Bradford Degeneration Correct but not Politically Correct

Blogpower

Blogpower blogs reviewed

• A Conservative's blog

  A rather pale blue, small c version of the conservative ethos with little to frighten the odd Guardian reader who ventures in error. There is a sense that the blogger is a little over-devoted to the status of marriage but not in the Tebbitt sense of fulminating against "buggers and single mothers" more a sort of "it only costs fifty quid and ten minutes down the registry office" so why not devotion. Probably not for the american crazies who will be deeply wounded by the sensible views held by the blogger.

  created: 17 Jun 2007 by Baht At ::: updated: 17 Jun 2007

• A view from the Right

  Oh dear, this rather reminds me of the sentiment attributed to Churchill - whoever is not a Socialist when young has no heart and whoever is still a Socialist when old has no head irritatingly I can't track down the actual source of that thought and in the communist form I've seen on attribution to Yashwantrao Chavan. The problem with William Hague's posturing on the government benches rather than spending more time with his family (starting one would be good!) is that it encourages other poor unfortunates to get in to "C" early in life. This is a far more dangerous drug than "e" and really ought to be banned on campuses otherwise we'll be swamped mini-me Wee Willies. There are some rather strange views for the right, for example that the 15 marines captured by Iran were a casus belli rather than a disgrace to the military in not even attempting to defend themselves. It is nice, however, to see the old chestnut of "the EU is the rebirth of nazi germany" - I thought that one had died with the dear loony old bat Maggie (who hasn't quite died but her marbles got lost somewhere just before 1990). Excellent material if you want to cause a Guardian reader to spontaneously combust.

  created: 18 Jun 2007 by Baht At ::: updated: 18 Jun 2007

• A Young Conservative

  Another example of the danger of taking "C" when young. Reading "The Business" at 17 is almost as bad as my meatspace avatar (which started on The Economist at 15), stop now while you can son! Irritatingly he has a series of quiz results some of which don't actually end up the individual quiz so I had to go digging for the which country one and found this wonderfully germanic version:

  You scored as England!, hello chap! let's go down to the worlds end pub and have bangas and mash! you would fit in quite well with the english folk. England! 67% America! 67% France! 50% Japan! 50% Australia! 33% Mexico! 0% Germany! 0% what country do you belong in? created with QuizFarm.com

  Hopefully that will give you a link to the right quiz, he needs to sort out the couple of missing links. Disturbingly the blogger not only knows that the Welsh labour party exists but seems to follow their conferences ... a very serious case of "C" addiction here. A very nice collection of Hazel Blears pictures redeems the site - is she officially a dwarf?

  created: 18 Jun 2007 by Baht At ::: updated: 18 Jun 2007

• Adelaide Green Porridge

  How jammy can a man get, not only does he get thrown out of the USA but he lands in Oz Bah humbug! Some interesting links including this one which he rightly savages for the nutjob creationist bits. However it did give me one new factlet - namely that some Kangaroos have "leaded" and "unleaded" teats if they are simultaneously suckling a new born joey and one recently evicted from the pouch. So you can learn even from nutjob websites! I think you'd need to be careful not to fall in love with the lucky country reading blogs like this

  created: 18 Jun 2007 by Baht At ::: updated: 18 Jun 2007

• Advice from a fake consultant

  A very meaty blog indeed with most posts of garganturian proportions with plenty of in depth thinking and some useful links. I particularly like the Mother-in-law one. Clearly not the greatest of fans of the pretzel-damaged president and a useful reminder that not all americans are dumb.

  created: 19 Jul 2007 by Baht At ::: updated: 19 Jul 2007

• Age is all in the Mind

  Allegedly according to its byline an increasingly senile ramble through old age (I paraphrase!). Definitely not what it says on the tin because so far as I can see everything is decently written and reflects the preoccupation of us unfortunate middle-aged - too old to be cool and too young to be dead. Refreshingly free of politics so a nice relaxing read. One small irritation is that it uses one of those fixed width formats designed for 640x480 screens that leaves huge swathes of unused space on a wide screen display (this may be fixed since he now confesses to having a brand new sparkly wide screen himself)

  created: 05 Feb 2008 by Baht At ::: updated: 05 Feb 2008

• An Insomniac

  "half-arsed blogging done badly" .... OK I think we can agree on that one since the blogging seems quite fully arsed and done quite well indeed. The subject matter mostly consists of comments on sundry appalling vapid TV programmes but then again we all like to watch them even if we snear at them and endless problems with iPods (which cheers me up in vindicating my decision not to touch them with a British Standard Bargepole). I do have to strongly dispute the thoughts behind this post since it seems to want to remember the theories which are always trivial once some genius has first done the hard slog of getting them accepted by what is basically a population of determined luddites. Much better we remember the giants on whose shoulders we stand than the often superceded rungs on the ladder to modern society they contributed.

