Some more pics from Sedgefield - Monday 16th July

Norman Lamb and Greg Stone on a walkabout in Newton Aycliffe.

Norman and Greg launching the party's NHS petition.

Chris Huhne MP and Willie Rennie MP arrive to help out.

Greg and Nick Clegg MP outside the Newton Aycliffe police station.

And finally, this baby hedgehog wandered past us last night whilst Nick Clegg was being interviewed by the Northern Echo. I liked it so much I have used the pic as the background on my home PC!

Cameron has to do well in Sedgefield as well

The North is an electoral desert for the Conservatives. There is the occasional oasis of support but even these are becoming rarer by the day. Though the North has never had a majority of seats for the Conservatives in recent history, they need votes and seats here to be able to mount a credible challenge and win a general election. The hard reality is that Cameron has to win in the North as well as the South and if he doesn't, he ain't going anywhere.

So in Sedgefield, where his candidate starts in second place, he should be looking to retain the runner up position and increase his vote. He has to show that he can appeal to Northern voters in places like Sedgefield. The constituency itself contains many towns, villages and rural areas that an observer would think were natural Conservative territory. Yet Cameron's appeal in these places is at best barely registering on the political radar.

Slipping into 3rd place in Sedgefield would be a disaster for Cameron. It will show clearly that they are losing badly in the North, whatever is happening in the South. A poor performance for Cameron's Conservatives cannot just be dismissed. It would be unreasonable to suggest the Conservatives' only measure of success would be to win Sedgefield. This is after all a seat that has been solidly Labour for three generations. But serious questions about the ability of the Conservatives to win a general election should and must be asked if Cameron fails to make inroads into Labour's vote here in the North.

We have Charlie in Sedgefield today

Charles Kennedy is our visitor to Sedgefield today. So I should get a good set of photos and video to post up at some point.

Ever since Labour were caught on my video camera physically trying to break up our press launch, their thugs have kept a distance from us (it's amazing how camera shy these posturing bullies can be). Charles has always been treated wherever he goes to organised Labour attacks by Labour nobodies posing as local residents. So it will be interesting to see if these people try the same today. I will of course be there to capture it all on camera!

I have just left Newcastle and will arrive in Darlington in about 20 minutes.

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A Sedgefield downpour

We are in the car driving to Darlington with Nick Clegg and we have just suffered an incredible downpour. Roads are flooded and we have been driving through impromptu rivers. I guess a number of people out delivering tonight have got a bit soaked. But it was a successful visit by Nick, and also by Norman Lamb, Chris Huhne and Willie Rennie.

We took Norman to the Newton Aycliffe health centre and Willie and Chris came out canvassing with us in Heighington this afternoon. What is clear is that the Labour vote is soft and the Conservatives are being heavily squeezed by us.

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Canvassing with Norman Lamb

Just finished a canvassing session with Norman Lamb who we have now dropped off at Darlington Station. We canvassed in Woodham. A good result.

Next on our list is Willie Rennie MP.

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4 MPs coming to Sedgefield today

In terms of visits, today will be our busiest day. We have Norman Lamb, Willie Rennie, Chris Huhne and Nick Clegg. So there will be plenty more video and photos by the end of today.

I'm on the train to Darlington now. Will be there shortly.

A comedy version of the Battle of Trimdon Green video got an exclusive viewing from the team last night. However, I won't be putting it on YouTube! Friends can ask me nicely for a copy. The team however rather enjoyed it!
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Calling the numbers - Bingo in the Sedgefield by-election

Another live action video from Sedgefield. Greg Stone and Phil Willis MP play bingo and call the numbers!

100,000 viewings of YouTube

A milestone for me on YouTube. Last night was the 100,000th viewing of one of my videos on the site. Thanks to the Sedgefield campaign for getting me there - there have been 2000 viewings of the 5 videos I have made so far.



