Can I stop now?

Can I be the last person to post that I won Lib Dem Blog of the Year last night?

The highlights? Meeting Lynne Featherstone, all the Lib Dem bloggers and Iain Dale. (In that order.)

After Lynne had handed me my award (and I’d dropped it - yes, really), I made a brief speech, the remnants of which I’m trying to dredge up - actually the advantage of writing it down now is that I can vastly improve on what I really said:

I want to say two thank yous.

First, to the judges (and not just for picking me) - for selecting such an excellent short-list. In fact, they could have picked two or three short-lists, and still only have scratched the surface of talent out there.

But then these things are highly subjective - as anyone who’s read Iain Dale’s list of Top 100 Lib Dem blogs will know.

My second thank you is to my fellow Lib Dem bloggers, whether they were on the short-list or not.

First, because I enjoy reading what you post.

Secondly, because we keep each other on our toes.

And, thirdly, for showing what a lively bunch of folk we liberals can be. For those of the media who tediously insist on trying to pigeonhole the Lib Dems as either right-wing or left-wing, the Lib Dem blogs are an insistent, daily reminder that we are neither.

We’re liberals.

And I’m delighted our voice is so well represented on the Internet.