The Last Ditch

Sicily Scene: a Blogpower Review

Link: Sicily Scene.

That we Blogpowerers have little in common is evident from the most cursory scan of our blogs. However, by undertaking regularly to read and comment on each others output, we have made a neighbourhood in the vastness of the blogosphere. Our self-selecting community  makes it all more manageable, more human.

Without Blogpower, I would never have spent any time reading Welshcakes Limoncello's blog, Sicily Scene. To begin with, she's Welsh (as am I, partly). Having grown up in the Principality, I cannot even hear "Wales" or "Welsh" without also hearing "narrow-minded."  I had to leave as soon as I could, because village gossip, Socialist envy and "Chapel" judgementalism are just not my things. So I am sorry to say her nom de blog alone would have sent me running.

Then she's a teacher too. So is my wife who feels much the same about teachers, as a group, as I do about the Welsh. In both cases, many are nice enough people. In both, some are intelligent and interesting. One or two even dress well. But, life being short, there's simply no time for the hard work of sifting out the good ones.

Welshcakes blogs about food, mind. That's in her favour. But I am more into eating it than looking at pictures of it. Why a nation which still produces on average arguably the worst meals in Europe (don't talk to me about Gordon Ramsay, check out the motorway services) has such a thing about TV chef shows is beyond me. It's not a spectator sport, people!

Sicily, of course, is also in her favour. The place has dark glamour. Mention Wales, and I think of narrow minded teachers. Mention Sicily and I think of  Michael Corleone's wife, Apollonia, played by Simonetta Stefanelli who sadly died last year. I remember the line that "In Sicily, women are more dangerous than shotguns."

Having said all that, Blogpower brought me along and I am now hooked. I read every word Welshcakes writes and enjoy all her photographs of food, cruel though they can be for a native of one culinary desert, residing in another. In everything she writes her personality shines through, in all her teachery Welshness.

Despite my firm belief in the time-saving merits of a good prejudice, I have come to like her. The test of a good blogger, is that you never ask yourself why they do it. It's a bizarre notion, in principle, to put your thoughts out on the Internet for any passerby to shoot down in flames. Many bizarre people, in consequence, take to it. But a good blog can justify itself in many ways.

Some bloggers have political agendas. Some are in a kind of self-therapy and appeal immediately to others with the same issues. Yet others just have something so interesting to say that you are happy to let them, and even join in. Welshcakes is one of those, I think. If she betrayed her Welshness by leaving the Principality and condemning herself to a life of hiraeth*, she does so even more by being frivolous. The Welsh don't do frivolity, as a rule. She does it very well. She also writes well, which is less surprising from a countrywoman of Dylan Thomas. It has always pleased the Welsh part of me that a Swansea man wrote the best English of modern times. Welshcakes is not in that league, of course, but she turns a mean phrase.

Take a look at her blog and give it time. Settle into the rhythm and you will find yourself acquiring real insights into another way of life. Seeing Sicily through the eyes of a Welshy is quite an experience. Watching her blossom into a Siciliana, as through the everyday details she grows into the local way of thinking is fascinating. There is a Welsh saying "Gorau Cymru, Cymro oddi cartref" meaning, roughly, that the further you are from Wales, the more Welsh you become. I think Welshcakes may yet disprove that.

Stick it on your blogroll, paesan, and you won't regret it. One day she will be too Sicilian to blog, and then it will be too late.

*A Welsh word for how much more miserable than usual a Welshy feels when outside Wales.

Blogpower Testimonial 10: Ellee Seymour

Link: Ellee Seymour - Why me?.

There is a sense in which Ellee Seymour is cheating. She is no"citizen journalist" blogger, but a professional PR person and former "dead tree" hack. She spins, no doubt guilefully, for her political PR clients, making politicians look better than they are (why else do they pay her?) Yet I have no sense that the warm and open style for which her blog is known is contrived. Having briefly met her, I think she writes pretty much as she speaks. If she spins for a living, then her blog is not obviously a busman's holiday - although I am sure it's a useful business card. She is making her readers like her, prospective clients must think, so why shouldn't she do the same for them?

