This wasn’t my idea but I have decided to sign up to this statement below withdrawing from The Guardian Backbencher political weblog awards.
All I would say from my point of view is that our total vote on the poll as it stands today is pretty much same as the amount of people who read this site. So thanks for all of you for voting for us – the support was appreciated.
I don’t think anyone is to blame for this and I have no idea how things have gone so wrong but anyway here is the joint statement:
Dear Backbencher,
Re: Political Weblog Awards.
Could you withdraw the undersigned from the running for your Political
Commentary Awards.
In the light of unusual voting patterns and your suggestion that
readers “vote early and often” seemingly being taken literally, any
award seems worthless to us.
Together we represent 4/5 of the nominees and the great majority of the votes.
Update: Tom Happold of the Guardian tells Guido not to take things so seriously. It’s our contest and we’ll decide on the contestants.
I feel a ‘Benjy moment’ coming on – It’s a storm in a tea-up, does it really matter? Its all a false-dichotomy incorporating a straw man.