According to the ebuzzing (formerly wikio) rankings, this is the third most influential political blog in the UK – and the fifth most influential blog of any kind. It beats, hands down, the heavily funded ConservativeHome and Labourlist propaganda operations.
Of the two political blogs ahead of it, Guido Fawkes has permanent paid staff, whereas Liberal Conspiracy is a collective of 32 high profile ultra politically correct guardianistas; many of whom are paid by mainstream media.
Yet this blog has total funding of precisely nil and is only me, an ageing and disillusioned man sickened by the growing gap between rich and poor, the domination of mainstream political parties by corporate interests, and the continual promotion of aggressive war.
This blog does everything wrong. There are frequent gaps between posts, sometimes of weeks on end, because I get too depressed at instances of the callous disregard of the powerful for ordinary people.
I do not tweet, except that the start of each blog entry automatically gets tweeted, which someone set up for me.
This is an SNP supporting blog based in Ramsgate, Kent, written by a manic depressive sacked diplomat of eclectic views, whose guiding lights are the deeply unfashionable John Stuart Mill and William Hazlitt, whose favourite book was written by Michael Foot, and who is still metaphorically on his knees begging forgiveness for advising people to put Nick Clegg into government.
This blog, like all the other top blogs, could make substantial money from advertising, but is the only one not to carry advertising because it does not desire money.
It is webhosted for free, and kept running by a team of techies and moderators who do it for free also, not because they support a party or policy line or everything I say, but because they like the blog. It has the most free, well nigh anarchic moderation policy of any major blog. You can say what you like, including being very critical of me. Racism is pretty well the only red line. Opposing voices are very welcome.
I don’t do political correctness.
Even more heretically, this blog succeeds despite the fact the ebuzzing rankings show the majority of its posts are about international relations. Not only is it interested in foreigners, it tends to concentrate on Africa, Central Asia and other places the mainstream media scarcely believe exist. This blog succeeds so well because the mainstream media leaves unmet an active desire for information by very large numbers of people who are not as stupid as they think.
I have been lucky to have led a fascinating and varied life and as a result not only have a large number of high level contacts who would be the envy of any journalist, but am prepared to publish facts that mainstream political discourse finds uncomfortable.
To give just a few examples, this blog made public that Adam Werritty and Liam Fox had eight meetings with Matthew Gould, now British Ambassador to Israel, not the two reported in Gus O’Donnell’s whitewash “report”. At least two included Mossad, and the purpose throughout was to coordinate on the ramping up of official support for an attack on Iran.
This blog made public the deal whereby the US obtained Arab League support for the attack on Libya in return for US support for the Saudi invasion of Bahrain.
This blog revealed Lord Taylor of Blackburn’s role as bagman for New Labour, and for Jack Straw personally, in collecting from the defence industries, and BAE in particular.
This blog revealed the dirty deal between the British government and the Karimov regime to resume arms supplies and military training in return for logistic support for Afghanistan.
You would be surprised by how many people actually embedded in the establishment, including Members of Parliament and very senior mainstream media journalists, have told me they regularly read this blog to see what is really happening. it is an antidote to the model of single propaganda narrative that now characterises mainstream media.
The stratospheric rise of this blog up the industry rankings is not actually caused by a sudden increase in popularity. That popularity has been there for years. But at last it is being measured.
The old wikio rankings measured the number of links from other blogs; in the case of political blogs, only from other political blogs. So clusters of New Labour, Tory and Lib Dem blogs, by constantly linking to each other, could collectively drive themselves up the rankings.
But over 70% of incoming links to this blog are from outside the UK; they did not count for anything at all in the rankings. Nor did the frequent links to this blog from the sites of major newspapers and broadcast companies in the UK and around the globe.
Ebuzzing now has abandoned the old wikio algorithm in favour of a much wider measurement, which draws on more reference sources, including twitter and newspaper sites. The result reflects much more the actual readership and influence of a blog than did the old wikio rankings:
More than 2 million sources are catalogued and analysed. The semantic content ranking is performed automatically. Blog and article popularity are calculated using our algorithm, which takes into account content shares and recommendations on Twitter, Facebook and the primary content exchange platforms.
I think it is hilarious that the huge wedges of cash put by Lord Ashcroft or Unite into the Tory and New War Criminal blogging propaganda arms cannot see off this old chap with his ancient laptop.
The internet remains a great leveller, and that remains reason to hope.