Her first post was typical. She waded in with personal revelations, as if resuming an interrupted conversation with a friend. She revealed her reason for blogging; to record her experiences as she strove to overcome a fear of public speaking. Her blogging has now taken on a life of its own, but how very Ellee-ish that it began as part of a flurry of practical initiatives to address a problem.

The idea of a blog was suggested by a fellow member of Toastmasters. Ellee had joined to help resolve her public speaking issues. In the next two posts, she told us that she was also taking up salsa and charity work as part of the same self-improvement programme. There are no half measures with Ellee. This was a woman remaking herself.

Her open style makes Ellee a natural for blogging. In those first three posts, she revealed more than I have in two ponderous years. No wonder her readers were agog to know where this personal voyage would lead. Pretty soon however her journalistic and political instincts took over. While the relentless self-revelation continued, broader topics crept in. She rapidly became enthused with the idea of helping her clients to reach target audiences through blogging. Her enthusiasm shone through in posts about conversations with more-or-less bemused friends as her thinking developed.

Enthusiasm ought to be Ellee's middle name. Not long after her tsunami of self-improvement began, she was making her singing debut with the Stretham Players in yet another attempt to overcome a lack of confidence that I am damned if I can detect. I make public speeches regularly and am perfectly confident on a stage, but I am a shrinking violet by comparison with Ellee.

After just four months' blogging, Iain Dale placed her in 9th place among his top 20 Conservative blogs. By September 16th Ellee was ranked in the top 10 of 100 Conservative bloggers and in the top 10% of 400 blogs of all political persuasions. By November, the lady who couldn't bear the idea of public speaking was making her first appearance on TV, being interviewed about Jon Snow's refusal to wear a poppy when reading the news. 2006 ended on a high note with the award of a "blogging CBE" by Tory Radio.

Ellee's fame seems certain to grow further in 2007. On "Blue Monday" she appeared on 18 Doughty Street and by all accounts she did well. Ellee is an A List Blogger. Blogpower is lucky to have her - and would be even luckier if she would get around to displaying the banner and blogroll!

Why is she so successful? Instinctively, she understood from the outset that blogs are a social medium. A blog is not an electronic soapbox; it is about interaction. I have developed a new theory in the course of researching my Blogpower reviews. I think that commenters subconsciously match their style to the blogger's own, rather as people in meetings mimic the posture and gestures of people they would like to influence. It is noticeable that commenters who can be acerbic elsewhere, tend to be affable on Ellee's blog. People become nicer around her. In consequence her blog is no literary salon or debating arena, but a kitchen where friends chat over coffee and virtual biscuits.

Ellee's diverse interests lead naturally to an interesting balance of local, national and international subjects. She is direct and uncomplicated; saying what she thinks in such a gentle, commonsense way that it is impossible to take offence even when she is hopelessly wrong. She asks questions rather than offering opinions or rants. That's one key reason why her blog is a busy place with lots of views exchanged. The contrast with the smell of gunsmoke in the comment columns of some male blogs could not be more dramatic. That friendly atmosphere means it always a pleasure to visit, even if such cutesy words as "sparky" and "hubby" do occasionally make me cringe!

"Lady Ellee" is a treasure. Long may she adorn the British blogosphere in general, and Blogpower in particular.

[This, thank God, concludes my exhausting series of 10 reviews of Blogpower blogs. Normal political ranting will now resume!]

Poll Results: Which Blogpower Blog should be the subject of my final review?

Link: Poll Results: Which Blogpower Blog should be the subject of my final review?.

OK, the votes are in and my final review will be of Ellee Seymour's blog. I shall do the research over the next couple of days. Wish me luck. Better yet, email me your own thoughts on Ellee's writing and I shall reflect them in the final product.

