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. 

I'm Back

I am sorry that I have been away for so long, my Internet problems were resolved last Thursday after a complete wipe and re-imaging of the laptop and then we had Easter and I just wanted to keep offline and my head out of politics for over the weekend.

Normal posting will resume today for the duration of the election campaign.

Under Attack

I seem to have been caught in the cross-fire between Google and the Chinese - as such, some Chinese hacker has cocked up my browser and it keeps trying to refer me to Chinese Web Search tools.

My IT bods are miffed. Posting will therefore revolve around my ability to get online from others PC's until further notice.

Governmentitus

The momentum to the General Election is beginning to build, and the public debate is about to ramp up.  My blogging reach is limited, but I want to open up my blog to others and if I and this platform can help fight the good fight then I want it to happen.

So, I just want to declare that if other bloggers have posts that they want cross-posted then send them onto me and between now and the General Election I will be happy to do so.  Furthermore, and I am not sure if there is or not, but if there are any current bloggers, or former bloggers itching to have a say once again, who want to post directly here, I am open to the idea of adding some contributors - be it frequent, ocassional or very occassional.  It certainly works well elsewhere.

I want Labour out of Government, and I want to get the UK out of the EU, and so long as this blog remains focused on achieving those ends I think some extra posts from different points of view (or furthering my general point of view) would be positive.  Though please note, this is not a sweary blog, I guess that would be about the only condition.

Send me posts, or url, or html in .doc to daniel1979blog@gmail.com

Best Political Blog Post 2009

Intended as a bit of fun... the nominations closed and the voting has opened, go here for the list of nominees.


Click here to vote

Favourite Blog Post 2009

Nominate your favourite blogpost from a political blog in 2009 over on the Voice of the Resistance.

You can nominate your own work if you are a blogger, or a piece from someone else.

I am still racking my brain on which post to nominate.

Update: I gave it some thought, and looked back over some old referral posts and I have nominated The Difference Between England and Europe written by David and Cat on Brits at their Best.

A Year And A Bit In Blogging

Christmas is coming, and work is picking up for year end, so my opportunities to blog may become a bit limited over the next few weeks.  There are a few end of year posts I wanted to do, and this is the first.  Here, very simply is a bit of link-love to my past self over the last year and a bit... Dan's best bits so to speak (calm down ladies).

If your new to my blog, here's what has spewed forth over the past year and a bit, which will maybe give you an idea of what I am about, or, for those who visit a little more regularly provide a nice trip down memory lane.

December 2008
Should We Try Something A Little Different
National Anthems

January 2009
Worried about civil liberties in the UK? Got 6 minutes...
Is your number plate illegal?
Whatcha gonna do?

February 2009
The Home Secretary is ripping off Tax Payers
If the system is broke, why don't we fix it?
Are you an alcoholic?

March 2009
Who will pay for the EU?
Job cuts to end by Easter?
Letter to a Tory
Whips
An Invitation to Jury Team
Hannan bitch-slaps Brown in EU Parliament
Left wing PM poll closes

April 2009
Queen to step down as Monarch
G20 result - in my humble opinion
The voice of the Prime Minister
Observation
What is the greatest human invention of all time?

May 2009
Retirement age to be moved to 70?
MP's expenses, once again
Honour amongst thieves
Constitutional Mischief
Should we seperate the Executive from Parliament?

June 2009
Could Parliament vote to dissolve itself?
Should we look to have an elected upper house - part 1
Labour - wrong again
The Wet Parliament
Chicken soup for The Devil, A Tory and The King

July 2009
The phantom street light caller-inner
Did CNN capture Michael Jacksons ghost on camera?

August 2009
Female Genital Mutilation

September 2009
David Cameron speech on reducing the cost of government.
We are not paedophiles!
Did David Cameron do wrong, or did he act just like the rest of us?
The problem(s) with the Liberal Democrats
Voting = bad, terrorism = good... got that?

October 2009
An open letter to the people of Ireland
Writing strategy for Dave... Not!
Northern Ireland Assembly votes in favour of referendum on Lisbon.
On the side of Angels

November 2009
Cameron, Conservatives and The EU
David Camerons new EU policy - my verdict
Pictures from Westminster
An interesting thought
My Agenda

December 2009
Climategate: Caught green handed - Monckton report
A few receipts that stand out

Admin (2)

OK, all is about done, or is as done as it is going to be.

