Saturday 10 July 2010

Top 100 Worst Blogs Poll

While bloggers fall over themselves to up their rankings on the Total Politics annual blog poll (don't forget to award AVPS the full 10!), I thought it might be a larf to run a poll of my own: the Top 100 Worst UK Political Blogs.

The rules are pretty much the same as the
TP poll. To get practice in in case next year's referendum supports the move to the Alternative Vote, readers are invited to submit a rank order of their ten least favourite blogs. First gets ten points, 10th one point - I'm sure you know the drill. Only one set of votes per person please, and votes nominating less than three blogs will be discounted. No anonymous votes will be accepted as there's no excuse for not identifying yourself by a monicker these days, and votes can either be submitted via email to top100worst at yahoo.co.uk or in the comments below. All votes coming into the inbox will remain confidential - so if you think your mate writes total dross, you can vote away safe in the knowledge they'll never know.

If readers want to carry a notice of this poll on their blogs they're more than welcome to do so, AND they are encouraged to list the blogs they think thoroughly deserve to be known as the worst ones out there.

While this is a bit of fun and totally unscientific, I realise there's a conflict of interest between hosting the contest and participating in it. So, as much as it pains me to say it, I've disqualified my own blog from the running.

The poll will close on Wednesday 11th August, so get voting!

77 comments:

Alex Snowdon said...

Does www.alistaircampbell.org count as a blog? From the gruesome photo on the homepage of everyone's least favourite war crimes apologist to the nauseating triplet 'communicator, writer, strategist', it is really quite embarrassing.

2nd place goes to the incoherent babbling of Tory Bear, where climate change denial combines with affection for Boris Johnson. Nuff said.

3rd place to the nasty sectarian shitfest that is Shiraz Socialist, which represents all that is worst about 'debate' on the left.

4th place to an admittedly predictable choice: Harry's Place, which is not just politically bad but witless, illiterate and unpleasant.

That'll do from me.

Phil said...

Yep, Alistair Campbell does count as a blogger.

JK said...

I fear your poll will be taken over by the feral trolls that infest these blogs with their vile rantings. I welcome debate and discussion from across the political spectrum but not the intolerance, near hysterical finger pointing and screaming that some commentators seem to relish in posting. By inviting respondents to vent their spleen, it is possible your poll will also further encourage intolerance on the blogosphere. Even among the more well-mannered commentators unless the criteria is more explicit there will be game playing and bias against/towards those which reflect their opinions.

Phil said...

That's one of the benefits of keeping moderation switched on. If anyone wants to make like Guido's or Harry's Place comments box they'll never get past the gatekeeping.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

1. truthatsentinel.blogspot.com has to be one of the very worst ever and on that BNP theme, Britain Awake is pretty awful at number 2.

Harry's Place is at number 3, Iain Dale 4, Tory Bear 5, Guido Fucks 6, conservative home 7, Old Holborn 8, Tim Worstall 9 and Liberal Conspiracy at 10.

I'm sure I can think of more, in the world of BNP bloggers alone you could fill a top ten of scumbags but that'll do for now.

Phil said...

As our friend's blog is no longer active he's disqualified from the running. Shame - he could have been a contender ;)

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

It is most definitely not discontinued, it is just hidden away as the man's an awful coward.

Fair enough though, just move them all up one and put at number 10 Obnoxio the Clown.

Peace!

asquith said...

Now I'm not an expert because in general, if I think blogs are worthless in content or repulsive in tone then I just won't read them. Accordingly I don't know much about shite blogs.

But I feel that James Delingpole & that tit Cranmer, who seems to be widely admired for no reason I can identify, should be given mentions. Wouldn't want to see them left out.

Anton Vowl said...

1. Delingpole.
2. Dorries. (Back up today!)
3. Delingpole*.
4. Dizzy.
5. Worstall.
6. Redwood.
7. Bear.
8. HP.
9. Dale.
10. Fawkes.

But in true 'top 100 blogs' style, you'll just bin the voting and get a mate to tell you who's worst? I think that's how it's done...

* I know it's not technically fair to vote twice, but he deserves it.

Anonymous said...

