Gaian Economics appears to have discovered fractional reserve banking. There's a certain confusion thinking that it's zero reserve banking but despite this coming from the Green Party it could happily appear on Lew Rockwell.com.

Lady Bracknell investigates the petitions site and finds that not all are handbags.

The Purple Pen expands the family temporarily. March on the small battalions.

La Petite Anglaise would like to explain that it is indeed all in the wrist action.

And that's it for this week, more next, same time, same place and until then:

Toodle Pip!

Britblog Roundup #101

Welcome back, let's see if we can get this creaking old warhorse properly set off on it's second century shall we?
You can make nominations simply by emailing the URL of a blog post to britblog AT gmail DOT com. Any subject, any viewpoint, just either by someone in these isles or from these isles.

First up is this delightful little sally from Chris Dillow.

It's said that the mark of a good popular sicence writer is that he makes his readers feel like geniuses. By this standard, Rod Liddle is a great writer, because it's difficult to read him without getting a sense of one's intellectual superiority.

The Avian Comestible wants to make sure that everyone gets a second look at Tim Ireland's kicking off of the jihad against Guido.

Charlie Whittaker notes that the rise in university fees was planned all along.

Chris Dolley finds that his father was a war hero: and they even made a movie about him.

Mr Dodge is covering the Scooter Libby trial for the Media Bloggers Association.

The Dustbin of History provides a remarkably sane and even erudite (Habermas?) overview of the above Tim Ireland/Guido flame war.

The Morningstar has been playing with the photoshop again. Mocking the afflicted is not polite.

Mr. Eugenides doesn't even bother with the software to make a similar point.

Clairwil has all you need to know and more on Councillor Terry Kelly. When his gong comes round with the rations it'll not be for services to politics but to comedy.

Adloyada carries a report on the Daniel Pipes/Ken Livingstone debate.

Inkycircus would just like to remind us that we didn't kill Napoleon, rather, it was that froggy cooking.

Caractacus thinks that Seymour Hirsh was right and we're limbering up for a war with Iran.

Pandemian with the office meeting haikus.

My London Your London on Blasted by Sarah Kane. Yes.

Philobiblon on getting what you wish for. Trophy wives might not actually be worth it. (Well, yes, but I'd love to be in a position to find out- Ed)

The Daily (Maybe) with something that rather shocks me: something I agree with. Probably just as much of a shock to him that I do as well.

Cruellablog wants to know what's so sacred about the nuclear family?

According to The Green Room the Green Party is poised to make gains over this electoral cycle.

If you live and work in one flyblown African hell hole where do you go on vacation? Living for Disco thinks another. (I'm being grossly unfair, of course. BTW, the difference in food could be something to do with the colonial power. I would expect somewhere taken by the Portuguese to have a better cuisine than a place taken first by the Germans then by the Brits.-Ed)

The Magistrate with a couple of cautionary tales.

And that's it for this week! More same place, same time next and until then:

Toodle Pip!