New Blog: On The Left

Written By: - Date published: 12:42 pm, October 20th, 2014 - 44 comments
Categories: blogroll, blogs - Tags:

There’s a new blog in town – On The Left, with an impressive lineup of authors. Check out the welcome post – We have lift-off!:

Welcome to On The Left! We’re happy to be here.

OTL was born when a couple of lefty comms people got together for coffee and decided that the NZ blogosphere was lacking an accessible, well-written, interesting and above all fun group blog which provided a space for discussing and propagating left-wing ideas.

There are plenty of angry leftie blogs around (cough cough) – so all the best to OTL and their mission to bring the fun. Why not stop on over there and give them a welcome?

44 comments on “New Blog: On The Left ”

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  1. Marksman33 1
    20 October 2014 at 12:48 pm

    Yep have done.

  2. ghostwhowalksnz 2
    20 October 2014 at 12:50 pm

    A new place to read Pete Georges comments , thats if you missed him ?

    • Tracey 2.1
      20 October 2014 at 1:01 pm

      … a space for discussing and propagating left-wing ideas…. ideal for pete.

      • wekarawshark 2.1.1
        20 October 2014 at 1:19 pm

        Let’s see how long Petey lasts 😉 No circular derailing is in the first sentence of the Comments Policy :-D.

  3. karol 3
    20 October 2014 at 1:04 pm

    Excellent line up of authors – diverse, and with a fresh youthful look to the blog. Good to see a couple of the (hopefully) parliamentarians of the future there – eg Jack and Marama.

    I have been thinking there needs to be a platform with more focus on broad left views on, not just the serious business of “Politics”, but with a broader, cultural focus as well.

    As Jack says in his first post: “The challenge for NZ’s political youth”:

    However, we delude ourselves if we believe that real change is truly driven at this level; you need only look at the recent continued failure of social democratic electoral politics to deliver. Political support is built from the bottom up, not the top down, and this needs to guide us in everything we do.

  4. Chooky 4
    20 October 2014 at 1:17 pm

    yup it looks good!!!! Go …. ‘On the Left’!

    It is young people who are going to change the system for the future …so i wish this site huge success especially with youth…and may it be revolutionary! ….because NZ youth sure as hell as are getting f…ed over in New Zealand as regards free quality tertiary education and ever being able to afford a house

  5. Tiger Mountain 5
    20 October 2014 at 1:52 pm

    There will be more political blogs than you can wave an ipad at soon.

    The butchers shops of left and right blogging–Kiwi, Whaleboil, Standard and Daily Blog will likely remain ascendant while such as ‘Redline’, ‘PA’, ‘On the Left’ and ‘Bat Bean Beam’ cater for those wanting special cuts or a vegan option.

    Best wishes to those involved in On the Left.

    • lprent 5.1
      20 October 2014 at 3:50 pm

      You do realize that Redline and PA I have never heard of – right ?

      When I see new left and leftish blogs or even ones that make a good argument, I add them to the Feed if they have a RSS. This is for several purposes. One is so I can find them again. The other is to give them exposure.

      Problem is that I’m way too busy cutting up the meat to hunt them down. Please give me a vegan option 🙂

      • wekarawshark 5.1.1
        20 October 2014 at 4:20 pm

        Public Address. I wouldn’t have thought it was special or vegan cuts, more standard fare for the middle classes.

      • karol 5.1.2
        20 October 2014 at 4:29 pm

        I had never heard of “Redline” before. It must be this one: “Redline: contemporary Marxist analysis”.

        To rate Redline, PA, Bat Beam Bean and OTL as all being “special cuts” seems a bit off target. PA, is a fairly widely read general left-leaning group of blogs. RL, looks pretty specialised, while OTL looks to me to be pretty broadly left with a fairly diverse group of bloggers.

        I expect OTL to gain ground and become one of the dominant left blogs.

        • Tiger Mountain 5.1.2.1
          20 October 2014 at 6:26 pm

          We’ll see, some sink without trace.

          Public Address is mainstream but not in the category of Kiwi, Whale, Standard and Daily imo. Those four are akin to shredders with huge amounts of posts and commenters.

          Russell Brown’s Public Address is a gentler more considered place in many respects for what it is worth.

          • lprent 5.1.2.1.1
            21 October 2014 at 2:47 am

            Indeed. The list of dead or non-active blogs vastly outnumbers the living.

          • felix 5.1.2.1.2
            21 October 2014 at 8:04 am

            “Russell Brown’s Public Address is a gentler more considered place in many respects for what it is worth.”

            Russell Brown’s Public Address is a boring dinner party where no-one drinks enough.

            • Tiger Mountain 5.1.2.1.2.1
              21 October 2014 at 8:19 am

              Must have caught a politeness bug or something; have been off PA ever since Russell took a major wrong turn on the Hobbit affair.

              Still like the “Capture” photo essays and Keith Ng though.