@Daniel-Hoffmann-Gill:

The widespread consensus amongst right wing bloggers was that the "Britain Awake" blogger was nothing other than a "Honey Trap", set up by regular "Harry's Place" contributor Edmund Standing in order to produce this on-line report, since which time, "Britain Awakes" gone missing, other than "spoofs" pretending to be Standing.

Anonymous said...

Let me risk a leg breaking: HP is not a total write off. There said it.

1. Dale
2. Guido
3. Bear
4. Dizzy
5. ConHome
6. raincoatoptimism (rubbish!)
7. Worstall
8. Dale
9. Dale
10.Hal Turner

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

With regards to Britain Awake I have knowledge to the contrary with regards to that blog.

EFComrade said...

I don't tend to read bad blogs for obvious reasons so im only going to offer the minimum 3.

1. http://liberalsmithy.blogspot.com/ quite a bad blog for quite a stupid liberal democrat, I would love if he charted high so I ask everyone to add his to their vote!

2. http://www.freedomcentral.org.uk/ just for its blatant dishonesty.

3. I am having trouble with choosing a third after Phil informed me that votes for http://averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com/ won't be counted due to a conflict of interest. So i am going to have to go for.http://welshbloggers.blogspot.com/ for generally being shit and not including much of the welsh left

Chris S said...

1. Socialist Unity
2. Ian Dale
3. Guido
4. Lenin's Tomb
5. Shiraz Socialist

Justin said...

1. Fawkes
2. Dale
3. Dizzy
4. Alastair Campbell
5. Harry's Place
6. Dorries
7. Tory Bear
8. David Miliband
9. Oona King
10. Chicken Yoghurt

Anonymous said...

Mine has come under some pretty harsh criticism over the last few days. I'm sure most people would vote that the worst one, hands down.

Ms Humphrey Cushion said...

Dale has the popularity he always yearned for.. So many votes : )

(Thanks for Dorries tip off Anton Vowl, fail to see what construction the site has been under for the past two months tho.. its as full of shite as ever)

BenSix said...

I'll do it for people who are actually paid (or, at least, genuine bastards). Don't want to crush dreams/hurt feelings...

1. Alistair Campbell (fucking insulting)
2. Nile Gardiner (so bad it's good - the Plan 9 of the blogging world)
3. Benedict Brogan (he might be a lovely chap, but if his blog were a colour it'd be biege)
4. James Delingpole (not for his politics, I hasten to add, but for his dadaesque post titles)
5. Back Towards The Locus (his posts are like tapeworms - lengthy, insubstantial and filled with shit)

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

Fuck! I forgot about Dizzy Thinks and Donal Blaney, they are both really fucking bad.

Phil said...

You can always revise your nominations ...

Paul McMc said...

1. Harry's Place
2. Tim Worstall
3. Iain Dale

Dave Weeden said...

1. Backword not been updated since 2008. Appalling.

2. Aaronovitch Watch, no longer watching David Aaronovitch since he ducked behind the Times' paywall, but carrying on like the undead.

Self-indulgence aside, I don't go back to blogs I don't like, so I can't really comment on which ones are consistently bad. However, Alastair Campbell's "blog" deserves a mention for simply horrendous unusable 'design' and lack of permalinks. It's also written by a tedious, self-obsessed, idiot of a former hack, but even so, the design is still the worst thing about it.

Harry's Place deserves a mention for troll-feeding and tolerance of people with nothing to say apart from direct personal attacks on others. I largely regard moderating blog comments as like chairing a political meeting. Comments can't go through the chair: it's clearer if people address each other, but abuse shouldn't be tolerated, nor trying to shut others up.

dizzy said...

This is outrageous, why do I never make it to number 1? You bastards.

Phil said...

Be interested to know what your least favourite bloggers are. I don't want this poll accused of being biased!

Tim Almond said...

1. Tim Worstall

Obnoxio The Clown said...

Can I second the nomination of my own blog? I'd be honoured to be included in your shit list... :o)

Apart from myself, I'd definitely like to vote for Tim Worstall.

Phil said...

Obo, I'd be v disappointed if you didn't vote for yourself.

