First of all, let me start with an apology for the delay in this week’s BBRU. Unfortunately unavoidable. The roundup is a compendium of last week’s outstanding posts in the British Blogosphere.

This week seems to have been relatively few new developments in UK blogging, but scratching the surface reveals a few “iceberg” stories. And - in the end - we have a good number of nominations.

This roundup is shot through with gynaecology like a stick of rock from the village of Lunt, i.e., not very obliquely.

Starting From the Top

Political News and Comment

• Paul Linford has an opinion about Peter Kilfoyle.
• Rumbold over at Pickled Politics is thinking about the possibility of an Amnesty for illegal immigrants.
• They are getting Stroppy about Secularism and Schools.
• And about Shopping Centres.
• And there are angry writers at the Queen Elisabeth Hall.
• And an Ealing Magistrate writes about Law and Taboos.
• Suzanne Lamido reveals that the Liberal Youth are giving the public advice on how to take cannabis. There’s a spliffing good row in the comments (sorry).

From a Feminist Angle

• “Medical Rape?“, from The Burning Times.
• Lesbian Shoes and some conclusions.
• A blog carnival.
• And a demand for democratic representation in medical leaflets.

Very Educational

• Class and University Attendance

Very Sporty

• Lighting the Fire.

Very Arty

• Natalie over at My London Your London has been to the theatre to see “I Saw Myself“.
• The Early Modern Whale goes all poetic in the Cotswolds.

Very … Tasteless

The Politalks Episode 9 (”Cleggover”) is out. It is largely about Nick Clegg and his possible 30 lovers. You can find the post here. Lots of swearing, and it is er .. quite crude. Personally, I reckon that he probably made 26 in a period of 3 months when he was a Ski-Instructor.

Thoroughly gynaecological, but also includes the redeeming feature of a gynaecological sideswipe at Piers Morgan.

For the record, I checked with a (female) friend of Clegg-like age, and the reply was this: “Yes, I would. He’s still a pretty boy.” Thirty-one beckons, Mr Nick.

The second half gets more traditionally political; from about 1′ 10″ in.

Very very very miscellaneous

• Skipper wants to know what happened to our “Liberal Values about Sex“.
• And Enoch Powell is on a pogo stick.
• Pointing to The Past takes pleasure from well designed signposts that will soon be gone forever.
• And we have Brent Reservoir, and a disgruntled commenter.
• The is some Celebration over at Temple Meads Station in Bristol.
• And Tim Worstall is interested in the export of British Sex Toys to France. This does not - this time, apparently - include ski-instructor Clegg.

And from slightly outside the time window…

…but I’m exercising my discretion:

• Civil Servants and Railway Tunnels by Jonathon Calder.

And finally

And .. held over until last .. the Great Stats War. More debate here, but I am saying nothing beyond making a comparison with the Colditz “Great Saluting War” (no link - read the book). It gets into the window because the debate continued into this week.

Networking Democracy

Our Kingdom’s Networking Democracy (link to initial post) forum is coming to a close around now. The best place to follow the various contributions is from the tag page.

Personal Plugs

I’m going to mention three items from the Wardman Wire this week. Firstly, the best pun of the week was on David Keen’s Touching Base article “A Clash of Symbols“.

And The Wardman Wire has a sexy new design for the Front Page.

But can you put Humpty Dumpty back together again?

Wrapping Up

And finally, in the “Not Quite Sure What to Call it without insulting Someone Category”, there’s been a competition on Youtube to do with Dr Who assistants. Here’s the compilation video of as many assistants as “SuiteLifeFan” could remember:

The point that struck me is how much the assistant role has become stereotyped as a female role over the years. Time for some role reversal, perhaps. What price Judi Dench as Dr Who?

And here - as an indulgence - is an assortment of tribute videos to various Dr Who assistants.

Jo Grant

Bonnie Langford as Mel

Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith?

Lalla Ward as Romana

All done. Have a good week.