Voting is Open in my Very Prestigious Blog Awards. If you haven’t got a LiveJournal account there’s a tutorial here to logging in to LJ with Open ID (which is ridiculously easy) so that you can vote. One of the nominees has got so excited that she’s gone and delivered an email gauntlet to fellow-nominee Wil Wheaton, which is only adding to the entertainment value as far as I am concerned…

The Heretic considers the impact that the Georgia situation will have on fuel supplies in the Peak Oil group blog.

Steph Ashley is a bit annoyed about the expenses claims made by some Welsh Assembly members.

Our Kingdom continue to examine possible post-Brown futures for Labour.

Political Betting report on some interesting comments made by dear Mr Cameron. Is the mask slipping?

Dreaming of Simplicity looks at the relationship between NICE and the drug companies.

Alex Wilcock has picked out his best posts and ALMOST managed to restrict himself to ten.

And finally, Sexual Intelligence celebrates Ernest Borgnine. Depending on your boss’s sense of humour, this may be NSFW.

Steph Ashley is mega mega mega excited about the Lib Dem conference agenda. No, seriously, she is.

Amused Cynicism has spotted the government breaking their own laws. Hands up anyone who is surprised? … Anyone?

Smash Boredom eviscerates Julie Burchill in the Powerswitch group blog.

Junkfood Science discusses spurious correlations and the media reporting of them.

In the light of our unprecedented Olympic successes (and the inevitable attempt by New Labour to claim credit), Charlie Stross has come up with a new Olympic Sport which we Brits can’t fail to be world-beaters at, just in time for London 2012.

And if that’s not enough links for you, SepticIsle has more.

Absolutely not in imitation of anyone else at all, I am holding a Very Prestigious Blog Awards with a silly nickname. Do please come and nominate your favourites - anonymous comments are enabled, so you don’t even have to log in!

The Hugo Awards’s winners have been announced. Congrats to the winners and commiserations to the losers.

Douglas Johnson points out that the left didn’t abandon Blair in disgust because of who he was - they abandoned him because he consistently failed to cater to their demands (on Scribo Ergo Sum).

Amused Cynicism is keeping up his coverage of the Georgia situation admirably. I agree with Pickwick’s rather pithy WTF, Russia?

Jonny Wright considers the possibility of a British Bill of Rights.

Junkfood Science reports that The Fat Police are becoming a reality.

Feminist SF has a very long and detailed dissection of Orson Scott Card’s religiously-informed views on Same Sex Marriage.

Hullfire is at the Edinburgh Festival. Her first review is interesting, if sweary, and doubtless the others will follow in the same pattern.

And finally, if you’re hungry for more links, there’s a goldmine in the International Blog Against Racism Week Blog. Keep it in your diary for next year.

Late Addition: Caroline Lucas interviewed in the Indy with regard to goings-on at Kingsnorth

Sexual Intelligence wonders why anyone cares who John Edwards slept with? I share his mystiication.

Kiji Kat has an open letter to John McCain.

The Daily (maybe) has been monitoring goings on at Kingsnorth.

Douglas Johnson has a horrible new colour scheme post incredulous at some of the comments on Pickled Politics about the goings on at Kingsnorth

Political Betting wonders if Miller Band could be Labour’s Nick Clegg.

Same Difference has a shocking tale of institutionalised discrimination in Canada.

Newsarama has discovered that the more the politics of comics writing changes, the more it stays the same.

And finally, Minnesattva’s other half has made up a song about Richard Dawkins. It’s very catchy.

Patrick Corrigan blogs about Belfast Pride. It’s great to see the Belfast politisphere overtly disowning Iris Robinson and her homophobia. Given that NI is one of the most homophobic places in Europe it’s not a minute too soon; although the linked study shows that we on the mainland have much work to do too. Perhaps signing this petition would be a start?

The Honourable Lady Mark Valladares has spotted some dodgy journalism in the Grauniad. There’s an interesting troll in the comments too, displaying all the hallmarks of conversational terrorism.

A Lanson Boy reports on the latest Tory finger-wagging. Apparently “Lad mags” encourage irresponsible behaviour among young men and promote a negative image of women, so instead of providing an alternative, the Tories want to tell people off for “reading” them.

Irony alert: in which I prove how sick I am of hearing about Iain Dale by posting about Iain Dale. YAY for unbridled ranting when half-asleep and nicotine deprived! Still, the results of the poll at the bottom are interesting. You’ll need to get your open IDs out, to vote and/or see the results, folks.