The top ten videos on my channel are (viewings in brackets):



1)Copacabana Beach (17914) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=p1vAYejKOFM



2)Inside a former Soviet secret submarine base (10521) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Ylag1L_p48I

3) A trip on the London Eye (5803) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_oHAo8m-c-E

4)Egypt Pyramids and the Sphinx (5455) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pnqOfS9az28

5)Santiago de Cuba (3525) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KJJyaHuzalc

6)Orang utans in Borneo (3354) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-HKUuAXsbzU

7)View from Petronas Towers (2510) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mxzDQeSioeQ

8)Samba Rio de Janiero (2254) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=8R9Wms_pR3k

9)LDEG fringe Michael Moore September 2006 (2104) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fZinFNEuscw

10)Port of Batumi, Georgia (1762) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dc_MObWNmEM

Meanwhile, coming straight into the video charts at no 11 is a certain Battle of Trimdon Green (1662) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2lrhvLlbB6I

Battle of Trimdon Green on tv

We are currently at a coffee morning in Hurworth in the south of Sedgefield constituency with Greg Stone. So whilst sipping coffee and Greg is chatting, I thought I'd tell you all the good news - the Battle of Trimdon video was featured on tv yesterday, on Tyne Tees regional evening news! And they used a clip that revealed the worst of the Labour thuggish and hooligan behaviour. Seems as though this video is going to keep on running.

It was also mentioned on BBC website yesterday, which resulted in nearly 400 additional viewings.

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Photos from Ming's visit yesterday to Sedgefield

The visit was to Hurworth School in the south of the constituency.

Menzies Campbell and Greg Stone visit Hurworth School

Latest video from the Sedgefield campaign. Filmed yesterday when Ming came to the constituency.

Camden and Sedgefield - Labour's losing link

Great to see Camden keeping up the winning streak by stuffing Labour out of sight and grabbing another of their council seats in the by-election yesterday. Now I can bring you (another Wallace exclusive!) news of a Labour link between Camden and Sedgefield.

Readers will no doubt be aware of the Battle of Trimdon video I shot last week of Labour thugs and hooligans trying to break up the press launch of Greg Stone's campaign for Sedgefield (go on watch it again!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lrhvLlbB6I). In the video I caught one guy dressed in a fake Newcastle shirt who suddenly became camera shy when I appeared next to him with camcorder in hand.

Well, I can now exclusively reveal that he was Ciaran Ward, chair of Labour Students, from, errrrrm....Camden! (Thanks to the person who posted up the comment revealing who he was.) Check him out on the video. He's the one who looks like a younger version of Mr Bean. And if you can't identify him from that description, just look out for the one that looks a complete drip!

I was wondering whether his exile from Camden was anything to do with a Labour Party fear that this guy was a liability rather than an asset in the council by-election. If the former, then sending him up to Sedgefield was a great move. He has brought us, and over 1000 people who have viewed the video, bucketloads of entertainment. Has Ciaran ever thought of a career as a comedy stand in?

Simon Hughes MP visits Sedgefield July 2007

Simon Hughes visited Sedgefield on Monday to back Greg Stone's campaign in the by-election. This is the video I shot of the walkabout in Newton Aycliffe town centre.

Look which leading Conservative we bumped into

When we went to meet Ming at Darlington Station for his visit to Sedgefield, look at which leading Conservative we bumped into - none other than Alan Duncan.

"Inconsistent branding" admits top Tory MP

We bumped into a front bench Conservative MP today whilst we were campaigning for Greg Stone in Sedgefield. Asked why the Conservatives were promoting David Cameron heavily in the Ealing Southall by-election (including making his name part of the candidate's party description) whilst in Sedgefield the name of David Cameron makes no appearance in the candidate's description on the ballot paper (and very little mention in their campaign literature), back came the reply of "Inconsistent branding!" This was followed by a reference to the North-South divide! I won't say which leading Conservative said this!

Ming arriving shortly

The big event today here in Sedgefield is the visit of Ming, who is on his way on the train now. Expect lots of photos and video to follow.

Breaking news - police called in Sedgefield

From an eye-witness account just passed on to me.......

The Anti-Crime candidate in Sedgefield, Norman Scarth, has had a bit of a problem with the police today outside Tesco in Newton Aycliffe. Innocently handing out leaflets on private property, without permission of the owners and refusing to move on when asked to do so, very law-abiding Norman found himself surrounded by an entire police unit, presumably called by the local retail management. But Big Norm, who styles himself as an unkempt Captain Birdseye, refused to be moved on by the forces of law and order. (See his website for further photos of Big Norm - www.anticrimeparty.com)

"Eeeeh it was terrible," said Paul from Durham Road South. "All he was trying to do was force leaflets into people's hands who didn't want them and get in the way of people going about their legitimate activity of spending cash at Tescos (every little helps etc)."

By the time Paul re-emerged from Tescos, clutching a bag of apples and a sandwich, Big Norm was nowhere to be seen.