The ThunderDragon: Blogpower Testimonial 9

ThunderDragon may, let’s face it, be taking the youth thing a bit far. Why would a 21 year old want to be a political blogger when, as the poet would have it, the force that through the green fuse drives the flower still drives his green age? If you are a Conservative when you are 20, we used to say, you have no heart. If you are a Socialist when you are 30, then you have no head. The ThunderDragon is, it seems, a heartless young chap. Compare and contrast with Bob Piper, who is clearly the kind of fool there is no fool like.

His tag cloud features “Labour” as his most frequent topic. The comrades from Islington and Kirkcaldy have been in charge for much of his life. It’s hard for a young person in Britain to have the perspective to see that Labour is a political irrelevance and an historical anomaly. Their ideology is long since discredited. They are in power because of the snake-oil-marketing abilities of a master huckster. To be fair, young David Cameron is also too fascinated with New Labour and the dark arts that brought them to power. So focussed as to deploy them just as people have learned to see through them.

The ThunderDragon kicked off his blogging career on 20th June last year, with a single post on the West Lothian Question. His second post did not come until July 20th. His opinions were calm, but Cameronian. One might, for a while, have thought he had ambitions to be a Conservative candidate. After this slow start - just two posts in two months - the inital dancing round the ring was over. Off came the silk robe, in went the gum shield and he came out fighting. He posted a series of surprisingly unCameronian opinions. The critic of Israel and proponent of the non-policy of "English Votes on English matters" told us that:

This tree image is ridiculously generic, and if the word 'Conservative' was removed from beneath it, could be the logo for anything, or nothing!

"Party democracy is compromised in quest for more women MPs" says ConservativeHome, and who can really disagree with that, for it is the truth.

'Faith schools' seem very much like an oxymoron to me

"Eco-Warriors" are nothing more than idealistic idiots

Less controversially, he informed us that Charles Kennedy is a drunk, commenting:

As an alcoholic, he should not have stood for such a position, or should have resigned as soon as it became clear that he could not kick the habit easily.

That's a young man's view. Us older hands, even if we are not of Dylan Thomas's opinion that

an alcoholic is someone you don't like who drinks as much as you do,

see a politician without a flaw as a terrible thing. Flaws make us human. They make us less priggish. In a politician, a good flaw is essential to make him less inclined to ban others' foibles. Besides, as Ming Campbell has comprehensively demonstrated, mere sobriety does not guarantee success. Winston Churchill could have drunk all the LibDems under the table, and then kicked their asses electorally. Go figure.

This post played to his strengths; commenting on young people and their supposed disillusionment with politics. I am not sure I agree with his view that “spin” turns the young off more than the old. Older voters are inclined to expect less from the charlatans in public life, if only because they couldn’t take the strain of constantly dashed hopes. But they detect spin better than the young. Still, it was an intelligent, interesting post.

Subsequent posts have been equally “sound” on pointless apologies for history, positive discrimination and John Reid’s hypocritical heckler. His style is developing and he has earned the approval of several leading bloggers. The ThunderDragon consistently provides an interesting and enjoyable read - always entertaining and often insightful. His writing may even give us a foretaste of our political future. Stick with him. After all, time will cure his youth.

Next up: Please vote for my final victim.

The Waendel Journal - Blogpower Testimonial 8

Link: The Waendel Journal.

Tony Sharp seems to be a modern English yeoman. Firstly, he's a conventional "unspun" Tory; an "active member" of his local constituency association in the shires. Secondly, he's a man rooted in his own community. I used to live in Northamptonshire. Wellingborough is by all accounts (except Tony's) an undistinguished town. Yet he clearly cares about it in a sturdy English way.

His attitude to France is that of Nelson. From the picture on his site (resplendent in the headset he wore in his former job as a local radio sports commentator) he looks like the kind of guy you would want at your shoulder, cutlass in hand, when boarding a French man o'war.