But do remember people, the poll requires you vote for AT LEAST THREE.

Obnoxio The Clown said...

OK, so I didn't read the rules properly.

1. Obnoxio The Clown
2. Tim Worstall
3. Al Jahom

Feel free to ignore / delete my previous comment. :o)

Obnoxio The Clown said...

OK, now I'm getting into the swing of it:

4. Anna Raccoon
5. Rantin' Rab
6. Salted Slug


Oh, and am I only allowed to vote for myself once? :o)

Phil said...

Yup, only the once. The multiple Iain Dale votes some have made in one go will be discounted, lol.

Feel free to encourage your readers ...

dizzy said...

I was going to vote for Obnoxio top but seeing as the git ignored me I shall vote for myself instead and put him second. So

1) Dizzy Thinks
2) Obnoxio the Clown
3) Tim Worstall

Jabba the Cat said...

As per requests...

1. Dizzy
2. Guido
3. Sir Trev Skint
4. Obo
5. Mrs Dale
6. Richard North
7. Daniel Hannah
8. Michelle Malkin
9. Boatang and Demetriou
10. Norman Tebbit

Phil said...

You right wing types have really got it in for Tim Worstall. And they say the left is fratricidal!

Steviesteve said...

1. Blue-sphere/An Independant Woman/The Last Cherry (or whatever it's called by this time next week)
2. "Socialist Unity"
3. Liam McUaid
4. kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm (it's a blog of a kind, with some similarities to no. 2 above)

Obnoxio The Clown said...

If I put:

7. Dizzy

Will he change his vote? :o)

Mr Civil Libertarian said...

1 Myself
2 Dear old Obo
3 Johanna Kaschke (I'd love to pop her last cherry)
4 Iain Dale
5 Liberal Conspiracy
6 Richard Murphy
7 Michael Grieve
8 I couldn't think of anymore, so... you. A very public sociologist. Purely for the hell of it, you understand.

Jabba the Cat said...

I gave you a 4 there Obo, is that enough?

Please let me know as I am entirely corruptible in this matter.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

There's a mighty pile of faux self-affacement knocking around these parts with people putting their own blogs in the list, as if to soften the blow...

A message for the Clown:

My chips are not covered in your piss, I just don't like your blog that's all. But having missed Anal Blaney off my list, I think you'll actually be removed from my Top 10 of blog-shite, nudged out of the way by a maniac who makes inappropriate references to kristallnacht...

Anonymous said...

Just the five from me, and most on the basis of the aggrandising arrogance and/or habitual self-misrepresentation of their authors:

1. Tim Worstall
2. Boatang and Demetriou
3. Tom Watson MP
4. James Delingpole
5. Anna Raccoon (smug, oh so smug)

Sorry, Obo: you didn't get a vote here from me, nor in Mrs Dale's list :O

Steviesteve said...

When it comes to Johanna Kaschke (my choice no. 1 above for those not in the know), I can recommend the twitter tag #GrayHilton - http://twitter.com/search?q=%23GrayHilton at the moment ;)

Vladimir said...

This is a good idea. I would vote for Obo but he seems to really want to win...

1. Guido. (Cesspit.)
2. Speak You're Branes. (Unbearably smug; all contributors to this site are badly in need of a face slap.)
3. Alastair Campbell. (Obvious reasons.)
4. Liberal Conspiracy. (It takes itself so very seriously...)
5. Old Holborn. (A libertarian as imagined by The Daily Mail.)

Caratacus said...

This one.

Three times.

Obnoxio The Clown said...

Morlock and Vladimir: I'm cut to the quick. :o(

Anonymous said...

Obo only puts me in at fourth? He can forget getting my vote then.....

I'll go for:

1. The Bickerstaff Record. (outclasses moi on the smugness front daily Morlock, I'm green with envy at his smugness)
2. Bloggerheads. (read it for three months once, waiting for a pearl of wisdom)
3. Though Cowards Flinch - the poor man's 'diluted' Bickerstaff Record.
4. Tom Harris MP - for slagging off civil servants and then removing his comments facility.
5. Alastair Campbell (not sure he qualifies, but I'll give him a vote anyway).
6. Watch this space.

