With just two months until the London mayoral election, the campaign trail is picking up pace in the blogosphere.

Earlier in the week, Mike Smithson at Political Betting called the election “by far and away the biggest political betting event in the UK this year is,” despite the lack of polls. But later that day Anthony Walls at UK Polling Report resists the bendy bus analogy [...]

In the week Fidel Castro declared he would not complete his half century as leader of Cuba, the blogosphere said farewell to the longest ever serving communist leader.

Conservative Party Retile, who fears an “endless hagiographic encomia” from the BBC and Channel 4 following the announcement, writes: “Rather like one of his speeches, you rationally knew it would come to an end at some point, but had trouble really [...]

As Prince Charles used his address to the European Parliament to outline the need to act on climate change, it was interesting to note the differing views bloggers took depending on their political allegiance.

The Lib Dems concerned themselves with the content of the speech. Wit and Wisdom picks up with the military lexicon used: “The use of such language seems to be missing a trick, as any politician [...]

The best way to unify the blogosphere against you, it would seem, is to come out in favour of shariah laws in Britain, as Rowan Williams did this week.

In a thoughtful piece on the subject, Cranmer concludes: “God forbid that Britain should ever return to the days when religious leaders should determine guilt or innocence, or legislate on matters of crime and punishment. For some of us, those [...]

As the parliamentary sleaze-fest continued, with Labour passing the baton to the Tories over monetary irregularities, the blogosphere was quick to pounce. Bloggers from all quarters united in their condemnation of the Derek Conway & Sons revelations.

But Iain Dale outlined his reasons for not commenting on the Conway affair, and received a barrage of rebuttals from posters and bloggers alike. He writes: “I have no hesitation in telling [...]

In the week Peter Hain finally fell on his sword, Iain Dale salutes his fellow blogfather, Guido Fawkes, for breaking and persisting with the funding scandal story: “Bloggers do not exist to get political scalps. But when a blogger reveals possible law breaking and drives the media debate, as Guido has done, let’s recognise that as a good thing and give him the credit he is due.” [...]

As the dust begins to settle on the party funding fiasco, other matters are chewed over in the blogosphere.

Over at Burning Our Money, Wat Tyler is firmly behind the government’s plans to go nuclear. A comprehensive, if partial, evaluation of the wind power concludes: “The bottom line is that windmills may be a highly seductive idea from a distance, but once you get up close all you find [...]

Following a proud week for the NS, as Derek Pasquill was cleared of breaching the Official Secrets Act, messages of congratulations were posted at Harry’s Place. But the case leads Spyblog to query: “What other politically embarrassing revelations are [the government] keeping secret from the British public?”

While, Obsolete believes the case highlights the injustice of last year’s leaked al-Jazeera memo trial.

In [...]

The new year began with furore splashed over the middle market front pages over reiterated comments made by the chief constable of North Wales Police, Richard Brunstrom, promoting the legalising of class A drugs. The debate spilled over the blogosphere.

Lib Dem AM Peter Black believes it is right to bring the debate to the fore as he also argues drugs are as big a blight as [...]

A relatively quiet week for the government, in the context of the past couple of months: only threatened police strikes, a contentious EU treaty and a tricky international climate change deal to negotiate.

Jacqui Smith’s decision not to backdate a 2.5% pay rise for police in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, prompted Lenin’s Tomb to write: "While public sector workers are ‘valued’ in a sentimental fashion, the general implication [...]