Friday 16 November 2007

Down With "The Self-Appointed Uber-Bloggers"

Splendid stuff from Neil Clark.

Who did die and make Iain Dale and Paul Staines the Kings of the British Blogosphere? How, exactly, did this happen?

11 comments:

  1. Who died and made that happen? Are you saying it's a hereditary title? Who had it before, and how did they die?

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  2. Now there's a thought...

    Seriously, though, it really is high time that somebody looked into the way in which a handful of people have managed to set themselves up as the Blogging Establishment in this country.

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  3. Martin Miller died. He's gone completely silent. Why should that be?

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  4. but who says they're the estalishment? Its a free country, people can read whateever blogs they like. Iain Dale and Guido are big because they're popular. Because they're popular, they're influential. Becase they're influential, what they write tends to influence opinion. If people didn't like it, they'd stop reading them.

    I'm really struggling to see a conspiracy here.

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  5. David

    You have repeatedly claimed that it is psephologically impossible for the Tories to win the next election. Yet teletext opinion polls regularly have the Tories polling at 75%+ - and that result would put them into government.

    Am I right in thinking that your response to this apparent inconsistency would be that this is a meaningless poll because of the people who answer it not being a representative sample of the population?

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  6. Never mind that - I've just been over to The Exile's blog, and have been shocked rigid by the filth that he's peddling.

    Given that your candidate for Wantage believes that this man is "brilliant" and "seldom, if ever wrong", is this not the direct BPA equivalent of Nigel Hastilow's Enoch Powell faux pas of a few days ago, given your justifiably strict views on pornography?

    Quite aside from that, this candidate has significantly failed to boost the mainstream media profile of the BPA, despite his many potential outlets.

    With a heavy heart, I think that the party whips may have to be pressed into service, and not in the sense that The Exile would appreciate.

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  7. Maybe there should be a Select Committee inquiry.

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  8. david - why did you not post my comment, on topic, about the rise of the blogosphere people you quote?

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  9. Anonymous 6:59 PM, may he rest in peace. Although I bet he won't.

    Jon, none of this follows. People don't have to be popular to be influential. Very far from it, in many cases. And popular with whom, exactly? Neil is now manifestly more popular than they are. Let's see what happens in terms of influence.

    Boris, if they or anyone else are polling at seventy-five per cent then, yes, I think it's fair to say that the poll is pretty unrepresentative. I'd love to see the Tories' alleged popularity tested at a byelection. We can't have long to wait.

    A Maiden Aunt, yes, The Exile is a bit sweary. That's why I don't link to him. (That, and the fact that he doesn't link here.) But if you can get past that, then he's very good.

    Anonymous 6:44 PM, if the wrong person hears you saying that, you know...

    And Jon, don't do that. You'll turn into Oliver Kamm. Although at least you are using your name.

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  10. David - I'm not sure, it seems pretty representative to me - or at least, I like to think it does, becase I agree with its conclusions. Do you think the teletext poll is unrepresentative because it allows anyone to vote, and (probably, though I don't know) allows the same people to vote more than once?

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  11. I am alive and well.

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