It is thought that as a result of this intervention, there were insufficient police to deal with gangs of Labour hooligans attempting to break up Lib Dem gatherings...........

Woodham Warriors - Sedgefield By-Election July 2007

Another Sedgefield by-election video: Greg Stone and Tim Farron MP visit the Woodham Warriors American Football Team at Woodham College.

Sedgefield By-election 6th-8th July 2007

This is the latest video from the Sedgefield campaign. I have edited out the Labour hooligans from the clips of the launch. The rest was shot over the weekend.

Battle of Trimdon Green storms video charts

Well, sort of! In the 3 days it has been on YouTube The Battle of Trimdon Green video has been views 859 times. Compared to some videos that ain't much but for me it is the video that has had the most success in the first few days of being posted up. It is now the 18th most viewed of the 202 videos I have posted to YouTube, though it still has a long way to go to catch up with my most popular video, Copacabbana Beach (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1vAYejKOFM).

If you haven't yet seen the Battle of Trimdon Green video, follow the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lrhvLlbB6I

69 - the Conservatives' new low

The Conservatives in Gateshead scored a record low in last week's Dunston and Teams by-election. They came 4th with a mere 69 votes, their lowest vote ever in a ward anywhere in the borough. So there is certainly a Cameron effect working here - since his election as Tory Leader, his party has clocked up their worst electoral performances in Gateshead. Well done Dave!

As for the BNP, this was their top target seat in the North East, and despite a campaign by the Labour party to talk up the BNP vote, their performance was dismal. As I said in previous blog posts the BNP are a busted flush in the ward. I would go further now and say they are finished altogether there. They must be feeling upset that the tactics of their Labour friends did not work!

Suits you

I should have switched on the blackberry before leaving home yesterday morning. Instead, I switched it on when I got on the train at Newcastle to go to Darlington and then on to Sedgefield. Big mistake! I should have checked earlier. There was a message from Ruth Milburn, Lib Dem agent for Sedgefield, telling me to wear a suit, shirt and tie as I was accompanying Greg Stone around the constituency. Unfortunately, I was clad in an old pair of jeans and a not so formal shirt.

So, on arrival at our HQ, I made a dash for the local Tesco store (one of those typically gigantic sheds that probably started life as a Zepplin hangar) and found suits at a snip - just £25. I proudly returned to the HQ with my new polyester clothing. We had all decided that my shirt could just about be described as appropriate to go with a suit. The shoes however were beach wear I bought last year to go to Cuba. So not exactly an example of all round sartorial elegance!

Still, everyone in HQ decided I needed to write a blog entry about my clothing experience. I think they must really have it in for me!

I then discovered that wearing a black polyester suit in bright sunny weather makes for a somewhat uncomfortable experience. Tuesday will see me wearing one of my ordinary work suits instead!

Thanks to the press team for taking this photo (on my camera!).

Labour's Sedgefield candidate against gangs and thugs - really?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This one really takes the biscuit for unadulterated self-righteous hypocrisy.

After allowing a bunch of Labour thugs to attempt to break up with physical force the Liberal Democrats' Sedgefield campaign launch, Labour's candidate Phil Wilson made this comment:

"It amazes me that the Lib Dems are on the side (sic) of gangs....they should see the damage done by small groups of thugs. I am on the side of the law abiding majority and always will be and I think it is important that people know that the Lib Dems would back (sic) criminals over local people."

Let's hope this sanctimonius hypocrite has seen my video.

Trimdon residents disgusted with Labour - read their comments here

Whilst surfing the internet this afternoon, I discovered a site called Trimdon Times. It is for residents of Trimdon or for those who have lived there but have moved away. It contains local news and information but also has a forum that allows people to set up discussions on anything they want to. One of them has set up a discussion about Labour's jackboot tactics they employed to try to break up our Sedgefield campaign launch on Friday on Trimdon Green. The discussion was started with a link to my video.

And here are some of the comments Trimdonians have posted up:

The Labour supporters certainly didn't do themselves any favours. I'd say the Labour Party are running scared, and paid hand picked supporters with a few pints at the Labour Club, to create a disturbance.

What a disgrace!!! I'm ashamed to say I come from there!! I dont reconise anyone as I have been away from Trimdon too long to know them, but you can see some of them are also football hooligans.