PT Barnum said...

A game anyone can play?

1. Boatang and Demetriou (Conjoined Messiah Complex)
2. Obo (He seems to need the votes)
3. Councillor Terry Kelly (proof positive of the need to uninvent the internet)
4. Duff & Nonsense (Does exactly what it says on the tin)
5. Guido (Censorious rabble-rouser. Nuff said)
6. Johanna Kaschke (staggering in its lack of self-awareness)
7. Harry's Place (although the vote accords the blog too much importance)
8. Mrs Dale (Enough already with 'I know VIPs, they tell me stuff!')

Trixy said...

Deeply insulted that no one has voted for me, even Obo who is supposed to be a friend.

1. Obo the Clown. What a tw*t.
2. Dizzy
3. Anna Racoon. She does research, how dare she
4. Tim Worstall
5. Shoes
6. Fawkes
7. Mr Eugenides
8. HP

Vladimir said...

Sorry Obo, this is too good an opportunity to rant about idiotic political blogs that I think are genuinely rubbish. If I mix these with blogs that are actually worth reading, then that will be confusing, as it won't be clear which ones have been nominated for being cretinous.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

I think someone asking to be voted for is missing the point a wee bit, it shouldn't be an exercise in traffic whoring by winning the worst blog ever.

I hope you take that into account Phil?

The Grim Reaper said...

1. Bloggerheads (runs the most boring, self-obsessed blog in the history of the internet. Watching beige paint dry is more exciting than reading anything Tim Ireland writes)
2. Alastair Campbell's Blog (illegible, nonsensical bollocks)
3. Liberal Conspiracy (Sunny Hundal - what a bellend)
4. Kerry McCarthy MP's blog (surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet)
5. Guido Fawkes (so unbelievably smug, nothing to be smug about)
6. Boatang & Demetriou (now doing swear-blogging years after it went out of fashion)
7. Obnoxio The Clown (had to squeeze him in somewhere)
8. Devil's Knife (very boring since he appeared with Brillo Pad)
9. Old Holborn (he'll love the publicity)
10. Iain Dale's Diary (he'll be on the TV soon to complain about this contest)

Anonymous said...

averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com would be my choice for number one (being a load of number two)

dizzy said...

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said... I think someone asking to be voted for is missing the point a wee bit

The only one's missing anything are those with no antennae for sarcasm.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

Sarcasm Dizzy?

Sorry but I don't buy it, just looks like self-effacement to protect from a fall and unique visitor whoring.

Either way, it's pretty fucking tedious.

Obnoxio The Clown said...

"it's pretty fucking tedious."

Is that what they call "cognitive dissonance"?

Frankly, there's nothing I'd love more than to be genuinely rated as a hateful, irritating cunt by a bunch of self-righteous, fatuous, lefty pricks.

The blog whoring is just a delightful incidental.

:o)

dizzy said...

Don't care if you buy it or not, it's the truth as even a retarded monkey could see from my post.

Nice 'tache btw, very Swedish pr0n.

dizzy said...

Incidentally, Phil, can we get little badges so we can proudly display that we are hated on our blogs if we're lucky enough to come in the Top Ten?

Obnoxio The Clown said...

"Nice 'tache btw, very Swedish pr0n."

I was thinking more "Ron Jeremy", myself. :o)

Organized Rage. said...

Phil

I wish you would stop giving these reactionaries at TP house room. Everything this lot do is self interest and against our best interest. TP epitomises Cameron and Clegg's attempt to pass themselves off as civilised people. I really do not feel leftists should be networking with such human garbage.

As to the best blogs, I fail to understand why an intelligent fellow like you would continue to participate in this type of tammany hall beauty contest.

Tim said...

This reminds me of the time 'Dizzy' (Phil Hendren) made false accusations about my professional conduct while hiding behind a sock puppet, got caught doing it, and responded to being caught out by saying "I meant to do that"

I paraphrase, but that's the size of it.

(I think DHG's got your number, Phil. I think you'd like to come out of topping this list like you meant it to turn out that way. I suspect you expected to top the list, and I'm amused by the thought that it bothers you to have people think that it bothers you.)