          • karol 5.1.2.1.3
            21 October 2014 at 3:32 pm

            Those four blogs look to me a bit like the old guard of blogs (including myself in that).

            OTL has the potential to be part of a new wave of left blogs, with a group of relatively young authors. Many of the contributors have already been blogging and/or stood for parliament, or been otherwise politically engaged.

            But, we shall see.

      • phillip ure 5.1.3
        20 October 2014 at 7:12 pm

        @ lprent..

        “..When I see new left and leftish blogs or even ones that make a good argument, I add them to the Feed if they have a RSS…”

        really..?

        ..whither whoar..?

        .it’s vegan too..!

  6. Colonial Rawshark 6
    20 October 2014 at 2:14 pm

    I don’t have much time for Stephanie Rodgers and at least one of their other major writers has blocked me on Twitter for ‘mansplaining’ (Heh). There is also a severe gender imbalance in their listed line up of authors. Almost 3:1 females to males.

    Anyways good luck to them, it is a big commitment of time, energy and resources to get a project like this off the ground so kudos are deserved, but I won’t be visiting their new site particularly often.

    • Tiger Mountain 6.1
      20 October 2014 at 2:19 pm

      “I won’t be visiting their new site particularly often”
      heh, win win then?

    • Stephanie Rodgers 6.2
      20 October 2014 at 2:37 pm

      If you have such a problem with sites that have a severe gender imbalance among the writers I guess we won’t be hearing from you around here any more?

      Somehow I’m sure OTL will struggle along without the benefit of your wisdom.

      • karol 6.2.1
        20 October 2014 at 2:58 pm

        Yep. Beat me to it on the gender imbalance issue.

        • Colonial Rawshark 6.2.1.1
          20 October 2014 at 3:32 pm

          OTL is chocka full of authors dedicated to issues of gender equality. I pointed out that they haven’t achieved it on their own site. At an almost 3:1 ratio, they probably didn’t really try.

          Nevertheless, starting a new political website is a major undertaking which deserves kudos and I look forward to them getting a strong readership.

          • Stephanie Rodgers 6.2.1.1.1
            20 October 2014 at 3:35 pm

            Please don’t make assumptions about what other people did or did not “try”, CV.

            There are many things wrong with your comment, starting with your deliberate misrepresentation of gender equality (guess what, it doesn’t mean utopia = everything is 50/50 men and women) and ignoring of the wider context in which leftwing online discourse in NZ is so woefully dominated by male voices like your own that having eight women blogging on one site doesn’t even begin to even the score.

            • One Anonymous Bloke 6.2.1.1.1.1
              20 October 2014 at 3:57 pm

              The viper doth protest too much, methinks.

            • Zorr 6.2.1.1.1.2
              20 October 2014 at 6:06 pm

              If you’re writing for OTL Stephanie then I’ll be reading.

              *adds to feed*

            • Rosie 6.2.1.1.1.3
              20 October 2014 at 9:22 pm

              Well, I for one will look forward to hearing more women talking!

              Looking forward to having a good old squizz and a chat when I get a chance.

              All the best Stephanie 🙂

          • Tom Jackson 6.2.1.1.2
            20 October 2014 at 5:54 pm

            Oh my god, it’s full of hipsters!

            • karol 6.2.1.1.2.1
              20 October 2014 at 6:14 pm

              I’d have thought the authors are way too ethnically diverse and politically focused, and includes a range of left political perspectives, to be “hipsters”.

          • Disraeli Gladstone 6.2.1.1.3
            20 October 2014 at 6:11 pm

            Congratulations, you win the stupidest shit said today award.

    • travellerev 6.3
      21 October 2014 at 8:47 am

      Manplaining? WTF?

      And what is it with the “fun”. Who gives a fuck about fun when the world is going to shit? I’ll do my fun thing with the people I love in the “real” world thank you!

  7. Saarbo 7
    20 October 2014 at 2:58 pm

    Good Luck OTL…already following most on twitter.

  8. lprent 8
    20 October 2014 at 3:40 pm

    Added to the Feed, and because it is Stephanie I even clipped a default image 🙂

    Incidentally if anyone else has a blog that pops up on the feed, if you send me a square image that you want for a default image (rather than the green keyboard) then email it through or link it here, and I will add it.

  9. wekarawshark 9
    20 October 2014 at 4:20 pm

    I see OAB is ruining things over there already 🙄

    • Tiger Mountain 9.1
      20 October 2014 at 6:30 pm

      Pete George filter?

      • wekarawshark 9.1.1
        20 October 2014 at 6:49 pm

        I think people wanting to see how they deal with PG will bump their numbers 😈

        (My OAB comment was a joke, on the off chance that anyone is wondering).

  10. ropata mako shark 10
    20 October 2014 at 11:54 pm

    I’m following it, having fun troll-baiting already, might get in trouble 🙂

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