I sincerely hope that John Burton and his merry band have seen this,lets hope this has no reflection on the genuine Trimdon folk. I only noticed one face,think you call her Lynn as to her second name,i dont really care ,think she comes from spennymoor . Shades of the National Front????????i hope they are proud of themselves! With my head bowed in shame.

Is this the sort of thing local Labour Party contributions are used for? They've spent the last ten years ensuring that democracy did not rule, and are now desperately trying to ensure that it doesn't make a comeback!

What a shambles!! I recognised a few of the faces, never far from trouble on a saturday night types! That shows the Labour Party are really rattled then!

Visit the forum on: http://trimdon.com/html/dbase/viewtopic.php?t=847

Labour's Mugabe style tactics

I got back home from Sedgefield last night, had a meal and had a bath. And as you would expect, lying there in the water, my mind wandered onto other things, especially Labour's tactics in Sedgefield.

They reminded me of Robert Mugabe's tactics in Zimbabwe: what is in theory a multi-party democracy but the government deals with opposition by stamping on it and driving it from the streets using mob rule. If you don't believe me, just view the video I shot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lrhvLlbB6I

The Battle of Trimdon Green (or how Labour really behaves)

This is the video I shot yesterday of Labour using a mob to try to break up the press launch of the Lib Dem campaign in Sedgefield. You need no more explanation.

A final point about the Battle of Trimdon

When we arrived at Trimdon, it seemed most houses had Labour poster stakes up in their front gardens. But as we were leaving, we spotted one of the Labour hooligans, who had tried to break up our campaign launch, removing the poster stakes. I wonder whether the residents of these properties, presumably at work at the time, were aware that they have been drafted in as temporary Labour supporters.

Labour's candidate in Sedgefield - a friend of George Bush

Look over Bush's shoulder. There he is. Labour's Sedgefield candidate Phil Wilson enjoying a visit to Trimdon Labour Club with his mates Tony and George.

Labour mob attacks Lib Dem launch in Sedgefield

Labour launched a mob attack on the Lib Dem Sedgefield campaign launch this afternoon. This is not uncommon in election campaigns as Labour appear to have a one party state mentality in which opposition is regarded as insurrection and insubordination and needs to be driven away. The scene I witnessed today however was far worse than I have seen in other campaigns.

This was a disgusting and sickening attack on the fundamental basics of open democracy. This was an attack on freedom of speech. This was thuggish bullying you would expect in a one party state.

The clear Labour aim is to make it impossible for the media to film the event. It is also designed to make it impossible for the media to carry out interviews with the Lib Dem candidate and visiting MP. The Labour mob simply invades with stakeboards and barge infront of tv cameras, pushing Lib Dems out of the way and screaming and shouting to make it impossible for our candidate to be heard, especially if the same candidate has managed to avoid being pushed to the ground.

This thuggery comes from the party that demands "respect" for others and claims to be against anti-social behaviour. And here we have the same party exhibiting some appalling anti-social behaviour itself.

However, my photos have slipped through the fingers of the Labour-one-party-state censors. These are some of them.

Photos from the launch of the Sedgefield campaign

The launch of the Lib Dem campaign in Sedgefield was marred by a Labour mob who attacked the gathering in Trimdon Green (photos of that to follow). There are also rumours circulating about a video someone shot of the gathering that shows the Labour party behaving in an appalling way at the gathering. I wonder who shot that! And I wonder when that will first see light of day......

Anyway, here are the photos I was able to take that do not include the Labour mob that tried to break up the press launch.

Candidate Greg Stone with Andrew Stunell MP.

Decades of Labour neglect - and then ripping it up years of Labour neglect.

Greg and Andrew get to meet the voters.

Greg delivers the next tabloid to a house in Trimdon Village (but not to Blair's house!)

Come to sunny Sedgefield!

A few pics I took today at the Sedgefield HQ.

A rare site at a by-election - helpers eating healthily as Dave McCobb tucks into a salad.

David Hennigan brings a footbal along for light entertainment.

Carol Woods, prospective candidate for neighbouring Durham City, gets to work on something clerical.

Thankfully most of those leaflets have now gone through local letterboxes!

Candidate Greg Stone grabs a moment's rest with visiting MP Andrew Stunnel.

