You might have thought with a long Easter holiday weekend, spring finally arriving to encourage bloggers off their sofas, and the world of practical politics starting to gear up for the European elections, that this would be a quiet period in the British blogosphere.

You’d have been very, very wrong. For it’s a blogger, Guido Fawkes, who’s been providing newspapers and television news shows with a flood of material arising from his revelations about Damian McBride. This was one of his early accounts of the story.

And plenty of other bloggers have been doing sterling political writing on other subjects:

* Longrider has been examining the effects of the egregious collection of our pesonal data and L’Ombre de l’Oliver is offering practical help in clogging up the system.

* Dodgeblodgium has been following the clunking footsteps of our police state.

* And Senator Stuart Syyret of Jersey has been experiencing it first hand – astonishing treatment of an elected representative.

* The People’s Republic of Mortimer provides a collection of links on reactions to the death of Ian Tomlinson, and analyses the way old alliances have apparently been broken. (And Mr Eugenides summarises the feelings of the “right” (his quote marks), while Quaequam Blog also considers the reactions of the blogosphere.)

* “A Tory” has been questioning NHS spending – and (and this is something I won’t say often), I entirely agree with him. Why should we all be paying for chaplains?

* Cath has been explaining that chimp behaviour can’t actually lead to the conclusion that women should wear unisex clothes at work. In an entirely related post, Penny Red explins why women are angry and why it is so hard to express that anger.

* The NHS Blog doctor has been looking at “social care” and the fate of NHS whistleblowers, the former topic also of concern on Suz Blog.

Also: K.T. Dodge questions “socialised medicine; Amused Cynicism considers what’s politics for?; Matt Wardman is designing satirical billboards, and the very same billboard inspired A Geek in Oxfordshire.

* And Liberal England was less than impressed by the Diocese of Rochester’s account of the drugging of girls in its care, a subject on which Suz Blog has also been exercised.

* Finally, for something very different, Roe Valley Socialist analyses the SDLP’s budget proposals.

Heading into a category you might simply call life, Blognor Regis writes powerfully of his emotions in witnessing the aftermath of a collision between car and cycle.

Croila tells a tale that many a parent will no doubt relate to: how far do you trust your kids?.

Lady Bracknell explains some of the challenges of living with diabetes.

And Rebecca Laughton guest blogs on Transition Towns on what smallholders can teach the rest of us.

Looking at business, Jim on The Daily (Maybe) is considering ethics and the price thereof, with reference to the sale of Innocent Smoothies to Coke.

Going geopolitical, Is There More to Life than Shoes? considers the push to get Turkey into the European Union, as does Archbishop Cranmer. And Charles Crawford considers the issues around the US’s envoy to the Vatican.

And we might as well take on a spot of religion as well: Heresy Corner lives up to its name, taking apart Marilyn Bunting’s attack on the New Atheists, although Stumbling and Mumbling has another view.

Heading into the arts and humanities side, on Pickled Politics Rumbold tears into David Starkey’s views on the insignificance of women in the 16th century. Elizabeth I anyone? (Actually imagining Starkey in that court is quite fun – somehow I don’t think he’d have made the grade…)

For something different, Catherine on The F Word reviews Being Human BBC Three’s drama about a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost in a flat share.

Living for Disco offers a range of Twitter-style book reviews (I can see it taking off).

And SwissToni is considering racism in the James Bond novels.

Finally, the inimitable Diamond Geezer has been visiting the newly reopened Whitechapel Gallery and Ornamental Passions is testing fire brigade sculptures against reality.

And that’s all for a very full week this week: don’t forget to get in your nominations at britblog AT gmail DOT com for next week’s roundup, which will be on Redemption Blues. For more about how it works, see Britblog Central.

* I’ve been meeting an exceptional woman who’s got great plans for women in Zambia.

* Hearing some very bad news about the state of Kenya.

* And indulging in a little wildlife photography. (No, I’m not planning to give up my day job – but it is pleasant watching the bird-feeder in France.) And if anyone can identify the birds for me I’d much appreciate it…!

I’ve been writing on Comment is Free about the Australian bushfires (and the site is certainly living up to its name).

And perhaps less controversially, over on My London Your London I’ve been enjoyed a reversed-gender Tempest – definitely worth seeing if you are in London.

If you visited in the past day or so, you may not have found me here – that was because my host blocked the site for exceeding CPU usage limits. But I do have to give Bluehost full marks for explaining to me that what I had to do was repair my PHP databases – which I’ve now done, and after another call I’ve been reactivated. (No, I don’t really understand that second sentence, but I can follow simple instructions…)

I should be leafletting, but am hoping the rain will stop, so instead, a short miscellany.

Good news:

Okay, it isn’t exactly earthshattering, but it is always nice to see barriers falling: the first women riders have been admitted to the Spanish riding school in Vienna.

But this, perhaps, is a big deal: union members in a small manufacturing plant in America, seeing the writing on the wall, staged a sit-in when told the entire plant staff was to lose their jobs – and secured the statutory payoff.

And worth pointing to, the Living Streets Campaign, which aims to make our thoroughfares more walkable and inviting.

On the tips on tricks side:

Live Christmas trees have to be by far the best option, but not everyone has the outside place to leave them growing year-round. I’m reliably informed that in London if you email waywardplants AT gmail DOT com they’ll arrange to pick it up and plant it on vacant land. Part, I think of the guerrilla gardening movement, which has a website, although it is a bit on the discursive side…

And some practical advice on managing your washing machine with those reusable washballs.

Finally, a mad week, so only now catching up with the Britblog roundup. Chameleon swore this time it would be short, but I’d recommend making a cuppa before you click…