I hope you like the new layout and format, I wanted something a little more unique and this is what I have ended up with. I have less control now over things like font sizes, which is all set and imported, but I can live with that. Gone is the reaction buttons, which do not seem to want to work on non-standard templates. Also gone is the twitter-meme function, which does not seem to want to work on this format, but I will keep looking into it to restore quick RT function.

I hope people like the new name, I was racking my brain for something new - but some of the great names I came up with appear elsewhere on the internet and were not unique. I believe Governmentitus is unique, and is just a better sounding blog name than "Daniel1979 Blog" and fits with the general theme of this blog.

If you are having any issues, please leave a comment or email me daniel1979blog@gmail.com.

For those how are curious to learn more, read on...



I made the decision about a month ago to just look around and see what improvements might be available out there on the internet, and I quickly came to find the Blogger Templates Site. This got me thinking about looking for a more radical change, and had the added bonus of being completely free. So, if anyone is thinking about a change, this is the site I would recommend. If you do have cash to spend, still take a look as all of the designers have links from the templates they have provided to blogger. For example, this new template was created by Rays Creations India, who is linked from the Blogger Template Page and also from the bottom of this blog now.

From there it needed testing, so I set up a new test blog. Along the way, I came across a new format that was perfect for one of my other ventures, Football Banter, so I actually switched my focus across to updating that blog, which was successful. Here, my method and tips if you’re thinking about having a change yourself.  Importing a new template in itself is not difficult, it is simply importing a file to the HTML screen, but there are a few issues if this is a transition rather than starting a new blog from scratch.

1. Set up a testblog, with posts and widgets so that you can get an idea of how the transition will work.

2. Copy all HTML code from any widgets you have set up, and all the url's from blogrolls. Assume all widgets will be lost, as they might well be and will have to be re-established.

3. Remember to hunt through your existing HTML code for any add-ins that you have, such as Google Analytics and Twitter Meme Codes.

4. I used MS Word, to copy and paste all HTML code to, with little notes as to where to copy & paste to and from.

5. Attempt a transition on the test blog from the Blogger standard format to new format.

6. Then read the FAQ section on the blogger template site... There are a few standard issues which are all easily fixed. Also read the comments section on Blogger Templates, as others may have experienced the same and the answer may be there already.

7. If you have made changes to the Test Blog set up that you want to use on your main blog, save it and use that file when doing the main transition.

8. Update your main blog.

9. IMPORTANT - when adding or changing HTML code, always remember to click to preview BEFORE you save. This will not allow a preview, or will show in a screen how the blog will look based on the most recent changes.. You might not like it. You can then click to undo edits which will revert the HTML code back to the last saved instance.

10. IMPORTANT - Thing look better, but what you can do with the format interms of tweeking is now a bit more limited, and will require playing around with the HTML to change text colours etc.. There is also a limitation on how much can be changed under the Creative Licence - You get a free template so long as it remains pretty much as provided

Post transition things work in pretty much the same way on the dashboard as they do on a standard blogger template, so there is no new things to learn from that perspective.

. 

Admin (1)

With a big sense of nervousness, I shall now be playing with the blog format to upgrade to my new format.  People should feel free to have a look around still as this will not affect what I am doing.  If things start to disappear, and the layout suddenly changes, you can know that it is not your browser or computer, but me tinkering. 

Should the World Wide Web stop working in the next two hours, that probably is my fault and the whole experiement will have gone wrong.

Thinking Out Loud

I am very excited, I have managed to download my prospective new template and have done some testing and I am loving the new format.

I may lose some of the existing functions, such as "reactions" and the re-tweet, but I think the improved layout will be worth it!  Anywho, what is sticking in my mind is, leaving the url as is, I am tempted to go with a new blog name (which as yet, I have not decided on).  Would anyone object to me changing the blog name?  I think "Daniel1979 Blog" is a little boring and not very eye-catching, nor memorable... I would like something a little more pithy.

If Christmas shopping can be kept to a minimum, I will probably look to roll it out here this weekend.

Any thoughts?

1st Year Blogoversary

One year in the blogosphere.

