Soooo..... regular readers of this blog will have noted a certain inactivity of late. When posting has happened, it has been sporadic at best. And there's going to be no apology for that, merely an excuse - that when you are working two jobs as well as two a full-time PhD, something has to give. And that something is blogging.

Part of me wants to call time on this blogging enterprise, because there is a lack of inspiration combined with a bloated workload. But I do have ideas for posts, even if there is no time to do them justice. And the last time I "gave up" blogging, it lasted for just a few weeks (during which I spent a lot of time writing at DK's place). So an involuntary sabbatical is in place. Said sabbatical may end in early December, maybe not.

But ttfn.

Life = hectic.

∴

Blogging = Light.

No doubt you will be honoured with some thoughts from my eclectic and highly disorganised mind in the not too distant future, though.

A couple of house-keeping rules -

1. If you want a link here on the Strangeness, e-mail me your website/blog address and I will take a look. Bear in mind, though, that it will take more than just wanting a link to make me give you one. Being an interesting site that is generally relevant to the content of this blog would be a good way to start.

2. If you do insist on dumping a link in the comments section, please make sure that it relates to what the post is about. If it doesn't, chances are I will delete your comment without warning. I'm not here to promote your blog/site.

That is all. As you were.

Blogging will be intermittent at best over the next couple of weeks. Posts may appear, they may not. I'm pretty sure that, either way, the world will keep on training.

Blog Awards

The Total Politics blogging awards are up and running again - follow the link for details. As always, I can't be bothered to actively campaign or indeed reveal who I'll be voting for (assuming I vote at all), but everyone should feel more than free to vote for this blog if they so wish. Or not as the case may be.

Quote of the Day

Chris Snowdon at James Higham's place:

Let me explain why I say I find it ‘annoying’. Firstly, as someone inclined towards the libertarian viewpoint, it’s annoying and slightly embarrassing to see the OoL site become a home to 9/11 conspiracies, New World Order paranoia and freeman on the land horseshit. The 9/11 thing is essentially a leftwing CT and I’m happy to leave it with Michael Moore and Gore Vidal.

Secondly, I resent the implication that anyone who is not a troofer should be viewed as a hapless dupe of the government. This is why I flagged up your misuse of the word ‘sceptic’. Regardless of whether you believe that you have looked into all this with in the spirit of critical thinking, that is not how you put it in your OoL piece when you said:

“These bloggers are natural-born sceptics and fiskers of hokum. And yet here they are, on this one issue, suddenly and unquestioningly taking the side of the very government who produced those other reports they’ve been so scathing about”

There is no acknowledgement here that the 9/11 CT might itself be hokum. Someone less emotionally involved in the issue might see fact that natural born sceptics don’t endorse the CT as reason to doubt it.

Pretty much sums up my thoughts on this sort of thing, with two important points emphasised and stressed: Higham can print what he wants at his blog and the OoL (which he co-runs). People should be allowed to write about whatever they like, particularly on sites they own and run. The second point is that others should be allowed to question those writings and theories for things like their flaws when it comes to advancing the cause of liberty without the assumption that they are being, in some way, irrational and/or unquestioning government stooges.

But enough of this. These sort of debates/arguments never end, they just get older and more bitter. And they require more time and patience than I have.

A Curmudgeonly, Contradictory and Largely Pointless Post About Blogging

The launch of Dale & Co managed to provoke a hearty sigh of apathy from me. It’s not that I hold Dale or any of his writers in particular contempt; it is more about the fact that we just do not need another blog, let alone another mega-blog. The truth is that the blogging world long ago reached saturation point, and adding to it makes bugger all difference. There are already hundreds, if not thousands, of voices (my own included) chuntering away to tiny audiences who often only pay the minimal amount of attention possible to the output of their chosen blogs; bringing a load of those voices together doesn’t really increase the chances of those voices being hear – it just means that there is one site to pay fleeting attention to rather than several.

Part of the problem is a lack of perspective from those involved in the blogging world. Dale, for example, is a big man in a tiny pond. Those who blog will have heard about him; those who don’t probably won’t, unless they have a really anal memory for the anodyne talking heads who appear on the news on occasion to discuss the latest political developments. And what impact has perhaps the most famous blogger, Guido Fawkes, actually achieved? The resignation of Damian McBride and the temporary resignation of Peter Hain. Yeah, arguably good work, but it is hardly the dawn of a brave new world now, is it?

I do understand that some of the mega-blogs have been created, in part, to allow writers feeling blogging fatigue (and who wouldn’t feel that after years of churning out the same sort of warnings about the loss of freedom in this country only to be ignored by all and sundry?) to have the pressure of producing daily posts lessened through sharing that burden with others. But that doesn’t change the fact that blogs remain on the periphery of political life in this country.

