Best of the Politics Blogs

To my knowledge the May 3 elections was the first time bloggers provided the public with up-to-the-minute updates as the votes were counted across England, Wales and Scotland. But in Scotland it was an election marred by controversy, something the blogosphere will not let go unheard.

18 Doughty Street provided a live internet broadcast as polls closed, whilst Iain Dale blogged through the night as votes were counted.

He was ... read more

My promised second part of a council, Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliamentary election-focused blog has morphed into its own feature. But there's still room for the sideways glance - riddled with exposed hypocrisy and campaign blundering - that follows.

A war of words has flared up in the Liverpool ward of Kensington and Fairfield. Labour councillor Louise Baldcock accused the Lib Dems of gutter politics, wasting money and ... read more

While Greg Dyke flirts with Labour’s enemies and commentators debate whether David Milliband’s last denial about the Labour leadership contest really was the last, you could be forgiven for forgetting there are local, Welsh Assembly and Scottish parliamentary elections within two weeks.

As these are the first UK elections in which blogs will have a significant influence, this blog review will take a break from Westminster politics for the next ... read more

A leading political blogger known as Dizzy, was driving the news agenda this week with the likes of Channel 4 and The Times lapping up his wake.

On his blog, Dizzy Thinks, he broke the story on Wednesday of the first signs of Gordon Brown’s leadership campaign. The production company Silverfish TV, responsible for the 'Dave the Chameleon' advert, has bought the gordonbrown4leader.com web address.

Silverfish TV have said ... read more

The diplomatic stand off that began on March 23 between the Iranian and British governments finally came to an end on April 4, to the delight of everyone involved. Sunny Hundal had a view shared by many who did not believe the increasingly strong publicity rallying behind the British government. He said, “This is not to say Iran’s actions were justified or right but any call for war was ... read more

For those who missed it, a battle of wits ensued on Newsnight on Wednesday night where representatives from the three main mediums of political debate locked horns. Referee Jeremy Paxman, chaired a debate on the strengths of political bloggers. On his left was The Guardian’s associate editor, Michael White, while on the screen opposite, shrouded in darkness, sat the blogosphere’s representative, Guido Fawkes.

Guido, whose rise from anonymous agitator to ... read more

The Chancellor took a battering in the blogosphere this week - part of the fallout from his Budget. Some may have seen this final performance as a display of prowess from a man whose character - on this occasion at least - came across as jolly and playful. But some bloggers thought otherwise.

Curly’s Corner Shop showed a picture of Bart Simpson doing lines at school, writing: "I must ... read more

The Channel 4 documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle has been fuelling debate on blogs all week. George Monbiot said: "The less true a programme is, the greater the controversy." And this has certainly caused controversy.

Scientists at RealClimate say they are attempting to correct the factual inaccuracies of the programme.

Carl Wunsch, a renowned oceanographer, said he was misrepresented by C4 and has clarified his views on this ... read more

This week one of the most innovative sides of British politics (blogs) looked towards one of the most ailing – the House of Lords.

With the debate centring on how MPs voted for what percentage of peers to be elected, there was much understandable confusion.

Iain Dale saw the fact that the 95 Labour MPs who voted no to 80% but yes to 100% were either voting on principle ... read more

For many Gordon Brown’s premiership is a foregone conclusion, but it wouldn’t be politics without a twist in the tail. The question of who, if anyone, will challenge Brown has occupied bloggers left, right and centre.

A week ago, former lobby journalist Paul Linford outlined the case for John Denham MP, and this was picked up by Mike Smithson earlier this week who gave this glowing reference: “Four ... read more

An Egyptian blogger received a four year sentence this week for insulting Islam and his president. Many political bloggers are deeply concerned by this news of Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman’s imprisonment.

Reporters Without Borders, the press watchdog organisation, condemned the decision. They said: “Almost three years ago to the day, President Mubarak promised to abolish prison sentences for press offences.

"Suleiman’s conviction and sentence is a message of intimidation to ... read more

In the week of Valentine’s Day, a blogwar has broken out seeing some of the major political bloggers taking shots at each other and threatening legal action.

At its centre was – who else? – Guido Fawkes. On Monday, following an outing on a Radio 4 documentary over the weekend, Guido let on for the first time about his true identity: “The name of the person channelling the ghost ... read more