Inept – a person who cannot ditinguish between nouns
Eg Comment vs Commentator
VINDICTIVE?
.. Or spell distinguish.
Lol give yourself a second chance on this one again:
comment [ˈkɒmɛnt]
n
1. a remark, criticism, or observation
2. talk or gossip
3. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) a note explaining or criticizing a passage in a text
4. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) explanatory or critical matter added to a text
vb
1. (when intr, often foll by on; when tr, takes a clause as object) to remark or express an opinion
2. (Literary & Literary Critical Movements) (intr) to write notes explaining or criticizing a text
[from Latin commentum invention, from comminiscī to contrive, related to mens mind]
commenter n
SEE THE LAST LINE?
Commenters make comments.
Commentators give commentaries.
Get it!
Jeeze, did you have to cut and paste the whole bloody page? Besides, those aren’t my comments. Someone called Ghandi posted under my name.
PS – this is also a commentary. Now do you get that?
I quite often disagree with what you say and even more often with what seems to be the consensus among your contributors. But I am always impressed with your intelligence and how well-informed you are, and also you are extremely articulate and witty. Just cut out the remarks about Rooney.
@mary, thanks; nevermind, great idea, set up some fireworks!
@Conjunction: consensus? You didn’t read the immigration thread, then? 😉
@Jay:
I’ll assume that’s not rhetorical! I think challenging media power is the single biggest obstacle to sustainable global social justice. So, more funding into media criticism, more groups like MediaLens (all taking a slightly different perspectives/motivation, perhaps) and more organisations like Glasgow Media Group. More Paul Foot Awards too and the like, and of course more establishment whistleblowers.
The money available for the above is limited, so challengers would have to operate on a shoestring, out of raw principle. Such financial support would have to come from private philanthropy, since the Lottery mightn’t touch it.
Oh yes, and of course groups willing to shine a light into some very dark corners, so WikiLeaks. Other similar groups may also set themselves up – and all power to them – but establishing the necessary trust with potential leakers is very hard.
It is only a year since we could not muster enough representation to stop ‘our’ Home Office from sending the Malyshevs – an Uzbek mother and son who sought asylum here escaped, from one of the worst regimes on the planet; RIGHT BACK to Uzbekistan, where they were immediately dissappeared on return…
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2011/10/where-are-the-malyshevs/
But of the many Triumphs, i loved reading Shillings getting told where to shove their various legal threats, its hillarious.
Craig, keep on keeping on. Thankyou for all the news and the exceptional opportunity to share in the thoughts of an exceptional man.
Congratulations from…Scotland Craig…i have commented before that your blog is the first place i come to..when i fire up my p.c…. it does depress me though how many of my friends just dont want to know whats being done in thier name…so its great to see you have so many followers..You, and your commenters…are surely the best in the world
Keep ’em coming….
Depression is only a state of mind….
Congratulations from Oz…
Craig who…?
Congratulations to Craig, and to all the contributors that make this blog what it is.
It can seem so pointless at times, like when link after link on this site confirms something which the corporate media just ignore. It can seem like trying to be heard above a cacophony, like all the effort makes no difference and is just a waste of time and energy. So I really appreciate ebuzzing’s ranking; this is just the encouragement I needed to return to the moderator’s interface.
Jon, thanks for your extra effort while I was Doune the Rabbit Hole!
Thats a beautiful post Clark….Somewhat Poetic Words..a couple of my friends were doune the hole…i’m going next year..hope its the same location…Great work those Biker Dudes are doing up there
Brian Mount Fujisan, Doune the Rabbit Hole was excellent, the best time I’ve had in years. I was hoping to meet some of the people who comment here, but it seems there was only myself and Craig. Duncarron is a lovely site, but it has its drawbacks, particularly the limited space available for pitching tents, and some locals who don’t like hearing the music. If the festival is to get bigger, or if the music isn’t to stop at 11 pm, another site may be needed.
Congratulations Craig and all who help and comment, from a really old bloke in Oz.
Robbo
If you enjoy this page and haven’t yet read ‘Murder in Samarkand’ get on with it – it’s a page-turner and an eye-opener. Craig Murray is a hero.
Col Richard Kemp (warmonger and killer of brown skinned people) helpfully reminds us of the date. Vile.
http://twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=ColRichardKemp
2h Richard Kemp @ColRichardKemp
RT @RickMoore Our British friends. God bless ’em. @ColRichardKemp 9/11 American National Anthem Buckingham Palace: http://youtu.be/xwrX-LN9-L0
2h Richard Kemp @ColRichardKemp
@michelelfrost @KurtSchlichter Thank you for saying so Ma’am.