Of course, this sort of slightly bitter and weary post does raise the question of why I continue to blog given I basically see it as pointless*. And I struggle to answer that question effectively, other than to say that this blog is a mix of me thinking aloud and down to the fact that I like to write. The fact that a few people choose to read my ramblings and occasionally comment on them is a source of constant surprise to me. But I am very aware that what I write here is largely missives into an abyss, and that would not really change if I chose to write again for a mega-blog.

So I’m not saying that people shouldn’t blog, or that they shouldn’t combine their efforts in the hope of making blogging easier and raising the profile of their writing. All I would say is that something like the launch of Dale & Co may seem like a big deal in the incestuous, inward looking blogging world actually means remarkably little outside in our wider society.

*The day will come, sooner or later, when I will stop, and the lights will go out here for good. We’re not quite there yet, but the Appalling Strangeness is not a project with an indefinite shelf life.

The Huffington Post launches in the UK.

I doubt I will be the first or only one to say this, but I didn't read the US edition and I won't read the UK one. Not because I resent it or have a problem with it, but simply because there is not enough time in the day to read yet another collective interweb/blogging thing.

The Weekend and Wire

I'm away over the next couple of days, so the sedate and philanthropic posts that this blog has become famous for will not be appearing until Monday at the earliest. But just to keep you all interested, YouTube will be popping in now and again to offer you some gems from the post-punk era. Now, who wouldn't want that?

Let's start with a rather boring video for the wonderful "Outdoor Miner" by Wire:

Time is short, and therefore at a premium, at the moment. Normal blogging will resume when I have a spare five seconds to think of something worth saying. Alternatively, it will return on Saturday when I blather on about a shit Doctor Who story again.

The Problem with Nadine Dorries

Or, to put it another way since there are any number of problems with Dorries, the problem with her blog.

Dorries has a long, whining post up about her "online stalker". Of course, the concept of a stalker in the world of Dorries is perhaps very different to what you or me might see as a stalker. As far as I can see, Dorries is complaining about a man who is trying to hold an elected politican - one who attempts to change national policies on issues such as abortion that could affect women across this land - to account. That isn't stalking - that's accountability, Nadine, and it is essential to every democracy even if it isn't always convenient for you and those around you.

But the problem Dorries - at least as she presents herself on her blog - is that she arrogantly seems to believe that she is in some way an important person and therefore what she says should be taken at face value. Therefore she does very little other than assert things without offering any evidence. Look at the post I've linked to - she offers nearly no links to back up what she says; it is fact because she says it is fact. Compare that post to this one critical of Dorries. Note that Tim Ireland actually takes the time to research what he is writing about; he offers relevant quotes and links to what he is asserting. The end result is that Ireland's work comes across as far more credible than the feckless, self-absorbed whining of Dorries.

Of course, I could be wrong, and Dorries may yet be right about her "online stalker". But there is no reason to suspect that this will be the case. If you're going to make accusations - as both Ireland and Dorries frequently do - then you need to be able to back those accusations up. That's where Ireland's blog - despite the fact that his politics is very different to mine - works while Dorries does not. And that's just one of the reasons why I feel Dorries is simply not suitable to be in any sort of a position of political power in this country.

Obligatory Admin Post

Ooo, a post about blogging admin. This'll be a humdinger of a read.

Couple of points are worth making, though. I do have an e-mail address for this blog (thenamelesst[at]yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk) and I do check it... every now and again. So feel free to e-mail me, but don't think that I'm ignoring you necessarily if you don't get an answer straight away. And if you need an urgent response on anything (although Christ knows why you would) then best to leave a comment on here or on Twatter telling me that I've got mail.

The second point is that there is no point whatsoever in sending that e-mail address LinkedIn invitations. I have a LinkedIn profile, my blogging avatar doesn't. That's a level of interweb weirdness that even I'm not happy embracing.

That is all. Normal Service will be resumed (which these days seems to consist of despairing of politics and speculating about Doctor Who).

Big thanks to Blogger, who as well as being down for a lot of the past 48 hours and randomly withdrawing posts, also managed to attach my real name to each and every post for an unknown length of time. I’ve often contemplated mentioning who I am in real life (not that anyone who doesn’t already know would have the first clue who I am – this isn’t the secret blog of David Davis or anything) and y’know what, one day I just might. But I’d prefer that day to be decided on by me, rather than some sort glitch relating to Blogger.

Which is not too much to ask, surely?

As there has been an increase in the amount of spam hitting this blog and because I'm away for the next couple of days, comment moderation is in place. Rest assured, though, your comment will get through (as long as it adheres to my really rather open comments policy) on Tuesday/Wednesday, when I'm next at my computer screen for an extended period.

