Clegg shows leadership over tax review

Having been on my holidays, one of the joys of returning home is sifting through all of the political news that you missed whilst in depeest darkest Devon. I understand that the LibDems are now mooting (but not confirming) abandoning Local Income Tax and instead backing a reformed land tax instead. So, let's check on how all these LibDem sacred cows are doing ...

The party of "1p extra tax for education" is now the party of low taxation.
The party of "tough liberalism" now believes you shouldn't lock anti-social youths up.
The party of students is now considering dumping its opposition to fees.
The party of scrapping the council tax now thinks it may be OK after all, if you tweak it a bit.

Only really the Iraq cow is still there, although fewer and fewer people notice that cow despite the occassional "moo". And what do I make of all this? Step forward my new hero ... Nick Clegg.

Now you'll be aware (and nobody believed me at the time) that I thought Chris Huhne was a much more dangerous LibDem leader for Cameron to deal with and that Clegg was a lightweight who would snap in the political wind. Although popular opinion may think that to be true (there is no love for Clegg on the doorsteps of Norwich), I think Clegg is (to quote Cameron) building a house with solid foundations.

Gone are the populist LibDem ideas, where the party would run a whole election with only 3 policies (Iraq, council tax and tuition fees). Gone is the idea that the LibDems are too nice, or too gutless, to have a real policy debate. Clegg is taking on his party and good on him.

Whereas the LibDems used to debate goldfish in bags or porn for 16 year olds, they now seem to be addressing some of the "hard choices" (copyright, T Blair) facing Britain.

Nick Clegg has taken a long hard look at their policies and their election result - LibDem PPC in Guildford, Ms Doughty, has long said that the LIT cost her seat in 2005 because it hammered young professionals and working families too hard. She was right, and credit to Clegg for seeing beyond the populism of "axe the tax" to think about an alternative. Louise and I were hundreds of pounds a year worse off under the LibDem LIT at a stage in our lives when we can least afford it, with 2 young kids. How many more people in our position realised this and didn't vote LibDem as a result?

Even though many of these cows are not yet dead, just wounded, it is clear that Clegg may yet have the political courage to take on his party - even the SDP dwellers. I don't yet know if he is Blair circa 1994 or Cameron circa 2006, but Clegg has shown in the last week he may yet surprise us all.

Labour's Neglect: Lakenham

Residents in Lakenham have been reading a new leaflet organised by an anonymous group which goes by the name of "Spotlight" who have attacked the record of Labour in the area.

The leaflet says that "claims of action by the Laour Community Action Team - reality is a bit different. With the defeat of Bob Sanderson in the May elections the penny should have dropped. But no. The action team keeps spinning."

It attacks Labour, saying they have denied local people welfare rights and labelled local people as "spongers".

It says: "Cuts in services have become drastuc. Repairs to council properties must be paid for by the tenants. Roads are only swept every 16 weeks. Weeds are growing out of the roadside. Families are left homeless and some are sleeping on the floor of friends. Rents and council tax are up. The list goes on and on."

It concludes by saying that "Spotlight will be looking at the LibDems in Lakeham soon."

Now, I don't like anonymous leaflets - we as politicans put our heads above the parapit and accept criticism and all other should do the same.

And I like both Keith Driver and Mary Cannell but often feel that their efforts are thwarted by "the system"; but I have never doubted their committment to their community.

But the issues raised the leaflet are valid and it is clear that the poorest areas are most hit by Labour. Many of the weakest in society can now ill-afford Labour either nationally or locally. If you live on a council estate with anti-social behaviour and crime problems, where the housing stock is getting worse and taxes carry on rising then Labour are no help at all - in fact, they are usually the problem. No wonder more and more people are choosing the vote Conservative, many for the first time ever. Because we are putting a crackdown on crime and quality of life at the top of the agenda. Just take a look at Bowthorpe - Labour rejected after 40 years and why? Because despite the promises people were taken for granted and things got no better.

I hope Labour and the LibDems repond to this, but the best response they can have is to tackle the issue it raises.

Miliband's Speech: The one thing it does tell us

I've read the now-famous Miliband artical and have caught up with the news. Unfortunately I am ending up agreeing with Michael Portillo, who was on Newsnight a few moments ago.

I don't know if this is a coded attack on Brown (or Cameron) or if this is a very subtle leadership bid. But I do know that we now have a Foreign Secretary so strong that he can afford to do this, have Brown mis-interpret his comments and still stay in his job.

Whatever the hidden message of this article, the political message is clear: Miliband can be bold because he's now totally unsackable.

The best thing about the net is sharing jokes

Tony Blair's phone rings.

“Can I speak to the prime minister please?”

Blair says he is no longer prime minister and tells him to try another number.

Half an hour later, Tony’s telephone rings once more. “Can I speak to the prime minister please?”

“Look, I’ve told you once I’m not prime minister any longer now p**s off and leave me alone.”

Ten minutes later he calls again. “Is that the prime minister?”

Blair says, “I’ve told you repeatedly that I am NOT prime minister any longer, why are you doing this to me?”

“I just enjoy hearing it,” says the caller.

Why Brown won't go (and won't be pushed eirher)

In today's Daily Torygraph, Mayor of London Boris Johnson writes of his 11pm realisation that Brown will hold his job - cheese in the fridge gave it all away. Boris argues that he could go on a diet, rather like Brown could be given the boot. But rather like starting his diet, he reckons that Labour MPs just can't be bothered to start the process. I disagree.

I think that Brown will survive but for a very different reason; no senior level MP will wield the knife. The backbenches may want Brown to go, but they need some heavyweight support to do it. If any cabinet minister does that, then not only will the cash strapped Labour Party have to foot the bill for a contest (which they can't afford) then they might actually become leader themselves. They would then have to go on to lose the next election, no matter who becomes leader, and take the blame for a drubbing. Now Jack Straw may be willing to do this, but no serious contender will. Now that the polls show Labour badly behind under all leaders, they are going to wait and let Brown fall on the grenade instead of them.

I may regret saying this, but the next Labour leadership contest will be held against the backdrop of Cameron's first government.

Clegg finally signals a change in LibDem tactics

Both this morning and late this evening I've been out and about helping our teams deliver a massive new survey across the City. The results are coming back fast; and the one strange aspect is the total lack of LibDem support. I've been arguing for a while that their support in Norwich is just seeping away and our survey proves just that.

Interestingly today Nick Clegg signalled that his party will now focus on the 50 most vulnerable Labour seats; finally taking notice of those both within and outside of his party who have said that to hurl themselves against the Tory brick wall was nonsense. Fighting Tory seats like mad when Cameron is riding high just made no sense; and now Clegg has admitted this.

However, one LibDem I spoke to today said that this strategy didn't go far enough. He pointed out that in some seats where the Tories are third but with a large vote - such as Norwich South - that Cameron's Party could still come through to either come second or even win. Certainly the Sunday Telegraph had Norwich South in the blue column as a result of their polling. My LibDem source says that they ought to target seats where the Tory vote is low and where Labour wouldn't expect a challenge - a sort of Manchester Withington kind of seat, it was suggested.

Either way, Clegg is still polling lower than Campbell and is still struggling to control his fractious party. A change of electoral focus is a good start to turning that around.

We've been SNAPped

Tonight I was chairing the latest Bowthorpe & Costessey SNAP meeting, held at St. Michael's School in Astly Road, Chapel Break, and it was a good chance to hear some of the views about the local area from residents. In the end we created 3 priorities;

Tackling crime and anti-social behaviour in the Peverell Road area of Clover Hill - both in terms of long term strategy but also short term ways to tackle the problems.

Secondly working with South Norfolk Council to ensure a neighbourhood response to issues in Beaumont Road and Crown Road in New Costessey.

And also to look at innovative ways to solve the parking problems in Attesley Way, Chapel Break. This last one is a real tribute to one resident who has raised this issue again and again in such a decent and polite way that it marks her out as a remarkable campaigner.

Next meeting is 18th November, 7.30 at Costessey High School.

Glasgow East: The Result

Creighton (Independent) - 67
Curran (Socialist) - 555
Curran (Labour) - 10,912
Duke (Green) - 232
Howitt (Freedom 4 Choice) - 65
Mason (SNP) - 11,277
McLeish (Solidarity) - 512
Rankin (Conservative) - 1,639
Robertson (LibDem) - 915

SNP Gain from Labour

2005 result; Lab 61, SNP 17, LibDem 12, Con 7, Socialist 4

An excellent night for the SNP, a surprisingly good one for the Conservatives (again), a pisspoor LibDem performance and a disaster for Labour.

Conservative AND Unionist Party

I am very pleased that the Tories and the UUP have been speaking about uniting for two principle reasons. Firstly that this gives Cameron an electoral boost and including the UUP talent in the party will give a clear one-nation sense to people. Secondly that this really does signal the start to normalised politics in Ulster and that has to be a good thing. Apparently 45% of people in NI would or would consider voting Tory if there was a candidate; another clever move then. My only concern is that the UUPs only MP currently is Lady Sylvia Herman, who usually votes with Labour rather than the Tories. Could this deal deliver the UUP to Cameron's Conservatives but ironically no their sole parliamentary representation?

Glasgow East: The bar for success

Having seen and read a lot, I'd set the following bars:

SNP; winning the seat would be a fantastic result and a political earthquake. Coming within 2000 votes would be good, 3000-2000 Labour majority fine. If Labour hold on by more then there may be some sould searching.

Conservatives: They start 4th with only 7% of the vote and should be squeezed in classic by-election style. The Tories should be happy with 6-8% of the vote and more than 10% of even coming third would be an excellent result.

LibDems: Once again there has been lots of LibDem ramping. An utter disaster would be coming 4th, an OK result would be holing their share of the vote and any increase can be spun as good.