Ming's trap door

So how did the party leaders square up at Prime Minister's Questions today? Well, we'll, well, who would have expected Ming's unrehearsed joke about the door to Brown's Downing Street being a trap door! It was all the more enjoyable as it was so unexpected. Ming always does better when he leads on foreign affairs and especially Iraq. Today it was a tour de force of foreign and domestic but the theme was change. And as we all know, we do not have a change of government as Brown would have us believe, but simply a reshuffle, a few retirements and a few promotions. The style may be a bit different without Showman Blair there and with Comrade Chairman Brown having filled the void, but this government under the new PM is a continuation of the old one.

For Brown, his first PMQ was a competent performance. He wobbled a bit on whether or not certain groups promoting extreme and violent actions should be banned. And the appearance of the old bruiser John Reid almost looked as though Brown was needing a helping hand. So nothing spectacular, just competent. No sign of a clunking fist, a rather violent metaphor from the former Prime Minister (and so at odds with his alleged desire to crack down on crime and violence).

And what of Cameron? Well, I have to confess another competent performance. The problem is however he needs to do much better. He needs an early knockout blow. Yes, he laid a few punches, but nothing that sent Brown reeling.

So as far as Brown and Cameron go, a draw. And after all that, it won't change a jot what people think out in the country.

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Missing the train

I headed up to Kings Cross and found I have missed a train to Newcastle by 5 minutes. Typical. The next one isn't due til 8pm. So I'll not get home until about 11.30pm. So to all those people reading this blog from the comfort of their computer desks, spare a thought for me stuck at KX station.

Before leaving the office, I did manage to send out our email newsletter eFocus. It went to about 800 households in the Whickham area of Gateshead. So if you have followed the link on eFocus to this blog, happy reading but make sure you view the recent videos on our YouTube channel. And watch this space for news about our recycling campaign - the lead story in eFocus.

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BNP election tactic - if it doesn't work, do exactly the same again

Shortly before the May local elections I mentioned on this blog that the BNP had circulated a leaflet in Dunston and Teams ward in Gateshead which purported to come from the "Christian Taxpayers' Revolt". It was the familiar muck raking garbage from the far right fringe. Many Lib Dems have seen similar claims in very similar leaflets from the BNP in recent years.

The same ward is having a by-election with the polls open tomorrow. It would seem that the BNP are also circulating exactly the same "Revolting" leaflet. Since it made no impact at all in May, it leaves you wondering how the combined wisdom of this fringe group of no-hopers could come up with the idea of repeating such a failed exercise.

The only thing that will boost the BNP in Gateshead is the half-brained decision of Labour to talk up the BNP vote. Whoever was responsible for such a stupid tactic in the Labour party has exhibited the intelligence of a brick. And with enemies like that, the BNP doesn't need friends! Meanwhile the BNP have welcomed Labour's dodgy claims about the battle being between between Labour and BNP in the ward.

For the record, the BNP were 3rd in May. Labour's vote fell, and despite the BNP throwing everything into the campaign, they came out with the same vote as they got last year. We however increased our vote.

I am heading back to Gateshead shortly. Time to help out in the by-election battle.

Greg chosen

Delighted to see Greg Stone chosen as the Lib Dem candidate for Sedgefield. For those who don't know Greg, he is one of the leading campaigners who slayed the Labour dinosaur in Newcastle 3 years ago to end 30 years of Labour's prehistoric style rule of the regional capital. So he knows how to hurt Labour and win for the Lib Dems.

He was first elected to Newcastle Council in the late 90s. I was there at the by-election when he won the seat from Labour.

I'm heading home to the North East shortly. See you in Sedgefield.

Avoid The Cambridge

I got back to the flat tonight at about 8.30pm. After sorting out a few boxes of m(erial that needs to go up to my house in Gateshead tomorrow, we decided to go out for a meal (there was no food in the flat). On expedition to Pizza Express later (in Crystal Palacea) and we decided to call into a pub called the Cambridge. Smoking bans don't exist here. The woman serving at the bar smokes openly and she allows some of the customers to do the same. I'm not sure we'll be coming back ere in a hurry.

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Am I seeing things or is that snow?

I have just passed Battersea Park on the train and the rooves are covered in what appears to be snow! It must be a heavy hail storm that caused it. And this is July! What is happening to our weather?

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Do not alight from the train for a cigarette

I am on the train to London. Our first stop is Durham City. The guard has just announced that smoking is not allowed anywhere on GNER property and so people are being warned not to get off the train to light up. It's been a long time coming but at last the liberation of non-smokers from the activities of smokers has at last happened.