Lots of spam coming through in the comments, so at this rate I'm going to have to introduce comment moderation, which is really tedious but increasingly necessary. However, just so everyone is clear, you can comment on whatever you like in whatever way you like just as long as it isn't libel and you aren't trying to sell anything. Break those two minor rules, and I'll delete your comment. Is all.

Ok, so my performance on this blog of late has been unusually lacklustre, even for me. That should change... soon.

Possibly.

On e-mailing me

Yes, you can e-mail me; I don't mind people doing so, particularly if they have something interesting to say or share. But after a couple of irritating encounters with irritating people, I thought I would clarify a couple of things:

1. I don't check my blogging e-mail account everyday, which means if you do e-mail me you might have to wait a few days before I get back to you. If I get back to you at all. See, just because you choose to e-mail me doesn't mean you will get a reply. Particularly if you fail to say anything of any interest whatsoever in your e-mail. Or if you just fill your missive with insults. And especially if you resort to both.
2. You may wish to send me products to review, or websites you might want me to link to. But the fact that you do so doesn't mean that I will give a crap about your website or what you are hawking. This is not something I do to earn money, and I never proactively seek attention for my blog. Therefore I do not feel obliged to give you or what you produce a leg-up using my blog. The rule of thumb is simple; if I like what you do, I might link to it. But there are no guarantees, and there's no right to have your whining acknowledged by me.

Parish note over, folks. Let's get back to the obscure ramblings that define this blog.

Happy (belated, most probably) birthday to the Devil himself, who is six today (although I know he's older in real life). Here's to many more years of DK championing liberty...

New Year Resolutions, Blogging Style

So, here’s some New Year Resolutions for this blog. They’re all achievable, I suppose, just so long as my natural indolence doesn’t get in the way:

1. Not to give up blogging. No matter what my workload is like. Nor even if every other blogger ever decides to give up (which, at the current rate of attrition, should happen by about August).

2. To write some decent posts for the Liberty Cabal. And I do mean decent, not the sort of dashed off shite that often gets dumped on here.

3. To blog in a timely way that allows my blogposts to be at least reasonably topical. Yeah, I’m aware of the irony of publishing such a resolution four days into the New Year, but that’s that whole indolence thing rearing its ugly head.

That’s it, really. Normal service on here will be resumed from tomorrow. Or as soon as I can be bothered…

The Demise of Dale's Diary

So, Dale has gone the way of so many other (and better) bloggers. He’s gone to enjoy life away from the internet*.

I’m not celebrating his departure, but I’m not going to be mourning it either. Dale’s blog did what it needed to do for him – it turned him into a minor celebrity. He’s become someone famous enough to be invited on the news fairly regularly and to get his own radio show; something that I doubt he would have achieved had he remained best known as a David Davis staffer he's gone from being a 5 Live presenter and frequent news interviewee to (in the right circles) a highly recognisable name**. Make no mistake about it, Dale is a shameless self-promoter, and his blog has worked well to promote him to the position of perhaps the most famous blogger in the country. Good luck to him; he wanted micro-fame, and he went out and got it. It shows a determination, drive and knack for self-promotion that I know I could never have***.

But this desire to get into the limelight clearly had an impact on the quality of his output. I’m not just talking about recently, when every other post seemed to be promoting his radio show or a new book from his publishing company. Almost every post he wrote seemed to be aspiring toward a certain blandness. Even when he claimed to be trying to be controversial – when he would start a post saying that he was going to lose supporters over his position in that post – he still never really managed to be in any controversial (or often even interesting). Everything was designed to be memorable, but not quite memorable enough to be genuinely striking. His Diary was the soft cheese of the blogs. If Guido Fawkes is The Sun of the blogging world and Old Holborn The Daily Mail, then Dale’s blog is the equivalent of The Daily Star - middle of the road, non-threatening but equally not essential or that interesting.

Of course, you can argue that he did do some good for other bloggers through his blog polls and the Daley Dozen – which is fine, unless you think about the relatively conformist and safe blogs he used to champion. Dale’s gone, but I don’t feel the same sort of loss to the blogging world that I felt when Eugenides or DK decided to call it a day. In a way, Dale’s Diary shutting up shop is a bit like a boy band splitting up. There’s a flurry of interest, then it is all forgotten about.

After all, there’s never any shortage of mediocrity out there.

*I’m fully aware, of course, that this happened days ago and that I’m basically jumping on a bandwagon, but this is Iain Dale we’re talking about. Jumping on the bandwagon is probably a good tribute to him and his own blogging style.
**Amended as I'd underestimated Dale's pre-blogging media profile (see comments).

***Don’t particularly want it, either, but that’s for another day.