Labour: A tough one; a low turnout will cut Labour's majority but they must win here by more than 3,000 or so for them to have a good result. A three figure majority or less will be poor for the party and losing it would be a disaster.

We'll see what happens . . .

First Week of the Holidays

There will probably be some light blogging because the school holidays started last Friday. That evening we went to the Brooke School Carnival and enjoyed some good weather and dancing through the village.

We were lucky enough on Saturday to have Baroness (Gillian) Shephard speaking at a Norwich Conservatives Garden Party; we managed to dodge the rain and had some superb strawberries and scones. There was a large crowd and Gillian made it very clear that Gordon Brown had gone from the "great clunking fist" to a "great girls blouse" in just a year. She was in fiesty form and left the membership in great spirits for the upcoming elections.

On Monday I joined a group of campaigners at the Planning Committee site visit of the new City College Development. It was fascinating to see how the plans would look on the ground (thanks to some yellow paint) and also think about the height and density of the buildings. I still have grave concerns over the suitability of the eco-building given that it is in a conservation area and don't feel it will blend into the community very well. The brillantly organised CRC campaign group will no doubt keep local people informed in a way that others have not.

I then went on to meet some residents regarding the parking situation on Dereham Road and had organised some council officers to meet them. There are so many different factors at play - not least who owns the highway that many of the ideas people have for dealing this situation aren't possible. Most importantly we all agreed on the need to ensure safety and will be working hard to achieve this.

Tuesday night was Full Council night at City Hall, where we debated a Green motion on renewable energy, but the set piece event of the night was the administration's review of the boundary commission's report on unitary. I think that Steve Morphew actually managed to hit the right tone in his words, but LibDem Leader Brian Watkins seemed to go into full Churchill mode urging everybody to unite around the City. It was a bizarre piece of work and in the fullness of time Brian may regret his words.

Yesterday and today were family days; yesterday spent in Bury St Edmunds and today on the North Norfolk coast.

We are currently in the process of delivering a major city wide survey and I have a breakfast meeting to discuss our campaign tomorrow. Apologies if blogging is light in the days and weeks to come...

LibDems plan £20bn cuts to Health & Education

If the Tories had proposed the document launched by Nick Clegg today, to reduce tax and cut the overall level of government spending, then my blog post title is exactly what Labour and the media would have run with.

In fact, no matter what Hague, IDS or Howard said about taxes, Labour would translate that directly into numbers of nurses sacked or children in a class. But now, I believe that things have changed; firstly people have accepted that we are taxed too much, secondly people know that Labour's throwing money at public services hasn't worked and thirdly people know there is so much waste in public services that you can cut tax, reduce spending and not impact on frontline service delivery.

So well done Nick Clegg - you are saying what people are thinking and I strongly urge the Tories to make clear their committment to cutting tax and reducing waste. Now is the time to do this. But is it too late for Cameron with Clegg moving onto this turf?

No - for two reasons Principally the tax cut, less government gene is in every Tory and people know we are committed to it, whereas the LibDems seem to have discovered this after being thrashed in by-election after by-election. And also, if Cameron said this then his party would cheer him to the rafters; when Nick Clegg does it the left of his party nearly choke on their breakfast cereals. Clegg may have to fight for this every step of the way with his own party.

So Cameron still has time to make this issue his own.

LibDems giving up on Norwich South?

An interesting slip in this piece on LDVoice today by a former LibDem Agent in Norwich where he laments the rise of the Greens in the City.

He says:
And the Greens are becoming better organised at first-past-the-post politics. They managed 22% and a close third behind Labour and the Tories in Brighton Pavillion at the last election. And at local government level in Norwich, where the Lib Dems ran City Hall as recently as 2006, they are now the official opposition to Labour. All of the Green gains have been deliberately targeted at Lib Dem expense, and all in what should have been a strong Liberal Democrat Parliamentary prospect at the next election.

Notice the tenses there -- it should have been a strong parliamentary prospect but now, persumably, isn't. Recently the EDP said that the Green gains and the strength of the Tory recovery locally made the seat a "4 horse race". One City Councillor even predicts that the LibDems may come 4th.

Interesting times, wondering if the LibDems can hold it together.

Unitary: Still more questions than answers

I am not going to go into automatic gloating mode; I don't think this decision is the end and a lot could change - oddly enough the same warning I gave Labour after the previous unitary announcement, so I'm going to take my own advice.

But on the face of it, thinks look very bad for Morphew and his Green / LibDem allies on this, as the Boundary Commission says its preferred option is a full county unitary (including Lowestoft) that effectivly abolishes Norwich City Council.

City Hall have invested a lot of time and money into this; often in the face of strong opposition from us Tories, the wider public, parish councils and fellow authorities. If it all falls by the wayside - or worse, produces a result that is the opposite to the original unitary theory of an urban focus - then heads will roll at the council and rightly so. Already tonight what is clear is that Councillors from all parties are at each other's throats - again. But whilst the Tory split on the issue has been clear for some time, the vicious manner in which Labour and the LibDems have turned on each other has surprised even me.

The media have also taken a hit; the EDP has been running a pretty consistent anti-unitary line (it sells well in the county) but the Evening News will have to choose its editorial line pretty carefully tomorrow to avoid looking rather outdated and simplistic. It has been running an almost minute-by-minute response today and the EEN should be congratulated for their depth of coverage.

Also the question being asked is if City Hall can stop the leakage of support; Cllr Ramsay pointed out tonight that the Chamber of Commerce have backed away from supporting a greater Norwich and now believes that "bigger is better" and we ought to have a "Norfolk wide lobby". Many groups will back the winning side; City Hall have I think just days to stop this leakage.

We had a Councillor briefing tonight and the feelings amongst my colleagues in other parties was still utter surprise; I think that the searching for a reason "why" will start tomorrow. One source said to me that they don't know how Norwich managed to throw it away from this position; I think that when we re-read the BC report in the light of tomorrow morning, we may once again be left with more questions than answers.

Brown's By-Election

Labour had a candidate but no campaign in Henley.
Labour have a campaign but no candidate in Glasgow East.
Labour have no candidate and no candidate in Haltemprice & Howden.

No wonder Brown doesn't like elections.

(With thanks to the original poster on pb.com)

They just don't learn, do they?

This post on the ultra-loyal LibDem Voice site clearly indicates why the Liberal Democrats have learnt nothing from their by-election batterings; the results were poor for them because they spinned their chances, ramped them up and then looked utterly foolish when it all went wrong. Now they're at it again in Glasgow; admittedly not claiming they are going to win, but not far off it. But the idiotic thing is the claim about the Tories not bothering - Cameron has visited, as has IDS. We've selected a first class candidate too and I understand from friends that things are in full swing. The voters of Glasgow will see through it, and when the results come in the LibDems will once again have egg on their face.

I ask again: Why can't the LibDems be honest?

Could this become a fantastic new home for the Wendene lads?

The Wendene Wanderers do just that; with no home ground they wander around Norfolk looking to play football. They are made up of lads from some of the toughest areas of Norwich and are supported by a great team of adults - they're not bad at the game, either! I got involved with the club when the council tried to charge them for legal fees (I mean, how could we do that to a group which provides such a service?) and arranged for them to drop it. Now we have a much bigger task - a home ground. The team have been fundraising and have done well to generate some money and now they want a permenant fixture. The area of land above is an overgrown parcel of land between the Dereham Road, Wendene and the Power-League at Bowthorpe. They want a fix aside pitch and maybe even a club house. It would be a great reward for the work that this club does. They are the amazing invisible army of volunteers and this home ground, if they got it, would be their just reward.

If you have any objections to this, please let me know because we want to put a powerful community case to the council for getting some funding for this project.

I am working with the council on play improvements in Chapel Break, North Earlham, Clover Hill and The Runnell in Three Score - we can make a real difference to these kids' lives if this go the go ahead.

I will keep you up-to-date with the campaign.

LibDems looking "very stupid indeed"?

Yesterday's EDP reported that Nick Clegg got himself tied in knots when trying to justify the LibDem claim of a "two horse race" in Norwich South. The EDP put it to Mr Clegg that it was, in fact, a "four horse race" and his arguement against this seemed pretty lame. Apparently people know that there is no point voting Green or Tory, says Mr Clegg.

Well try telling that to the residents of Bowthorpe, Thorpe Hamlet, Mancroft, Eaton, Nelson, Wensum, Town Close, University - all of which elected either a Tory or a Green or had one or other in a close second place.

If the LibDems go down this line, they'll make themselves look "very stupid indeed". Not my words - that of a wise old bird from the party I spoke to yesterday.

But don't expect the LibDems to be honest with anybody anytime soon.

Lord Mayor's Celebration Success

The Lord Mayor's Procession is always a fantastic event, but this year it seemed bigger and more colourful than ever. Standing outside Debenham's watching the floats and dancers go by, it made me think what a vibrant city Norwich is and with so many community groups and businesses wishing to back the City. The girls loved all of the dragon's and I was impressed by the sight of the MD of First Bus, Peter Iddon, leading their collection teams! Good on him, along with other businesses such as Radio Norwich and Asda leading the charge. But the best floats were those from schools or community groups where clearly decorating a full size lorry was a challenge in itself! There is a lot of talent too in the City - from the dancers to the runners, although my favourite was a certain young lady in a purple dress and red hat on a motorised scooter have huge amounts of fun! After that we went to the Civic Reception where everybody seemed to be in party mood; whatever you might say about Jeremy Hooke's tenure as Lord Mayor, he's certainly bought a lot of fun to the role and put a lot of smiles on faces! The massive climax was the fireworks display being launched from the Castle and wonderfully put to music. Norwich doesn't have a great track record on such set-piece events but this was flawless and wonderful to watch.

Today, we all went along to the Sewell Park 100 Years celebration and again the team there put on a great event - from play stuff to a grafitti wall and dancing to ice cream they had it all covered. And over 40 stalls displaying the best of the local community.

