The thing about blogs is that there is so much variety (perhaps it reflects the endless variety of humanity itself). Most of them are rather personal and often, but not always, introspective. Of this type I'm afraid I really only read the people I know. But there are a host of real news/journalistic type of team blogs that do provide an alternative to the mainstream media of all political hues (e.g. Adam Smith Institute, Crooked Timber Harry's Place, Lenin's Tomb). There are also serious commentators on a whole manner of subjects such as philosophy, science, art, environment etc., (you can find some of these via Technorati ). There are some that are complete rubbish, but there are also some dedicated to, and succeeding in, showing that the mainstream news comes out with complete rubbish too.

Someone said that blogging is the thinking person's television, I am inclined to agree. But it is not like the television, it is the product of individuals, decentralised, by and large produced not for sale but for the joy of it. Rather like the Mudcat, it is a level playing field for opinions, subject matters and campaigns - a democratisation of the means of media production.