Busy Day

Thinking ahead to next year, it is my intention to reformat Daniel1979 Blog to something a bit more unique, moving away from the standard blogger layouts.  It must be said, I am a complete duffer with such things as HTML so in this vein I have been looking about and doing some homework to what is available to pauper bloggers like myself on the Internet.  Anyway, I stumbled upon a fantastic format that immediately seemed to suit one of my other ventures, Football Banter, and tonight, with just a couple of hours graft, I have managed to roll out the new format over there.  For those of a Football, Blogging and/or Football Blogging persuasion, I hope that you like it.

Hopefully, all of the changes and potential problems have been identified upfront, and thus, the hard work is now done.  I have to say there is a wealth of solutions available, albeit with licensed conditions to those of us on the blogger platform, god bless the internet!

Changes will come here ready for New Year, but no concrete decisions have been made.  Though the url will remain, I am also toying with the idea that "Daniel1979 Blog" is not the most eyecatching nor enticing blog name and a top level name change will probably be accommodated.  I might even drop the "1979" in favour of coming out, so to speak; but in truth will in all likelihood look for something a little more whimsicle.

Add a full shift at the office and it has been a busy day!

My Agenda

Over on SNP Tactical Voting I left a comment on a recent piece about the death of blogging, and in reply Jeff left me a comment, part of which was to say

“…I read your blog but it's not immediately obvious which side of the many fences you come down on which could maybe count against you. It shouldn't but it could…” The full post and comments is HERE.

I don’t disagree with Jeff’s point, but it did make me pause for some thought.

When I started this blog it was after reading a number of other blogs, mostly on MSM sites and although I agreed with much of it, I found it frustrating when issues I though important went uncommented on, and on occasion when important topics were framed in a way that I felt missed the point; whether deliberate or not. It was also started with an ignorance of just how broad the Blogosphere really is. But it was started to be a place for my thoughts and ideas and that was how I wanted it to be.

My voting record and intentions are a matter of record here; I have voted Conservative in the past two General Elections, which are the only two I have been old enough to vote for. I voted Jury Team at the last EU Elections, and UKIP prior to this. With the current Conservative policies on the EU I have resolved that I cannot bring myself to vote for them until the Conservative Party gets a hold of itself over the EU and commits to withdrawal. Jeff is right; my politics are all over the shop, because I vote on the policies and how I see them. My politics do not line up to any of the parties exclusively. This is obviously showing through in my posts.

You will not get party allegiance here. I am broadly of the political Libertarian Right, and when The Conservatives, UKIP, LPUK and even the English Democrats and Jury Team talk about issues I see to be important, they get my support, and when they are not making much sense I will also say when I disagree. I would say the same of the Parties of the Left such as Labour, Lib Dems and the BNP, but I have not found anything I can side with them on; so they will continue to receive my criticism.

I am writing this blog because for many years I have taken an active interest in politics, and the more I read and the more I wanted to take part the more frustrated I became. There was a point when I wanted to get involved with the Conservatives and go knocking on doors, and try and win people and voters over. But, I do not agree with the Conservatives on certain things. I certainly do not agree with their current stance on the EU, and feel sorry for the people that have recently felt that they have been let down. But there is much more than that, the Conservatives are a “broad church” and for that they should be commended, but on policy, it is the same collection opposing factions in Westminster pulling the strings. Their only real strength is their continued presence in Westminster as a non-left wing party. The rise of the internet and with new ideas being expressed, I think their position as the sole power on the right of British politics is going to be severely challenged in the next two decades. Anyway, they do not stand for everything I believe in, no party does, so they will not earn my membership, nor my blog allegiance (bloglegiance).

I believe the state should be small, and that it should be drawn by the people of the people and for the people. The state is currently suffocating people, and I want to argue against this. I believe in the rule of law, and that those laws should be written by democratically elected representatives, and that execution of the law should be done by civilians, and that the law should be applied fairly. I believe that people should be distrustful of the state, and should be able to stand up to the state so as to demonstrate that we are being governed by our kin and our neighbours. I want the state to represent the views of the majority opinion, but to show compassion and understanding to the minority. I want the state to only have as much power as is needed to execute its duties, to legislate and protect the people it represents. I want the state to never believe it is above its own laws or the values of those they serve. I want the state to stay out of the way and out of the lives of individuals and families, I want it to have boundaries and a framework it dare not cross. I want people to be able to live their lives, to exchange information and news freely, to be free to assemble without molestation, for the state to know that it works for the people and is there to serve us, not the other way around. And most importantly, if and when any of the above is infringed upon with or without intention or malevolence, I want the people to be able to throw out the whole rotten lot and appoint a group of people, who, can stand and win office on the strength of their arguments and bring about a new government as mandated by the people. There are measures by which all of the above can be monitored, and in my mind we live in sad and dangerous times.

