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I'm not the only one writing less often. Some of Scotland's best bloggers, like Malc in the Burgh, have become less frequent, although not as static as me. Others, though, like SNP Tactical Voting's Jeff, manage to keep posting continuously good material.

Part of the reason, for me, is Twitter, where the discussion is constant and lively - just this morning I sent a document through to a Labour MP about Portuguese drug policy, and got this positive reply.

But the short form isn't always right, and group blogs are in fashion, so Malc, Jeff & I have decided to work together as Better Nation, an ambitious title that will no doubt trip us up soon enough. I may still post here, typically the most vitriolic and partisan stuff that doesn't fit under such an optimistic masthead, but the good stuff will be there.

I'm on the panel, though - there will be a panel vote and a readers' vote, but no union block vote - so I think it might be best to state now that if kindly nominated, I will decline. For real.

"All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong, with moral questions; and betting naturally accompanies it."

He's a backgammon player, which I regard as the finest board game ever invented, and I'm certainly looking forward to beating him, ideally for money. But I cop it over chess. He disapprovingly cites my comment that: 

Thanks in particular to Jim, who made me blush spectacularly with these words. There are a fair few Green bloggers who I think do better work than me, and his is the best of those. I'd have asked for a recount if I'd beaten him.

But, as Jim asks in the comments to that piece, what about the others? There are some good Scottish Green blogs out there, and listed to the right (updated today), but there's nothing from our councillors, our branch convenors, or even any of our once and future MSPs. Even Patrick doesn't really blog, but he tweets enough to make up for it, and I don't think I'd recommend him trying to fit a blog into his schedule.

So bring on the competition. I'd love to keep doing what I'm doing and come way behind loads more active Green blogs. Get it together, folks. It's incredibly rewarding, especially on those occasions when people say to me "I saw that bit on your blog and I really agreed/disagreed because.. " That's better than any award. 

As you'll know if you read other political bloggers who haven't been on holiday, it's the season for shameless self-promotion. Iain Dale's Total Politics competition is on again, and in lieu of anything more democratic, it's become the de facto UK political blogging Olympics. 

Last year those who blog were all encouraged to tell everyone who we voted for, but this year the rules have changed and we're now not supposed to do so. It had become an "I'll vote for you if you vote for me" situation, as disreputable as a City remuneration committee.

The rules are here, incidentally, so do go and vote.

So, bloggers are not supposed to "list ten blogs you think your readers should vote for." I wouldn't presume, but I have finally worked out how to get Movable Type to include a blogroll, so if you want to know who I read, they're to the right. 

I will bend the rules slightly, though. Here are a few hearty recommendations for blogs I didn't vote for last time, three of which weren't around a year ago.

1. Jim Jepps' Daily (Maybe). Last year's top-ranked Green, and rightly so. Funny, passionate, open-minded and rigorous. 

2. Lallands Peat Worrier. Undoubtedly the Nats' best new blogger, not yet operational for six months, but already a definite fixture. The cod Enlightenment style may look pompous at first glance, but it's frequently hilarious and always shrewd. 

3. Yapping Yousuf. A great read from another thoughtful blogging newcomer. Could dial down the partisanship from time to time, but I'm well aware of my own glass house on that front. 

4. Scottish Unionist. A blog established purely to defend Yoonyonizhm would have to be good to get my attention, and this is indeed one of Scotland's best. The author regularly goes head-to-head with the demented fringes of cybernatspace and regularly wins. 

5.  Beau Bo D'or. The best British animation and photoshop satire around. OK, there aren't many competitors, but this'd be tough to beat in a field of any side. On hiatus now, but hopefully back soon.

Also, if you care enough about politics to read blogs about it, why not start your own? It's not exactly difficult, and you'll get loads of help if you ask.

Finally, have you voted yet? Please make sure you do.

Update: My memory is clearly failing me. I thought I'd voted for Jeff's splendid SNP Tactical Voting and for Malc in the Burgh last year, but Jeff's reminded me otherwise in the comments. 

Last time Jeff came third in the Scottish section, but I reckon he woz robbed. Consider this a fresh recommendation for your RSS reader if you don't read it already, and not just because of his thoughtful piece on Green prospects this morning. 

Malc, for his part, got Daily Dozenned yesterday, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't vote for him (see how close I skate to endorsements here without breaking the rules?). Again, not just because he's got gradually Greener as time has passed, but just on the intrinsic merit of his writing, especially the posts backed up with real quality research. 

First, the bassist of short-lived punk band Nocturnal Vermin set out more of their history, what they're doing now, and confirmed their affection for John Swinney. 

Then one of the founders of the short-lived right-wing political party Scottish People's Alliance criticised Land Value Tax. 

I do love the internet at times like this, and to mark the occasion I'm going dig out Nocturnal Vermin's classic "John Swinney" for your listening pleasure. I originally posted it in February, and I fear it may become my audio equivalent of Private Eye's infamous pic.

Thanks to Jim for spotting my success - best environmental/green issues blog, according to the Witanagemot Club awards, where his excellent Daily (Maybe) also featured. Apologies to the Witanagemot Club for not having heard of them until then. At least I knew what the original Witanagemot was, though. 

Did I 'shop the extra fingers behind Margaret Curran's head? Yes, of course I did, and I'd assumed that was obvious.

Do vote for your own top ten here. Entries must all be UK-based political blogs, and two of these I've had to suggest that Iain include in his directory.

Both the Scotsman and the Herald bravely (and optimistically) set up comment sections on their news stories, and were rewarded with the sound you might get if you jammed a thousand angry Nationalist supporters into a tiny box, then opened it up just a crack. 

I advised more than one of their activists during the election that they were only harming their own cause, but I think the horse has bolted for them now.

My policy is going to be this, not that I expect a massive flurry of comments. If you register in your own name, and get in touch to demonstrate that you are who you say you are, you will get to comment in your own name.