As for 'The Grim Reaper' (Tom Griffiths, IIRC), he's one of those chaps who turns up time and again when I am pointing out blogs/authors that are doing harm. The solution put forward in such cases is that I should stop reading things that bother me. Meanwhile, he claims to hate me with a passion, and actually follows me or mention of me from blog to blog just to call me a 'cunt'... because I bore him?! 'Dizzy' does more or less the same thing (though he does tend to stick to his on blog where he has greater control over comments and hides behind bulldust arguments in defence of logicum arsepullium).

Boys, if the content is as boring and insignificant as you say... take your own advice and just don't read it. Hell, if you're going to stand by your own argument, the same goes even if you think what I do harms you or anyone else.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

Phil Hendren:

Your wig is slipping, keep blustering about sarcasm, I have you down pat. You are needy.

As for the tache, apart from looking fantastic, it turns out to be a useful marker of the intelligence of a person. I've had it for about 2 years and in that time if someone comments on it by mentioning p0rn stars or Hitler, it's pretty clear they are an idiot, easily phased by something as simple as facial hair, with a poor wit for any original insight.

So well down to the Clown and yourself Phil Hendren for falling into that, keep reaching for the stars with that high wit.

Clown:

"Frankly, there's nothing I'd love more than to be genuinely rated as a hateful, irritating cunt by a bunch of self-righteous, fatuous, lefty pricks."

Oh dear, I think you're rather over-egging your part wee man, but by all means pump it up into something it's not so you have something to cling to in your wild fantasies but it is far more humdrum than that.

Phil said...

Right, this discussion stops before any more insults are thrown. From now on only nominations and non-polemical comments are being accepted on this thread.

Obnoxio The Clown said...

Sneaky how you give another lefty the last word, eh? :o)

Bob Doney said...

1. Tim Worstall
2. Andrew Allison
3. Elliott Joseph

Comment Moderation Dichotomy said...

If you don't publish the comment, the person who left it is right but no one will know.

If you do publish the comment, the person who left it is proved wrong and everyone can see it.

;-)

Obnoxio The Clown said...

Comment Moderation Dichotomy, it remains true that the last word in the argument itself was given to the lefty. I knew that any rebuttal I gave to the argument itself would remain unpublished.

The comrades stick together. ;o)

Comment Moderation Dichotomy said...

Whatever gets you through the night.

;-)

Obnoxio The Clown said...

Beer and Vicodin.

Comment Moderation Dichotomy said...

And then some.

dizzy said...

Absolutely loving Tim's response. For someone who so righteously bangs on about evidence and proofs it's amusing to watch him arbitrarily confer motivation upon me with no evidence whatsoever but present it as the truth - something he gets his knickers in a twist about daily.

Let me tell you one last time Timothy. I want to win this poll. I want to and will acknowledge the position I get in this poll on my blog. Likewise, I will acknowledge the position I get in your poll should I get one because I consider it a badge of honour to know that annoy you and others so much. That is a fact.

@Daniel Double-Barrel
Afraid you don't have me pat down at all

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

Phil Hendren:

The poll isn't about being annoying, it's about being a shit blogger, hence you featuring on it.

You can say what you will with regards to your motives on winning a poll about having the worst blog (again, worst does not mean most annoying, it simply means worst example of blogging, or perhaps more accurately, political blogging I suppose) but I think what many of us here are doing, is finding it incomprehensible as to why anyone would want to top a list of being an awful blogger.

Therefore, a classic tactic by anyone in danger of topping that list who actually cared, as you do, as much as you pretend otherwise, (you'll note many people who are featured have not commented here because unlike you they genuinely are not bothered) is to act like you want to win it; to try and weaken the impact of actually being marked out as an awful example of blogging; and to then mis-read the poll as a poll of "annoyingness".

Small comforts for you but utterly transparent to anyone watching.

Hence, I have you down pat but not just me, anyone with sense reading your comments.

Also, you'd think you'd learn about weak insults, first you've obvious about my facial hair and then you pick up on the fact my name is...SHOCK HORROR...double-barralled.

