LISTEN carefully — there are instructions associated with this particular blogpost: just make sure you press “play” and read the post while the music’s playing. You’ll understand what I mean when you hear it. Honestly, the effort I go to for you lot…

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Introducing my Top Ten Blogs, as submitted to the Total Politics Blog Poll 2009:

And kicking off this year’s Top Ten, at Number 10, it’s Scottish Unionist, who is still keeping the (Union) flag flying and winding up nationalists on a daily basis. Okay, I admit that’s not difficult, but SU does it with enthusiasm and style.

At Number 9 we have the “citizen legislator” himself, Tory MP Douglas Carswell, whose blog rarely features anything I agree with but is well-written, succinct and consistent. Totally bonkers, of course, but a good read (and if Douglas chooses to use any quote of mine as an endorsement, guess which bit of that last sentence will be edited out…?)

At Number 8, Hopi Sen’s A blog from the backroom, one of the classiest and best-written blogs around. I don’t always agree with his analysis (though a touch more than I do with Douglas Carswell’s…) but it’s always well reasoned. He’s dead brainy, is Hopi.

At Number 7 it’s Alastair Campbell. Too much about soccerball for my liking, but as well written as you would expect and as sound as a pound politically.

In at Number 6 it’s another parliamentary colleague, Kerry McCarthy, with Fun and Japes With Veganism Shot By Both Sides. Really well written and relevant, Kerry is one of the best political bloggers around.

Sadie’s Tavern is at Number 5 and could never conceivably have been left out of my Top Ten. She just makes me laugh every time I visit her blog. Totally brilliant.

There’s no such thing as a Top Ten list of political blogs that doesn’t include Iain Dale’s Diary, which is my Number 4. Love him or loathe him, Iain has defined political blogging in the UK. Frankly, I probably wouldn’t be blogging if it weren’t for the example Iain has set over the years.

Jeff Breslin of SNP Tactical Voting is my Number 3. Though Scottish nationalism is utterly odious to me, his blog is a great read: pithy, clever and occasionally wise. Probably the best political blog in Scotland.

Just missing my top spot is Dizzy Thinks. Okay, so he’s a Tory, but he’s done more than most to persuade us that blogging can be a serious form of journalism. His tireless efforts to scan lists of EDMs and parliamentary written answers put many mainstream journalists to shame and he regularly comes up with some political nuggets. Wish he was on our side…

And at Number 1 (are you still hitting that “play” button?) it’s a new entry: the totally brilliant Blackburn Labour. These guys really ought to get a day job, but until they do, long may they continue providing some great entertainment. They make having a go at the Tories look like fun — a precious commodity in the Labour Party these days. If the only post they did in the last year was the Tory logo generator, that alone would have been enough for them to grab the top spot.

Remember — you have until the end of this week to submit your own personal Top Ten blogs. You can vote here. And don’t be swayed by any shameless appeals by self-publicising egotistical MPs to vote for them.

So that’s it for another year. These are simply my personal favourite blogs, the ones I read most often. I’ve tended to exclude those which aren’t updated all that often and those written by professional journalists on their media organisations’ websites; my view is that voting for the likes of Ben Brogan in this poll is akin to playing David Beckham in a Sunday league football game.

Okay, you can switch the music off now.