2h Richard Kemp @ColRichardKemp
RT Col @KurtSchlichter Thanks to our UK friends for standing beside us when needed! RT @ColRichardKemp: 11th anniversary of 9/11.
2h Richard Kemp @ColRichardKemp
We have long fought and I hope will always fight shoulder to shoulder. @KurtSchlichter
Everything is OK in the end. If it isn’t OK it’s not the end. Keep attacking.
The only time I have ever seen you depressed is when we run out of whisky !
Kudos mate…
Do bears etc…?
Do governments lie?
Does the media carry those lies?
US ‘hushed up’ Soviet guilt over Katyn
Those killed were officers and other members of the Polish elite
Russia publishes Katyn archives
Remembering Katyn, 70 years later
New evidence appears to back the idea that the Roosevelt administration helped cover up Soviet guilt for the 1940 Katyn massacre of Polish soldiers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19552745
As you quite rightly point out Craig ‘The internet remains a great leveller, and that remains reason to hope.’
My little blog seeking the truth about Dr Kelly’s death has a miniscule readership in comparison with yours but the important thing for me is getting all the available information out there. By the end of this week I should have written 200 posts … with plenty more to come!
The mainstream media might largely dance to the government’s tune but it is the internet that they must be truly scared of. So more power to your elbow in shining a light into so many murky corners.
The other Mr Murray managed to find his Rolex in time for the presentations. LOL.
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/tennis/world-watches-on-as-murray-takes-time-out-to-satisfy-sponsors-20120911-25prk.html
Craig, please keep taking the happy pills or whatever it is you need to keep this blog going.
I miss it dreadfully when you go off-air for strange and lengthy gaps!!
Good news – well done. I’ve been reading your blog for years and occasionally commenting. I don’t always agree with you but you are always interesting. Yours is definitely one of my favorite websites.
As another old man gazing in ever increasing bewilderment at a world he no longer understands, I sympathise with you Craig. Of course, I have to agree that grumpy old men like me never did fit in that well in any society that changes constantly, where age no longer, rightly, has any particular reason in itself to demand respect or acknowledgement of wisdom…..and yet, surely age does have some virtue, as one’s long-lived perspective provides the wisdom to differentiate between fashionable dogma and sober intelligence, and perhaps rather more simply, between telling the truth and lying. Your experience and your understanding, Craig, allied to your own sensibility as to the frailties of human existence, including your own, and to the fact that you are now a self-reliant outsider, really does give you a unique place in helping others learn to look at present events through a different and enlightening resource. Keep up the good work.
“British Foreign Policy”
“Out of 193 countries currently recognised by the UN, Britain has invaded 158. That’s 82 per cent.”
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?s=c6f293a855d704d2514732f69a5c80c4&showtopic=19490&hl=
Conall (11 Sep, 10:52 am), Craig’s extended breaks from blogging are because he is so busy writing his book about Alexander Burnes. Craig was telling me about this at the Doune the Rabbit Hole festival; he said that it is using up most of his time, that it’s the most demanding thing he has ever written, and that he wants it to be an authoritative, scholarly work, suitable as reference material. Consequently, he has been travelling extensively in search of original sources. He has already been to, at least, the British Library, India, and Afghanistan, and after the festival he was off to another part of Scotland, camping for several days whilst researching original manuscripts at a library.
And Craig doesn’t take the “happy pills”, preferring to experience the full range of his emotions; we see the results here! I agree; “stability” is over-rated.
@Frazer, heh! Amongst others I am currently stocked with Talisker Distiller’s Edition 2000 – am a fan of peaty ones generally – and Jameson’s Redbreast Single Pot Still, which is very smooth for the price. No danger of me running out any time soon 🙂
Clark, did Craig get a chance to do a talk on the Assange affair?
Jon, I don’t think Craig gave a talk at the festival, but we did talk to some people about Assange. One of the traders had a van painted with the Wikileaks logo etc., marked “Wikileaks Information Collection Unit – TOP SECRET!”. I got my face painted like the Anonymous mask, and went around telling people the sequence of events in Sweden. Lots of people said they could smell a stitch-up, but they’d never seen nor heard the story in full. Most of the festival-goers were 20 to 30 years old, and I found distrust of the corporate media to be close to 100%.