I am still in shock at not being shortlisted for the ‘Best UK Blog’ but I decided to swallow my pride and enjoy a few hours enjoying the high quality content of the 10 finalists:

  • Ian Dale’s Diary - A tagline of ‘Commentary, analysis and gossip from the heart of Westminster’ completely turned me off and I closed the Firefox tab before I was subjected to any more torture.
  • Guy Fawkes - Hoping for top tips to blow up the Houses of Parliament but just got more politics. Yawn.
  • Neil Clark - The winner apparently. Anti-war hack with a lot of posts urging readers to vote for him.
  • EU Referendum - Simply couldn’t summon up the enthusiasm to click through.
  • Pub Philosopher - Promising title but yet more (right wing) politics. May as well buy the Daily Mail.
  • The Devil’s Kitchen - Considered outpourings on the wit and wisdom of David Cameron. No thanks.
  • Baggage Reclaim - Much better. A blog recording amusing anecdotes from an anonymous baggage handler at LHR. Oh no - wait a minute - it’s just a blog about dating and ‘relationships’.
  • Nourishing Obscurity - Promising title but this excerpt completely lost me: ‘I see that the current crop of parents lost their moral compass long ago and this is the first generation to grow up “moral-code-lite”.
  • Bright Meadow - Soft porn alert ‘She loved how the amber glinted off his bones’. I daren’t read any more. Particularly as I am on a formal warning from my employer.
  • Kickette - At last. A discerning blog all about football. Only this one is about celebrity footballers (Fat Frank), their tiresome girlfriends and pictures of Ronaldo with his shirt off.

I was so depressed that I decided to kill myself compile my own list of the definitive, real, undisputed ‘Top 10 UK (and Irish) blogs’ in strict alphabetic order:

  • BlogStorm - Internet Marketing/SEO but, refreshingly, from a UK blogger.
  • Caroline Middlebrook - a lady who took the brave step of quitting her IT job in favour of blogging.
  • Donncha - WordPress employee #2 and aspiring photographer.
  • Doug Burns - Scottish DBA with wicked sense of humour.
  • Modern Life is Rubbish - Quality not quantity.
  • Pete Ashton - Brummie blogger with varied mixture of music, photos and tech with no signposts or self-importance. Pure blogging.
  • Random Acts of Reality - I help people read books. This guy saves people’s lives for £10 an hour. Deserves first prize for the blog name alone.
  • Tim Hall - Oracle DBA, film critic and Karate Kid. Another Brummie.
  • Tom Raftery - Irish slant on IT, tech and all that Web 2.0 stuff.
  • Who Ate All The Pies - Genuinely funny football blog.