Chicken yoghurt and my views on Mr Blair

1:17pm Thursday 7th December 2006

Meet the man who attacks the Government from the comfort of his living room and has found a way to make money from it.

Justin McKeating, 35, of Abinger Road, Portslade, has been sticking the boot into national politicians as a blogger for five years, spending his days finding the satirical slant on daily events.

Justin cares for daughters Maisie, six, and Elsie, two, while partner Viks Bassett works, but he still finds time to let off steam on the internet where he publishes his online diary, a personal website called Chicken Yoghurt.

The name came from his eldest daughter but the content is pure politics. He said: "Chicken yoghurt is what Maisie used to call chicken nuggets when she was learning to talk and I thought it was as good a name as any.

"It stops me taking myself too seriously.

I tend to grab ten minutes here and there but you can literally do it anywhere. If something catches my imagination when I'm out I can update my blog by text message or post a video from my phone directly to the website. I love the immediacy of it."

After losing his job in IT, Justin started blogging and was shortlisted for the Guardian Blog of the Year 2002 for his previous blog, Barroom Philosophy.

He aims to reveal "the human impact of politics" and he does, with a little added satire. Justin said: "I love my colourful metaphors and anything that will make you laugh makes a stronger point.

"I just felt a lot of things I thought about politics weren't being represented in the mainstream media. Tony Blair says some vague utterings but the real effect of his policies, the human angle, tends to be missing in British politics."

When he's not firing off regular broadsides against the Government, Justin turns his attention to lighter musings.

He has just finished editing The Blog Digest 2007, a year of the best writing from the web. The 250-page book skips over a chapter of politics to look at everything from sex to death and sport.

Among its gems is a story from ex- Observer journalist William Shaw, from Brighton, who recounts the time he came face-to-face with a hungry lion while waiting to interview a hip hop star.

Then there is one woman's "50 ways to find a lover" with disastrous and hilarious results.

The book weaves in the funny with the poignant.

One man talks about his suicide attempt while Steve Lovegrove, a survivor of the July 7 London bombing, tells how he coped with the first anniversary.

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