I experienced breathing someone else's smoke in a bar for the last time on Friday last week when I was at Victoria Station shortly before catching the tube to Kings Cross. It was one of those incidents where the smoker feels the urge to hold the cigarrete away from themselves so he doesn't have to endure the constant flow of smoke into his own face. Instead, he donates his smoke to the people at the next table, one of whom happened to be me. Well, he can't do that any more!

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Get Carter Car Park to be demolished

The multi-storey car park in Gateshead made famous after it was used as a location in the 1972 Michael Cain "Get Carter" film classic is to be demolished. This is the video I produced for constituents about the demolition plan.

Caution: contents may be hot

I hate getting the last train out to London to Newcastle but I had little choice today, or rather yesterday. The journey starts at 10pm and is then interrupted at York where we all have to transfer to another train. I am currently on the York at Newcastle leg of the journey. Due in to Newcastle about 2am.

I have just purchased a cup of tea from the trolley. It counts as one of the worst I have ever consumed. It was barely warm. Rather laughably, the warning on the side said "Caution: contents may be hot." Hah! If only.
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The curtain closes and the showman leaves the stage

Well, he has gone, and it seems only like yesterday when Blair became Prime Minister. As I write this, he is up in Sedgefield, telling them he's giving up as MP. Brown is already in place spinning a message that this is a new government and using the word "change" as if he had a large over supply of the word and its sell by date was coming up.

But today it was the curtain closing and the showman leaving the stage. Whatever my criticisms of him, I have to hand it to him that he was a star performer. The content was somewhat dodgy, largely towards the end. The performance started well 10 years ago but then went downhill in 2001.

The new person on the stage is no star performer in the sense Blair was. Brown will be hard pressed to engage in the way Blair did. He does of course have Labour's addiction to spin. Indeed, he has used spin more than most in the Labour top brass. But I am utterly unconvinced by the spin today about a new start, a change of government, and change in direction. It's nothing of the sort. He will change the people, but he will not change the culture of this government.

Nevertheless, Brown is a formidable tactician. He should not be underestimated. He may be a bully, rather dour, unconvincing when he smiles but he is atough operator, Stalin in a suit.

So whilst the Politburo is reshuffled and those who have crossed swords with him are sacked in the name of change, be ready for the political policy fireworks over the next week. And then examine them closely to see if they have as much content as they have headlines.

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Oh joy, another by-election

Floods of rain, and seemingly, floods of by-elections. Well 2 to be precise as Blair now looks certain to resign as an MP tomorrow. And so, we will have a by-election in Sedgefield in my own North East backyard. Oh joy!

Flooding near Grantham June 2007

I filmed this bit of video north of Grantham as I travelled on the train through some of the areas hit by flooding.

Menzies Campbell speech to Cowley St June 07 part 2

2nd half of the audio recording I made of Ming's speech today at Cowley Street.

Ming Campbells speech 26th June 2007 part 1

First half of the audio recording of Ming's speech to Cowley Street I made today.

Pic of the flood I went through to get to London

Anyone who read my blog yesterday would have seen that I have rather a difficult journey from Newcastle to London. Instead of taking 3 hours on the train, it took 7 hours. I snapped this photo as we were approaching Grantham of some of the flooding of the track.

I got to Cowley Street at 4pm

When the train crawled into Peterborough, we were all turfed off. So we had to cross over to another platform and try to get on a train there. The first one was too full to get on. So I got one a few minutes later. The Cattle Waggon Express eventually got us into Kings Cross where we tumbled off. I bumped into Alan Beith and Diana Maddock who had been stuck on the same train, only for longer.

I got to Cowley St at 4pm, so it was over 8hours to get here.

Go and stretch your legs

That was the advice from the train guard when we arrived a few minutes ago at Newark. Flooding ahead of us is still extensive. Leg stretching suggests we will be here for some time.

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When I said thank goodness for late trains......

I didn't mean it quite like this. I am stuck on the train at Retford. There is flooding near Grantham. Trains are queuing up to go through the affected areas which also have a 5mph speed limit - meaning it would be quicker to walk (or swim)!

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Thank goodness for late trains

It took half an hour to get through the new traffic lights at the top of Lobley Hill, the next town along from my village of Sunniside, this morning. So we were very late getting into Newcastle to catch the train to London. Thank goodness for late running trains. Mine was supposed to leave at 8.30am. It left at 8.38am.
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The inspiration for Saxon

Where did the makers of Dr Who get the inspiration for Prime Minister Saxon (aka the Master) from? Any living person spring to mind?