Stephen Fry has cross-posted the latest Dork Talk to his blog.

And finally, if there’s anybody out there not sick of Batman debate yet, Kevin Williamson didn’t like it one bit. And has some rather choice epithets to apply to those who did.

Penny Red has a fantastic post on the objectification of women dehumanising us all. I’d caution that even those of us who refuse to “pluck, shave, starve, bleach, shop, polish, powder and wax” still get stared at, and occasionally groped. though. Refusing to engage in expected behaviour is not an automatic protectant against unwanted attention…

Required Reading: The Orwell Diaries, serialised in the form of a blog. Posting in earnest starts on the Ninth of August.

Irony Alert: Amused Cynicism has designed a satirical Beijing Olympics T-shirt, only to have the design vetoed by the people he chose to print it, who are based in the Land of The Free.

Brad Hicks is unsurprised that the anthrax scare in the US was engineered by a mad scientist at AMRIID.

PC Bloggs is unsurprised to be marked as spam.

UK Polling Report and Political Betting both report on a depressing ICM poll for the Lib Dems.

You’ll all be glad to hear that Joe Otten still aten’t dead. I certainly am, since he was the first person to add me on facebook specifically because he was a fanboy of my blog (more have followed, but you never forget your first fanboy ;))

And finally, there’s still one night of the weekend left, so if you’re planning on going out, you might find this handy guide to what the words on club flyers really mean useful. I LOLed.

The main news today is that Lib Dem Peer Lord Russell-Johnston of Minginish passed away last night. Here are a couple of blog reactions: Ros Scott; Stephen Glenn; Duncan Borrowman; Jonathan Fryer.

John Prescott has discovered that there’s this thing called the intertubes, and on it people do something called “blogging”.

Andrew Rilstone discusses the political implications of farting aliens, and Steve Bell, and Yes Minister. Absolutely reccommended.

Pink Dog (who is definitely not male) has uncovered more shocking stuff about Spoon Crime.

Amused Cynicism discusses the prospect of Scottish Independence.

And finally, something I was directed to by a friend: Life With Aspergers is written by an Aspie man and is very useful for understanding the mindset of people with Asperger’s Syndrome. The linked entry is from April, and is about how Aspies deal with love and other intense emotions, but the whole blog is very interesting.

Because everyone in the world has been to see The Dark Knight this weekend, I was expecting the intertubes to be quiet aside from reviews… How wrong was I?

James Grieves picks a fight with feminists. I think he has a good point, but I didn’t see it for a while because the red mist descended due to his patronising and condescending tone. Perhaps both sides in this debate could do with trying to preach to the opposition instead of the choir?

Dreaming of Simplicity wonders why Labour gives out special favours to groups which fund other parties?

Prolific Diarist talks about Veganism and her political reasons for adopting it.

SmashBoredom has done the maths on the Climate Change Bill and found the lacuna.

Jonathan Calder discusses the “if you wear a short skirt you’re asking for it” attitude to crimes other than rape, and especially David Cameron’s bicycle.

Lizbee has some tips for aspiring authors - political or otherwise - from the viewpoint of a bookseller.

Septicisle’s review of the weekend papers is worth a glance, especially the Torygraph link..

And finally, don’t forget to listen to the Doctor Who Prom which I am listening to as I type (see also here, here, here, and here)

Iain Dale wants your votes for political blog of the year. I’d be very amused if nobody at all voted, but there’s little chance of that, and I’d probably be more amused if lots of liberal and leftie blogs made it into his charts. Vote Mortimer! Of course, for your vote to be eligible, it has to be for a blog that’s already on the TP blogroll. You can submit blogs to the blogroll here.

Pee Zed Tee, meanwhile, has reviewed La Dale’s Total Politics magazine, and found it high on gloss, but light on meaningful content, and slightly parochial. How Cameronesque…

Political Betting deconstruct the idea that Gordon is better off than John Major was at a comparable point in the parliament.

Rhythmaning reviews Channel 4’s documentary on The Qu’ran.

Adrian Sanders MP has news and comment on the MP’s expenses saga.

James Grieves indulges in some churchly point-and-laugh at Scribo Ergo Sum.

Spirit of 1976 has found a secret video exposing the Gay Agenda to Take Over the World.

Steph Ashley can’t understand why everyone quotes Iain Dale as if his views actually matter. I share her mystification on this.

Alix Mortimer compares Lib Dem and Tory campaign slogans and (surprisingly!) finds the Tory one somewhat wanting.