  created: 05 Feb 2008 by Baht At ::: updated: 05 Feb 2008

• Beamans World

  Oh dear a golly decent blog ruined by a sad obsession with the worthless and trivial israel/palestine problem with a strong dose of admitted islamophobia. This is exemplified by a kneejerk support for the frankly stupid Blair idea of a Holocaust Day utterly focused on only one genocide where this old BBC story is quoted without any consideration of checking (as any neutral observer would) whether that position had changed. [Note personally I think the MCB were right in the first instance, holocaust day is the wrong name since it focuses what should be a general commemoration of victims of all genocide on that of one unfortunate group whose survivors currently seem to be hell bent on emulating their persecutors rather than learning that states founded on religious/ethnic purity are a bad idea]. When not ranting about the ME problem or running frit of beardies in dresses the blog is otherwise quite reasonable. Read with Israel/Islamophobic filter set to max.

  created: 05 Feb 2008 by Baht At ::: updated: 05 Feb 2008

• Bob Piper

  As you might expect from someone of my views (that politicians are only good for stretching hemp) my heart fell when I saw the byline "Labour councillor for Sandwell". However I was wrong since the blog shows considerable evidence of independent and intelligent thought, for example this item on the dazzlingly barmy idea of Caroline Flint that all the unemployed should be made homeless. Or this on the Conway idiot and political funding where he seems to lean towards the "they should do it for nowt in their spare time view" which I heartily applaud. Even more interesting to me (given the fact Ian Grey is liberally wanging accusations of libel at me) is this about the trouble in blogland about Guido Fawke's less than fragrant past. Details to be found here and here. Now that is what good blogging is all about - sending you to interesting links and making you dig around a bit for the juicy bits. It almost makes me revise my view of politicians, not quite but he'll be way down the list when I'm handing out the lengths of hemp.

  created: 06 Feb 2008 by Baht At ::: updated: 06 Feb 2008

• Crushed by Ingsoc

  A blog with a very interesting writing style - all short pithy sentences that leap from point to point without too much of a direct connection. The sort of style much favoured of school teachers and TV documentary presenters because it gets your point across without allowing anyone else sufficient time between points to think too deeply about what you are saying. Sup with a very long spoon when you see someone using these styles, re-read everything and think carefully about it. Having said that there are some very interesting pieces on the blog particularly the seven part series on human systems. Now I posted the last one there rather than the first one for a reason - if you follow my advice and re-read carefully you will realise on reading the first that it's a load of bollocks and miss the occasional good point. Why is it bollocks - well because his cultural blinkers prevent him recognising that, for example, the australian aborigines have highly developed human systems. Equally odd are his views on love although more easily explained - whenever I see an advocate of freelove I know I'm seeing someone who is so obsessed with sex he thinks he isn't getting enough. Still with the sexual and cultural peccadilloes put to one side and con-artist/tv-documenary lie-detector set to full it is a interesting and diverting read. BTW ingsoc is a 1984 reference which I find kinda sad - too many people are hung up on that book - almost as many as the Lord of the Rings weirdos and Second Life saddos.

