Post number 200

Hello, welcome to post number 200 of the blog I launched with the statement "Over the next few weeks I'm going to have a bit of an experiment and see if I can maintain a blog, almost daily, and be able to maintain my interest in the bloody thing." Well, it's more than a few weeks in now, I believe, and it's still going.

So let's recap in that time honoured fashion, lists.

The five most commented on posts (in reverse order)

• Hurray for feminism where a post on what the women's liberation movement had done for me turned into a discussion on polyamory.


• Green blogs Iain Dale's comprehensive round-up of political blogs wasn't as comprehensive as it might have been, missing out greens, anarchists, left of Labour and feminist blogs for a start. I thought I'd fill the green gap and the idea caught fire.
  
• Bananas split The split in the Scottish Socialist Party got some pulses racing.
  
• 100 best green bloggers results It was a long time coming but we got there in the end - the 100 best green blogs results provoked lots of positive feedback.
  
• Immigration waffle An innocent little post, uncontentiously saying the Sun was rubbish and had an agenda on immigration created an all mighty row - that's one way of getting comments on your blog. Cause an upset.

My five favourite posts (in no particular order)

• How I came to love the petit bourgeois my second ever post and part of the reason I took blogging up in the first place.


• Zen of Zeno people don't comment on my posts when I muse about philosophy. Bastards.


• Subverting the economic paradigm blogging the Green Party conference was great fun and something I hope to continue in the future.


• Wild bees and the redistribution of wealth occasionally I blog about things on TV or films. Here I get heated about the dire awfulness of Robin Hood's latest incarnation. See also Throw Borat down well


• In praise of Charles Clarke I'm not doing very well at popularising my idea of "Be nice to someone day" seeing as I've only ever tried it once. Coming soon... in praise of Ruth Kelly!


• Communist housing is something I'm intending to develop a little more now that I'm moving into a housing co-op I may as well use the experience to learn something as well as keeping the rain and cold out.

Hold on, that's six. Bother.

OK, it's also time to announce that over the next month I'm going to redesign the blog to make it a bit more spunky. Here's your chance to make suggestions about what you think a good / bad blog looks like. Whether it's a suggestion on colour, links, changing my strap line from "They created a desert and called it East Anglia" or even comments on content. If you want to see less/more attacks on Labour, less/more froth, etc. now's your chance. Obviously I might disregard your suggestions, but I am genuinely interested in people's thoughts on blogging.

My philosophy was, and still is, I blog for me - if other people are interested in what I've got to say then great, if not I'll live with that - what I don't want to do is fall back on cut and paste jobs or do one of those posts apologising for not posting enough. Man, the blogosphere is full of those, why clutter it up with more?

There's a great quote about writer's block which goes something like "If you're having difficulty writing, don't, the world doesn't need another hack." How true, how true. However, I don't think I've quite reached that stage yet.