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Nice bit of spin
According to Iain Dale this morning, Boris Johnson’s First Deputy Mayor is about to resign by, we are told, mutual consent. This move will also see Johnson “promote” himself to the chair of TfL. Of course, this is the third senior figure to have left the Johnson administration under, let’s say, unclear [...]

I note that Iain Dale has introduced Guest Bloggers at the rate of one per day for the summer, is broadening the offering on his political blog with a wide-range of Guest Posts over the last few days.

• Robin Tilbrook, Leader of the English Democrats: For an English Parliament
• Matthew Dear: Politics is a Derby, Not a Kick-About
• Austen Sanders: Why Young People Don’t Join Political Parties
• James Clark: Death of the Record Industry
• Andrew Mitchell MP: Obama or McCain? Who gets the Vote of the Poor?

And he’s after more:

Note from Iain: I will be running a series of guest blogs throughout the Summer. If you would like to write an article to appear on the blog (max 750 words) please do email me. I can’t guarantee it will be used though!

It’s that time of year again. From Iain Dale’s blog:

We’re asking for your votes to decide the Top 100 UK Political Blogs. Simply email your Top Ten (ranked from 1 to 10) to toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com. If you have a blog, please encourage your readers to do the same. I’ll then compile the Top 100 from those that you send in. Just order them from 1 to 10. Your top blog gets 10 points and your tenth gets 1 point.

I haven’t decided who I am voting for, but they will be blogs that I have enjoyed and want to help get into the top 200-300 rather than the top 10 - especially writers I like who have been blogging for a couple of hundred posts and may be getting weary, or blogs that are relatively new. However, here are some blogs I will not be voting for.

This article is an interlude in my review of the Total Politics website, after my first detailed look. I’ll be coming back with some thoughts about “Web 2.0″ features of the website - and some possible developments for the future.

For now, a different point has impressed itself on my consciousness.

I promised Kristine (good media blog - worth a read) that I’d look at the current mini-spat about the claim that “UK Newspapers run the Best UK Blogs“.

It needs a “kitchen sink” point-by-point post to do a proper response (the claim has some substance, but in my opinion is only half-right), but that will have to wait.

Sarah McKinley, Editor of the new Total Politics magazine, has given an interview to Internet TV show Catch-21.

The video is just under 10 minutes.