That's All Folks!

This is not so much a goodbye as it is more an au revoir as this is intended to be the last post here and I am taking a self-imposed blogging break. Governmentitus (fka: Daniel1979 Blog) will no longer be updated. 

I got into blogs and blogging when my interest in politics had led me into the habit of reading the papers online and being active in the commenting of those, and from there I found the MSM blogs and in time from there I discovered some of the more well known blogs who sit independent from the major publications. My interest in politics seems to have grown proportionately with my dismay at the way things work in this country. I loathe(d) the Labour Government and I despise the EU even more. The more I look at life and how things don’t work properly the more I have found about Labour and the EU that I don’t like. The Newspaper forums and then the blog comments allowed me an outlet both to vent, but also to mull over my own beliefs and the opportunity to occasionally pontificate.

After a time it was not enough to simply answer the points of others and I became frustrated not just at the points being made, but in the very manner in which it was being put across. I was no longer content in providing my points in response to others and answering their questions I now wanted to put my points across and ask my own questions. So I took my time and gave it some thought and after my wedding in 2008 I went on the internet to see if it was possible to start my own blog, and crikey it was easy! There I was, with a blog, and completely shocked that I had not until then realised that there were literally hundreds, if not thousands who have done the same thing.

It did not take too long before an important realisation dawned, I had come to this blog thing a few years too late to be ground breaking in any way, there were and are already loads and loads of blogs and bloggers out there saying what I am thinking, usually in a more informative and/or entertaining way. It also became immediately apparent that if I actually wanted anyone to read my scribblings, I was very much going to have to be updating the blog regularly to keep people coming back for frequently updated content. When time did not allow me to post for a few days my small readership frequently becomes a lot smaller. Away from the blog I am blessed to have managed to keep my full time job and to have found a loving wife.  These two worlds do not sit next to each other easily and I have had to make a few sacrifices, and take a few risks to keep things going.

And so, at the end of 2009 having blogged for a year I took a look back and decided yhen that I cannot warrant the time and effort for me to try to keep this blog running. The truth of the matter is, it is becoming harder and harder to justify to myself that it is OK to spend time writing or researching posts at the cost of not spending time with my beautiful and wonderful wife. It has been a risk pushing out those lunch breaks or sneaking online during the work day for the benefit of the blog. I need my job to pay me money and being with my wife is without question the best thing that ever has or ever will happen to me. At that point I decided that after the General Election would probably be the right time for me to pack things in here, and decided to keep that in mind.

At that point of reflection in late 2009 that I told my wife what I was thinking of doing and she, as always said she would be supportive and encouraging of my decision no matter what I chose to do. However, it was in March when I told her that my mind was made up and that I was going to put this to bed that she turned to me and with a tear in her eye said ‘thank you for doing this, I want my husband back.’ And in that moment I knew I had definitely and unequivocally made the correct decision and that I would not change my mind. 

And so, I hope that you too dear reader will also understand.

My readership has been fantastic; you have always supported me and prompted me. I have never had a single problem with trolls or terribly abusive behaviour and it has been a real and delightful pleasure to have put this blog together and to have shared it with the world. But, alas it would seem that only a small pocket of the world has agreed sufficiently or found regular entertainment here. That has always been enough for me and I have found the whole exercise as therapeutic as I have found it rewarding; but it is now time for me to look to other things.

Looking back at what I am proud of, I think I made some good points and some good arguments before other people even considered them. I am proud that I rallied against the Lisbon treaty and have spent at least a part of my life helping people see that the UK is not the free country it claims to be. I am proud that I helped further the EU-Sceptic argument, I am proud that I added my voice to those who denounce the BBC, I am proud that being sceptical of the Global Warming movement is no longer something that cannot be spoken about openly, I am proud that I have made some effort in my life to defend the notion of free speech and I am proud that along the way I have been in touch with, and occasionally met up with other champions of the same spirit.

There was also a moment I shall remember fondly for the rest of my life when my jaw hit the floor after I took a peak at the Total Politics Centre-Right bloggers poll and found that despite my thinking that I would not really figure I was absolutely astonished to find I had made the top 50. I resolved then to try harder and do better for this year, but alas, that will not now be the case now.

So, what now for me?

The blog will remain but and just will not be updated. Looking through the archive I think there were a few good posts that went largely unread except by a small handful of people and just knowing it is still out there on the Internet is preferential to me that for it to disappear and also helps me to rationalise that the time spent writing them was worthwhile. The comment moderation will go on in a few days time.

I will almost certainly return to blogging in the future but it will be on a much reduced basis and elsewhere, probably on the Voice of the Resistance blog, or maybe as a guest elsewhere if I can find a new home. At least there I can just post and then go back to the rest of my day. At the very least I will pop along to my favourite blogs (of which there are many!) and try to be a bit more active in the comments elsewhere.

Away from the heady world of blogging I have an absolute mountain of books crying out to be read which I am going to start to work my way through, and I am going to grow up a little bit on the health side which is perhaps overdue. I am going to take a good long look at how I earn my living because god knows I did not grow up wanting to prepare maintenance renewals on software – though the real problem there was more that I have never known what I want to do with my life. One of my few evolved aims is to get myself published on paper somewhere and somehow. I think that I can finally put to bed the notion that I have some great work of fiction in me, because I have given myself long enough for some of those half decent ideas to ferment in the brain and these have ended up nowhere. I may really test myself and start putting down my own particular views and ideas and see if I can go Print on Demand and publish some thoughts and ideas. On that score, I only need about a dozen devotees to take my ideas seriously enough to know there will be hope for them in the future, even if that time line is a rather drawn out one. Again I suspect the therapeutic benefits of doing this will be the most rewarding aspect. 

But mostly seeing as I am the happiest man in the world, I would like to make sure I give more time to ensuring that my wife can be as happy as I can possibly make her.

Politically I really want to see someone fill the new void of British politics, because I not only sense the opportunity but feel a little disenfranchised. If someone comes up with a sensible and decent alternative then I am interested and would want to support those efforts.  I said the other day that there is a vacuum and an opportunity and I have already sensed from elsewhere there is talk of the same.

I don’t want to lose touch with the few of you I did make contact with, so please keep hold of my email address like almost everyone else I am on Facebook.

I hope that those of you who have been visitors have found something that you have wanted to here and that those of you who are bloggers go on and continue to fight the good fight. There is much wrong with the UK today and we are marching in the wrong direction; the road map is not a good one.

The blogosphere is still in reality in its embryo phase, there is so much more that will be achieved by blogs and bloggers. One day people will look back and see how crucially important the impending explosion of these blogs will have been in defending and expanding the rights of the people.  It can be hard work and it can be lonely, but I bet I am not the only blogger who looks back and knows that on the whole it was worth every minute of it.



Take care everybody and thanks for being a part of this experience with me.