It's times like this that we are glad to have raised our kids in Norwich; a fantastic City with such civic pride. Thank you to everyone involved!

Norwich International: Why the development charge isn't working

The MD of Norwich International will no doubt get some positive coverage in the next few days as his controversial charge to leave Norwich has now raised £1m and they can start splashing our cash. The spending projects include improving safety and, most importantly, extra investment into the fire services. This is good stuff, obviously, and we should welcome this sort of investment. However, what is curious is the total rejection of the idea that the development charge is far from developing the airport, it is holding it back.

I say this for 2 key reasons; Airport bosses claim that the charge is, at least, upfront open and honest. They claim that other airports hide their charges on things like parking, trolley hire and the like. This really doesn't stand up to scrutiny. In all those things, the consumer has the choice; airport parking is a vicious market where prices are being driven down - when we parked at Stanstead going to NY in May Half-Term we got an excellent deal by choosing a company outside of the airport. Similarly if I don't like the cost of trolley hire, I choose to pull my own luggage. Simple. However the Norwich development charge doesn't give you that choice; you have to pay it in order to board your flight. Open and honest it may be, but so too is it unavoidable unlike all of the other charges at other airports.

And secondly there is the total lack of understanding of human nature. People hate paying this so-called charge (we call it a tax) upfront because you physically see the money changing hands - on top of the existing airport tax we pay on the ticket cost. Travelling from Norwich is expensive but it's convenient. They should have a cornered market for the airport here in Norfolk, but still the chopping and changing of flight routes and the development charge drive people to Stanstead, Luton and even Heathrow.

Norwich Airport is a fantastic resource and I support it 100%, but whereas it should have cornered market and a great profitable business, it has succeeded in antagonising large sections of its natural market - people in Norwich and Norfolk. I wish that the MD would think again about this.

Now Scots LibDem Leader Quits

Breaking news tonight is the resignation of Nicol Stephen as the Leader of the Liberal Democrats in Scotland; the second major party leader to resign North of the Border in just a week.

He has apparently resigned because of the strain it has had on his family; no problem with that after all Alan Milburn did the same.

However, I am rather curious about the timing. After the disasterous result in Henley, this resignation could put more pressure on Clegg and will provide a distraction from Labour's woes. It also means the party will fight the Glasgow by-election, along with Labour, leaderless.

Could he not have hung on a few weeks more, even until the end of July or resign after the summer recess? It is just the worst time to go; so why go now?

An odd decision, but either way I wish Nicol Stephen well and trust our pressurised 24-7 political life hasn't broken another career - can politicans have a work-life balance?

A Funny Way To "Lose" at PMQs

In the past few weeks there have been concerns, touted in the press and on the blogosphere, that Brown was finally getting one over on Cameron at PMQs; but some Tories batted this off saying that this was part of Dave's great plan to be soft on Gordon and help cement his position; after all, Brown is the secret to a Conservative landslide at the next election.

However today was a classic example of where Cameron wasn't interested in the win-lose-draw aspect. He had a fantastic issue - a news story in itself. A handwritten letter from Labour's Chief Whip Geoff Hoon to Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee Chairman Keith Vaz saying that he hoped that Mr Vaz would get an appropriate reward for doing a policy U-turn and backing the government in the crucial 42 days vote.

Cameron went rather softly on it; and the media and bloggers picked up on this and said he let Brown off lightly. I don't think so.

Cameron was putting an issue into the public domain - he got the good soundbite out (tell the truth, don't take us for fools etc) and has really been at the forefront of yet more good Tory publicity.

If he has wanted to bash the PMs head in, he could have taken all 6 questions on this issue and massacred him. Cameron chose not to, because he had done his job. Rather like Blair when his sprung the Cranbourne deal on Hague back in the 90s.

So for once, PMQs isn't about winning - it's about a narrative to an excellent media story. The Hoon-Vaz issue will never be sorted (because we'll just never know what that ! meant) but that won't stop this government taking yet another kick in the balls - because if just confirms that view most people had already about this shabby 42 days vote.

Getting Around

On Saturday morning I went to see the Sewell Toy Library, which operates out of the Christ Church Center in Magdalen Road. It was a pleasure to see in action - though my eldest did walk away with a deeply irritating piano - and there was a steady stream of people in and out. For a minimal cost, you can hire out toys and even play with a lot there and then. Knowing how fast my girls favourites come and go, this is a great way of ensuring they have something new to engage in every week. It is run with the help of 2 of the local - Labour - ward councillors and they and their team deserve a huge amount of praise for running a fantastic community initiative.

That afternoon we went on a fmily trip to try and collect as many "elephants" as we could around Norwich. One of the things you could never criticise Norwich City Council for is not putting on, or facilitating, enough free events for familiies in the City. We saw - at my count - roughly 27 of them. Emily enjoyed any with stripes on, although I was quite taken with the conceptual elephant on Millenium Plain outside of the BBC building. Emily literally kissed and hugged every elephant; a great afternoon in the sun.

Sunday morning we went out delivering leaflets in Eaton for our newly re-selected local candidate Niall Baxter. Niall ran one of the most amazing campaigns I have ever witnessed and no candidate could have worked harder. Niall is really well known around the ward now and I am thrilled he is to carry on working for local people; he added 4% to the Tory vote and made Eaton a real fight for the first time in years.

Yesterday and this evening we've spent the time putting the finishing touches to my parliamentary campaign team and writing our next leaflet and survey. Later in the week I am visiting a community group and meeting with the organisers of a youth football team. Busy, but enjoyable; so the hour I got asleep in the garden this afternoon because I was locked out was total pleasure!

Not Bothering With Big Brother

Regular readers will know that my summer months are normally pre-occupied with the goings-on in Big Brother and I confess to occassionally getting obsessed. Occassionally. But this year after just a week or so in, I've totally given up on this.

When Big Brother was launched it was innovative and socially interesting. The idea was putting ordinary people together and seeing how they interacted 24-7; seeing emotions run high and seeing human frailty in all of its glory. So where did it all go wrong?

Firstly, the social meddling. The idea that we should watching people in a human zoo, but to remove those who are aggressive, racist, bullying is to suggest that those traits do not exist in society. They do; and we should watch this and see the best and worst of society. To meddle is to create some sanitised version of society.

But, secondly, why has it got this bad? What has led the social experiment to be social engineering? Well in the past the housemates were largely made up of ordinary people; people we could empathise with; people who live next door. And we would watch how these ordinary people got on.

But then something changes - either a desire to make it more interesting, a desire to watch something altogether more bizarre or a ratings gambit by C4. Instead of the ordinary people we get a bizarre sideshow of people. If I thought for a moment the contents of the BB House were representative of society, I'd move to Canada. These poor souls are dragged in, lured by a moment of celebrity - not a desire to engage in a social experiment. Each one of them stranger than the last. I don't know anybody remotely similar to these people - beit the vile bullying of Alex or the drama queen nastiness of Denis. They are pawns, dragged into something which I no longer want to watch.

Just think about how the characters have changed from series to series; from Craig Phillips (series one) to Kate Lawler (series three) to Cameron Stout (series four) to Nadia Almada (series five) to Pete Bennett (series seven) and now who?

By changing the contestants they've changed the social interaction and it has become pointless. Apparently the ratings go down and down; and each time C4 react with more and more bizarre stereotypes. Rather like Labour believed it lost elections for not being left wing enough, apparently BB is losing viewers because it isn't bizarre enough.

Hardly.

LibDems Winning Here ... in Crewe, Henley & now Glasgow East

I have long been an opponent of the slogan "Winning Here", used by the LibDems, on the basis that if you don't win here or people don't believe you can win here then you look utterly ridiculous. Indeed, if you misjudge that prediction then people are less likely to believe it the next time.

For example, there was much amusement in Norwich when the LibDems continued to use that slogan here in 07 and 08, given the dreadful results for the party which saw a volley of seats lost. Knocking on doors around the City, people couldn't believe the arrogance of the party when everyone knew the LibDems were losing ward after ward.

They are now also taking a kicking from their own side, for ramping their chances in Crewe and Henley and then failing miserably in each. After all, if the LibDems don't win by-elections then what are they for?

After the events the LibDems are saying they didn't expect to win either seat; yet oddly enough before the poll these self same LibDems were saying that the result was too close to call!

I understand why they do it; because the LibDems must counter the wasted vote arguement and convince people they are worth voting for because they can win. However they do tend to use it no matter where in the country or what the previous results.

I hope the LibDems have an internal debate about their campaigning style, though from my experience of them they'll stick their fingers in their ears and hum until it all goes away. I think they ought to ask why they are the most negative and the most personal of all the parties. But, again, I'm sure they won't.

We await the slogan and the campaign in Glasgow East with some anticipation.

Why did Wendy Alexander resign?

Wendy Alexander made a fairly small error regarding party finance (in terms of cash sums) and has been punished by parliament. She's stuck out a lot of abuse from her opponents, notably the SNP, and also the media. And now, suddenly, she quit. Now I should be delighted and using this blog post to gloat. But this resignation has left me more confused than pleased.

Why go now? The pressure was finally lifting, Labour have a by-election in Scotland they'll need to fight hard and leadership is important. But she walked away ... a two fingered salute to politics? A moment of weakness? Well, Wendy is sister of International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander. I just can't help wondering if he knew of her intent before she quit - in fact, I wonder if she sought her advise?

Brown, at the time of his anniversary, is battered by a second by-election bruising and depressing polls. Blair's leadership was challenged by a volley of PPS resignations; I just wonder if Brown's leadership is being challenged by a higher authority?

