Cleaning out my (virtual) closet

I hate throwing anything away. Let’s face it, one day that left-handed screwdriver might be precisely what I’m looking for! I’m as reluctant to throw virtual things away as I am to dump real things.

But my Bloglines RSS reader is taking a right caning tonight.

My Psychos folder: gone! Six blog feeds and six sets of comment feeds (at least two of the authors write their own comments under a string of pen names), gone. The authors of all six blogs are clearly deranged special; I’ve been keeping an amused eye on them for some time but that word there – time – has become so unforgiving that it no longer allows me to read them. Whoosh, all gone.

Also gone is the feed for Nick Hornby’s blog. Those who know how I worship at the feet of the Blessed Nick Hornby will raise a quizzical eyebrow (they have just the one between them, eyebrows are rationed you know!) at this. But the reason I’ve let this one go is simple; despite the title it carries, it isn’t a true blog. If a reader is unable to correspond, is denied the opportunity to make a contribution then whatever else it may be, it isn’t  a blog. And as much as I truly love Nick Hornby, I don’t like the idea of an online diary masquerading under the false description of a blog. Whoosh, gone.

Joining the ranks of the virtually disappeared this evening is the Dave Hill London Blog which comes from guardian.co.uk. I’ve only been reading it for a couple of weeks and the totally inwards-looking attitude sucks. But even this nastiness has an extra special flavour of bitterness – it carries a nasty taste of Londonism. Or as someone from Tyneside might call it, exclusionism. Where, I want to know, is the Liverpool Blog from guardian.co.uk? Or the Birmingham Blog? Yes, I know that London is (for better or worse) the administrative centre of England, it is also almost the administrative centre of Wales and even less of the administrative centre for Scotland. I know these things, really I do. But Dave Hill’s London Blog is not a London Blog. There are many blogs out there written by people who live or work in London that tell the reader far more about the place than Dave Hill’s London Blog – for Dave Hill’s London Blog isn’t a London Blog. No, it’s actually a London Political Blog. And not a very good one at that. The content is very poor. Not badly written mind you, just exceptionally awful content. But if we set aside this one (crippling) fault, the implied nature of having – in the UK News section (get that! The UK News section!) of The Guardian Online – a web property that describes itself as Dave Hill’s London Blog, well, it automatically makes me want to ask when will Dave Hill’s Coventry Blog be arriving? Because folks – believe it or not – London isn’t the only place in the UK. The relationship between Dave Hill’s London Blog and the ‘News’ section of The Guardian is most peculiar, especially so given the woefully lacklustre content – which I can only describe as having delusions of adequacy. Yes, I do have a bit of a thing about Dave Hill’s London Blog, as you might be able to tell. Still, the situation isn’t completely lost. Re-title the thing as Dave Hill’s Blog about Boris Johnson, move it out of the News hierarchy and we’re almost there. We just need to improve the content a little and it might almost be worth reading. But no, time is a harsh mistress. Click, woosh, gone.

B.