Though Cowards Flinch

The centre-left blogospheric community has been awash today with commentary on the top 100 list of left of centre bloggers, and it’s all been lovely fun if you’re into that kind of thing. 

And who isn’t?  Well Sunny, he’s well pissed off, and Chris Paul, so’s he. 

But apart from them, we all are.  Ever bored in a car on the way back from holiday?  Ask the kids to name their top ten holiday moments in reverse order, and it easily takes up an hour per kid.  If you’ve got kids.  If not, it doesn’t really work, if I’m honest.

But Hopi, flippantly, and Left Outside, self-effacingly, are still right to remind us that the top 100 list is fundamentally bollox, and that some rubbish blogs end up at the top, while some really good blogs don’t.

I put this down to two things.  First, most people who vote only read two or three blogs, and choose them, then anyone they think they may have heard of.  That favours bloggers who are well known for blogging, though they may not be any good at it.  Yes, come on, you all know exactly who I mean.

Second, people vote for blogs they think they should be seen to be voting for in order to look as though they are highly appreciative of different blogs. This favours blogs who have been mentioned at some point by the bloggers who are famous for blogging but not necessarily any good at it.  Again, you all know exactly who I mean.

What the list tends to leave out is blogs which actually have quite a few  good blogsposts on them, which is unfortunate.

It seems to me therefore that a better competition by about a mile and a half is one for the best top 100 blogposts, not blogs, because that means voters need to vote on the basis of what they’ve actually read, rather than think they might have read or should have read.

Does that make any sense?  If not, it doesn’t really matter as it was only a meandering preamble to the announcemennt of the first annual Though Cowards Flinch best blogpost of the year competition, the rules and timetable for which we’ll make up as we go along.

For starters though, you are required to nominate and link to your top 10 blogposts of the last year, either in the comments or at your own site.  Don’t email them.  They’ll only get lost.

Here, to set the tone, is my top eleven (I miscounted so I’ve got two at No.1), based on my very narrow blog reading, in reverse orderish:

10.  Tom Freeman: The paradox of thrift and the stable door of credit

9.  A Very Public Sociologist: Lessons of Lindsey, Visteon and Linamar

8.  Harpymarx:  Mental distress and employment

7.  Miljenko Williams:  Socialism and Modern Liberty

6.  Mrs Blogs:  She works hard for the money

5.  Chris Dillow:  Shrink the State: a leftist aim

4.  David Semple: Criticising Zizek

3.  Post-Keynesian Observations : 13 part series on post-Keynesian economics

2.  Don Paskini: Ignorant Bully vs. Teenage Parents

1. Left Outside:  One World Con : The Conservatives’ Ideas on Development are Dangerous

1. Duncan Weldon: Savings, Investment and IS-LM