Diss By-Election: LibDems still making no progress

I'm sure it won't make the news, but the result from the Diss by-election was:

John Cowan (Labour Party) 63 votes (3.4%)
Eloise Ellis (Conservative) 1041 votes (55.6%)
Trevor Wenman (Liberal Democrat Party) 768 votes (41%)

This is significant in many ways. Firstly Diss is a bellweather seat, which the Tories gained one seat in a by-election 2 years ago and then again at the 07 council elections with exactly the same swing. And yet last night, after a year in power at South Norfolk the LibDems made no advance against the Tory tide.

Again the LibDems were proclaiming a tight result and it's so close here ... hardly ... the Tory majority of 14% was the same as it had been a year ago; nothing changed.

The LibDems again threw the kitchen sink at this election and to no avail; with the exception of North Norfolk, the LibDems are against the wall both locally in Norwich and Norfolk and also nationally.

For those who call upon Rennard, Clegg and the LibDems to change their campaign techniques they should look at Diss as well as Henley.

And secondly is the Labour result; Diss is as urban as South Norfolk gets (which is why it should have been better for the LibDems) and they could only muster 63 votes? Oh dear.

Henley: View from the Tory Car

A group of us from Norwich and Norfolk have been to Henley to help in the parliamentary by-election to replace Boris. And ... wow.

It is a fantastic corner of the country; picturesque, gentile and with sky high house price. This former seat of Heseltine and Johnson is really part of the Tory heritage; and it shows.

Apart from the quality of conversation you can only get when you jam that number of Tory activists together for a 3 hour car journey, the first amusing moment of the day was the branch of Timpsons (of Tory victor in the Crewe by-election fame) proudly displaying their "John Howell - Conservative" signs. Quality effort there!

A few thoughts on the day; certainly not comprehensive and just what we saw. We drove through Henley (and, apparently for some time Reading too - well done driver!!) and also spent the morning and afternoon in 2 reasonably sized villages outside of Henley. I am not transposing this on the whole constituency; just as we saw it.

The Tory by-election machine is very well ordered. The sector office was a few minutes from the station and that site must have taken some getting. All the walk sorts were ready, bundled and ready to go. We signed in and were turned around in minutes; except after lunch when there was so much help a queue formed out of the door. There is a lot of high quality literature going out and the administrative support is good; much better than any by-election I have bene to before.

The poster war is being won, and won decisively, by the Tories. What is surprising is where we saw posters. There is one massive LibDem poster up in the centre of Henley, across from the Thames. Other than that we saw nothing - and the poster effort is normally the sign of the LibDems on a roll. Even in the villages we were delivering to some mixed areas, and certainly parts you would expect any LibDem campaign to focus on. The Tories have visable signs and plenty of sites. Indeed, the most irritating point of the day was walking up a massive driveway, to find a tiny A4 Tory poster in the window!! The Tories are also - importantly - beating the LibDems in houses as well as fields.

The parties are macthing each other leaflet for leaflet. We delivered a newspaper in the morning; and mine sat on top of a freshly delievered LibDem newspaper. In the afternoon we delivered a glossy brochure, which sat upon a new LibDem Focus leaflet. However, I saw no LibDem activists at all during the day, whereas we did pass other Tories. Again, the site of the famed LibDem by-election machine is being able to "control" the constituency with literature and they clearly haven't done this. And one other thing.

The LibDem campaign is actually more negative than I had read about. All of their stuff is aimed squarely against Howell; and in some cases it is very nasty. The Tories have, thus, gone for a straight bat positive campaigning approach. The only person I actually spoke to all day (well, the only elector of Henley anyway) said they had been turned off by the LibDem campaign and whilst not totally behind Howell they would vote Conservative because they were, at least, campaigning positively. Good news; but only one person, I know. The LibDem literature is a good standard but the message and the themes are, in my opinion, all wrong. They ought to stand back and look at what they are doing.

There was an amazing amount of Tory activists, and young activists. At the pub at lunch time, it was like reliving the conferences when I was 18 or 19; I knew a large number of people there and we are now 10 years on, mostly PPCs and feeling that we are the generation that will shape the future of the party. Great food, everyone was upbeat and ready to take on the world. Quite frankly if there had been a by-election in Jarrow the people there would be working flat out for a Conservative gain. The team work and positive attitudes are a stark contrast to that which I knew even 5 years ago; amazing what 49% in the polls does for you.

A great day ... so, a prediction? Before today I was quite worried we were heading for Bromley territory. But now if it goes wrong it wouldn't be for the wrong strategy, candidate or campaigning. In fact, if it did go wrong it would prove that negative campaigning and playing very, very dirty does work. However I believe it won't. I think a cut Tory majority on a much reduced turnout. And I will awake early Friday morning to see how wrong I am!!!

LibDems campaign in Henley goes from bad to worse

I am off this weekend to help with the Conservative campaign and thought I would do some research before I went to get up to date with some of the issues. On visiting Norfolk Blogger, he advised me to go to Henley Tory website, which he thinks is boring. For what its worth, I agree but the LibDem one is almost as bad. Funnily enough the first story on this "boring" Tory website is that a Henley Primary School has accused the LibDems of using them as a pawn - including pretending that their candidate has visited the school (he hasn't), that results are poor (they are above average) and that they are under funded (they are not).

The LibDem campaign seems to have had a bad week; their latest glossy brochure has a big picture of Boris Johnson right above an article attacking the Tory candidate and suggesting people support the LibDem (who, apparently, up to 5 weeks ago lived in Portsmouth). Why use the picture of Boris unless you are suggesting implicit support? I cannot see any other interpretation than an attempt to mislead, although LDV are trying their best as always!

I'll report back later on the by-election as I see it.

Note to the BBC

When I blogged that people would flock to the Davis banner of freedom, it was against the backdrop of 69% support for 42 days, a victorious Labour Party emerging from a parliamentary win and a media convinced that DD was bonkers.

Now, a few days later the commentators are changing their minds, the polls (especially within Davis' own constituency) are showing public backing for the resignation and even the Murdoch empire is backing off.

Note to BBC et al; check with the public before deciding what you think they think.

Happy Father's Day

In a world where the role of men in the family unit is under attack, mainly through the prism of science, it is good to be reminded of all the positive role models and the excellent fathers who make a difference day-in-day-out (and, yes, that goes for Mothers too). The girls - well, Louise, but let's keep up the pretence - had prepared a mock up Evening News front page declaring that I had been made the new Fat Controller. Would I want to take on the role of running the railways? Not likely; or is it my uncanny resemblance to Sir Topham Hat?

We spent a largely dry day at the Eaton Park 80th Birthday celebration, and the girls loved the miniture steam trains and the dragons on procession! Well done to all the organisers, a good event - just a pity about the weather! From there we went over to Taverham Old Hall for our second Teddy Bear's Picnic in 2 days (a trend starting?) and also a fete. A lovely day; the girls have spoilt me!

Teddy's Birthday

This week has certainly been the busiest in campaigning terms since the end of the local elections. I've been out helping with campaign teams in the City Centre and also Town Close this week; sadly missing out on the University stuff this morning. Plenty of leaflets to deliver and the people I spoke to as I went around seemed fairly determined that Labour are going to lose the next election. One gentleman who lived in a block of flats off Ber Street said to me that a Conservative government was the best thing that could happen to the country - because he was a Labour man and defeat was the only way to rid his party of Brown. Interesting stuff.

This afternoon was the Teddy Bear's Picnic as St. Albans Church Hall and it was really well done; face painting, games (which Emily won - cue parental pride) and a great afternoon. All put on free by our local church. Thank you and well done to all involved. We then had to have another picnic when we got home - the excuse? Apparently it's Teddy's birthday; congrats Teddy.

This evening we have been putting the final changes to the constituency campaign plan and also doing some preperation for an even we are putting in with Baroness Gillian Shephard in July. It's all go! And tomorrow is Father's Day ... and last year Emily bought Louise a "sweet shop" toy so goodness knows what her revenge on me will be!

Why the Sun Won't Win It

I am glad that Kelvin McKenzie is ready to be the standard bearer for 42 days, especially as Gordon Brown's Labour Party is too gutless to do just that. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that Kelvin won't make the ballot paper; why? Well, for a start we know that Rupert Murdoch is personally financing the campaign (Kelvin said so on national TV yesterday) and that the Murdoch press will swing behind him.

However the beauty of particularly "The Sun" is its claim to be the voice of the nation; our best read newspaper. There is no way on earth "The Sun" would back a candidate who stood a chance of losing. "The Sun" is always right, it always backs the winner and Murdoch won't take chances.

They'll be doing their research tonight, no doubt polls and focus groups too. And if the voters of David Davis' former constituency look like backing DD over Kelvin, they'll steer well clear.

Davis is still putting this issue firmly first and centre on the agenda; I even had a call from our local media today about my views on this. The more Davis speaks the more people will realise that our British way of life is being erroded.

If it thinks there is even a chance it may lose, "The Sun" won't take on H&H and it won't take on Davis.

UPDATE; a colleague of mine at work things this looks a lot like the Purple Party stunt from the awful BBC series "The Amazing Mrs Pritchard". I bloody well hope not!

Ireland speaks for Europe again

The victory for the NO campaign in Ireland has a huge impact on EU politics; but interestingly the one thing that came through from all of the TV coverage and news reports that I have seen if the total lack of political education and the numbers of people who didn't understand what they were voting on. I'm pretty sure that's the excuse they'll use for holding another vote, in the hope that the Irish can (once again) be convinced to change their minds.

However in a funny way, once again Ireland has spoken for the whole of Europe - because whilst the bureaucracy and the spineless politicans seek to remove more and more powers from national legislatures and place them in a political superstructure that has an increasing democratic and legitimacy deficit, the people in these countries have their views and opinions ignored.

The betrayal by Labour and the LibDems over the Lisbon Treaty denied the people of Britain their say over the future; without knowing it, the Irish may just have given us our voices back.

In politics today, a cry for freedom has gone up.

