Telegraph Blogs Officially Dead

What did I tell you? Back in October, Zelo Street brought the news that the bear pit that is Telegraph blogs had declined to the extent that some days passed with no new content at all – an unforgiveable state of affairs for a platform that boasted so many contributors. Now it can be confirmed that this event has indeed come to pass, despite the Tel’s continued silence.

Bye Dan, don't let the door hit you on the way out

The cat was let out of the bag this morning by Dan, Dan The Oratory Man, who tells his remaining readers “This is it. The last post. After nearly eight years, this blog is coming to an end”. Yes? Yes yes? Yes yes yes? “Well, chaps, it has been a pleasure. I've enjoyed the interaction and the debate. I've enjoyed being part of what was, while it lasted, without question the premier Right-of-Centre blogs site in the English language” [my emphasis].

That means it’s finished. What will happen to those who remain? “The Telegraph is moving most of its bloggers to the comments section” tells Dan, thus proving true my prediction that the paper would try and “monetise” their contributions, which would help if the paywall were not so glaringly porous.

And where is Hannan going to go now in order to promote his own combination of Europhobia and dishonesty? “I'm moving to the brilliant new website CapX, which brings together the best free-market writers in our language” he enthuses, managing not to tell that this is a venture backed by the economic flat earthers at the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS). And, as the man said, there’s more.

“I'll also be writing a weekly column for the premier American conservative newspaper, the Washington Examiner” he tells, but sadly, Dan has not done his due diligence on this new berth. The Washington Examiner ceased to be a newspaper last year, with the loss of 87 jobs. It is now a weekly magazine targeted at 45,000 “government officials and political professionals in Washington and state capitals”.

A target audience of only 45,000: hardly “the premier American conservative newspaper”, is it? Hannan is moving from a site which gave him a rather good audience to two very minor players. But that Telegraph blogs is done and finished is in no doubt, as he signs off with “au revoir. Or, if you're a die-hard Telegraph blogs loyalist who won't go elsewhere, adieu”.

The Daily Mail’s much-vaunted Right Minds was a damp squib. Telegraph blogs has proved not to be worth the candle. The players that survive are the likes of the Guardian’s more broadly based Comment Is Free, and the HuffPost. Yet we are told that the right-leaning blogosphere has never been in better health.

Not a good prospect for The Blue Team with less than six months before the General Election, is it? Farewell Telegraph blogs. I wish I could say it would be missed.