… Or something of the sort.

There are two very good reasons why this blog has not been updated since 6th April 2010:

1. I was incredibly busy with the general and local election campaigns so had no time to post anything of worth that hadn’t already been mentioned elsewhere in the blogsphere.
2. I am now recovering from yet another hip operation. As is the case with these things a fair amount of pain is involved and I’m therefore on high level prescription pain killers which effects my ability to concentrate and therefore write meaningful articles.

However, fear not, Green’s Diary is only on sabbatical and full service will return just as soon as I’m recovered enough. Obviously with such major surgery taking place, I have more things to worry about than running a blog.

When it returns in it’s fullness, GD will be changing form slightly. Instead of just being a political blog that focusses almost entirely on politics I will write about other subjects as well so that it will become a bit more of a true “Green’s Diary” than the current form.

The Green Show will also recommence. I trialled a few episodes of this a while ago using the Audioboo application on the iPhone and it proved to be incredibly simple to use. I’m looking to develop this podcast further and more details will be available soon.

I’ll be making a few changes to the blog’s interface, but nothing major. The first change is already in place and it means you can now log in with Facebook, Twitter, Google,etc. to post a comment. This is a very easy way to verify you are who you say you are and saves you having to create yet another account just for this blog.

I expect to restart blogging around September time, so don’t go far away from your screen.

For those of you who still make their way to this blog via the address, toryboynews.co.uk, you will, from 8th March, need to re-point your browsers directly to greensdiary.co.uk as toryboynews.co.uk will cease to exist.

Tory Boy News is the former name of Green’s Diary, but was retired a while ago when the name changed to Green’s Diary. From this coming Monday, toryboynews.co.uk will no longer point to this blog and all links via toryboynews.co.uk will cease to work.

So, after a few delays, the new interface is finally here. I spent yesterday evening putting it up and I think you’ll agree the interface looks a lot cleaner and Greener!

Looks pretty much the same I hear you chanting. Well, yes, the layout is the same, I’ve just tweaked the graphics and changed the colours a bit.

However, that’s not it. If you’re one of the growing number of people who read this blog on your mobile device you will have noticed that there is now a mobile version of the site. For Iphone users, there is a fully functioning version of the whole site and for other mobile readers, there is a cut down version, which for now just includes the blog. What’s more, there’s no special address for the mobile site, the website will automatically detect what device you have and the relevant version will be downloaded for you.

As ever, if you have any comments on the blog, in particular comments on the new look, then please do email me or post in the comments section. Thanks to all of you who have already joined the new Facebook page and remember that you can follow my Twitter updates by pointing your browser to twitter.com/greensdiary

Frequent visitors to this site will have noted the lack of postings since the beginning of November. The main reason for this is simply not having enough time to produce read-worthy articles. Running a daily blog requires a lot of time and effort especially when covering subjects which I do not have a wealth of knowledge on.

As a result i decided to stop blogging for a while in order to focus on university. However, in this election year, I feel that now is the time to return to the blogsphere. I’ll not be posting everyday nor will I be commenting on every story. Green’s Diary is not a breaking news service, there’s already far too many of those in existence.
What GD does offer is commentary and analysis of politics both in the UK and further afield. I am a Conservative and this blog exists to promote Conservatism and so I will naturally be biased in what I write. sphere

As we approach the general election, I’ll be posting updates of campaigns in the target seats where I am campaigning for change. I’ll also be looking at the activities of the other parties and examing what their policies would mean for the country.
With all that has happened in politics over the last year, we stand now in interesting times where politics and politicians are having to make changes. Parliament has seen a large undermining with the expenses scandal and now it is important that we embrace the change necessary to rebuild our political institutions.

I hope that over the next few months Green’s Diary will be able to offer good quality analysis of political events, hopefully providing a view on stories not necessarily evident in the main stream media.

Green’s Diary officially relaunches with an updated look on Monday. The site will be down on Sunday evening whilst the new interface is uploaded.