That a rootless cosmopolitan element such as I should find anything to appeal in Tony's blog is remarkable. It certainly surprises me. The urge to escape the narrow provincialism of my home town was the main engine of my early ambition. I wanted out of the sort of community where everyone knows each other's business and a nuclear strike on the capital would be reported in the local paper with the headline "Slight damage to local bus shelter". Yet, for reasons I can't entirely fathom, I enjoy reading his posts. Tony's blog is young (est. 19th December 2006) and he is still finding his voice. In his opening post, he stated his aim

"to comment on British politics in general, current affairs and particularly issues that affect the Northamptonshire town of Wellingborough and its surrounding area."

I am pleased that so far he seems to have focussed more on the "in  general" bit. I have counted only three Wellingborough-specific posts. It will be interesting to see if his blog retains its wider appeal if he writes more about his home town. I guess it depends how he does it. I have no interest in fishing, but there is one fishing programme I love to watch on TV because the presenter's pleasure in his hobby is infectious! All things are possible.

So far, Tony's subjects have ranged from President Chirac's failed Google-killer, through the "surveillance society" to an obituary notice for a former Wellingborough councillor. All are written in a homely, good-natured manner, although his language about Gordon Brown (who can blame him?) is unparliamentary. His openness is so disarming that one can only hope his wife's boss (and perhaps even his wife) doesn't read his blog. He is conventionally warm about the NHS, an organisation that only its mother could love, and stoutly dismissive of UKIP.

Tony, in his short blogging career, has effortlessly pulled off something rather difficult - at least for me. Although he writes about political subjects, he reveals his own personality in the process. Not that his is one of those artfully "matey" blogs. I hate those. He just does it by accident and, whether you agree with him or not, you find yourself liking him.

In the end, I suppose what the Waendel Journal does for me is provide reassurance, amid the mad stories in the daily news, that the England I know endures; that ordinary citizens go about their business and that they challenge the bizarre behaviour of their mad rulers with good humour. Tony's is a voice of normality in the wacky, egotistical world of the political blogosphere. Long may it be heard.

Next up

Who is Not Saussure? Blogpower Testimonial 7

Link: Not Saussure.

Not Saussure is a newish blog (est. August 2006) and I could have read the posts from beginning to date quite quickly. I didn't, because I became intrigued. Like most people, when I enjoy someone's writing, I tend to become curious about the person behind it. There is no "About" page with the usual jokey self-description to avert suspicions of barminess. The blogger's Technorati Profile serves the same purpose while giving nothing much away. I would guess we are dealing with an academic of some kind, who is older than the average blogger. By the time I had completed my researches, I knew more about the blogger's mother. She is a character, it seems. She also needs to be bought some better wine, for her favourite tipple was memorably dismissed by a French friend of mine with the words "I piss better than that."

Is the blogger the author of the crisply-titled book "Not Saussure (Language, Discourse, Society)", retired Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Manchester, Raymond Tallis? Or a former student or other fan? Much as I hope to the contrary, I suspect Professor Tallis's mum is not alive to drink Pouilly Fumé. Is the reticence deliberate? Perhaps the blogger is in some sensitive political job and I should stop speculating before I cause a problem? Probably not. The blog's subject matter is similar to the fare at the Last Ditch, albeit from a more conventionally conservative, anti-American, anti-War on Terror point of view.

There is no sign of the sort of warped thinking that almost inevitably results from economic dependence on the State. Disaffected bloggers of all political persuasions are pretty much united in contempt for the "sound bite" culture of the political lightweights who lead our government (and Her Majesty's Opposition). Maybe Not Saussure is just trying to set a higher tone of political discourse?