Dreaming of Simplicity wants to pee on Aaron’s bonfire in linking to this article on Digital Spy about the BBC’s commercial impacts.

Aberavon and Neath Lib Dems examine the Tax Credit train wreck.

And finally, Lady Mark Valladares has been up in my neck of the woods. He (and Ros) will be in Bradford today and I shall, if I can drag myself out of bed, be going to have a cream tea with them. The perils of Lib Demmery…

Douglas Johnson has spotted a minor fly in the ointment of the Tories’ civil liberties pretentions.

Lee Griffin discusses the consumption of alcohol by young people, and finds the mainstream media’s coverage of it somewhat wanting.

SepticIsle comments on the debates in parliament surrounding crime stats.

Pink Dog gives his her own unique perspective on knife Spoon Crime.

Andrew Ducker linked to an article in the Independent about women’s brains being different from men’s, among other things. Brilliant comment from Philip Hodson at the bottom.

And finally, you’ve got one day left to watch Dr. Horrible’s SingAlong Blog for free. I didn’t like it, but every other blogger on the planet seems to think it was fantastic, so…

Aaron is leeeeeaaaaving onna Jet Plane this morning, so I’m afraid you’re stuck with me. Tips to the usual address if’n you’m got any, and away we go:

Anna Jane Clare meant to post about Henry James, but ended up devoting most of her post to how the feral underclass is created (NSFW warning: may contain swearing).

Lynne Featherstone has been on t’wireless.

Love and Garbage has less a post and more a treatise bemoaning the MSM’s failure to examine Cameron, especially his speeches to the CBI.

Nicholas Whyte has decided who he’s going to support in the race for Lib Dem party president, and reveals that it won’t be the same person he voted for last time. Despite my detesting the slogan, I’m 4 Ros too (see sidebar). Huzzah for the Blogging Baroness!

Matt Wardman has a challenge for Unity and other bloggers who like to dig for obscure things. His post comparing webstats for newspaper websites and blogs is worth looking at too.

Lizbee has discovered an early Fandom Wank and relates a Tom Baker anecdote. I link to these for those of you who still labour under the delusion that Doctor Who fans, like bloggers, are (and always have been) male.

And finally, those philistines of you who still don’t read Livejournal blogs? Have a look at Livejournal Aqua. The post titles float past as they are posted, hover over them and you get an excerpt; click and the post will open in a new tab (assuming that you’re using Firefox like all sensible persons)

SnapsThoughts has a photo essay on the fraughtness of union links with Labour. Each image is accompanied by some thought-provoking words. Highly recommended.

Douglas has news of a sexist Tory. In other news, bears are Catholic and the pope poos in the woods.

Spirit of 1976 discovers his inner Clarkson and feels DIRTY.

Sexual Intelligence Blog reports on John McCain’s reluctance to discuss sexual matters. Not in front of the children, dear.

Jonathan Calder is rather cross about curfews, and people who hail them as a success before they even start.

Lee Griffin has some praise for the home secretary’s plans on knife crime.

Feminist SF covers the finale of the most recent series of Doctor Who.

That’s all folks. Tips to the usual address, and I’ll see you Sunday.

I’m late, I’m late… (again) Nobody has emailed us any tips today, and the blogosphere seems oddly quiet, so the links today are a little sparse:

Andrew Ducker wants to know how often his female readers get unwanted attention from men. I’m a barmaid. I may have skewed his results a little.

Spirit of 1976 has a somewhat visceral reaction to June Sarpong’s “Politics and the City” exercise in patronisation website, which I have to say I agree with completely.

Millennium Elephant weighs in on the case of the registrar who won’t do civil unions.

Liz W is worried about the moral compass of the Labour party.

And I have comment on the latest furore in sci-fi fandom over at my blog. With extra added racism!

A short one today, I’m afraid, since I was up until stupid o’clock last night and am knackered

Purple Cthulhu and prominent Brussels-ite Nick Whyte both report on the sneaky Tories being sneaky and urge you to write to your Euro MP before they introduce a Euro Law which could take your internets away. Andrew Ducker has already written, as have many others.

UK Polling Report has realised that young people can’t remember living under the Tories and thus are less likely to be prejudiced against them. In other news, the sky is blue and the Pope shits in the woods.

Jonathan Calder praises the Sunday Times for praising Lib Dem Economic Expertise.

Septicisle approves of an article in the Daily Fail shock!

Smashboredom examines the G8 in group blog Powerswitch.

And The Prydonian Academy has an end of series poll for Doctor Who.

