Founding Editor | Sarah Mackinlay |
---|---|
Categories | British political magazines |
Frequency | Monthly |
Circulation | 12,700 (2012) [1] |
Publisher | Dods |
Founded | 2008 |
Final issue | 2014 |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Website | http://www.totalpolitics.com/ |
Total Politics was a British political magazine described as "a lifestyle magazine for the political community". [2] It was first published in June 2008, and is distributed freely to all MPs, MEPs, peers, political journalists, members of the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies, and all senior councillors down to district level as well as being available by subscription and sold on newsstands. [2] [3]
The magazine was created by the journalist Iain Dale and the political commentator and author Shane Greer. [4] The two men launched Total Politics with some financial backing from the then Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, Lord Ashcroft, who in return owned a 25% stake in the parent company Biteback Media. [5] The magazine claimed to have a fundamental goal of being "unremittingly positive about the political process". [6] . The launch editor was Sarah Mackinlay, daughter of the then Labour MP Andrew Mackinlay.
In 2012, Biteback Media was acquired by Dods. [7] The magazine announced in 2014 that it was ending print publication. [8]
Each issue of Total Politics carried a set-piece ‘In Conversation’ interview with a senior figure from British politics. The interviews were presented in a question and answer format, with no interpretation or analysis. [9] [ excessive detail? ]
Total Politics published the Guide to Political Blogging in the UK, a book listing every political blog in the UK, lists of the best blogs in each blogging category (called Top Lists) and analysis of the British political blogosphere written by experts in political blogging. [10]
The winners in each category were determined by public vote through an email poll. [11] As well as being recognised in the Guide, winners were also provided with digital awards badges to put on their blogs. [12]
A common theme in Total Politics was the publication of rankings for all things politics. This included one-off rankings such as the ‘Top 50 Political Myths’, [13] the ‘Top 10 Political Gifts’ [14] and annual rankings such as the ‘Top 100 Political Journalists’ [15] and the ‘Top 100 Public Affairs Professionals’. [16]
A blog is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order so that the most recent post appears first, at the top of the web page. In the 2000s, blogs were often the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group, and often covered a single subject or topic. In the 2010s, "multi-author blogs" (MABs) emerged, featuring the writing of multiple authors and sometimes professionally edited. MABs from newspapers, other media outlets, universities, think tanks, advocacy groups, and similar institutions account for an increasing quantity of blog traffic. The rise of Twitter and other "microblogging" systems helps integrate MABs and single-author blogs into the news media. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
Following a crackdown on Iranian media beginning in 2000, many Iranians turned to weblogging to provide and find political news. The first Persian language blog is thought to have been created by Hossein Derakhshan,, in 2001. Derakhshan also provided readers with a simple instruction manual in Persian on how to start a blog. In 2004, a census of blogs around the world by the NITLE found 64,000 Persian language blogs. In that year the Islamic government also began to arrest and charge bloggers as political dissidents and by 2005 dozens of bloggers had been arrested.
Michael Anthony Ashcroft, Baron Ashcroft, is a British-Belizean businessman, pollster and politician. He is a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party. Ashcroft founded Michael A. Ashcroft Associates in 1972 and was the 132nd richest person in the UK, as ranked by the Sunday Times Rich List 2021, with an estimated fortune of £1.257 billion.
DJ Magazine is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Latin America, China, South Korea, Brunei, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Canada, Russia, Belarus, and the Netherlands.
Iain Dale is a British broadcaster, author, political commentator, and a former publisher and book retailer. He has been a blogger since 2002. He was the publisher of the Total Politics magazine between 2008 and 2012, and the managing director of Biteback Publishing until May 2018. Since September 2010, he has hosted a regular discussion show on the radio station LBC. He was named Radio Presenter of the Year at the Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards in 2013 and 2016. On 28 May 2024, he announced that he was quitting his LBC roles to run as an MP in the 2024 United Kingdom general election, only to abandon his campaign three days later. He returned to his usual LBC slot on 3 June.
Stephan Adrian Shakespeare is the German-British co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the British Internet-based market research and opinion polls company YouGov.
John Aravosis is an American Democratic political consultant, journalist, civil rights advocate, and blogger. Aravosis, an attorney who lives in Washington D.C., is the founder and executive editor of AMERICAblog and The Aravosis Report.
538, originally rendered as FiveThirtyEight, is an American website that focused on opinion poll analysis, politics, economics, and sports blogging in the United States. Founder Nate Silver left in 2023, taking the rights to his forecasting model with him to his website Silver Bulletin. 538's new owner Disney hired G. Elliott Morris to develop a new model. On September 18, 2023, the original website domain at fivethirtyeight.com was closed, and web traffic became redirected to ABC News pages. The logo was replaced, with the name 538 now used instead of FiveThirtyEight.
Biteback Publishing is a British publisher based in Hull concentrating mainly on political titles. It was incorporated, as a private limited company with share capital, in 2009. It was jointly owned by its managing director Iain Dale and by Michael Ashcroft's Political Holdings Ltd, until 2018 when Dale stepped down to focus on his television and radio work. Biteback Publishing has published several books by Ashcroft including Call Me Dave, his controversial 2015 biography of David Cameron.
LabourList is a British news website supportive of, but independent of, the Labour Party, launched in 2009. Describing itself as Labour's "biggest independent grassroots e-network", the site's content includes news, commentary, interviews, campaign information, analysis and opinion from various contributors and sources across the Labour and trade union movement. It is funded by trade unions, adverts, and individual donors. LabourList started as a weblog with reader comments, but in February 2019 the ability for readers to write comments was removed.
Robert Waller is a British election expert, author, teacher, and former opinion pollster. His best known published work is The Almanac of British Politics, a guide to the voting patterns of all United Kingdom parliamentary constituencies.
In the run up to the general election on 7 May 2015, various organisations carried out opinion polling to gauge voting intention. Results of such polls are displayed in this article. Most of the polling companies listed are members of the British Polling Council (BPC) and abide by its disclosure rules.
Rosalind Mary Grender, Baroness Grender, known as Olly Grender, is a former Head of Communications for the Liberal Democrats and a party life peer.
Guido Fawkes is a right-wing political website published by British-Irish political blogger Paul Staines.
Merit Group plc is a British publishing holding company founded in 2001. Its largest shareholder is the Conservative politician and businessman Lord Ashcroft. It was formerly known as Huveaux plc and then as Dods Group plc (2010–2021).
Holyrood is a fortnightly magazine devoted to current affairs and politics. Created following the advent of devolution in the UK in 1999 the magazine provides coverage of the goings on at the Scottish Parliament, as well as interviews with leading political figures. It is a politically independent publication. Holyrood Communications also encompasses Holyrood Events, a provider of public sector events and conferences. The technology sub-brand, Holyrood Connect, provides events and the latest news, opinion and analysis on the technology sector across the UK.
The Gridiron Club, popularly called The Grid, is a private members' club open to male and female students at the University of Oxford.
Benedict Brogan is a British former journalist, formerly deputy editor and chief political commentator of The Daily Telegraph. In December 2014, six months after resigning his posts at The Telegraph, Brogan was appointed group director of public affairs at Lloyds Banking Group.
Isabel Oakeshott is a British political journalist.
Call Me Dave: The Unauthorised Biography of David Cameron is a 2015 book by Michael Ashcroft, a businessman and Conservative peer, and Isabel Oakeshott, a political journalist, about the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron. The book, excerpts from which were published in the Daily Mail prior to publication, received significant media attention, particularly relating to allegations made about Cameron. It is published by Biteback, a company in which Ashcroft has a majority share, run by political blogger Iain Dale.