Philobiblon

Welcome, to a Britblog roundup compiled from my Burgundy terrace, courtesy of the neighbour’s Wifi. I could brag about the glorious weather, the nut-hatches and great tits at the bird feeder and the glorious view down the valley, but given its summer holiday season many others will be enjoying similar soon, if not already.

But the blogging certainly hasn’t stopped (or indeed the political activity), so to work…

Starting with what is undoubtedly the story of the week: cutbacks, slicing and more destruction from our new government. Jess on The F Word covers the gender implications, Molly on Gaian Economics wonder how export-led growth is going to work if every country is trying to do it, and Jane considers the cost of cutting the Census.

More broadly, The Nameless Libertarian offers their judgement on the claim that this is the best government in a generation. Personally, I’ve no doubt this is going to be an unmitigated disaster, but I entirely agree that the standard has been set very, very low…something really needs to be done to improve the quality of the British political class…

…like proportional representation, for example.

That – or at least the weak and tiny improvement to the voting system represented by the AV referendum, was another major subject of the week. Jim on The Daily (Maybe) offers an essay on the alternative vote, and Andrew Dodge questions the subject.

And the final major issue of the week was anonymity for rape accused: Jess McCabe on The F Word sets out the parliamentary debate (very much split on gender lines), and The Partisan explores how misogynist lawmaking. And on a semi-related issue The New Adventures of Juliette explains that thuggishness and violence in men has nothing to do with sexual practices (might not be considered safe for all workplaces).

Also raising important issues:
* Brian Barder explores a report on Indeterminate Sentences
* Penny Red looks at the cost of internships
* The Magistrate lauds the end of blanket use of stop and search powers
* Random Acts of Reality explains how targets damage patient care

Going international, A Very British Dude is praising the Chinese in Africa, Charles Carwford considers British ambassadorial residences, and Odessablog fancies being Her Majesty’s man.

Turning to the media world, Jack of Kent follows the amazing saga of Hackney council, the Tory mayoral candidate, and theofficial threats. It’s a long tale, but one well worth reading through as a cautionary example.

Blogging is put under the microscope, including some serious number-crunching, by Diamond Geezer. It seems blog-roll aren’t what they used to be. (Which reminds me, really must find the time to clean up mine…)

And Mark Reckons that the Times really hasn’t got the paywall worked out.

While on (Una)Musings, the pleasures and pains of the writing life are under the microscope, while Christine on Open Minds and Parachutes wonders just what an environmental journalist should do.

And then a skip around the pleasures of life, to prove that blogging doesn’t have to be about politics and serious stuff: West Hampstead Life is reviewing what sounds like a good new restaurant (more blogging like this please – saves people visiting the bad ones!), and from Warsaw there’s an exact description of how to find “proper” British fish and chips.

Eoghan O’Neill is reviewing The Misanthrope at the Comedy Theatre, Ornamental Passion is visiting the traditional explorers’ hangout Stanford, and Earthenwitch offers some delightful-sounding recipes without fancy titles or too much fuss about precise measurements.

Finally, I can’t think of a category for this one, but I certainly enjoyed it: Heresy Corner has put some serious thought into the abilities of Paul the Psychic Octopus (who I confessed had previously escaped my attention). And ditto with Early Modern Whale’s visit to a (possibly) dumb 17th-century fortune-teller.

You can’t say there isn’t plenty of variety in British blogging.

That’s all for this week … nominations please for next week to britblog AT gmail DOT com – and your host will be Matt Wardman. (And all nominations (with very rare exceptions) will be included – that’s the rule for the roundup.)

But before I go, I should remind everyone about the Total Politics Best Blogs poll. Don’t forget to vote!