Today is National Poetry Day, for which the theme is Dreams. You can read my previous NPD posts for 2004, 2005 and 2006.

With election preparations in full swing, I’ve not had much time to blog and have a growing backlog of posts to write (a backblog?). I’ve also only had a few minutes to spare to write my annual piece de resistance, which, as today is also International Bloggers’ Day for Burma, is on that subject – and quite short.

How do you solve a problem like Myanmar?

How can the West get real traction
Against a long-lived autocracy?
Diplomacy or military action?
Sanctions: buy none, get one free?

Should the UN be interventionist,
Demand the Junta cease and desist?
Will Russia’s and China’s reticence see
The prolonged house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi?

Whatever action we could be taking
Let’s at least be in favour of making
The UK Government’s commitment firmer
To democratic rule in a new, free Burma

Via Norfolk Blogger comes the news that Tony Benn’s granddaughter Emily has been selected by Labour to be their parliamentary candidate in East Worthing and Shoreham.

As I’ve noted before, my dad’s second cousin is married to Hilary Benn’s second cousin, so I guess I should add the latest political Benn to the diagram:

You’ll be relieved to hear that I, at least, have no plans to become a Labour MP.

Iain Dale’s Guide to Political Blogging in the UK (snappy title there, Iain) is out today, so Iain has posted up on his blog the top 100 Liberal Democrat blogs as voted for by a panel of LibDem bloggers – including this one. (Last year’s list was drawn up by Iain himself.)

No geek is an island is down one from 2006, at 13 – not bad given the relative sparsity of posts this year. Millennium Dome, Elephant leaps 70 places up to number 7, and Jonathan Calder, perennial runner-up in the party’s Blog of the Year Awards, takes a well-deserved first place.

The full list is here. (Via.)

I’m in Brighton for party conference, finally with a chance to blog. Been very busy putting videos online, running training sessions and, last night, at the Blog of the Year Awards. Congratulations to all the winners, and hello to the bloggers I met for the first time.

This morning, I had phone calls with a couple of people from the BBC about the awards, giving them background information about the awards, talking them through who won, and putting them in touch with Blogger of the Year James Graham.

There’s a maxim when dealing with journalists: always assume you’re on the record. As such, when I found myself unexpectedly quoted on the BBC website, it was a pleasant surprise. Reading back what I said, though, I do think I could perhaps have been a little more erudite when praising James – so let’s assume “slag off” was me being “spikey“…

Anyway, here is a lovely photo of myself and the winners, courtesy Alex Folkes/Fishnik.com.