Everyone who blogs, blogs for a reason. Not Saussure's reason seems purely political. There is certainly no sign of narcissistic tendencies. The blog covers a wide range of topics and rarely descends to the "what is the world coming to?" pessimism with which many opposition bloggers wrestle. I admire the way Not Saussure always addresses the issue at hand, rather than just ranting, whingeing or groaning at the manifest stupidity of our rulers. It takes patience and firm purpose to keep debating with those who disrespect logic as much as they despise liberty. Even though a policy has obviously been devised to win a headline, not improve our lives, Not Saussure takes it seriously and discusses the pros and cons - leading us towards a view, not bludgeoning us with it.

Whoever Not Saussure may be, you can be ssure you are dealing with a civilised, intelligent, rational fellow-citizen. I recommend this blog for your daily perusal.

Next up: The Waendel Journal

The Tin Drummer (Blogpower Testimonial 6)

Link: The Tin Drummer.

Last July, a new blog began with these words.

The start of a new era; like everyone else in the world I have a blog.  Excellent.  I can satisfy my narcisstic longings, imagining that people are hanging on my every word when in fact no-one is bothered. The clouds are building up, looking heavy.  I wonder if there will be rain or if the promised break in the weather is to be delayed even further.  The dark low clouds are thin and hazy and look as if they have been stuck onto the sky with cheap 70s CSO.  Something bigger is building, and I suppose it might rain before I get to the pub. I've just re-read Atomised and Platform by Michel Houellebecq.  I still feel faintly sick, but I don't see him as either a genius or an evil reactionary.  I am not quite sure what he is saying (beyond the obvious bits of course); he seems troubled by space, in all its different forms, whether we have too much or too little or the right kind; he is obviously troubled by love, but I don't think his books show any good or ideal kind of love. his characters love and suffer or don't love and suffer or ambivalently relate in a sexual but sort of loving way - and suffer.  Someone should do a study on which characters (mostly minor) don't suffer in his work.

Why the long quote? To show this is no ordinary blogger. I didn't find TTD's blog until some months after this, but I think you will agree that the style - particularly the trademark lurch in subject matter - is arresting. Interestingly, it was there on day one, demonstrated in four posts that read as if they were in the midstream of a long-running blog - presumably one that had been running, unpublished, in his head.

This read like something the author confidently expected to be read, despite the upfront aversion of the bloggers' evil eye. I cringed at "(beyond the obvious bits of course)" I read Houellebecq too, and find little in his stuff that's "obvious". But I don't think this is the self-suspected narcissism. This is clearly a bright guy. He has something to say and he's not dithering about it. I infer from the developed style that he has long been saying it, in some medium or other.

On the third day of the Drummer's blogging career, Iain Dale linked. This cannot have harmed the stats although many coming from such a lightly-written blog as Iain's might find TTD hard going. I freely confess to some envy. Mr Dale linked to the Ditch for the first time yesterday - after almost two years of industrious blogging. But I have no cause for complaint. The Drummer deserved the rapid attention.

Part of the fun in these reviews has been to observe the development in style of the various bloggers. Where available, my technique has been to head for the first post in the archive and read as much of the writing as possible in the order it was written. TDD's style was fully-formed on day one. Nothing has changed. This blogger did not need to find his "voice" But what does he use that voice to speak about? Everything and nothing.

My cricketing grandfather would be disappointed to know how little the Drummer's "Ashes" posts move me. If a nation sells off its playing fields to build overpriced cardboard houses; carries its children around in 4x4 eggboxes and warns them of the perils of being too competitive, can it really expect to defeat honest sporting nations? It's hard to see why such an intellectual would give a damn. Nonetheless, there is a lot of cricket at the Drummer's blog. Fortunately, there are also politics, music, culture, history and (unfashionably) religion.