Probably the most remarkable politican of the last decade

The resignation of Tory Shadow Home Secretary David Davis, not just from his frontbench job but as an MP, is a remarkable piece of political drama. Quitting to force a by-election on the 42 days issue is an honourable and brave move; but for some of us, we've come to expect this from Davis who has a long history of speaking up for civil liberties. Tonight, a strong coalition is building around Davis and they clearly plan to take this fight to Brown and the country; persuading the majority of Britons who still believe in 42 days.

Any MP giving up his seat (and Davis could lose it) is remarkable.

Taking on a government backed by a large majority of people on a complex issue is remarkable.

Putting the right thing to do above your career is remarkable.

David Davis has a huge job to do and is now the unofficial spokesman for everyone who cherishes liberty; be it on ID cards, 42 day detention or the removal of trial by jury. Far from being a stunt, I am tonight very proud of Davis and if he brings the country with him on this, he could yet be the man who brings down Gordon Brown.

LibDems make another U-turn on Lisbon

Tonight Nick Clegg's ridiculous stance on the Lisbon Treaty go a whole lot more ridiculous after his peers in the House of Lords did another u-turn and outright voted against a referendum.

So now we've had a manifesto committment to a public vote, abstention from his MPs and opposition from his peers.

So what do the LibDems think about the biggest European issue around at the moment? Nobody knows because you just can't pin them down. Still, at least Clegg has the 42 day fiasco to hide behind; but he can't do it forever.

I blame Gordon Brown, Charles Clarke, the DUP, Ann Widdecombe, UKIP and the vast ranks of utterly stupid Labour MPs

I am against 42 days detention without trial; not least because it won't actually work but for 2 other reasons - firstly the loss of our historical rights in this country to have a fair trial without being detained by the force of law, and secondly I believe that works fills the time given to complete it - so if you give the police 42 days they will take it; I just don't believe they need this time because they could do the same work (technical or not, Mr Brown) in 28 days, which for the record I believe is still too long.

So the utterly pathetic sight of a Labour government (a LABOUR government) relying on the votes of Northern Ireland MPs who, quite frankly, sold out to Brown in order to introduce a piece of legislation that will both be authortarian and ineffective is sickening in the extreme.

I am disgusted; as you can tell; and I hold every single one of the Labour MPs and the sole Tory and UKIP MPs that voted for this law to be personally responsible for the erosion of our liberties.

Thank God for the House of Lords, and I cannot wait for the day when Clarke loses his seat and a new Conservative MP for Norwich South can vote to repeal this nasty piece of legislation.

And they're off ...

After a few weeks off from campaigning, my letterbox has now become the new frontline. Last week we recieved the latest Green newsletter, proclaiming victory on all fronts in Town Close (well done them); they got in first too. Then yesterday we recieved a copy of "Town Close Matters" Conservative leaflet - of course I'd seen it before but it's always nice to recieve something you agree with 100%. And today, MP Charles Clarke had a glossy leaflet come through the door, persumably by paid deliverer as it was bundled up with other leaflets. I note the subtle change from red to green printing colour ... a political message there by any chance?

Both Tory and Green leaflets led with the local election results; Clarke's was full of glossy words and pcitures of him around the City promoting government policy. No mention of VED or 42 days. I wonder why?

The Greens also covered the post office closures, 20mph zones, City college redevelopment and their failed plans for an all-party exec. The Conservative one also featured an article on unitary, law & order and the cost of living. Charles Clarke went on crime, CCTV, park rangers and cycle paths in Whittlingham. I'd be interested in your views if you have recieved these leaflets.

This evening I have been finishing the wording for a new Conservative campaigning project and tomorrow I am addressing a street meeting about crime and anti-social behaviour.

Sofa Politics

When I'm fortunate enough to actually manage to watch some political TV, I always hope it's good stuff. I certainly wasn't disappointed by Cameron's venture onto GMTV - which proves why he is the single best communicator in modern politics. Like Tony Blair he was natural, good humoured and quick witted; but I don't get the same sense of nasuea with Cameron than I did with Blair. I think Cameron is personable and isn't saying what he wants people to hear, unlike Mr Blair. It probably told us little about a future Conservative government but it did say a lot about the man who is odds-on to be our next Prime Minister.

It also featured an interesting explanation about the now-infamous centre parting. Reams upon reams were written about Cameron's new sporting hair; did it contain a subtle political message? A new direction for the Conservatives? Could the hair tell us about the future of the Lisbon Treaty? Er, no, actually ... according to Cameron it was the impact of a cycling helmet on his head. Oh dear, there mut be dozens of hacks feeling very stupid round about now!

New York: The Holiday of No Sleep

My long absence from the blog was caused by a 4 day jaunt to New York followed by 4 days trying to get over the jetlag. The brain-child of Scoland's answer to Carrie Bradshaw, we flew out of Stanstead and into JFK and out of dreary olf England into 72 degree NYC. The limo drive (yes, darlings, we ARE that middle class) from the airport to the hotel gave us some spectacular views and what was to come; it also gave Mrs Paton a spectacular view of her own ... a certain Torquay hotel owner. The hotel was wonderfully modern and, some might say, heavenly.

The thing about New York was its size; you constantly look upwards and you soon realise how many areas of New York you think you know. Everything is just huge; the shops, the meals, the service charges ... and I was very impressed, with one notable exception, ow polite everybody was.

The moment of the holiday for me was a certain young lady finding out that Spamalot was a musical; but still, she had her own way of dealing with it.

The event of the holiday was the view from the "Top of the Rock"; an amazing 360 degree view of the City - thank god for digital cameras because I still dozens of shots.

Obvious moment of the holiday was the carriage ride through Central Park - and I would have seen some vaguely famous building but somebody stuck their head in the way.

Sad moment, for me, was Ground Zero. I have to say that this was one the reasons I wanted to visit, before anything is built. But I was disappointed to find it a building site with no memorial in site. But worse (I mean, what else did I expect?) was the commercialisation of the site. People seling postcards and books of the attacks; the cry of $1 bottles of water - I couldn't help thinking that this was what happens when capitalism meets disaster. There were so many people around, it must have been on obvious place to set up stall.

Queue of the holiday was the 2-3 hour wait for the boat to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island; we didn't even both so instead some of our party took to molesting another State of Liberty (photo evidence to come) - or was it the other way around???

Gasp of the holiday was the exhibition in the Guggenheim Museum. We were disappointed to find the actual building covered in scaffolding, but the main exhibition that went up through the central hall was astonishing; 8 white cars in different poses of a flip, with a neon explosion coming from each; you have to see it to believe it.

Arguement of the holiday; in the case of Paton versus the United States, I find in favour of Paton.

It was an amazing holiday (actually our first without the kids - thanks Mum!) and I am very much in love with the City; not just the shopping and the architecture but the buzz it gives you. From the mass of yellow cabs to the hotdogs on street corners. From my lovely new iPod to our breakfast bagels; a fantastic time.

We've now gone from Centre Parcs to Central Park; where next year I wonder?

Parking, Planning and Protests

I spend a week last Wednesday at a residents meeting in New Costessey and last Thursday at a similar one in Chapel Break, Bowthorpe, both about the same issue - parking. Now I've done a lot of public meetings in my time and very few issues, outside of election time, get anywhere near a crowd but both of these meetings were very well attended. I had done the week before a public meeting about the bus service in the West of the City with considerably fewer people. (Off the point, but it is a shame that people don't make more of an effort because all the meetings I have done have seen good debate and an excellent array of public speakers.)

Both Costessey and Chapel Break have blocked roads, inconsiderate parkers and issues wth blocking roads and driveways. Each time all the authorities can say is that neighbours should work together (this was nearlly word-for-word the answer that came back from the Labour executive when I raised the issue in Full Council some time ago). Sadly though, relations are not what they could be, and these residents need help to work through their differences including influencing the planning process and designing out some of the problems. One of the great tings about the SNAP is the fusion between the elected councillors and the police. Being able to help shape police priorities has been a great way of affecting change in our areas.

In both cases, the police are now working high profile shifts to help the situation. A senior council officer is persuing the adoption of some of the roads in Chapel Break to make enforcement easier and we as Councillors have been able to bring together different groups of people and different councils to get a result.

Parking is clearly a big issue and we have to sit up and listen to the concerns of local people.

Post Office struggle with the big question: Why not close Castle Mall?

Last week I sat as part of a Scrutiny panel that looked in detail at the work of the Post Office and their plans to shut multiple branches across Norfolk. My questions focused heavily on the support that PO Ltd. was giving to branches and the business plan of the Post Office (I would venture that they don't have one). Credit to the PO for turning up (and doing the later Public Meeting at the Puppet Theatre) but their information, analysis (and excuses) were pretty thin.

Although they spent much of the meeting on the ropes - and credit there goes to the Sub Post Masters rather than most of the timid councillors - it wasn't until the end that we got to one juicy mater. The Chair of Scrutiny, Cllr Stephenson, asked if giving the criticism of that branch Castle Mall would be considered for closure. The PO guys looked a bit shocked; it was a crown Post Office, they sluttered, and anyway it made a profit. I could resist asking if they thought that instead of migrating custom into the Castle Mall, if closing the branch culd lead to the emigration of custom out to smaller branches, such as Queens Road (New Lakenham), Vauxhall Street, Rosary Road and the like. Another flipsy excuse later, and I had to ask the blunt question - if eveyr other PO in the county and city is up for review, would they conceed that Castle Mall could be closed if it was proved to be the best option? Yes, or No? I think the answer was "no"; but at the later public meeting the same topic came up again and the PO seemed even less sure a few hours later. And I am grateful to a resident for writing to inform me that Norwich has lost 2 crown Post Offices in recent years.

So, come on Post Office let's have a real debate about the future of the Post Offices in Norwich, starting maybe with the Castle Mall.

