13 from 13... My most read posts of the year.

It's not been a vintage year for me, from a blogging point of view, but none the less, here's a Top Ten Thirteen of pieces written and read this year, based on Google Analytics' reading stats...

At 13 - and from all the way back in January - an Open Letter to Nick Clegg on Secret Courts.

In February the world was shocked at the murder of Oscar Pistorius' girlfriend and the idea that a superstar athlete could be a possible murderer... No one seemed interested in Reeva Steenkamp herself, or her family.

At numbers 11 and 10, another two pieces from January: first my review of the film of Les Misérables and, more seriously, an unusually personal piece in response to Steve Chalke's considered article on the Church's approach to the equal marriage debate.

In August, I was critical of the party leadership's response (or lack thereof) to the detention of David Miranda: it was a classic case of Too Little, Too Late.

NOW! That's What I Call A Tune, my still unfinished series of a song from each of the NOW! albums, scored a hit in January with number 65: Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars.

At 7; with the publication of the agenda for Lib Dem Conference, many were surprised to see a motion calling for default blocking of online porn... this was my response.

Next up, it's another unfinished series - A Journey Through Texas - which commenced in March with this review of their first album, Southside.

Back to politics and in May, Bristol Lib Dems were smarting after a bruising local election campaign - here was my raw response, although I was keen to accentuate the positive.

In August, I was accused by some of naivety over this piece... you can judge for yourself.

And so we reach the Top Three... Ooooh, the excitement!

In July, I took the party slogan and used it a basis for a couple of Twitter hashtags, which I still use occasionally - do feel free to follow course... 

In second place, the great Radio 4/World Service/Open University programme, More or Less, crunched the numbers on Gay Footballers, calculating the chances on there being none. It turned out the odds were very low. (Of course, since then, Robbie Rogers has come out - and is still playing, with a contract at LA Galaxy.)

But top of my list of pieces written this year: my review of Texas' new album, The Conversation.

So there you have it... my year in 13 posts as determined by you, the reader.

Andrew

2012: A Blogging Top 10 - Part 2

Here is the second part of my list of the most popular posts on my blog this year. As I noted yesterday, it reflects only those written and published over the course of 2012. Stats courtesy of Google Analytics.

At Number 6, some thoughts on The Voice UK. I'm not sure it lived up to it's initial promise - but the format still had a lot to recommend it.

Number 5 was another musical post, this time a review of a concert by del Amitri frontman, Justin Currie, at The Fleece in Bristol. It was a brilliant evening with a man completely at home on the stage, happy to banter with the audience and take requests. *Mental note to self: go to more concerts in 2013.*

Not quite making it to page (part) 3 of this run-down was piece in support of the campaign to persuade Dominic Mohan to end Page 3. This isn't a campaign about censorship - merely sense. Anyway, here is the post at Number 4 in the run-down - it's Not Safe For Work.

Andrew

2012: A Blogging Top 10 - Part 1

Here is a list of the most popular posts published on my blog this year. It excludes some of the perennially popular older posts and reflects only those written over the course of 2012. Stats courtesy of Google Analytics. Today, Numbers 10 to 7...

At Number 10, This review of JRR Tolkien's book, The Hobbit. I had read it as part of my 4-yearly programme of re-reading Tolkien's great works, although I have only just started with The Lord of the Rings, so my usual programme is somewhat out of synch.

Another book review makes it to Number 9, this time it's Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman, which I found interesting in concept but ultimately disappointing.

Next up, I suspect that including the words "gratuitous male nudity" in the blog-title of Sunday Sounds 48 may have helped its popularity...

Finally for this instalment of my year's top 10, at number 7, my review of The Amazing Spiderman: sadly it wasn't all that amazing....

Andrew