Sorry the netcast is a bit late today, folks. I got caught up in emailing Woman’s Hour and lost track of time. As always, tips to the usual address (although we give no guarantees you’ll be included) and hope you find something of interest in this.

Paul Walter has a handy précis of ConHome’s “How to become a Tory MP” guide. Essentially it involves throwing lots of money at it. *I* thought that was supposed to be the *Labour* way…

Lynne Featherstone calls people who don’t support Harriet Harman’s proposal to allow positive discrimination “Tory Boys”. Thank, Lynne! I assume the penis and blue rosette must have been lost in the post…

Lee Griffin is a Tory Boy like me, then. I particularly like this rabid right-wing point: “If schools want more male teachers then incentives are necessary to increase numbers, not putting a worse teacher in charge of educating our children for the sake of some equality figures.”

Anthony Hook thinks that the age discrimination proposals might be ill-thought-out too. Continue reading…

I have spent about five hours so far collating reactions to last night’s Who and am still not done yet, so if this is a bit disjointed, blame Russell T Davies. When I’ve finally done I’ll be making Liberal use of this and picturing Rusty in the role of Boss.

Tips to the usual address: all submissions will be considered, although there’s no guarantee of inclusion.

Andrew Hickey has a great post about why the Lib Dems’ current strategy is completely arse-about-face, which neatly encapsulates my own feelings on the matter and chimes with Mike Smithson’s recent post too.

Stuff White People Like dissects Godwin’s Law: “all human beings can be neatly filed into one of two categories: People I Agree With, and People Who are Just Like Adolf Hitler.”

Shakesville reports on a fiscal fly in John McCain’s soup.

On my blog there are tips for those who wish to pile the pressure on Heinz like Lynne F. Continue reading…

It’s a dark day for me as a Liberal, but I find myself in agreement with the Daily Fail. I despise the Mail, and pretty much everything they stand for, but Harperson’s Equality Act definitely has a sting in the tail.

In my view, Positive Discrimination is still discrimination and it is wrong. Even in this limited way, endorsing discrimination perpetuates it, rather than eradicating it. It adds vast amounts of resentment for little perceivable benefit.
Continue reading…

Is there a blog we should be reading, or a post that you think we should link to? Email us your tips to tips@liberalconspiracy.org

Iain Dale’s Total Politics site has launched, and revealed its editorial team. It’s actually quite interesting, and appears to be very well funded too… Why no, these grapes are sweet and tasty, why’d you ask? (Hat tip, Mark Pack at LDV). Oddly they don’t appear to have linked to us from their political blogs directory, but then, as a top ten political blog we’re hard to miss, and the blog directory is so badly-constructed, it’s possible they have linked to us and I just haven’t found the link

Andrew Rilstone writes about how a writer’s writings are distinct from and yet linked to the writer as a person and that person’s political views. Brilliant post (and not just because he says The Shadow Over Innsmouth is better than The Call of Cthulhu), but does contain rude words: proceed with caution.

PC Bloggs turns her ever-acerbic eye onto government in the latest of her occasional series on 21st Century Policing. If I could make PC Bloggs a Home Office advisor…

Political Betting are wondering if the Labour Party will lose their deposit in Henley.

Lynne Featherstone is a big blubbing girly - and this entry is so lovely it turned me into one too. Get your tissues out, and I won’t tell anyone that you needed them.

BluJay posts in the cheerfully-named So Very Doomed group blog about the difficulties that we in the developed world will have obtaining food if things don’t change drastically and soon.

Slightly Warped posts pictures of a fire in a cave in Uzbekistan that’s been burning for 5 years (so far) and is known as the Door to Hell. (Hat tip: Neil Gaiman)

Tomorrow is Download Day. I’ve been using the Firefox3 beta for some time now, and I’m very impressed with it. If you’re using IE and fancy giving it a shot, you may as well do it tomorrow and be part of a world record attempt. Click the button for the link:

Lynne Featherstone talks about the difficulties of relying on the NHS to provide you with independent movement.

Spirit of 1976 has suddenly discovered an urge to try Khat - why? Because the Tories want to ban it.

The Times has a fascinating article on the history of Vibrators, and how the humble Personal Massager reflects the changing attitude of society to women.

Smash Boredom has a convincing argument that Robert Mugabe is right about something.

PC Bloggs has a very affecting tale of police resources spread too thin. I can’t recommend her blog enough.

And finally, Feminist SF reviews the weekend’s episode of Doctor Who in a rather weary manner.