Mr Ireland admits that British bloggers have not made the same impact as their American peers but says that the gap between the two groups is closing. He believes that this year's general election is likely to accelerate the process.
My experience with Brits on the Internet leads me to believe this has more to do with the nature of the audience than with the bloggers.
Most Brits just don't seem that interested in politics, and those who do use the 'Net do so for amusement and/or companionship more than for information-gathering.
It's as though they use their computers as a sort of cyber pub where they can get together with their mates for a bit of a chinwag and some good-natured and npt-so-good-natured piss-taking.
To try and get anyone to talk about politics is like pulling hen's teeth.....ain't gonna happen.
is it really scalps bloggers are after, or just shaking the puzzle box until all the pieces fall together?
My experience of a year living in Britian is that Brits are far less caring about politics. Most grumble about the Labour Party but then end up voting for them anyway once they get in. Their attitude generally is that the two parties are so similar that it doesn't matter.
They've also seen to taken the big government excuses as facts. "If we had lower taxes, poor people would go hungry." "We have high gas taxes but it helps people from driving too much and contributing to global warming."
And the UK blog roll from Fistful of Euros:
Gee, really? I wasn't aware they'd left yet...
Y'all are slacking over there.
Guess they don't talk much about religion, either?
Do we really need a war between British and US conservatives?
I was going to comment more specifically, but the ramblings are just so far fetched that I wouldn't know where to start.
British and American conservatives have to a degree parted company. Our priorities are now quite different.
In Britain, we have some special priorities:
the sovereignty of our nation has been compromised and is further threatened;
our traditions and institutions are threatened;
our Conservative Party has been in opposition for many years;
immigration is uncontrolled;
we are seeing the advent of a police state; and
we are still threatened by the IRA.
There are some odd conflicts of interest at FreeRepublic. Some Freepers are supporting NORAID whilst otherwise preaching a "war on terrorism". I mailed the moderator about that and received no comment. How can a US Conservative board post a press release from a terrorist organisation and let it stand?
I'm also perplexed by the suggest at FreeRepublic that the Brits are very racists whereas the Yanks are not. That represents an interesting position when shown on a continuum: if the British are totally racist and the Yanks are totally non-racist, who sits in between?
Fortunately, outside Freeperland a large amount of goodwill exists between our two nations. And conservatives across national boundaries should work together.
http://www.sterlingtimes.com/
Bump