As 2013 draws to a close I thought I’d summarize how it went on KP.

It was a quiet year, with only 53 posts. The blog has increasingly become a one trick pony show, as Lew and Anita have greatly diminished their presence on it. Lew wrote nine posts during the year, most before June, and Anita contributed one. Work and family commitments clearly play a part in that, and I could well follow the diminished presence trend should the consultancy and my infant son demand more time than I can currently afford. Lew maintains an active presence on Twitter (LewSOS), so his impact on the NZ commentariat continues albeit in pithy form.

We are very much a niche blog, averaging 100-200 views per day (less on weekends), or around 500-600 per week. Most are returning readers. Since I do not post about things that I do not know about, the bulk of the posts have been about international relations, espionage and intelligence, military-strategic affairs and NZ foreign policy, interspersed with some personal observations about more immediate things. That leaves big gaps in the areas in which Anita and Lew have expertise (which is broad and much more NZ focused), hence the lesser number of views compared to previous years when they were more active.

The search terms leading to KP are varied, although “Auckland haka incident” and “Wendy Petrie breasts” are among the most frequent.

There is a stable core of readers and commentators. Most of our links come from other NZ blogs, search engines, Twitter and Facebook. One person, Paul Scott (aka “peterquixote” or “lolitasbrother”) was briefly banned for abusive comments but later reinstated. Another, Hugh, chose to stop commenting because of my irritated responses to remarks of his that I found to be off the subject or obviously uninformed, thread-jacks or useless nitpicking. His decision followed a private email exchange in which we could not resolve our differences.

I was called out on my more pointed remarks to Hugh by others, and have taken on board the need to return to civility even when dealing with trolls (which I accept Hugh is not). Having said that, most of the regular commentators are thoughtful, insightful and knowledgable about what they are writing about, so the task of being civil is easy most of the time.

On a more positive note, KP has avoided involvement in the internecine quarreling and back-biting amongst the NZ Left blogging community, and is treated with a modicum of respect by all but the most rabid blogging Right.

In general, KP is percolating along at a subdued but steady rate.

Not much else to report. I enjoy the fact that I can use the blog to write shorter, more informal and/or ideological essays in a non-academic style yet on subjects that are within or related to my professional and personal interests. It allows me to ruminate on those non-professional concerns as well as link to various media appearances and some of the analyses offered at the consultancy. It is a bit indulgent, to be sure, but I guess that the very nature of blogging is conducive to that.

In any event I would like to wish all readers the best of New Year’s and my hopes that it turns out to be happy and productive for all. I look forward to continuing my second fatherhood (I have two adult children in the US) and to watching my Kiwi son develop during his first year. I very much hope that we will see more of Anita and Lew in 2014 (and perhaps even the reclusive jafapete!), and that whatever happens we manage to continue to satisfactorily fill that small niche that we occupy in the blogging world.

Prospero Ano Nuevo a todos!