UPDATE: I notice from last night's Evening News that Charles Clarke is on the attack too; this issue won't go away.

Don't do it, Boris, don't do it

Perception, especially in politics, is as important as reality. The way people feel and what they see really counts.

So the news that Mayor of London Boris Johnson is to carry on writing his Telegraph column worries me. I've said I think he should stand down as MP for Henley ASAP (especially given the disasterous LibDem candidate selection decision) and let another fight the by-election. I don't think he should write newspaper columns regularly either.

It doesn't matter if he has the spare time to do it on a Sunday or otherwise. It's the message it sends.

He wants to say, "I'm a full time Mayor, I am working all day to make the City better for you." This move doesn't say that. Come on, Boris, speaking as someone who has read your column year after year, it's time to hang up the pen and get on with enacting your excellent manifesto.

Norwich Tories Cut Crime!

In my second bizarre incident of the week (I may tell you about the first later on), we managed to get caught up in an attempt to defraud Norwich City Council of a car parking fee.

I have attended the farewell party for the outgoing Lord Mayor, Cllr Roy Blower, and on leaving headed to the St. Giles Car Park to give a lift home to my new ward colleague, Niki George.

As we got out of the barrier, the car behind shot out under with us. I thought this was odd, and looked in the mirror to see him waving at the security guard; but on second glance the security guard was chasing him as he had just got out without paying. I did an emergency stop to block their exit; the security guard finally caught up with them. Now that might have been the end of it ... so we went to pull off again and the car behind shot around St. Giles Street, trying to pull around us. It takes more than that to stop a pair of Tory Councillors, so we pulled across the single lane road to block them. Luckily, the bollard on the other side of the pavement stopped the other escape route.

Finally, having been blocked for a few minutes, they got their number plate taken and it all finished. The easy thing would be to drive off and let it happen; he could have got stroppy with us and the whole incident. It could have been nasty. But we couldn't let people get away with ripping off the people of this City and I am glad we did our small bit to do that.

I still wonder what will happen to that motorist. Does anyone know the penalty?

MEP tells truth shock!

I mentioned the case of Independent MEP for the East of England, Tom Wise, a few days ago when Mr Wise was caught admitting how much he was enjoying milking the EU cash cow for himself. Now Mr Wise, who was first elected under a UKIP banner, has said he is pleased to have been caught because it would show up the problems in the EU.

Well done Mr Wise; a good point, well made. You have been honest in an odd sort of way that others wouldn't have been. Now emerge from politics with at least some dignity by resigning as our MEP.

More from the Norwich Evening News here.

It's good when you're growing

I can't pack up for the night without saying that tonight I Chaired the first Conservative Group Meeting since the election. Tails are up, the opposition are in our sights and the feeling in the camp is good. We sorted out committees and the new shadow cabinet. We started to discuss political tactics. More to come on that, but we are probably sharing the same good feeling being experienced by a lot of Conservative groups in the country.

The 10p Row Gets Worse

Never before have we witnessed such a mess as a Chancellor trying to get out of a political hole by carrying on digging. Yet today that is what we saw today from Chancellor Darling as he tried to put the 10p tax rate debate aside by putting up the tax allowance on the basic rate. This will cost £2.7 billion but ...

It is a one-off payment, a one-off solution to a problem created by Gordon Brown.

It is being paid for by borrowing! We'll end up paying this back one way or the other.

22 million better off, but only 4.2m of those were impacted in the first place and Darling still misses 1.1 million people!

It may have caused a humiliating backdown from Frank Field but it won't pass the opposition or the media test. The news is pretty damaging and the papers will say so. Darling will always have this U-Turn around his neck and the issue will become attached to Gordon Brown too.

Am I the only one who thought Darling should have started with an apology too? I also thought that both Osbourn and Cable did very well ... but they did both have an open goal, I suppose.

Poor old Darling; the unluckiest Chancellor attached to the unluckiest Prime Minister ever.

What now for Frank Field?

When I got up this morning, I was under the impression that Frank Field, the former Welfare Reform Minister under Tony Blair, was placated and that the crisis over the 10p tax band cut was put to one side. However, when I got home from Climate Change Panel at Norwich City Council tonight, it had all seemed to blow up again. Cabinet Minister Ed Balls (hate figure of our staff room) has told him to shut up and Mr Field says he'll be surprised if Brown is still in his job in 2 years time.

Putting aside the disasterous split in Labour, you have to ask what the future holds for Mr Field. He is either right and has large numbers of the PLP behind him, in which case Brown is dead in the water and he will be heralded a hero. Or ... if he is a "one man band" on this, then he has surely lost the confidence of the party and definitely the whips. He may not care, but can he stay within the PLP? I don't think so; for me, its just a case of when he joins a growing list of MPs in the cold - joining the likes of Clare Short and Bob Waring.

Go now, Boris

There is a lot of speculation that Boris Johnson, newly elected Conservative Mayor of London, will step down immediately as MP for Henley, Oxfordshire, despite a Times claim on polling day that said he would cling onto both jobs.

I think this would be a mistake and that Boris must step down immediately. The public are very suspicious about politicans, and more so when they appear to hang onto jobs for the sake of it. The news that Independent MEP for the Eastern Region Tom Wise has been recorded saying he is surprised how much money he can screw out of the EU should shock, but not surprise us. If you have the time and energy to do both - for example, a county and district councillor - then that is fine (although you'g have to have very nice constituents to manage that and hold down a full time job!) but you cannot possibly represent a constituency as an MP and be Mayor London.

Do it, Boris, resign. Go out on a high, give the people of Henley the chance to vote for new Conservative representation. It'll look good on you, on the party and on politics itself.

It's Cruddas vs. X (where X is any moderniser)

Gordon Brown is not going to resign; no matter how low they go in the polls, or how much local or by-elections they lose or how much he destroys the country. He slogged through the Blair years, yearning for this job and he will not go down in History as one of the shortest serving and most useful Prime Minister's ever.

However ... if he were to fall under a (political) bus, what is clear is that it's Jon Cruddas who will carry to flag of real Labour forward. His excellent showing in the Deputy Leadership contest - coming from nowhere to winning on first preferences - plus the dignified way he has handled himself since has put him in poll position. With all of the other Deputy Leadership candidate pretyt much humiliating themselves (including the eventual winner), he still holds a place in the heart of the Labour Party membership and the Trade Union movement if not the PLP.

So, if its Cruddas then who will he be against? I believe that the deal will be done to ensure only one candidate emerges from the Blairite right of the party; they won't want to split the vote and will want to be seen to be united. They may find themselves against a self-styled "unity" candidate like Jack Straw, but the Milliband-Balls-Burnham-Purnell alliance will be at work.

If I were in that alliance, I'd be working out who is going to be doing the challenge in the next 2 years - because they'll need all the traction they can get to beat Straw out of the traps and beat Cruddas to the votes.

Tories take lead in Norwich South, say pollsters

The Conservatives have taken the lead in the new Norwich South constituency, according to respected political pollster "Electoral Calculus". Reflecting massive Tory poll leads and victories at last week's local elections in the City, the latest poll puts the seat at:
Conservative 30%
Labour 29%
LibDem 25%
Green 15%

I check the site regularly because of the seat-by-seat breakdown of its poll findings and this is the first time and suggests a win for the Tories (albeit with a majority in the hundreds) for the first time. It also shows the lack of impact of the LibDems, who continue to decline across the City.

I take some comfort from this but think things may change between now and polling day; I think the Greens for example will do better but at the further expense of Labour and the LibDems; but it does suggest that our campaigning locally and nationally is working.

Interestingly I was talking to a friend of mine, staunch Labour, today who said that for the first time his vote was up for grabs. He thought Labour had lurched into one too man disasters and that Clarke's time was up. If I vote tomorrow, he said, it would be for you. But, he added carefully, it isn't tomorrow so things might yet change. I can handle that caveat to his support; because it's my job in the next 2 years to give him a positive reason to vote for Cameron and myself.

Hot, Hot, Hot

Armed only with four gallons of water and a vat of suncream, we all headed to the Garden Show at the Norfolk Show Ground this morning. The weather knocked both of the girls out (pretty much) although Emily shot back into life when she saw a giant flower that you plugged into the garden tap and it squirted randomly around the place a high volume stream of water. Unfortunately, after parting with a fiver, we got home and the damn thing exploded at the plug end and the flower ended up drooping with a disappointing dribble coming out of one end. I felt rather more crushed than Emily, who soon moved on to the next fad, but it played on my mind for the rest of the day.

The show was very, very good and was incredibly diverse; more than just plants, equipment and garden furniture, it also included charities and community groups from around the City and I enjoyed the chance to talk to some of the organisers and businesses about how they views the current situation. Many spoke about increasing burden of red tape, from all quarters including national and local government, and the fact that such problems put people off volunteering.

One advantage of having fought the parliamentary seat before and having a high profile in local government is people knowing who you are and coming over to chat. That was helped today but a rather flattering piece about me in the EDP and also a letter in the Evening News which dug down deeper into the election results which showed the strenght of the Tory vote in Norwich.

We then came home to clear up the garden and set up the kids toys; sadly after about 5 minutes my back went and I was forced to watch my poor, long suffering, wife did all the work (!!!) although I never get away with it for long.

This evening, up until this blog post, I have spent writing our "thank you" leaflets and rather splended they look too.

Something Achieved

By 8.30 this morning I was at the Norwich City Council Group Leader's Meeting - I wish I could say more, but the issues involved are largely confidential - but it is a method by which all the players on a hung council can work together constructively and honestly; it usually works. This morning was a long one and we seemed to go round and round a bit followed by deciding on a volley of reports.

By this afternoon I was at a Norfolk Conservatives Meeting; a forum by which senior representatives of the party can get together and work together constructively and honestly; it usually works. This meeting was, too, a long one.