You can follow My Twitter updates by clicking here and you can join the Facebook page by clicking here

The image above shows October’s most popular word on Green’s Diary to be ‘recession’. October was the month where we learned Britain is in the deepest and longest recession since records began – another tag line for the Labour government to add to their incredibly long list of proud moments of governance.

Here on Green’s Diary, it’s been a record month with over 131,000 visits during October. That’s the most I have ever had and beats last month’s previous record of 126,000. Many thanks to all my readers for continuing to visit the site. As ever – any ideas for improving the blog are welcome, just email them editor@greensdiary.co.uk

To keep right up to date with the latest form the blog and other interesting snippets I pick up, you can follow my Twitter feed.

November promises to be an exciting month for politics with a by-election in Glasgow North East on 12th and of course, those monthly employment figures which will continue to rise. As ever, Green’s Diary will cover all the major stories. This is a political commentary blog, not a breaking news blog. I’m not first with the news, but then that’s not the purpose of this website.

Activity on the blog will be quiet this week as I have a busy week at University.
I hope to return to the fold by Friday.

Fresher’s week has begun and Glasgow university is getting back into the way of it all. Consequently, I shall have slightly less time on my hands and as such will not necessarily be able to post as regularly as I want to be able to.

However, I have the technology and the capabilities to post whilst mobile so I will do my best to ensure that this blog is kept up to date with the latest from the world of politics.

If you are a new reader of Green’s Diary, then welcome! You may want to follow my Twitter updates where you can get links to blog posts. You may also want to join the Green’s Diary group on Facebook.

If you are a returning reader after your summer holidays then welcome back! With an election next year and a by-election coming up in Glasgow North East put together with a government completely incapable of running the country without doing damage ther’s certainly going to be plenty to write about.

I’m not going away anywhere this year, but I’m still taking my annual week away from the busy world where I don’t blog, take phone calls or do emails (unless it’s urgent).

That week is now and so between now and 12th August I will not be posting here unless a big story breaks which I will of course cover.

Normal service will resume 1 week from now.

Just a gentle reminder that you have until midnight tomorrow to vote for your favourite blogs in the Total Politics best blogs poll 2009.

To vote for my blog, all you need do is write a list with me at the the top followed by nine others of your favourite political blogs and then email the list with your name to toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com

Thanks to anyone who has already voted for this blog.

The only posts on this blog over the last 2 weeks have been auto posts showing the week’s Twitter updates. The reason for this is pretty simple really. I’ve been too busy to focus on the blog.

I work long shifts at a hotel and don’t get the opportunity to blog mid shift and when I haven’t been working, I’ve been busy sorting things in my flat as I have a new flatmate and there was new furniture to purchase and then construct which is a novel in itself. I have also been building a website for Glasgow University Conservatives, which will be live in a week from now.

In-between all that I seem to have completely forgotten about the Norwich North by-election. All I had time for was a quick Tweet, but no results service.

Anyways, I now have the flat in a reasonable condition and so I can return to the blogsphere. Looking around at other blogs, I haven’t missed a great deal which is not surprising given we are now in the middle of holiday season.

So with three weeks away from the world of politics, not a lot has changed. The government is still in meltdown, we have even more bizarre ideas from Osborne on how to mend the economy and that’s about it really. There’s no change in the polls and so there really isn’t much to say.

This has made me think what would I have blogged if I had been writing posts of the last few weeks? The honest answer is I’m not too sure.

I now have just 28 days until I am due to go into hospital for what is becoming annual surgury on my hip. This time it’s being described as mjaor with a reasonable chance of nerve damage in my leg. Past experience of the NHS does not fill me with the greatest of confidence, but then again I can’t afford to go private so the only other option is a hip replacement, which at my age is not a great prospect.

I know guest articles are not new to the blogsphere. Up until now, I have not had them here as this is my personal blog that expresses my opinions and not other people’s views. However, I have had a few messages over the last little while asking if I am going to invite readers to submit articles for publication.

As we are now approaching the summer months where there is traditionally not a huge amount of news, I thought it would be a good time to perhaps allow some of you to have your articles published on Green’s Diary. So, if you have a burning issue on your mind, or just want to write an article on any reasonable topic, then please email it to me and if I get enough response then I may just publish a few over the summer months.