Most to my taste is the literary stuff. The reference to Grass in the blog name is actually what first caught my eye. Mine is a literary family and I am much criticised for neglecting my reading in order to blog. The pile of unread books at the bedside (placed there after being read by family members by way of silent recommendation) is now over three feet high. The Drummer has helped to persuade me on occasion to return to my books and for this, I thank him. He is prone to throwing in casual observations (in the course of announcing a holiday blogging break) such as

I find great swathes of my life hard to recall: I cannot remember my routines at school; what it was really like sitting in my room at college writing essays all day; actually being seven; but I do remember things as feelings (mainly fear), colours even, or through dreams. I can remember quite a few dreams from my childhood. I can't remember my grandfather's face very well, though he is often in my dreams, and I can't remember what Chartres really looks like (but I do remember how I felt when I first stepped inside). More and more I find I'm here but not quite sure how I got here.

All he booted up to tell us was that he was off for a while, but he ends up making us think anyway. I love stuff like that even though (damn it) it makes me realise how impersonal, cold and political my own writing can be. I admire the confidence implied in the apparently thoughtless invitation to the workings of his mind. I have to mention cricket once more, but only to say that only at The Tin Drummer could you enjoy the headline "How Polly might See Things (if she Liked Cricket)." Classic. By now, you will have detected my enthusiasm.

Enough reviewing already. Go read. And, of course, go listen to the Drummer promoting Blogpower on the wireless.

Next up: Not Saussure

Adelaide Green Porridge Cafe (Blogpower Testimonial 5)

Link: Adelaide Green Porridge Cafe.

Of all the Blogpowerers, Adelaide Green Porridge Cafe is perhaps the closest to what most people imagine a blog to be. Well perhaps that's a bit unfair. The author Colin Campbell, a "transplanted Scot" in Australia, is not a teenager posting chattily and ungrammatically about shopping trips with girlfriends, (although he does have the cutesy penguin logo such a blogger might choose). However, when he describes his blog as "Random Musings from Adelaide" that's fair dinkum. Call me an old grouch, but I don't generally read blogs that put me in any danger of encountering photographic posts entitled "Holiday with Granny" or (worse) which contain words of childish wisdom.

Yet here I am reviewing it. Why? It's not just because it's a Blogpower Blog and I have undertaken to review ten of them. I could easily have chosen ten of our blogs covering my usual political interests. I chose this one for my list because I do regularly read it. Why? Because Colin has catholic tastes, an eye for the absurd and a knack for le mot juste. Here, here, here and here are some examples.

Unfortunately, he has also transplanted some prejudices to Australia. He dislikes America to an extent that I find hard to handle. Sure, there are direct undiplomatic Americans. Trust me, I have friends from New York. But there are more than 250 million of these people and, while of course there are good and bad among them they constitute a nation which makes - overall - as positive a contribution as any in history. This kind of stuff or this just seems petty to me. Anti-Americanism is sadly a common enough vice in Britain - largely driven by jealous nostalgia for superpower status. Colin's is at least based on direct knowledge, having lived there, and maybe he had bad experiences, but it jars with me almost as much as the occasional granny shots and kiddy humour.

However, there's no point in reading only blogs that say what you think yourself. Any time I want to listen to me, I am right here. As I hope is apparent from my reviews so far, I don't like only blogs that share my views - or even my tastes. I look for intelligent observation, stimulation and - ideally - the unexpected. I keep going back to Colin's blog because - despite occasionally telling me more about his children than their granny should want to know - overall, he keeps delivering.

If you're not a patriotic American, give him a try. Actually, if you are a patriotic American, give him a try anyway. Your great nation could use some advice on improving its PR.

Next up: The Tin Drummer

Obscure intellectual nourishment (Blogpower Testimonial 4)

Link: nourishing obscurity.

The Blogpower bloggers have nothing in common but difference. Their distinct personalities come through both in their writing and the visual style of their blogs. Of no-one is this more true than of our founding father, James Higham. His blog, nourishing obscurity, attempts something to which I would never aspire. It is a one-man magazine. Not only does he blog about a wide range of subjects, sometimes individual posts cover a lot of ground! His is a magpie mind and nothing human is alien to him.