If you spend a long time in politics, sometimes you leave meetings and wonder what you did when you were then and what was actually achieved. No, come on, we've all been in them.

In between these two meetings I did achieve something; a very tricky housing problem that took a great deal of time and a visit to the Customer Service Centre at City Hall. It took a while, but we got a result - a decision that will make a great difference to the life of one family. I thought little of it at the time but as I sit back blogging tonight, and wonder what I did today it was this act that stood out.

I got back home to spend a few hours in the sunshine with the girls ...

A 4 party solution for Norwich?

For those out of the loop the current situation on Norwich City Council is:
Labour 15 (n/c)
Green 13 (+3)
LibDem 6 (-5)
Cons 5 (+2)

Hence nobody has anywhere near a majority and with a coalition not functioning, the Green Party has finally spoken about the elephant in the room - who will now run the council - saying they want an executive "of all the talents" with a 4 party administration. This idea has been shot down in flames - certainly by 2 of the parties involved - amongst a big debate about the future of the council now.

Does Labour have the strenght amongst their 15 strong group to support a talented 8 man Exec plus fill 3 key committee chairmanships? How far will the opposition Councillors fill jobs within the political system? I don't know (for once!) but I do think it's odd that we're almost a week after the poll and we haven't yet really thrashed this through.

Norwich people have voted for a patchwork quilt of political parties in the City, we now have to make it work. How we do that is vitally important and we ought to get down to working out how sooner rather than later.

Back into Action

Whilst the local elections are really the one concerted time you get on the streets meeting and talking to local people, it does have a sense of artificial reality about it.

I have spent the last few days simply doing the case work I have built up from a few weeks on the doorsteps!

Bank Holiday was a fantastic family weekend away, with Lou's brother in London - very relaxing although the toll of limited sleep in the last week did impact on me! It was, though, great to be at the center of the Boris earthquake that took the capital by storm. I found myself watching another election count (the Mayoralty took about 24 hours to do!) and it almost (and I mean, almost) felt as good as winning in Bowthorpe.

By Tuesday night I was back chairing the Bowthorpe & Costessey SNAP Panel; an extremely well attended meeting it was too and the people there certainly made their feelings about the policing situation in the area clear. The Evening News report is here and we came out with 3 priorities - cutting crime in one area of Clover Hill, tackling parking in New Costessey and working on a youth centre for Bowthorpe. I am most determined to make sure that these priorities become realities and expect results; the people who put their trust in the democratic process deserve it.

Also that day the news broke about the apparent fiddling of crime figures by the Norfolk police, who were told in a leaked memo that they should be sure a crime was committed before recording it. They admitted that they were being driven by targets set by the government. So if a car window is smashed, that wouldn't count as a crime because you couldn't assume it was done on purpose without evidence.

No wonder people don't have faith in government crime statistics withthis happening. Labour are saying crime is falling but people know it isrising in key areas. Every crime needs to be reported, every crime needs to be invetsigated and every crime needs to be logged as such. Just because its a neighbour dispute or petty vandalism, doesn't mean it isn't a crime. This is outrageous. The Chief Constable needs to make a statement at once, reassuring people that every crime a policeman comes across and every crime that is reported is logged. We need to know we can trust the crime figures. I did an interview for the lead story on Look East for the BBC which went out at 6.30pm; certainly made an impression given the amount of response to it.

After that I then got to a residents meeting in Bowthorpe to discuss more anti-social behaviour issues.

Wednesday night was then a residents meeting in Town Close; interesingly those there weren't shocked by the LibDem collapse in the polls both locally and across the City. I knew a couple of party supporters there but most I was meeting for the first time. So many said that the LibDems were now out of the race to be our next MP and they knew that Cameron could beat Brown (hence a 26% poll lead) but that Clegg would keep Brown in power. Interesting stuff and a line we need to push harder. The meeting was very successful indeed.

I then went on to a party meeting / celebration drink at The George in Arlington Lane with a dozen or so of the key party activists. We did a lot of planning - more news to come - and there is a real feeling of momentum now. One said to me that he couldn't wait to get back on the streets campaigning given the political backdrop. We are raising money, getting money and winning support faster than ever before.

And tonight? Admin, marking and lesson planning - oh the glamerous life of the PPC!

Clarke's PO U-Turn

Although all support for saving our Post Office's is welcome, you have to be amazed at the cheek of Charles Clarke who calls for a review of Post Office closures whilst at the same time voting in parliament to carry on the closures. Saying one thing to the people of Norwich and doing another in London - just like Ian Gibson. No wonder neither of them showed up to support the "Save Our Post Offices" rally in Norwich recently.

Is it too cynical to wonder if this has anything to do with a 26% Cameron poll lead; a poll that would mean Mr Clarke losing his Norwich South to the Conservatives on a massive swing? I do hope not; I hope this is a genuine coversion so welcome to the campaign, Mr Clarke!

Morph does it again

A friend draws my attention to serial election-denier Steve Morphew.

Last year he said that Bowthorpe was robbed of a Labour Councillor (it elected a hard working Conservative instead) because of some obscure unitary leaflet.

Now apparently he writes in the Evening News that the people of Bowthorpe and Catton Grove must have woken up to wonder what they did by dumping failed Labour (and electing hard working Conservatives instead).

Elections are tough stuff; why can't we just accept the verdict of the electorate without claiming they had got it wrong or didn't know what they were doing?

A Judge who has it spot on

In times when the judiciary are often criticised, it is welcome when such senior figures of Judge Peter Jacobs breaks him silence to speak out against problems with the community sentence programme.

The government have so badly mishandled the criminal justice system that we now have prisons full to bursting; so their clever new plan to deal with this is to extend community services to more and more crimes to keep down the prison population.

Community services was originally designed to deal with minor crimes, especially ones where there could be a “restorative” element to their work – such as, for example, cleaning walls or tidying communal gardens.

Now the government has put us in a situation where people who have been involved in theft, physical assault and burglary are given community sentences - crimes that used to warrant a prison sentence. But, now under Labour, they are downgraded. Of course, some of these do work, but when people refuse to complete their sentence, give the authorities the run-around and end up bouncing in and out of court with judges trying to make them comply with their original ruling it makes a mockery of the system.

It ends us costing more in court time and police paperwork and detracts from catching more criminals. Judge Jacobs should be applauded for making this front page news and now the politicians must do their part in making the system work.

More prison places, a greater police presence on the streets, more preventative work (especially when drugs are involved), a proactive youth service and restorative justice must all play their parts.

But most importantly, people must be safe and know they are safe. They demand the right to know that justice has been done, and has seen to be done. People that flaunt community services undermine the whole system and fundamentally remove faith in the police, the judiciary and the legal system. Only by getting tough on this problem can we restore that faith.

Big Shake Up in Norwich

I will summarise the results below (I'm really too tired to even think at the moment) but some clear themes emerged from the night that I think the media may miss.

Theme 1: Positive campaigning won - Conservatives and Greens stayed positive throughout and both made net gains. Some of the Labour literature was shocking during the campaign and the stories we have heard of LibDem canvassing were next-to-vile.

Theme 2: Labour's been robbed of a frontbench. They've lost Housing Executive Member Julie Westmacott - to be fair, one of the few members with a real grasp of complex Housing issues - and also Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Culture Brenda Ferris. I know Steve Moprhew wants to reshape his top team but I cannot see where the talent is coming from.

Theme 3: The true scale of the LibDem collapse. Yes, they lost Mancroft, Town Close, Mile Cross and Thorpe Hamlet. But the true scale of their loss comes in the study of the results in detail. They came FOURTH in Bowthorpe, Catton Grove and Crome. They lost the seat and plunged to FOURTH in Unviersity, Mancroft and Wensum. They went from first to third in Mile Cross; they also went into third in Nelson. In Sewell Ward they came FIFTH. The Conservatives came second in Mile Cross and Crome and came third and above in all but one seat.

Bowthorpe: Con GAIN from Labour, removing Labour Deputy Brenda Ferris on an 8% swing and with a big majority.
Catton Grove: Con GAIN from Labour, with roughly the same majority as last year
Crome: Lab HOLD but with a much reduced majority
Eaton: LibDem HOLD with a good majority but a much increased Tory vote
Lakenham: LibDem HOLD, a surprise result but caused by a collapse in the Labour vote
Mancroft: Green GAIN from LibDem with a big majority
Mile Cross: Lab GAIN from LibDem, with a sizeable majority
Nelson: Green HOLD, even with losing a thousand votes this was safe Green territory
Sewell: Lab HOLD with a much, much reduced majority over the Greens
Thorpe Hamlet: Green GAIN from LibDem, with the irony of turning a 1 vote LibDem majority into a 501 Green majority
Town Close: Green GAIN from LibDem, easy result with big majority
University: Lab GAIN from LibDem, but with the Greens in a keen second place
Wensum: Green HOLD, easily.

Another day, another Lib Dem defection...

Yesterday the LibDem Group Leader on Sedgemoor Councillor quit and joined the Tories; a pretty impressive move for a group leader in many ways. Apparently he wasn't happy with the way that the LibDems were moving nationally.

Then Richmond Councillor Marc Cranfield Adams announced he was defecting to the Tories during a full council meeting (what a show off!). And now we hear that Cllr Janet Hedges, of Epping Forest, is Cameron's newest recruit.

Does all this matter? I used to think not, but a friend of mine pointed out that Thatcher's political base in 76-79 was built upon defections because people move towards the winners. The Sun is now backing Boris (the first Conservative endorsement since before 1997) and now the Telegraph is openly talking about the first parliamentary defection to the Conservatives (we've had a couple of MEPs but no MPs as yet).

Picking off LibDems, who are let's face it, struggling to say the least, is the easy bit - can Cameron start to lure Labour?

