Welcome to the 148th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (13th – 19th December 2009), together with a hand-picked quintet, usually courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.
Don’t forget, by the way, you can now sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox – just click here – ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.
As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:
1. Sandi Toksvig to fight Cambridge for Lib Dems? on Jonathan Calder’s Liberal England blog.
Not this time, alas – but soon, I hope. See 6., below.
2. Got a problem winning by-elections? Who do you blame? Immigrants! on Anders Hanson’s blog.
The 2009 scores on the local by-election doors: Tories, net loss -25; Lib Dems, net gain +17; Labour, net gain +11.
3. Vince Cable PMQs = Headache for Cameron on Nick Thornsby’s blog.
Poor Dave – how do you deal with those pesky non-doms, knowing one of them is funding your key marginal seats strategy?
4. Chris Huhne, hammer of the tories on wit and wisdom’s blog.
And in case you missed it, here is that hammering.
5. The Lib Dem HQ take on the party’s poll ratings by Tom Smithard on Lib Dem Voice.
Are we being squeezed out, and how can we tackle that?
6. No Sandi Toksvig on Cambridge shortlist on Jonathan Calder’s Liberal England blog.
But, fear not, there are six other excellent candidates wishing to pick up where the wonderful David Howarth leaves off.
7. Times backs Jeremy Browne’s expenses appeal by Stephen Tall on Lib Dem Voice.
Let’s just hope everyone in ultra-marginal Taunton reads the Thunderer’s editorials.
And now to the five blog-posts that come highly recommended regardless of the number of Aggregator click-throughs they attracted. Alas and alack, no Lib Dem blog recommendations via LibDig this week. So they’re all my own personl choice. But, remember, if you want to highlight a Lib Dem blog article published in the past seven days – your own, or someone else’s – using the steam-powered method of e-mail all you have to do is drop a line to (providing the web-link and author, and any tagline comment you care to have published).
8. Do you have to be well off to be a parliamentary candidate? on Mark Thompson’s Mark Reckons blog.
Just how much does it cost to be a Lib Dem PPC?
9. Why the media don’t ‘get’ the Lib Dems? on Christopher Lovell’s blog.
Probably because the idea that a political party could remain democratic, rather than just a leadership cult, just doesn’t occur to journalists.
10. What on Earth is happening to British politics? on Jeremy Rowe’s blog.
… that people are looking to Simon Cowell for political solutions.
11. Buying a seat in Parliament on Peter Black AM’s blog.
Yes, it’s Zac Goldsmith … the gift that keeps on giving for Susan Kramer.
12. Are overseas call centres making us all a little more racist? on Ewan Hoyle’s Liberal musings blog.
It’s the question of the week.
And that’s it for another week. Happy blogging.
<a href="http://www.libdemvoice.org/top-of-the-blogs-the-golden-dozen-148-17253.html"><img src="http://www.libdemvoice.org/images/golden-dozen.png" width="200" height="57" alt="Featured on Liberal Democrat Voice" title="Featured on Liberal Democrat Voice" /></a>
New post: Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen #148 http://bit.ly/801BRj