Tim said...

On the contrary, Phil, I was quite clear about what I put forward as my opinion/suspicion, and what I stated as fact.

You've failed to address/deny what I stated as fact and instead attacked my opinion as if you had caught me stating that as fact.

It is also false to suggest that you might chart in my poll or even that anyone might successfully nominate you in my poll purely because you have 'succeeded' somehow by annoying anyone; no-one qualifies without a proven lie (and your K2 jest does not count). You can only confidently hope to top my poll if you are confident that you have been caught telling outright lies. Hardly a badge of honour.

Vicky said...

1) Socialist Unity

2) Lenin's Tomb

3) Guido

4) Shiraz Socialist

5) Chicken Yoghurt

6) Solomon's Minefield

7) Everyones Favourite Comrade

Laban said...

1. Defunct now, but for a good while Blairy England was the authentic voice of the extruded-tofu sandal-wearing classes.

2. I'd nominate D H-G if I could remember anything he'd written.

3. Laurie Penny for her incredibly articulate incoherence. 1500 words of rather good writing that never actually means anything.

4. Sunny on Lib Con for occasionally sending the Smugometer off the scale. His best stuff is at Pickled Politics.

5. "Left-Wing Criminologist" for services to tautology. At least the Sociologist doesn't insult our intelligence by telling us he's a leftie.

6. Mike Ion for his unique blend of earnest stupidity. I often wonder if he has an alterego, CiF commenter "Socialist Mike".

7=. Terry Kelly and Bob Piper for services to buffoonery.

9. How could I forget ? Alex Hilton - when it comes to the ad-hominem, he leaves Sunny at the starting blocks.

10. I don't know - should it be Tim ...

"Great wits are sure to madness near allied,
And thin partitions do their bounds divide"

who does actually do the odd good post in between tracking the IP addresses of his commenters ?

Or one of the many public school and Oxbridge lefty bloggers, like that chap at Magdalen with a daft blog title ?

(I don't mean the B&T, CT crowd - some good stuff there in between the self congratulation)

Decisions, decisions.

James said...

1. Why oh why has no-one nominated the Most Infuriatingly Twee and Naff LibDem Blog Evah! The so-called very fluffy diary of millennium dome, elephant? If I could vote three times for one blog it would be this. Sample: the interminable Budget self-justification.
2. Craig Murray. Formerly respected former ambassador turned rampant egomaniac.
3. Devil's Kitchen. Still pish, albeit less absurdly sweary and violent since he got throroughly owned by Brillo Pad.

dizzy said...

"incomprehensible as to why anyone would want to top a list of being an awful blogger."

It's not incomprehensible at all. I want people to say I'm the shittest because I can happily revel in the knowledge that I'm so shit that people have to make the effort to tell me so. I like to call it the "John Lydon Attitude", although I imagine a Millwall fan would understand it too.

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill said...

Jesus Dizzy, back again? Good grief, you do protest too much.

You have to understand that it is incomprehensible to me, that is allowed.

Your reasoning just sounds like damage limitation, as I said ages ago, fair enough, it's your way of dealing with it.

Each to their own.

Anonymous said...

1. Harry's Place
2. Harry's Place
3. Harry's Place
4. Harry's Place
5. Harry's Place

Anonymous said...

1 Lenin's Tomb.
2 Lenin's Tomb.
3 Lenin's Tomb.
4 Lenin's Tomb.
5 Lenin's Tomb.
6 Lenin's Tomb.
7 Lenin's Tomb.
8 Lenin's Tomb.
9 Lenin's Tomb.
10 Lenin's Tomb.


Lenin's tomb is my nomination because, unlike the warring Harry's Place and Socialist Unity, it consists of Richard Seymour quoting himself and then saying "I'm Richard Seymour and I've written a book about how liberals and right wingers shoot kittens and eat babies. Please buy my book." over and over and over again, then deleting all comments that aren't sufficiently fawning.

At least HP and SU are good value for money, and their constant sniping, smearing and one-upmanship provides a degree of drama that would otherwise be lacking.

PS Your comments box ate my last entry. :-(