  created: 10 Feb 2008 by Baht At ::: updated: 10 Feb 2008

• Looking for a voice

  This is one of the worst sort of blogs, namely one that grabs items from the news and without any thought starts blogging. The example that had me foaming at the mouth was this now as even a bear of very little brain (i.e. me) knows what Sedley actually said was the current system of DNA recording where anyone innocent or otherwise who has any dealing with the police (for example if you get nicked for wearing a Bliar t-shirt) has their details recorded in the pool in which idle police fish for suspects was so grossly unfair and illiberal that a system that recorded everyone's DNA would be better - he didn't say it was desirable merely that it would be better than what we have. Does the intemperate blogger make this clear? Nope he paints one of our most liberal judges as a fascist because it serves his agenda of valuing gormless elected officials above carefully selected people of real merit. Never ever trust anyone who believes in the value of democracy. That's the problem with the internet complete f*cking idiots comment on the news without checking up on the deeper story. Not unsurprisingly this is one of the blogpower blogs that doesn't display the full list of blogpower members - he obviously doesn't want his site contaminated by anything like the truth.

  created: 09 Sep 2007 by Baht At ::: updated: 09 Sep 2007

• Lord Nazh

  Ah at last the sort of american blog that sits in my comfort zone (unlike, for example, that of Zaftig). To clarify matters my comfort zone is one where americans are unthinking, rightwing, right to life, gunslinging, fundamental christian supporters of anything Israel does. Nothing sums things up better than this I won't bother going into detail but if he thinks that science suggests that there was nothing before the big bang then he's seriously demented.

  created: 09 Sep 2007 by Baht At ::: updated: 09 Sep 2007

• Nation of Shopkeepers

  A determinedly libertarian blog so there will be one or two posts advocating things that might annoy the occasional Guardian reader (especially the tofu eating sort). I would also hazard that he might not be overjoyed at the EU. Having said all that while he obviously comes from the end of the spectrum that despises Guardian readers and the BBC he does have his heart in the right place. It's interesting that his sort seem to forget that the Guardian and the BBC have formed the core of the opposition to Tony Blair while the Mail, Telegraph and the Murdoch empire have all been quite happy to have the second coming of the divine Maggie. Still some decent opinions on there if you ignore the routine BBC bashing.

  created: 06 Feb 2008 by Baht At ::: updated: 06 Feb 2008

• Nobody Important

  Aside from being a seriously hot cutie in her youth this blogger under estimates her skills with her blog title. The vast majority of the articles seem to be about porcelain - a topic about as interesting as paint drying but somehow she manages to infect you with her enthusiasm for the subject. In short an absolute genius of a blog that makes nothing important something to die for.

  created: 16 Feb 2008 by Baht At ::: updated: 16 Feb 2008

• Shades of Grey

  A visual offensive (see below) blog from the paranoid wing of the libertarian movement. I won't say every libertarian is a freemason but I'll put my money on this one being one of them (can't quite put my finger on why but there's something about the sanctimonious tone of the blog overall that gives me that feel). Anyway you have to wonder how someone can defend patio heaters* yet have no real sugar in the house, a case of randomly pulling prejudices out of the internet fads I would guess. I'd better explain why I find the blog visually offensive, on one page I counted at least six different colours of text and I'm pretty sure that more than a headline and a body font is downright disgusting. * if you need a patio heater then (a) you are too bloody soft and/or (b) it's the wrong time of year for nude sun-bathing.

  created: 06 Feb 2008 by Baht At ::: updated: 06 Feb 2008

• The Thunderdragon

  A lovely little political blog, fortunately not by the little old dragon of a welsh mother-in-law that the title of the blog conjures up in my mind. The articles are competently written with a small levening of opinion but not too much to annoy, what I particularly like are the small pithy items on a blue background and headed up with the dragon like this one Oh the title comes from the fact the blogger is a fan of Anne MacCaffery's Dragons of Pern - he is neither old, welsh or a mother in law so far as I can make out.

  created: 10 Feb 2008 by Baht At ::: updated: 10 Feb 2008

• The Tin Drummer

  F*** me sideways with a chain saw what a damn good blog. This little post nicely sums it up - a blogger with his head screwed on that isn't afraid to say what has to be said, albeit it seems with a little dutch courage to prompt him along. Regrettably there are references to political ambitions within the blog and given I take the majority view that the only good use for that sort of person is stretching a piece of hemp I'm afraid it'll have to be marked down a little.