Your article does not have to be politically related, nor does it have to agree with my opinions. It should not exceed 1,000 words and must not be offensive otherwise I will not publish it.

Also, I plan to run a ‘guest blog’ feature over the summer. If you want me to take a look at your blog and feature it in a review here, then please also email me with a link to your blog. I’ll take a look round, read a few articles and then write a review here.

P.s. I reserve the right to edit submitted articles if I deem it necessary.

Join me here this evening for live election coverage of the European elections 2009.
There will be a graphical ‘scoreboard’ at the top of the blog with the latest results and further news and gossip below that.

I have no idea what the national pattern will look like, but in my local area the verification of ballots on Friday revealed supprisingly high BNP votes in a couple of wards. The Tories will get the highest vote share, but UKIP’s results will be interesting.
I expect the average turnout to be about 31%.
Will Labour finish in 4th place? Probably not, but they will finish 3rd. Gordon will not be out the woods, he has to face the PLP tomorrow.

Anyway, remember to point your browser here from 9pm tonight for full coverage of results as they come in.

It’s that time of year again and exams are once again about to commence. For this reason there will be limited and irregular posting here until 12th May when my exams are over.

Rest assured, there will be full coverage of the Scottish Conservatives conference in Perth on 14th and 15th May.

In the meantime I encourage you to sign a petition calling on the Prime Minister to resign. It got 10,000 ‘signatures’ wthin the first day. You can sign it by following this link: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/please-go/

Stewartgreen.org.uk is my personal website where you can find out more information about me which is separate from the blog. It is currently in the development stage, however it can be accessed by pointing your browser to www.stewartgreen.org.uk

Please be aware that there may be some outages on this website over the next 48 hours as I am changing servers. It should all work fine, but if there are any problems then you’ll know why.

UPDATE: server change is now complete but has caused some major problems

UPDATE: all running smoothly now please let me know if you come across any problems (webmasterATgreensdiaryDOTcoDOTuk)

This may come as quite a surprise to many who see me as a staunch right wing Tory, but for the foreseeable future I will not be buying or reading the Daily Telegraph.

This is not a snap decision I have made, nor is it a moment of madness. It is something I have been considering for quite some time. I have always read the Telegraph from the day I began reading newspapers whilst at school and at that time it was unquestionably the best daily newspaper on the market. It’s news reporting was unrivalled and it’s comments and letters section simply fantastic. However, over the course of the last few years, ever since Charles Moore was axed as editor there has been a marked decrease in the standard of the Telegraph.

The News reporting is now very wishy washy and the coverage of ‘big’ stories has been minimised by the ever increasing use of huge pictures to account for the lack of real textual analysis of the story. Further to this is the feeding and planting of pro government stories that all too often mysteriously make the front page in one way or another. The latest example of this came on Saturday when the lead story in the Telegraph was trying to play down the significance of the Tory Smear emails. When you look into it a bit further, the person who wrote the story is Andrew Porter, the Telegraph’s lobby correspondent who is a regular drinking buddy of no less than Damian McBride. This level of journalism is sickening. The Daily Telegraph is a broadsheet and it is a broadsheet for a reason. It is not meant to be some kind of celebrity magazine or daily photo wall. It is meant to be a high quality newspaper for people with high levels of intellect.

At one time it was referred to the ‘Daily Torygraph’ for it’s ridiculously over the top support for the Conservative Party. Since the arrival of David Cameron as leader, the Telegraph has led a vicious campaign against him and his leadership. At first I agreed with a fair amount of it, however over time I, unlike the Telegraph came to the realisation that anything is better than the current government so it’s best we support Cameron. In fairness to Mr Cameron, he has matured into the role over time and much of the early uncertainty about him has been put aside. That is in most circles, accept for the Telegraph who for one reason or another refuse to support him and seemingly the Conservatives.

