It’s the season of blogging introspection and mutual appreciation. After all, after spending the last year writing so many words, sentences and clauses and having little to show for it but bigger heads and missed opportunities to sound barking mad when explaining this hobby we need a bit of self love.

Oh yes indeedy.

So yes, Total Politics and Iain Dale have been doing their annual popularity contest. This year I’m no longer THE ULTIMATE LIB DEM BLOGGER because I’ve been inconsistent, flakey, not really posting very often, sloppy with grammar and spelling, didn’t whore for votes and… oh yeah… not actually a Lib Dem. Knew there was something!

Instead I’m just on other charts, which is plenty lovely for all concerned. Thank you for the votes wot you done, that was very kind considering how abused and neglected you’ve been.

Featuring on the Libertarian list was very welcome, but the Right Wing too? Crikey. Not sure how I feel about that. A year ago I would have been okay with it, but now?

Since then I have discovered that ‘Right Wing’ is basically understood (outside of crazy political circles) as synonymous with, basically, being a racist arse and that whether or not one is racist is the ultimate and most important indicator of one’s alignment on the Good/Evil Lawful/Chaotic axis. My political beliefs, socially and economically, put me on the opposite end of all spectrums from the BNP and yet, the BBC, being chumponauts, will continue calling the BNP ‘Right Wing’ causing an astonishing amount of confusion.

I guess the question should be asked of Iain and Total Politics: Do we really need these additional charts? Shouldn’t us funky new breed of political gobshites do our own thing and not feel like we should be constrained by the same backward limitations and conventions of the mainstream media?

Oh well.

In more joyful and amusing news those terrible fiends over on Lib Dem Voice have shortlisted me as “Non-Lib Dem Blog of the Year”. It’s a loophole in the system! I thought I’d escaped! Ah well, gives me an excuse to scoot on over to Liverpool and lurk around the Lib Dem Conference being a nuisance. Again.

This particular category is open to a public vote, so basically you can go over there and make your opinion on the matter perfectly clear but to be honest I’m tickled enough to have been shortlisted.

So, that’s nearly it for this year’s introspection. This year I’ve quit, started again, got paid and both mellowed out AND gone more crazy. I’ve left the Lib Dems and discovered that being Independent is actually rather lonely. I discovered that I actually care about this blogging business more than I realised. I want to do more about the hidden politics in the everyday things around us and less party political rubbish. I want to continue to pretend there’s some sort of political nerd identity that transcends party affiliation or political beliefs, mainly cos I think that we – that’s me and the people reading this rubbish – actually have more in common with each other, despite our political differences, than we have with the people reading Pop Bitch or The How To Sew Awesome Looking Bears blog. Just sayin’, like.