  created: 05 Feb 2008 by Baht At ::: updated: 05 Feb 2008

• Theo Spark

  Oh dear me the points against here are numerous, firstly the gratuitous flesh makes him appear to be an unreconstructed redneck, then there's the support of the only remaining apartheid regime (following Nelson Mandela's victory in SA) and a state founded by terrorists as shown by this banner[as pointed out in one of the comments the owner of that site (not Theo but clearly endorsed by him) is a complete arsehole who insists that you view the adverts* he has on his site - as well supporting a rogue state!], then we have the BNP-like site banner showing an entirely unenglish nationalist pride and finally hugely badly informed posts such as this - it's worth noting that the TU-95 accelerates so fast that no jet fighters can catch it without using reheat (which gives them a combat range of about 3 inches), that it carries radar controlled cannon that would rip fighters to shreds after their meagre supply of missiles had been defeated by the vast array of electronic counter measures it carries and more importantly the RAF has no operational fighters (the typhoon still not being at full operational capability and the Tornado F3 is only a pretend fighter being based on a ground-attack design). I suppose you might argue that he's actually saying that a spitfire would have more chance of downing a Bear than current RAF fighters but I suspect he wouldn't intend posting anything that close to the truth. Overall it shows what happens when decent englishmen are perverted by love of american culture. As if to confirm my views he's just posted this example of shortsighted yankee bigotism, fact is the reaction to 9/11 shows how stupid the americans are - declaring war on a concept rather than pursuing criminals. *for adblocking on IE7 try this

  created: 09 Sep 2007 by Baht At ::: updated: 09 Sep 2007

• Tuscan Tony

  Not much of a blog in that there is really little commentary, however it isn't to be missed for an interesting collection of images and links. Including this little gem which of course is now even more topical given that OBL's latest video reveals somewhat dubious vanity in dying his beard (a sure indication of alternate sexuality if you ask me).

  created: 09 Sep 2007 by Baht At ::: updated: 09 Sep 2007

• Two Wolves

  A true stream of conscience blog with a truly satisfying variety of entries most of which are short sharp stabs of commonsense. The best entry I spotted has to be this if only for the uncannily accurate picture of Wolfowitz!

  created: 09 Sep 2007 by Baht At ::: updated: 09 Sep 2007

• Wardman Wire

  This one presented me with something of a problem since it is decently written, has a nice balance of short jokey posts and longer thoughtful pieces yet somehow it irritated me immensely. It wasn't the vague feeling that it was only for the retired colonel Daily Telegraph readers (although they'll probably like it rather more than your tofu munching plastic sandaled Guardian readers) and it has an admirable article comparing the BBC (yeah!) and Sky (Boo!) for which he deserves extra credit for his tolerant response to the moron who describes Fox News as having "a freshingly honest outlook to news reporting. After some considerable time and effort my conclusion is that it is the layout that irritates me - I use a fairly huge wide screen display and the layout means that the content is scrunched up in the left hand quarter of my screen with another quarter devoted to two columns of links and the rest of my display entirely blank. No list of Blogpower blogs so far as I can see (I am occasionally blind)

  created: 26 Jul 2007 by Baht At ::: updated: 26 Jul 2007

• Westminster Wisdom

  This blogger is a post-graduate studying 17th century political thought. Rather unfortunately the excitement of 17th century politics (chopping orf king's heads etc) doesn't seem to have rubbed off onto his blog with is stuffed with turgid arguments about some of the less rivetting aspects of politics (the english parliament to name but one). To be fair I think any discussion of politics that doesn't involve politicans dangling on the end of a rope is boring. What particularly irritates me about this blog is that far too many entries are simply links to his articles on bitsofnews with no additional insight or explanation. I think it would be more expedient to bung in a list of links to his articles on bitsofnews separate from the blog in the links column. Anyway his articles on bitsofnew can be accessed from here His list of Blogpower blogs is a bit out of date.

  created: 26 Jul 2007 by Baht At ::: updated: 26 Jul 2007

• Zaftig

  A complete workaholic's blog (what else can one call someone who studies, holds down a job AND brings up a kid?). With some very nicely reasoned posts including this one which nicely puts into words the major problem with modern democracy, namely most voters aren't fit for purpose. Seeing intelligent american blogs like this makes you wonder why we europeans haven't set up a relief fund to pay for their relocation to civilisation (anywhere outside the 50 states of redneck christian fundamentalism).

  created: 23 Jul 2007 by Baht At ::: updated: 23 Jul 2007

• Blogpower (dec'd)