Perhaps his main claim to fame is the "Blogfocus" feature. To a casual observer, this appears to be a full-time job. My current project is, at his request, to review just 10 blogs from the Blogpower list. For "Blogfocus" James appears to scan the entire blogosphere. He never fails both to come up with a diverse collection of interesting posts and to notify his circle of blogging contacts individually. The more I struggle to write these reviews, the more impressed I am that James does something quite similar twice a week, as well as holding down a full-time job.

Blogfocus is a great point of entry for anyone looking to explore the world of blogs. James choices are sometimes quirky but always interesting and he keeps things fresh by making themed selections from time to time - such as his current edition on "ranting" or an earlier one featuring "simple homespun prose." I can only agree with The Tin Drummer,

How he finds the time, I'll never know ... it would take me hours and hours to put that lot together.

I'm just glad that he does. He has led me to excellent blogs I would never otherwise have found. Blogpower was another of James' ideas. It's so simple that Tim Worstall can't understand it. It's just a club of bloggers who undertake to visit and promote each other's blogs. In fairness to Tim, I didn't get it either at first. I signed up because James asked me. But I have been pleasantly surprised at the sense of community that has developed in a very short time. Despite the recent BNP kerfuffle, I hope we can retain the essential simplicity of the idea and continue to help each other out.

I promise you won't regret adding Nourishing Obscurity to your regular reading. James' posts are so frequent, his interests so varied and his contacts so extensive that his blog is rather like the Scottish weather. If you don't like it now, just wait a few minutes.

Next up: Adelaide Green Porridge Cafe

The Socrates of the Saloon Bar (Blogpower Testimonial 3)

Link: Pub Philosopher.

The title of the blog almost says it all. Isn't "right wing" (how I hate that meaningless term) blogging the equivalent of the saloon bar philosophising of old? That's what the snooty Guardianistas would have you believe, in between their bouts of haughtily running the lives of "the most vulnerable members of society" (i.e. anyone who didn't find their job through a Guardian advert)

What the title doesn't say, the "Pub Philosopher Supports" badges fill in for you. I reproduce them all here, if only to tick off the said Guardianistas, God rot them.

Here is a healthy selection of sensible ideas that should never have have become "causes" in a democracy with proud liberal traditions. Nor would they have, had New Labour not turned our world upside-down - apparently for little more than the chance to hang out with pervy pop stars. That's the saddest thing about the British political blogosphere. With some notable exceptions (See "The Mad, the Bad and the Merely Misguided" in my sidebar), it is typically full of views that are so commonsensical that they should not really need to be promoted.

Only the topsy-turvy world of modern Britain, with a government on an endless quest for ideological pretexts for tyrrany, would anyone need to get heated in support of free speech or the ability to exist without being physically assaulted for one's "biometrics" and punished for failing to carry an official microchip. Pub Philosopher is very much a reliable, consistent, commonsense blogger. Commenting on an author of a blog he has discovered he makes a typically endearing observation.

In his profile, Rob describes himself as an "Englishman first, Sikh second, Punjabi third."  Someone buy that man a drink.

However PP is also remarkably fearless. For example, blogging about the BNP has (I have noticed myself) two undesirable effects. Leftists immediately call you a racist unless you deny the BNP's right to exist and call for all its members to be fired. BNP members leave approving comments encouraging you to "come out" if you support their right to be wrong. I find myself choosing my words more carefully than I should have to when discussing such topics. PP gives the impression that he just says what he thinks without hesitation. Whatever the topic, he blogs cheerfully on.

One imagines him gently muttering Honi soit qui mal y pense as he gives it to us right between the eyes. That's how all free men should live - and to hell with the mealy-mouthed Guardian readers. I congratulate him. Pub Philosopher strikes me as the sort of guy with whom one really would like to have a drink. Conversation would flow as freely as ale, and all disagreements would be cheerful. His blog is aptly named and well worth regular perusal.

Next up: Nourishing Obscurity