Philobiblon

Welcome to the wandering Britblog roundup, the best of the British blogosphere, as nominated (by and large) by the British blogosphere.

Traditionally it starts with politics, but I thought this week I’d do something different – those seeking the politicos should look down in section two, but I’ve devoted section one to posts that distinctly aren’t about politics, but, if you were to try to create an overarching category, you might say were about “life”.

Section 1: Life

Being an adoptive Londoner, I start unashamedly with Pandemain’s celebration of the city. “I want to be left alone to enjoy my feminine hygiene products and saturated fat by myself,” she says, and London lets her do just that. You might not want to emulate that for yourself, but Winter on their Livejournal has an appealing idea – to wander the city from sunset to sunrise, camera in hand, and post the results.

Staying in the Big Smoke, Diamond Geezer has been tracking London Transport’s missing apostrophes.

But life in the city can get tougher than that: a new blogger, Dan Hardie, has an impressive account of an incident at King’s Cross station – this is the kind of nuanced, factual reporting you just don’t get on the mainstream media.

There’s a lot of interesting science blogging out there that too often seems trapped in a little ghetto all of its own, whch is why I often nominate posts from the always excellent Inky Circus. This week they are looking at
tracking the walrus – with a great pic. For a bit of literary good news, meanwhile, visit Grumpy Old Bookman, who has a tale to warm any writer’s heart; in short, self-publishing pays off.

On the personal reflection side, Lady Bracknell revisits a younger self – brings back unpleasant thoughts about my own youth – self-obsession being a seemingly unavoidable part of youth. That doesn’t mean that self-examination is a bad thing, and that’s just what Chameleon of Redemption Blues, who’s coordinating the roving roundup, does in this interview on A Blog Without a Bicycle.

Now I’m aiming in this roundup to hit roughly gender balance in the writers of posts (no I haven’t been doing DNA tests), but I was pleased to note that this post was nominated by a man, defying the stereotypes: Rachel from North London is approaching what is traditionally known as her “Big Day”, but she’s got lots of good advice on getting around the wedding industry.

Pornobabble is subtitled “a British woman’s inside view of the adult film business”. This post tackles a key question – what do you eat for lunch at “Hot Rod productions”? (Not perhaps safe for very conservative workplaces.)

Now “blogs” on the mainstream media have traditionally been excluded from the roundup, but I’m going to make an exception for this one – the History Carnival No 51 on A Don’s Life on The Times. What could be more genuinely “bloggy” than a carnival, wherever it is held?

Finally, The Green Room is mainly a politics blog, but I feel I have to include a post on what to do with out-of-date condoms in the “life” section…

Section 2: Politics

Starting with politics that’s not as we know it: Important matters are being considered in
Namibia’s parliament – what do you do about a stray kudu?

Going Green, which might not surprise you on this blog, on Save the Ribble Reigh sets out exactly why we should do that, and how to do it. On The Daily (Maybe), meanwhile, Jim is tackling one of the big questions of the week:
What is Britishness anyway? (And should we be teaching it?)

On the big news of the week – the British troops held by Iran, on The Sharpener a suggestion on how the situation might have been fairly reported. Fair reporting is not, of course, often what you find in the mainstream media, as Kate on Cruella-Blog points out in her evisceration of the Evening Standard’s coverage of the “nursery brats” research.

On Central News, meanwhile, youdon’tknowme doubts the wisdom of a newscheme to tackle benefit fraud – just get people to dob in their neighbours, he suggests. Pigdogfucker, meanwhile, says kill all the Luddites – he’s thinking particularly of those opposed to mobile phone masts.

House prices are another big topic of the week (and one of some interest to me personally, since I’m now sofa surfing while (hopefully) on my way to buying another place) – Molly on Gaian Economics asks who benefits from the boom?

When stories die they tend to get less attention, but The Yorkshire Ranter tells us that one of Tony Blair’s “Sunday for Monday”, pie-in-the-sky announcements — MagLev trains is officially dead. And why this is A Good Thing.

Finally, I have an interesting pairing: on the F-word the
Carnival of Feminists comes home to the UK, while on Dodgeblogium is lamenting that some women find “chivalry” sexist.

Which provokes a closing reflection on the nature of the Britblog roundup – some people have questioned my involvement in the process, given that often there is a dominance of rightwing posts, but there are a couple of answers to that: 1. that it is good to get different “sides” of politics talking to each other – they might even learn from each other; and 2. that Tim Worstall, who started the roundup, had a policy of including all reasonable submissions, whether he agreed with the views expressed or not, and that’s a tradition that I, and to the best of my knowledge other hosts, have followed. The British blogosphere is now far too large to be encompassed in one weekly selection, but this is as broad a range as you’re likely to find in one place – it is a snapshot of our blogosphere today.

That’s the nature of blogging – it can be combative, but it should always be respectful of different views. But there are dangers – so finally I’ll point you to another post from Rachel from North London, about the hideous harassment that she has suffered online – a warning for all.

This roundup was prepared with the assistance of Rorty the cat (whom I am currently sitting) and Islington council (north London), which provides free, and surprisingly good, free WiFi on Upper Street and environs. Should be everywhere!