Coleridge Conservatives' blog highlights from 2009

The turn of the year seems to provide the top national bloggers with an excuse for some introspective blogging about blogging, so this year Coleridge Conservatives are indulging in our own review of 2009.

There were 124% extra unique visitors in 2009 over 2008, when the blog began. We made 212 posts, which is broadly equivalent to the 188 in the ten months of the previous year that the blog was running.

We're being kept on our toes in Cambridge by Richard Normington's blog, which has thrived since moving to its own site with 196 posts in 2009 and now by our new PPC, Nick Hillman, whose blog is updated most days. Both blogs are highly recommended.

The top ten most visited posts from 2009 were:

1. Andy on a Latest Graffiti Outbreak by 'Melon'.
   The city was plagued by graffiti from 'Melon' AKA 'ATS' last year, initially apparently concentrated around Coleridge and Romsey. The commenter on this thread was admiring the artwork; it's almost tempting to agree, but when every single cabinet, road sign and booth in an area bears the tags it does start to look a bit shabby...
   
   
2. Chris Reviewing the case for the Guided Bus.
   Some of the traffic was driven to this page by a link from flat.earth cast.iron's anti-guided bus page, as you can tell from the comments - single issue action groups often pile in like this. All visitors are welcome!
   
   
3. Chris on the Runners and Riders for June 4th's Cambridgeshire County Council elections.
   Thanks to Chris for an interesting summary of the chances of the hopeful candidates from the city. Some of us were surprised when we read a rumour that City Cllr Colin Rosenstiel had been selected to fight Market Division for the Lib Dems, but it turned out not to be true... or did the Lib Dems change their minds in private after his censure by the standards committee? It will be interesting to see if Colin stands again for the city council in May. One to watch.
   
   
4. Grafton Centre M+S store to close.
   
   
5. Exclusive: Folk Festival Fiasco – Second financial calamity hits Council.
   
   
6. Residents' Parking Rejected by Blinco Area.
   So good Labour used the text verbatim for their own blog post before editing it a bit. The Lib Dems are still trying to push for this unpopular scheme despite its rejection by the public.
   
   
7. Blog Exclusive: What's all this then.
   First with the news on what appeared to be the latest exploit of a certain city councillor. Thanks to the commuter for sending us the photograph!
   
   
8. Tesco Approved on Leisure Park.
   This application didn't turn out to be as controversial as the application for Mill Road, despite Labour trying to cash in on the NMRT momentum - the cases were clearly not comparable.
   
   
9. Cambridge Cycling Campaign Strategy Day.
   Coleridge Conservatives are strong supporters of cycling in Cambridge but don't buy into the car versus cycle dualism to which some people in both lobbies try to reduce the arguments.
   
   
10. Folk Festival Report is Truly Shocking.
    Subsequently Chris found himself on the enquiry into the fiasco - the rest of us await the outcome of the enquiry with interest.
    

Meanwhile, over at the 'Coleridge Labour Update' blog there hasn't been an update for a whole four months now...