Public Affairs Links

Blogroll

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The growing voices in politics are on the net. Political blogs have arguably turned out to be the most influential and successful group within this exciting new medium. Already some front-runners have emerged, their voices calling out further than the rest.

To the lobbyist, blogs are at worst a source of amusing opinion and gossip, but at best can provide fresh and important political information.

Below is a selection of our favourites, from the sublime to the ridiculous. There are many hundreds available, and we recommend you spend a happy hour trawling through every extreme of opinion available.

Take your pick from politics, media or music - and feel free to suggest your favourites.

Politics

Interns Anonymous - www.internsanonymous.co.uk

Interns Anonymous has been set up by two graduates currently working as unpaid interns - interesting discussions on the intern's world.

Political Opinions - www.politicalopinions.co.uk

A useful resource, cataloguing the vast array of political blogs out there and indicating the 'hot topics' of the moment.

Guido Fawkes - www.order-order.com

Perhaps the most famous of the renegade blogs, Guido boasts a vast readership amongst the great and the good, regularly scooping the 'dead tree' press to political tittle-tattle.

Iain Dale - www.iaindale.blogspot.com

The acceptable face of popular blogging, the former Conservative MP candidate has become the most popular on the web. Obviously Tory-leaning, though not rabidly so, Iain is one of the most readable out there, and also writes on his beloved West Ham United.

Conservative Home - www.conservativehome.blogs.com

Seen by the (admittedly, mostly right-wing) blogosphere as the pick of the 'official' party blogs, Conservative Home is a fairly reliable indicator of the Middle England grassroots opinion.

Web Cameron - www.webcameron.org.uk

The initial furore has died down, but Dave is still working on his YouTube project.

Comment is Free - www.commentisfree.guardian.co.uk

Definitely one falling in to the 'serious' camp, this is definitely the place for serious political discussion, ideological debate and petty argument. The anti-Guido of the web.

Boris Johnson - www.boris-johnson.com

The straw-haired 'thinking man's idiot' and Mayor of London showcases his admirable writing skills, sounding off on anything that comes to mind, which occasionally includes politics.

Dizzy Thinks - www.dizzythinks.net

An altogether more thoughtful Guido-style blog. Largely comment and opinion, but gets the odd scoop and is widely respected in the blogging community.

Recess Monkey - www.recessmonkey.com

The best read of the Labour-leaning blogs, Recess Monkey also often appears alongside Guido on the political Bloggers TV channel '18 Doughty Street'.

Political Betting - www.politicalbetting.com

For those who like to have a flutter, or perhaps have picked up a tip in the Westminster corridors of power, here's the place to make your millions.

Beau Bo D'Or - www.bbdo.co.uk

The pick of the anarchic Photoshop merchants, you can find some inspired pictoral manipulation of respectable political figures here.

Influence - http://legaltimes.typepad.com/influence

The writers of Influence, a publication of Legal Times specifically focusing on lobbying, provide daily updates on the lobbying world on its blog.

Nonprofit and Foundation Advocacy Blog - http://advocacydigest.blogspot.com

Hosted by the Alliance for Justice, this blog focuses on issues in the nonprofit world. Many of the entries are comprised of links to stories on lobbying, but some entries also focus on a question related to nonprofit and foundation lobbying. Updated daily.

Nonprofit Law Podcast - http://nplawcast.blogspot.com

Tim Mooney, formerly of Alliance for Justice and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, hosts a weekly podcast on legal aspects in the nonprofit sector. Several of the posts focus on lobbying and on political activities.

Political Activity Law - http://politicalactivitylaw.com

Eric Brown, a political activity law practitioner, focuses on the topics of lobbying, election law and campaign activities. Blog entries discuss news on lobbying regulations and campaign finance issues at the federal and state levels. Updated daily.

Capital Eye - www.capitaleye.org

The Center for Reponsive Politics publishes its newsletters on this page. The Capital Eye includes articles which looks into the role of money in politics. Previous stories have included a prediciton of the Final Four of the NCAA basketball tournament based on the amount each school in the Sweet Sixteen spent on lobbying, a look into the telecommunications industry and how its lobbyists may have potential influence on wiretapping and the basics of a campaign compliance fund. The newsletters are generally written weekly.

DailyKos - www.dailykos.com

The front page of DailyKos is centered more on elections and the Democratic Party. However, this tag contains news related to lobbying, although the writers are quite critical of lobbying’s role in the political process. Updated sporadically.

Media

Metafilter - www.metafilter.com

Cited as the best media blog around by Forbes, Metafilter is frequently the source of news stories for hacks struggling to find a lead. Vast array of interesting titbits.

Blogcritics - www.blogcritics.org

Self-assessing itself as a "sinister cabal of superior writers", Blogcritics is not short of ego, but not short of interest either. Anyone with a personal blog can contribute here.

Gawker- www.gawker.com

Reliable source of media and pop culture gossip, though largely US-based.

Poynter Online - www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45

A good one for any budding journalists (considering a career change already?), Poynter offers detailed insights in to the media world.

James RB - www.jamesrb.co.uk

Erudite musings of a young freelance journalist - a good read for random opinion; and not a bad template if you're thinking of starting a blog yourself.

Dave Barry - http://blogs.herald.com/dave_barrys_blog

Random laughs from one of America's finest comedy columnists.

Popbitch - www.popbitch.com

UK-based magazine of random pop culture and celebrity gossip. Tricky to navigate at times, but worth it for the wonderful scandals they occasionally unearth / make up.

Donald Trump - www.trumpuniversity.com/blog/index.cfm

The oddly coiffed business magnate and US Apprentice star somehow finds time to blog, posting occasional business and marketing advice.

Zach Braff - www.zachbraff.com

The irresistibly gelled Scrubs star and film director has a blog on his personal site. Doesn't update that regularly, but does post the occasional exclusive clip of Scrubs there.

William Shatner - www.williamshatner.com

The man, the legend. Posts about once a month, if you're lucky.

Music

Hype Machine - http://hypem.com

A repository and amalgamation of thousands of music blogs, Hype Machine is the ultimate place to find new bands, early secret releases of album tracks - anything interesting in the music industry that isn't in the shops yet has probably already been here for 3 months.

Stereojam - http://stereogum.com

Feeds in to the Hype Machine but well worth a good look in its own right for MP3 downloads of new tracks and videos, as well as some interesting and insightful posts.

I Guess I'm Floating - http://iguessimfloating.blogspot.com

Winner of Best Music Blog Award in 2006, this oddly-named blog is extremely well-written and full of nice surprises. Rock focused.

David Gilmour - http://blog.davidgilmour.com

The man behind the guitar and voice of much of what good stuff Pink Floyd produced, Dave has proved to be an adroit blogger as well, winning legions of readers with his musings and postings. Gives a peek of his new album too - to be found nowhere else.

Last FM - http://www.last.fm

The world's largest social music platform. Finds tracks by the artists you love, and suggests new finds on the basis of what you type in. A great way to get yourself in to some new music.

IMEEM - http://www.imeem.com

Social networking with music. Share music tastes with friends, find and recommend new tracks and build playlists of your favourite tracks and videos.

Elbo.ws - http://elbo.ws

A bit like Hype Machine, Elbo is another music blog aggregator, bringing together the pick of the web's bewildering selection of musical blogs. Slightly less comprehensive than Hypem, but can still turn up some brilliant scoops before the others.

Radio Blog Club - http://www.radioblogclub.com/wait.php

Working closely with the artists, there's no way of selecting specific tracks here, only the band in question. Still a very good site though, particularly if you're looking for a more classical or jazzy seam of sounds.



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