A while ago I realised it was likely that my total reads on this blog in 2016 would exceed those in 2015. That actually happened earlier this month. That realisation did, however, kick in the chartered accountant in me. Although having two million reads in a year is a totally arbitrary goal I admit it became one I wanted to achieve. I did, this morning, with just 36 hours to spare. The stats now look like this:
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to that total. In many ways it feels like a fitting conclusion to what I consider to have been the campaigning part of my career now that it has started a new, academic, phase. The blog will, however continue. I was never funded to write or publish it: it has always been something I have thought I have done in my time. And that's the way it will be in 2017 as well.
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Congratulations Richard. You are my go to read whever I am in the world and will continue to be so.
Thank you
You have escaped the fate of all to many single-issue campaigners: decreasing relevance as they turn ever inward.
Chalk that up to adaptability, engaging with the public in a genuinely two-way process, and actually having something relevant to say.
Also: did you *ever* dodge a bullet, avoiding becoming too closely associated with, or affiliated to, the Labour ‘Party’.
Thanks
And I did dodge party politics – but remain entirely happy to talk
2017 will be the year in which the the most effective political actors are the people who master the arts of non-party and non-partisan engagement.
You are very well placed for this.
It is also the year in which you, and your blogs, and anyone close to you, become a target worth hacking, doxxing, blackmailing and smearing in the media: start using Signal, start using encrypted and cryptographically-signed correspondence; speak to Charlie Stross (Science Fiction author, runs a moderated blog that maintains useful and interesting discussions despite offending a very active online presence of alt-right trolls and libertarians) and feel free to tell him “Nile suggested seeking your advice”.
But what am I hiding?
If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear, citizen!
So that’s all right, then.
Curious fact about all these statistics on ‘reads’ and ‘views’. None of them ever state how many people have understood.