The Most Read 20 of 2024

We've handled the skiffy, so as the year draws to a close there are a couple of wrap ups to be wrapped up. There is this blogs traditional dance-music riposte to Jools Holland's annual Hootenanny due on New Year's Eve. But before we go there, it's time to cast our eyes back at the posts that came out top according to this here blog's audience. The most read posts of 2024 more or less reflect the political ups and downs of the year. What came out on top by quite some distance was, weirdly, my resignation from Labour. The rest of the 20 shows this place's readers overdosing on the comings and goings of Keir Starmer and friends. But there were deviations from the Labourist mean, such as a couple of pieces on the "outside left" and the far left's general election interventions. Enough people were interested in what had happened to the Tories to ensure my (incomplete, partial) analysis of why they failed featured, as did some election campaign lowlights and equally abysmal moments from the new government. There will be plenty more of those before the next year runs out, but that's for 2025. Shall we get into what we have now?

1. Leaving Labour
2. Confessions of the Gravediggers
3. The Far Right's Racist Rampage
4. Left of Labour General Election Results
5. The Labour Right's Political Strategy
6. The Far Left and the 2024 General Election
7. Why does Labour Hate Universities?
8. After the Child Benefit Rebellion
9. A Note on Authoritarian Modernisation
10. The Many Problems with The Three-Body Problem
11. The Class Politics of the Tory Collapse
12. Keir Starmer's Reluctant Anti-Fascism
13. Louise Haigh's Resignation
14. The Defence of Douglas Murray
15. Politics after George Galloway's Victory
16. Bottling Clacton
17. Routing the Tories is Good, Actually
18. Dismantling Labour's Base
19. The Sun's Attack on Starmer
20. What is the Point of Morgan McSweeney?

A mega round-up of the most popular posts means an extra helping of bar props from the second hand saloon. Here are a dozen pieces taken from each month that didn't set the world alight, but are still worth your time. Read, share, read them some more, and share them all over again.

January: The Tory Politics of Immigration
February: Why the Tories Won't Confront Islamophobia
March: The Political Uses of Racism
April: Wes Streeting and Ideology
May: Pornography and Partial Subjectivity in Crash
June: The Green Party's Leftism
July: An Ambiguous Triumph
August: Securing the Oligarchy
September: Right Wing Bogeys in Lucifer's Hammer
October: How the Tories Might Win Again
November: Why the Migration to Bluesky Matters
December: The Class Politics of Rising Water Bills

Late last year, I posted about slowing down around these parts and, as promised, the schedule duly slowed. It hasn't harmed audience numbers mind. Perhaps old Lenin was right about that better fewer but better gubbins. Heading into the new year I don't plan on bumping up the posts, unless inspiration strikes, energy fills my creaking body, and the stuff at work isn't clouding the brain as much (little chance of that, alas). But unless my head falls off, this blog isn't disappearing. If you do enjoy what appears here and you are fortunate to have quids to spare there are worse ways of disposing disposal cash than supporting this corner of the internet. If you can't or won't, that's fine. Cop us a follow and a like on Bluesky or Facebook instead!