The comment section of the Telegraph was often a section where on a particularly busy day I only read that and not all the main news items, but here again there is a marked change. Charles Moore used to have a prime spot on the comment pages and he has now been shifted to the bottom right page away from the eye line. The same fate has fallen upon Philip Johnson and Ian Martin, all of whom are intelligent people who dared to go against the official line. Rachel Sylvester was one of the best commentators the Telegraph had. She left about the same time as the quality of other commentators decreased. We now have ‘new age’ feminists such as Bryonny Phillips writing the notebook column where she waffles away for a while about not a lot. Boris Johnson still writes in an entertaining format, but he is constrained to talk about London Mayor things and nothing else (presumably for fear of being in support of the Conservatives).

Simon Heffer is another ‘feature’ of the Telegraph I have come to despise. He used to write fairly agreeable articles about the Conservatives and Cameron, much of which I agreed with. However, Cameron has moved on and now has much better advisers around him which shows in his leadership style. The thing that annoys me is that most of us have stopped speaking out against Cameron because he has changed. Simon Heffer on the other hand in his infinite wisdom of arogance refuses to admit he was wrong and so continues to write complete and utter rantings against Cameron and the Conservative Party. For this he has lost much of his former credibility and continues  to do so.

I have also found myself disagreeing with the editorials. Now, it’s not one person who writes the editorials and they are never by-lined, but it was no surprise when I found out that Simon Heffer had become an associate editor of the paper about the same time as I first started not agreeing with the editorials. Coincidence? I think not.

Then there is the letters. Again, these are still good, but it is clear that an awful amount of filtering and editing of letters goes on. I know of several people who have had letters published which, as a result of the extent to which they have been edited conveys an entirely different message to the one they were trying to broadcast. Surprise surprise I find next to no letters in support of the Conservatives or it’s leadership. Coincidence? I think not.

The price of the Daily Telegraph also has to come into consideration. When I first started reading the paper it was 40p an issue. It is now 90p and what an earth am I getting for that extra 50p? Nothing more, just less. It’s a disgrace and it’s no wonder that the Times has overtaken the Telegraph in circulation figures.

The Court Circular page is being pushed further and further back as are the obituaries. Eventually they might just ‘accidently’ drop off the back page. When that happens the Telegraph may as well stop printing.

Finally and perhaps most worryingly of all is the chat I heard a few days ago. Apparently, according to one of the directors of the Telegraph Media group, the newspaper is undecided as to whether it will be supporting Brown or Cameron at the general election next year. For the Telegraph, that is a complete disgrace and they should hang their heads in complete shame for neglecting the views of their core readership.

The Daily Telegraph must sort itself out. I feel a tinge of sadness writing this post as it’s something I never thought I would have to do, but when a newspaper goes against just about everything you stand for, one cannot continue to buy it and continue regardless. Action is necessary and that is why I will from now on be reading the Times.

You may have read in my Twitter feed last week that I was working on a little feature for the website which shows the latest opinion poll data. This is now live and you can see it on the right of the screen. It is of course a working progress and the graphics in particular will continue to be worked on.

Exciting news for all readers of Green’s Diary! From now on you can access this website and blog from either of the following web addresses:

www.greensdiary.co.uk

www.stewartgreen.org.uk

Please update your bookarks as the original (toryboynews.co.uk) will no longer be used soon.

Since this website was set up in it’s current form back in March 2008, there have been 130995 hits. That’s 16349 visitors and 3034 unique visitors. This is a great start for this blog and I hope to build on this during 2009.

Please spread the ‘word’ about this blog by inviting your friends to join the Facebook group, follow me on Twitter or add the site to your blogroll.

Some other interesting stats and facts:

common search terms:

• haltemprice result
• haringey
• what happened to tbn

interesting search terms:

• election result uk c-rew
• local election results in thurrock since 1992
• john tess tbn
• wordpress google news unavailable

• 50.7% of visitors added the blog to their favorites/bookmarks
• most popular day of the week was Friday
• most popular between 4-6pm and 10pm-midnight
• most hits from country outside EU was Argentina, closely followed by China

Over the Christmas period, there will be less posting on the blog. It tends to be a quieter time in the news anyway and also there has to be a break at some points. Of course if there’s a big story developing then I’ll be right here with the latest.

I hope you all have a very happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.