First of all, can I wish you a Happy New Year?
Last year saw 36
posts. A wee bit light given the year
Scotland has gone through. I’d have
liked to have posted more but time constraints and all that. It won’t surprise you to know that the
referendum dominated the most read posts list, so without further ado (insert
own preferred countdown music, be it Pick of The Pops, Phil Lynott or Paul Hardcastle…)
At 10, it’s the
post about the first referendum debate between the Chairman of Better Together,
Alistair Darling and the First Minister Alex Salmond. A Wasted Opportunity was not the last post
about currency, but Darling’s brutal slaughter of Salmond’s currency position
told us what some people knew already – Sterlingzone wasn’t going to win the
referendum. As a contrast, the post at
number 9 asks, in the week of Salmond’s resignation as First Minister, Just WhatHas Alex Salmond Ever Done For Us?
The second
Darling/Salmond debate is partly the subject of the eighth best read post of
the year. A Tale of Two Debates compares
& contrasts that debate with the Paisley hustings which featured Jim Sheridan
MP, George Adam MSP, Fiona McDonald (from the PCS Union) and Tommy Morrison
(from Clydebank Trades Union Council).
Both debates took place on the same night in August. At 7 was my take on the whole
Wiiings/Lally/Rowling/Cybernats thing. Cyber-twats probably tells you
everything about what I think about every hardcore pro-Indy supporters favorite blogger with alarmingly UKIP acceptable views and a line in
appropriating Laibach’s imagery. Just
outside the top 5 and at 6 is a post about that debate. No not that one, the one between Sturgeon and
Lamont. So How Did Lamont Lose That Debate reports on Johann Lamont’s successful attempt to take Nicola Sturgeon to
extra time and then penalties in their Scotland Tonight debate.
So, top 5, and at
5 is “The Lie of The Land – What Now For The 45?” which looks at the evolving
post referendum landscape and the SNP’s task in making inroads to Labour’s 41
seats it will be defending in May.
Essentially, it will be hard. The
fourth best read blog of 2014 was the post sifting through the wreckage and
foot in mouth moments of Johann Lamont’s leadership – The Political Suicide ofJohann Lamont. Ah, the wee things.
We are now into
the top three, and the third best read blog of 2014 keeps that Labour theme
going. The Slow Slow Death of ScottishLabour pinpointed the issues Scottish Labour had accrued during the referendum
campaign, and highlighted the reasons why voters might be thinking of not
voting Labour in the onrushing General Election. Being held off the number one slot is the
second Sterlingzone post of the year – confusingly titled Sterlingzone – Part 57. This one was in the aftermath of Osborne’s
speech ruling out a currency union – closely backed up by the 99p shop Dennis
Healy and the ginger haired one off the Muppets. Punningly, Iain MacWhirter dubbed this event “The
Sermon on The Pound” as he identified that Osborne’s behavior could backfire
on the pro-Union parties. Political
mastermind my bahochie.
Which leaves us
with the most read post in 2014. At
number one is “The UKIP effect” – a post looking at the rightwards drift of the
Westminster parties as they are (without justification) looking to stem the
light trickle of voters defecting to UKIP.
A rather prescient post that explains the (suggested according to polling)
decline in support for Scottish Labour to the SNP, given it was written in
February.
So that’s that
for 2014. A year like no other the blurb
went, all rather obvious given that 2014 will only happen once. Proper blogging will resume shortly…
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