Unfortunately for me, to be able to blog here and write in defence of my political beliefs, I am unable to put myself into the camp of one party. Yes, I generally feel that none of the political parties can match my lofty ideals, but that as I see it is their malfunction, not mine. Looking across parties, there are bits here and there that I agree with, and in my position I am free to do so. I do not expect my opinions to be universally accepted or understood, but there is always the comment form for people who do visit here to register their opposition. Jeff’s point was that without a tribe in which to belong I may be missing out on a few people’s blog rolls and that that may be costing me some lost traffic. That may be the case, it certainly seems logical. I don’t think that I can bring myself to plead for blog roll links from those who feel that they cannot link here because I am not towing a party line, because there are many who already have linked to me without that fear; plus, I don’t want to. If I am losing traffic it is because I am not as good at this as other bloggers and I know I am not as good a writer as I wish I was. If I get a hit and that person does not come back, I only did half of my job. I have not broken the glass ceiling because I have not been able to entice people to keep reading my musings. For the record, Jeff is a fantastic blogger who is able to write impartially and cogently about a party and cause that he is obviously passionate about, and also then is able to engage in detailed follow up in the comments. If you are not terribly familiar with his blog, please make some time and have a read. There are some brilliant Scottish bloggers, and in my opinion the SNP bloggers are winning the argument for a separation of the UK, an opinion that they are convincing me on that I did not hold a year ago.

So I am not about to join any party, but I am going to try to be clearer about where I stand on certain matters. There are probably a thousand blogs where you can go to get party grass roots and member’s commentary. But come to this blog and you will get my honest assessment, but you can always know by coming here that I am not pushing you towards a particular party. I am not sure if that counts for anything on the political blogosphere, but that’s just how it is.

And as one of my film heroes says “and that’s all I got to say about that.”

Daniel1979 Welcomes Everybody Here

I have tried since I started this blog to reach out to as broad an audience as possible, I know not everyone will agree with me and that is fine.   But I just had to welcome, individually, whomever this is/was in particular...  Hope you enjoy the blog, and find something you like!

Not sure how you found me, but I really do welcome ALL links!  On November 1st, we may have an interesting "October Referrals" post if this keeps up.

Calling Blogger

Dear Blogger,

I am still very happy with the platform and service [especially the fact that it is free].  I was delighted to see when playing around with the settings recently that there was a new publish platform available which I duly used... However, as a child of the UK national curriculum and state schooling I am not sure if this blog will survive without a Spell Check function. 

I ain't kidding.

Please install ASAP

Ta
Daniel

That Sound You Heard Last Night At Around 11.10pm…

...Was my jaw dropping and hitting the floor.

I am quite frankly in a state of disbelief, but I see that the good, sensible and beautiful people that read this blog actually went out and voted for it in the Total Politics Top Blogs Poll.

The top 100 right of centre blogs listing was published last night, and this blog has made a fantastic 48th place. I have no idea how many votes that would have required, but I know it is more that I thought I was likely to get. I shall be adding the appropriate badge to my side bar over the weekend.

I am left with a sense that this blog is punching well above its weight. My readership numbers are still quite low, and I would guess massively lower than some of the other blogs that finished around a similar position; which means that those of you who come here regularly has made me exceptionally proud by taking time out of your lives to register your votes. Please know that I am touched and exceptionally grateful, and I will endeavor to keep doing better to make the blog better.

My surprise did not end there…

I contribute to three blogs, this one, Football Banter which is obviously non-political, and also The Voice of the Resistance, which is a collaborative right of centre political blog that has only been running since late June. This blog also broke into the Top 100 finishing in 58th position which is astounding really as it could only have been going a few weeks before the poll started and illustrates the massive potential of this project.

I want to say Thank You to everyone who voted for this blog and/or The Voice of the Resistance, it is very much appreciated!

Now, back to reality and back to work.

Back In The Saddle

I am back blogging again after a short break, I apologise to both my readers for my absence, but as explained before, the ol' noggin was going a little screwy - for some reason I felt fine writing about football, but every time I tried to apply myself here it just wasn't working. I am feeling better now in that respect.

