The Britblog Round Up

Hello,
As my longer term readers will have noticed it's been a while since I last hosted The Britblog Round Up. Having quit to spend Sunday offline a while back I found I was missing it and decided to offer my services on the subs bench so this may be the first of many infrequent returns of the round up to these pages.


As an island we've not had an awful lot of good news recently so it was nice to round the week off with rugby victories for both Scotland and England. The less said about Scotland's footballing performance the better so let's just say well done Wales and move swiftly on to the cream of this weeks blogging talent.

Gordon Brown's attempt to comfort the grieving mother of a soldier killed in Afghanistan or more accurately The Sun's attempt to portray his letter as a calculated insult caused a stooshie this week. Whilst Brown elicited sympathy from both expected and unexpected quarters. A Very British Dude felt that despite his initial sympathy for Brown the row did reveal something rotten in the governments attitude towards our armed services and brought to mind some of the governments own past dirty tricks. My take on the whole debacle can be found below.

The Sun hasn't just been upsetting Gordon Brown this week. Both Trixy and Mark Reckons are disgusted at the papers targeting of Professor Nutt's children. Judging from some of the comments under the original Sun story it appears that the paper has again misjudged the mood of it's readers.

Penny Red treats us to a spirited defence of a young woman who had the effrontery to horse about in a pair of comedy pants on a night out only to find she'd become the poster child for hysteria over binge drinking ladettes.

The Glasgow North East by election has caught the attention of more than one blogger. David Duff wonders if there's something in the porridge. Jeff at SNP Tactical Voting is unsurprised by the result. Meanwhile Archbishop Cranmer reminds us that the poor will always be with us and judging from his depressing, if informative list, mainly found in safe Labour seats.

Speaking of poverty The Daily Maybe present the argument for a possible solution in the shape of a basic citizens income for all.

Philibiblon examines what 'Martine Segalen’s Love and Power in the Peasant Family: Rural France in the Nineteenth Century' has to tell the reader about French rural life. Meanwhile Investigations of a Dog looks at military culture in early Stuart England as detailed in a very expensive book.

Stroppyblog is less than impressed with Hope Not Hate's attempts to head off the BNP threat and wonders why their literature appears to be aimed at people who probably wouldn't vote BNP anyway . Elsewhese Gramsci of all folk get's an outing thanks to an article by Melanie Phillips. Liberal Conspiracy and Bella Gerens take a look at the arguments.

This post from the F-word prompts one to wonder what on earth goes at E4 and appears to reveal some strange and disturbing attitudes in the minds of the writers of Misfits.

This Tory believes that government attempts to protect homosexuals will do more harm than good. Read his letter to Jack Straw here.

Ruscombe Green brings us news of lively events at Stroud Council.

The Earthenwitch renders a cob house. On the bright side judging from the picture it looks like the end result will be well worth all the effort.

Ducks the nation over will breathe a sigh of relief that not only do they have a friend in Liberal England but in the Stroud Fire Service . However they may wish to scratch the Taxpayers Alliance off the Christmas card list.

The ever popular subject of chocolate get's two mentions this week. Unmitigated England is gloomy at the looming prospect of the Kraft takeover of Cadburys. Meanwhile Backwatersman recalls a visit to Cadbury World.

Pickled Politics bring us a depressing account of good conduct well punished. Truly British justice is the best in the world.

No less depressing is this one that goes, a blogger an architect, a civil servant, a marketing manager and a councillor go into a bar.....

From the threatened demise of Cadburys as we know it to the threatened end of the world.
Two Doctors is unimpressed with the arguments put forward by climate change sceptics and those who believe disaster will be averted by the end of cheap oil.

Punkadiddle re-reads a much loved classic and judges the cover to be a very lovely thing indeed.

Heresy Corner reports on the computer that said no to Churchill's call to fight on the beaches and is not optimistic about the ability of computers to cope with complex marking.

Finally allow me to apologise for the delay in posting this weeks round up -Blogger had one of it's periodic fits apparently prompted by my hitting of the publish button. The Round up will be elsewhere next week so get your nominations in here.

Cheerio