A Century

This is my 100th post. Since I started blogging on 8th April, 208 days ago, that is almost but not quite a post every other day. As I've had several long and blog-free holidays in that period that's not to bad a record.

Blogging has replaced my previous hobby, which in pre-blog days was studying French. Many older people seem to suffer from insomnia, which seems to take two forms: those who go to bed but can't get to sleep, and those who drop of easily but wake up very early. Thankfully I fall into the second category and, rather than waste time tossing and turning and trying to get back to sleep again, I get up and do something useful but undemanding. For over ten years the undemanding routine was to attempt a few French language exercises, revise a few pages of my French vocabulary book and conjugate a few irregular verbs. Now all that has been put to one side and instead I blog.

Friends ask me how I feel about the fact that possibly no-one is reading it. Obviously some people do since there are occasional comments, and I'm grateful to Chris and Jaime for regular contributions. I have not signed up to one of those systems that tell you how many "hits" you've had. My only guide is the number of "views" of my profile. This has now topped 300, although some of these are me looking to check the total, and obviously many of them may not have looked at the blog more than once. However, although I'd appreciate a wide audience (and being quoted by LibDem Voice)I'm happy to regard the blog as a diary of opinions which happens to be available to the public.

I stand by my first post written during the election campaign, which deplored the fact that all three major parties took the idea of a financial crisis as a given, that this is nonsense (and still is) and that the Tories are using it as a heaven-sent opportunity to roll back the state. I remain bewildered and dismayed that the Liberal Democrats, heirs to the party of Beveridge and Keynes, have fallen for this ploy