Happy St George's Day

Well, it's been a while ... Sorry for the lack of posting and even the lack of putting up comments but a mixture of frantic campaigning and then putting my back out has really done me in. Last Tuesday I stood up too quickly in church and couldn't move - literally. I've never had any back problems before and since then the doctors have been trying various combinations of drugs to try and help me. Things are looking a bit better now (I've motivated myself to blog) but the only time I'm not in pain is when I am walking - standing and sitting are both pretty painful and even getting in and out of bed is a problem! But enough of that, it's St. George's Day so let's celebrate!

Norwich City Council: UEA Students need not apply

Every now and again you hear of a story so sad that it explains why so few people give up their time for local democracy.

I have just spoken to a resident who lives in Eaton and who had been canvassed by the Liberal Democrats for the election. On telling the canvasser that he was voting Conservative, she told him not to vote for "the student" and he was "21 and would leave soon".

Apart from the fact that UEA Student and Conservative candidate Niall Baxter has made Norwich his home, including finding a house and a job, it is really rude and patronising to suggest that UEA students cannot be councillors and fully contribute to their adopted-home City.

Maybe this LibDem canvasser - actually, a very senior Councillor as it happens - thinks I should never have stood? Maybe she doesn't want UEA Students to stand full stop ... I wonder what UEA Students who are currently having their votes courted by the LibDems would think of this?

We already know that the LibDems have a problems with teachers serving as Councillors - they made that quite clear (see here), but now they are ruling out students too. Maybe they want civic responsibility to be the preserve of the wealthy middle class housewives with a lot of time on their hands?

We need a diverse council representing our whole City - students, teachers, young, old, black, white, male and female. I am proud of all of our candidate; I just wonder why the LibDems can't be more positive and honest in their campaigning?

Actually, I think this shows how much they are running scared at the moment - I hope the people of Eaton see through this shabby, shallow trick and the student voters around Norwich now know who isn't worthy of their support.

Bizarre Tax Changes

Thanks to Brown's last budget I, as a middle manager and teacher on post-threshold pay, am significantly better off because of his tax changes.

Thank you, Mr Brown.

However, my wife, as a part time primary school teacher, is significantly worse off.

Together I think we do end up better off, but why? Why is the lower income earner hit whilst my tax goes down? And why if income taxes are to fall should they do so on us?

This was a topic of conversation in school today; a lot of the teachers were much better off whilst many of our support staff colleagues - admin, cleaners and dinnerladies - were down in the dumps. Many of them swearing they won't vote labour on 1st May.

Who is Samir Jeraj?

Apparently he is the Green candidate for Town Close Ward, where I live, and must be odds-on to be our next councillor, especially as the LibDems seem to have given up on a ward they used to regard as safely theirs.

However, I do chat to a lot of my neighbours and nobody knows anything about him. How long has he lived in Norwich? What does he do for a living? What's his background?

He could just be a political newcomer, and you can't be criticised for not having a political background if you are new to the game, but it is noticeable that their newsletter which was delivered today makes no reference to who he is or what his background is.

I should, of course, delcare an interest. Of the 4 candidates going for this seat, the Conservatives have by far the most well known - businessman Tak Man-Li, who went to school at the Hewitt and whose family still live and work in the ward. I think people should know about their candidates and the Greens, who are normally very good at this, don't seem to have given out much information. People want to know.

Anyone got an answer?

I have just been passed this email from Niki George, our candidate for Bowthorpe, who recieved it from a constituent. This is not the first person to mention this - in fact I had a resident wave his card at me whilst out canvassing yesterday.

This moring I received my free bus pass in the post from the Cuty Council, a bit late maybe but no real issues with that. What is concerning me is the apperent free blantant advertising of the Labour party within the design.

Not only the red ribbon but also the red rose in the top left corner, it might be argued that this is just a design, but in my view it is too close the the labour colours and motiff to be anything else but advertising the labour party.

Is the delay in bring these cards out so close to the local elections anything to do with the so called logo or am I being cinical (nothing unusual in that), I take this logo and design extreamly personal I am concerned that money has been wasted yet again, and has this money been spent illegally on pre advertising prior to the elections.

Anybody know how or why this rose got there? If it isn't for something specific then Labour have some real questions to answer. Already they are in trouble for launching a massive government advertising blitz - on Safer Neighbourhood Teams and tougher immigration rules - in the lead up to the election. This could be serious.

Labour's Growth Agenda: Concrete the Countryside

I understand that Labour have had to admit that their planned growth agenda around Norwich and Norfolk can no long be contained within brownfield sites and greenfield sites would have to be used to hit govenrment targets. This is both a disaster and totally unacceptable. We were always sold on the growth agenda on the basis it wouldn't mean concrete on the countryside. Conservatives in Norwich have been critical of the plans - not least challenging the finances for the infrastructures, concerns over water supply and worries about employment for the new population. This latest news could be the death knell for the plans.

Of course, the weak-willed may claim that there is nothing we can do about this, but why must councils always be complicit in doing the government's dirty work? I look forward to Labour Councillors joining us in this. Why don't councils - of all colours, blue, green or whatever - stand up and say no. Our residents deserve nothing less.

My Union Journey

I was extremely saddened to hear of the death of NUT Leader Steve Sinnott; not least because of the human tradgedy of passing away at what is really such a young age. However, I am not surprised to hear that the strike planned for 24th April will go ahead.

The NUT is a union that I'd like to be a member of, but can't quite bring myself to do it. When I first started teaching I joined the ATL because people said it was the union for Tories; because of their no-strike policies. I don't have a no-strike policy - I reserve the right to strike but under extreme circumstances, and I mean "extreme". However my local branch of the ATL seemed totally uninterested in campaigning for the rights and conditions of teachers. They were good at being a union and legal backstop but failed on the proactive stance I wanted.

The NUT is more of the kind of thing I wanted - taking the government firmly and loudly to task for their education failings. I liked the idea of being a thorn in the government's side (whatever the colour). However, when I switched schools and chose to switch unions the NUT was opposing the government's workload agreement. Now, the workload agreement wasn't a great document but made a start in putting the professionalism back into teaching. Hence I joined the NASUWT which I saw as being a halfway house between the extremes of the ATL and NUT. I have since become the union rep. I don't know how much long I'll do that job because I do get the impression it is holding back my career progression but I have enjoyed the work involved.

So why are the NUT striking? Over their demand for a 10% pay increase. Now, I'd be the first in the line for a 10% pay increase but it just is so far away from financial and political reality as to be unbelievable. We all enjoy some "aspirational goals" but shouldn't our unions be drawing the line in the sand over fights we can win?

So I will be supporting any moves to improve our pay and conditions but this strike is just damaging to our pupils welfare. I anticipate a union climbdown before the 24th. At least, I hope so.

UPDATED: City Elections: Nominations revealed

Yesterday was the last day to get your nomination paper in for the City elections. You can get a full run down here but I thought I'd just summerise the situation. The main 4 parties are contesting every seat - Conservative, Labour, Green and LibDems - plus there's UKIP in Lakenham and Norwich-over-the-Water in Sewell.

In terms of interesting candidates;
For the LibDems its all change; the talented Gordon Dean is relgated to an absolute thrashing in Catton Grove, whilst his former Councillor Colleague Chris Thomas takes on Mile Cross - the LibDems say this indicates how seriously they are taking the ward, but I didn't know Chris was that keen on getting back on the council. Nelson stalwart David Fairbairn now ends up defending Hereward's old patch in Lakenham, whilst Judith Lubbock takes on Eaton. Interestingly former Heathersett Councillor Jackie Sutton - who lost her seat in the South Norfolk Tory landslide of 07 - reappears as candidate for ultra-marginal Thorpe Hamlet. Lastly I suppose is the decision of another former Councillor, Ian Williams, to take on Sewell. The NOTWP candidate will I'm sure shake this seat up and any party who effectivly harnesses the anti-Labour vote may do well. Williams has been, in his (and my) time, a formiddable candidate and this could now be the ward to watch.

Labour have had an easier time of candidate selection. Their sitting Councillors have a tough time - Mick Banham in Sewell, Brenda Ferris in Bowthorpe and Julie Westmacott in Catton Grove all have the fights of their lives. Deborah Gilwahi (Mile Cross), Brenda Arthur (University) and Bob Sanderson (Lakenham) all hope to step into LibDem shoes and the hopes of the party will essentially rest upon their shoulders. Dvaid Bradford, a real champion, stands again for Crome. The most interesting candidate in many ways is Steph Clark - standing in Wensum - incidentally standing against a LibDem called Brian Clark. Labour feel they have a real chance here and have certainly done a lot of work. And, of course, we have to mention the gallant Phil Taylor who is leading the Labour chances in Eaton.

The Greens have a full slate again; one switch is being made with Adrian Holmes leaving Wensum and seeking election in Mancroft leaving his old ward to UEA student Ruth Makoff. There are also some relationship candidates this time. Adrian Ramsay's girlfriend is their candidate in Bowthorpe and Janet Bearman's husband is standing in Eaton. Stop-the-War campaigner Peter Offord leads their charge in ultra-marginal Thorpe Hamlet. In Town Close the unknown Samir Jeraj is standing (more of this later).

Please feel free to post your predictions

All Sorted

My thanks to all those who text, called and emailed regarding my issue with a little political harassment. I have to say that the person involved has now admitted it, apologised and resigned from his position within the Liberal Democrats; an honourable decision and I think that draws a line under it. He made a mistake and paid for it with his job - I hope he learns from this and when he makes a comeback never acts the same way again. I think his resignation and apology signals he is a decent guy who made a mistake.

Look East couldn't get it more wrong

"The Greens are the largest opposition party at City Hall with more than 20 Councillors."

Spot the errors. The Greens are not the largest opposition party and they have exactly 10 Councillors. Indeed having 20 would anyone the majority party with an overall majority. So who could have spouted this nonsense? An A Level politics student? No, step forward BBC's Look East.