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

4 new roads to the widow's world...*

How did you get here? Did you follow a link from another blog, from a blog aggregator, from Twitter or Facebook? Did use Blogger's "next blog" whilst viewing something else? Did you search for a particular story or item? Where you looking for an image? Or did you type "www.oneexwidow.blogspot.com" into your browser address bar?

Whatever you did, however you got here and whatever you're here for, welcome...

...and if you should choose to come back, there are now 4 more ways to find these pages:

www.oneexwidow.com , www.oneexwidow.co.uk, www.andrewcbrownuk.com and www.andrewcbrownuk.co.uk

In time, I hope to use these addresses in a more extensive fashion, but for now they are additional routes to the widow's world.

Andrew

*who says the coalition doesn't do infrastructure spending?!

Bristol and Blogs

This Blog is unashamedly fond of Bristol. It is, after all, a great city with fantastic urban art, varied architecture, lively bars and clubs (I'm told...), tea emporia, artisan coffee houses, various independent shops (and an independent Mayor).

 

It's a hub for creative industries, the home of Deal or No Deal and featured in Dirk Gently, Dr Who and (soon) Sherlock. It's home to one of the UK's (and the World's) top Universities and is a key centre for the Aerospace Industry.

 

It's a city of Festivals: from the Harbourside festival to the Balloon Fiesta, from Upfest to Brisfest. It's a vibrant, diverse city with a rich history of incomers enriching and developing its cosmopolitan culture.

 

It's the home of Wallace and Gromit, and the home of Banksy, Brunel and John Cabot. And it's my home.

 

Aside from the all the above, it is also the home of a great many blogs which, along with this one, are collected together on the Bristol Blogs aggregator site. Go and have a look - and if you're not local, be sure to put Bristol (as well as Bristol Blogs) on your "to visit" list!

 

Andrew