Alex Massie

So, Iain Dale writes: It's that time of year again, when Total Politics asks you to vote for your Top 10 favourite blogs. The votes will be compiled and included in the forthcoming book, the Total Politics Guide to Blogging 2009-10, which will be published in September... The rules are simple. 1. You must vote for your ten favourite blogs and ranks them from 1 (your favourite) to 10 (your tenth favourite). 2. Your votes must be ranked from 1 to 10. Any votes which do not have rankings will not be counted. 3. You MUST include ten blogs. If you include fewer than ten your vote will not count. 4. Email your vote to toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com 5. Only vote once. 6. Only blogs based in the UK, run by UK residents or based on UK politics are eligible. 7.

Tom Watson strides up the 9th hole during round three of the 138th Open Championship. Photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images. This needs to be written now, not later. Because I’m still a sceptic. I’d love to believe that Tom Watson, 60 in two months time and sporting a new hip, can really win the Open Championship this afternoon. But sometimes faith and hope aren’t enough. The laws of probability and the remorseless weight of years of accumulated evidence scoff at the notion that Old Tom can pull it off. But, by god, wouldn’t it be splendid if he can? Commonsense dictates he can’t. Commonsense demands that Watson’s putter, the cause of so much heartbreak over the years, cannot continue to work so smoothly.

In 132 years of test cricket a side has followed on and won on just three occasions. Despite this, enforcing the follow-on has become almost as unfashionable in the modern game as stationing a fielder at third man. It is as though modern skippers have concluded that the accumulated weight of cricketing evidence, built up over more than a century, has lost its persuasive power in the contemporary game. So it wasn't terribly surprising that Andrew Strauss declined to put Australia in again at Lord's this morning. One man, above all, is responsible for the follow-on falling out of favour. Ever since VVS Laxman scored 281 against Australia at Eden Gardens in 2001, the Australians have been wary of putting the opposition in again.

Sometimes you can only despair. It seems that anyone who gives talks to schoolkids (in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) on a "regular" basis now needs to pay £64 for a certificate declaring that they are not a paedophile. This is part of something called the Vetting and Barring Scheme* designed to protect children from innocent and well-meaning strangers. A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families (Hello, Nanny State!) explains that authors such as Philip Pullman, have it all wrong. The Are You A Paedophile? checks are vital** and "This is because visitors to schools, even if they are supervised by a teacher at all times, are being placed in a unique position of trust where they can easily become deeply liked and trusted by pupils.

The problem with Major Foreign Policy Speeches is that different folk are listening. For instance, this section from Hillary Clinton's "Hey guys, remember me?" speech today: "...we will remain clear-eyed about our purpose. Not everybody in the world wishes us well or shares our values and interests. Some will seek to undermine our efforts. In those cases, our partnerships will help constrain or deter their actions. And to these foes and would-be foes, let me say: You should know that our focus on diplomacy and development is not an alternative to our national security arsenal. You should never see America's willingness to talk as a sign of weakness to be exploited. We will not hesitate to defend our friends and ourselves vigorously when necessary with the world's strongest military.

Tuesday's stage in the Tour de France was interesting and, in its way, revealing. Ultimately, it was about power and interest. Should the race be run be its organisers or, effectively, in partnership with the peloton and the teams? And, just as importantly, should the interests of the teams be placed ahead of the interests of the fans? The Tour organisers decreed that yesterday the riders would ride without the radios they've come to rely upon. The teams, unsurprisingly, objected and, equally unsurprisingly, the riders agreed not to race properly until the closing kilometres of the stage.

So the Tories have announced their new international development policy. Apparently it's going to be "results-based" and fit for a "post-bureaucratic age" (this latter being, mind you, the kind of phrase coined by bureaucrats). Iain Dale likes the sound of it and so does Tory Bear. I'm sure there are plenty of good ideas lurking in the new paper, but I'm also pretty sure that there's not much sign of the Tories moving towards a truly radical approach to international development: open borders. Actually, it's not quite open borders, more a question of creating a worldwide guest-worker programme. Harvard's Lant Pritchett is perhaps the leading proponent of this sort of idea.

So, yes, little blogging. Blame a combination of Ashes cricket and an infestation of family... Hiatus will continue as I shall be at the cricket in Cardiff on Friday. Talk amongst yourselves and deliver your verdict on whether Kevin Pieterson is just a tube or merely something else... See you on Sunday* or Monday.... *We're playing vile Gala on Sunday in a must-win reserve league fixture. So, no blogging Sunday either. It's all cricket all the bloody time here, you know...