Work however has gone crazy in recent months. Not because we are bucking the credit crunch, but because we have less than half the staff we had this time last year to do even more work. Things were bad enough but in late July another member of our team was "let go," and progress from his consultation seems to indicate there will be no way back unless others leave of their own accord.

This is of course a roundabout way of trying to evoke a mild feeling of understanding whilst subtly prodding your thoughts to the competition for what used to be amusing referred to as "my free time". Blogging is becoming less fun, and I have less time in which to do it.

You will perhaps scoff aloud, but about a year ago now in the lead up to my wedding I shared a thought with my intended. We talked about how I was contributing in the comments occasionally on mainstream blogs like Mr Hannans, and Guido's and I shared my frustration at not being able to shape the questions being asked and take the debate I thought it should go in. My genius idea was to start a blog after our wedding; but I had absolutely no idea of the length and breadth of the existing blogosphere. Turns out, if I had of looked a little harder I would have found more outlets for that frustration.

Fear not. I have taken stock and I am not packing my bags just yet. It occurs that given the extent of the blogs on offer I am hardly doing anything original enough to warrant stretching myself needlessly. Largely for the last 9 months I have enjoyed writing here, and it is helping me tap into a literary muscle that I knew was always in me but seldom exercised. So, and this is not carved in stone and is just my intentions now; I am looking to keep blogging here until about 100 days passed the UK General Election, whenever that may be. Please bare with me should I not post for a couple of days.

I may regret sharing that fact with you all in advance, but it is nearly always best to be honest about these things. I think by that point I will have been doing this long enough and will hopefully have vented my spleen and expressed what I hope will be considered some original thinking in a few areas...at least to a sufficient degree to be able to not ruin any more parties by ranting on about politics!! I also assume that by then it will feel about right to wind things down. If however, by some miracle Gordon Brown wins the next election, then I may well have topped myself moments after, and in that situation the blog will simply stop being updated at that point. I also have spared a thought for The Voice Of The Resistance, where I hope to be more active than I have been in recent weeks, as it is shaping up to being an excellent center for like minded opinions and seems to be growing support nicely.

It seems right to me, in my head to do as Cato suggested and keep buggering on for now and I hope that I have not peaked too soon, I feel that there are a few good posts left in me, and that I can join with others in running what seems like the most unpopular and incompetent Government ever out of town. As always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions at my nonsensical ramblings, and there is plenty more of those to come.

In A Rut

I am taking something of a blogging break, it's all blah, blah, blah in my head and I seem to have developed blog-o-rhea. I am struggling for the motivation with other things going on in the real world and when I do sit down and try it just isn't happening. I also have a couple of bigger pieces that are overdue for publication that just ain't gonna happen with current levels of fuzzy brain.

So, I am going to take my own advice and stop for a couple of weeks. I will keep an eye out and be posting occasionally over on FB but that is it on D1979 for now. I hope to return more focused and get back to something approaching normal form.

I shall be keeping an eye on the comments, the moderation will go on if it is needed.

Voices Of The Resistance

Lord Elvis of Paisley set up The Voice Of The Resistance Blog last week, where I shall be contributing and occasionally cross-posting.

Thus far, myself and LE included there are 17 contributors, so please bookmark and stop by, it is an effort to generate greater focus on the terrible Labour government and an effort to spread their exit from power using our combined voices.

Here are our other contributors, who if you have not visited before are all worth a read. (In no Particular Order):

Goodnight Vienna

Cato

Henry North London

The Ranting Penguin

Northwester

Ted Foan

Marksany

Richard Dale

John Ward

Jess The Dog

Steve Green

Tory Totty

Techno Mystic

Barking Spider

Stop Common Purpose

A Voice Within The Resistance

Just wanted to let everybody know that I have joined with Lord Elvis and some other like minded bloggers and will be contributing on the new collaborative blog - The Voice Of The Resistance which is the product of The Kings frustration and determined spirit.

This new blog is intended to be a non-sweary blog with a number of collaborators from across the centre-right of the political spectrum all looking to write about and expose the lies, hypocrisy and corruption that emanates from our present Government and their sometimes subversive agents of change.

I am looking forward to adding my own particular style into the mix, and hope that if you visit and link here that you will consider doing the same for this new

and exciting venture.