Cheers

TB is rather chuffed to have just noticed he has crept up to 11th in the

Wikio Political Blog rankings

which measure influence in the British political blogosphere. TB feels he has been abandoning the blog recently and sadly it's only going to get worse for the next few weeks when he is lying by a pool. Thank you very much to the thousands of you who swing by on a regular basis and normal service will resume eventually.

Got a redesign in the pipeline, a slight expansion, and of course TB's 2nd annual conference bash. Details of all of these will emerge soon so keep reading.

Thanks again!

TV's TB...?

They seem to have cropped Sky News biggin' up torybear.com but for those of you who missed it, check out TB chatting about Palin and computers...



Think TB could do with a couple of day's in the sun.

Party in the city...

Here's what the

Evening Standard

has to say tonight about the

Sunlight COP

s little stunt this morning:

* FRESH from putting the spotlight on Labour's Shahid Malik, the Sunlight Centre for Open Politics, founded by Paul Staines, aka Guido Fawkes, and XXXXX XXXX, aka Tory Bear, have moved on to Lib Dem Lord Rennard. Staines delivered a letter which queries Rennard's £41,678 expenses incurred by claiming that his home in Stockwell, instead of Eastbourne, is his "holiday home." Staines, XXXX and friends today staged a beach party outside Rennard's South London residence, complete with girls in bikinis, Pimm's, a beach ball and of course a lot of sand. Sadly it sounds like Rennard missed all the fun.

Bit of pink fizz at nine am really set TB up nicely for the day.

More trouble with the kids...

Seems the

Evening Standard

don't like Young Labour either...

Who is Tory Bear?

Saturday's

Herald

magazine had a big feature on the Scottish Conservative party after last week's conference. A range of candidates and party officials were interviewed, as well as Conservative Future types. It's a broad look at the state of play in the Party now and how they are slowly overcoming their unpopularity in Scotland. It concludes that slowly, very slowly the tide is beginning to turn.

They also had a little chat with Tory Bear...

Sadly the article is not online, and apologies for the quality of the BB camera, but this is what they said about TB:

It would be wrong, though, to paint a picture of Cameron's new model Army as made up of former socialists, working-class scions and union reps. Most are posher than that. Even among the Conservative Future newbies this often turns out to be the case. Someone who knows the scene well is XXXXX XXXX, aka Tory Bear. About a year ago he set up his blog and from the moment he started writing about young people in politics, he says, interest hit the roof. XXXX isn't a Scot. Hailing from Kent, he is a student at Edinburgh University who got involved in the political scene but has no plans for a career in politics. Standing on a balcony overlooking the foyer he glances down. "I've been doing conferences and political events for a couple of years now and I'm amazed how many people under 30 there are here," he says. When he started the blog, he says, it was the "hackery" he was witnessing among the young involved in politics that he wanted "to call out". "It's a lot tamer, though, here in Scotland than it is down in London."

XXXX has noted the scarcity of Scots among the young Tories, even in Scotland: "One of the big taglines of the Conservative Future election was that Scotland needed a Scottish chairman. And it does. "It doesn't really go down very well, all the English involved in Scottish Conservative politics. When I'm canvassing around Edinburgh, it's like, why are you here?"

Seems the TB bags got some good coverage too.

When two tribes go to war...

The Mail

has today picked up on Dolly Drapers war with the right wing blogs and TB is rather chuffed with his mention...

TB podcast

Here is another chance to listen to TB interviewed last night on Edinburgh radio, he played some political tunes and generally had a rant about Labour and a wide ranging chat about politics and music. TB really enjoyed himself.

Download the podcast and have a listen.

Would anyone listen if TB did a weekly broadcast?

All we hear is radio ga ga...

TB is gearing up to go on

Fresh Air Radio

at six... Tune in to the Edinburgh Essentials program

here

. There will be half an hour or so of tunes and then an hour and half of TB talking to Edinburgh DJ Ally Byers. TB will be playing some political tunes and talking about dance music and politics.

You can even watch it on a webcam

here

.

Will try get a podcast up later if you can't tune in live.

Send your questions in to TB in the studio - editor@torybear.com

A fashion must have it seems...

Today's Daily Express gossip column Hickey (not online,) describes parliamentary researchers sporting TB's must have Free Damian Green t-shirts:

Have you got yours

yet

?

Ouch

The Guardian have

reacted

to the Tory Bear George Osborne trance remix: 

"Here are four words you probably never thought you'd see in the same sentence: "George Osborne trance remix".

Yes, that's George, Osborne, trance and remix.

And it really does mean what it says on the tin: this video features the shadow chancellor's response to the pre-budget report overlaid with a bangin' dance soundtrack.

This deeply strange true blue mash-up comes courtesy of the Tory Bear blog.

Big shout out to the Tory massive."

Indeed.

TB gear...

New t-shirt designs are up on the

merchendise section

.

Over the next few weeks limited addition political t-shirts will be avaiable from here. Keep an eye out...

Dropped the prices too...