And what a stroke of genius to bring back the Master and Captain Jack at the same time in last week's episode. I'm in Dr Who heaven!

Labour talks up BNP vote

The Dunston and Teams by-election in Gateshead is underway and Labour's strategy for holding onto the ward is to talk up the BNP vote.

I have just picked up the Labour leaflet in which the Labour candidate Gary Haley (who holds the record in the Gateshead Labour party for being defeated the most times at the polls - currently running at 5) claims "Not voting, or voting LibDem or Conservative could let the extremist BNP is."

The claim is of course absolute rubbish. The BNP are third on the ward and even though it has been their top target in the North East, their performance there has been poor. The BNP are a busted flush in the ward. Their candidate from previous elections has thrown in the towel and their hopes of a breakthrough have been dashed.

We are in 2nd place in this ward which in most circumstances is strongly Labour. So Labour should not have to be talking up the vote of the fascist fringe to hold on. There are 2 main reasons why Labour are resorting to this tactic. Either the Labour party are just plain stupid or they really are concerned about their vote. Perhaps they have looked at the abysmal polling record of their candidate and seen how he has a tendency to cause the Labour vote to slip and the Lib Dem vote to rise!

Video shoot tomorrow

Making visits around my ward or neighbouring wards in Gateshead to check out problems or issues is something I have done regularly in my 20 years as a councillor. But tomorrow we are doing one with a difference. Through our email newsletter to residents, we announced we are to do a tour of central Whickham on Saturday morning, but we asked people to email me with suggestions as to the locations to visit and the reasons why. I finished gathering the replies today and as a result, we are having to split into three groups (there are 9 Lib Dem Councillors representing Whickham so we can split up the visits between us). The problem will come with videoing the visits. The plan was originally one walkabout which we would video. The video would then be linked to our email newsletter for residents to see. We would also send copies to the appropriate officers in Gateshead Council. But with only one cameraman and one camera, we aint going to be able to cover every walkabout as they are all happening at the same time. Learning point: instead of giving us half an hour before a surgery to do a walkabout, give ourselves half a day!

We all gather at the same point at 9.30am tomorrow so filming that will be easy and we will meet at the end at the same point. We may have to revisit some of the locations with the camera later on. It's all a bit of an experiment but hopefully it will work.

Sitting on the train now heading up to Newcastle from London now, I have to write the introduction to the video. We only need about 20 seconds so "writing it" may come down to jotting down a few notes and memorising them. Otherwise, everything else will have to be ad lib.

And if this little experiment in using video to communicate with constituents is a success, we will do more of it.

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It upsets Labour more than Lib Dems!

I have previously argued that the so called offer of government posts to the Lib Dems by Brown was little more that an attempt to spin a story by some Brownites that their guy is a nice, cuddly, consensus politician wanting to rid the country of tribal politics. The events of today make me feel even more justified in making the claim.

It also shows that Brown, like Blair, has little concern for his party members. Whilst some Labour activists I have the dubious pleasure of encountering are duplicitous wanabees who have little to offer the world (they view the Labour party as a way of getting on in life) they nevertheless must be feeling their unelected leader Generalisimo Brown has no time for them. They have not been consulted on a significant proposal for their party to enter what was effectively a coalition, when no coalition is needed - Labour after all has a clear working majority.

If I were a Labour member, and I thought Brown was being serious in the offer to the Lib Dems, I would be wondering what the hell the Leader was up to. Indeed, I have heard that today from one Labour member myself. And you can imagine what the old Labour dinosaurs in the Labour Jurassic Park in the North East are thinking as well. Much of it would be unpublishable!

And whilst I thiink our own system that we as a party have to go through to agree a coalition is madly byzantine and gruesomely slow, I still accept some need for the leader to take the party with him. Yet over in the Labour Party Generalisimo Brown treats his troops with contempt.

Mind you, pity poor Peter Hain. Well at least spare him a thought even if you can't bring yourself to pity him. He wakes up this morning to find Brown has offered his job to Paddy Ashdown!

And finally, how will all this play with the electorate? Frankly, not too badly for us. We can show everyone wants us! Cameron wants us, at least in London, to get rid of Not So Red Ken. And now Gordon wants us as well. So if our opponents want us what about the voters?!

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The Cowley Street jam war breaks out again!

The seasonal jam war in Cowley Street has broken out, coinciding with the first crops of fruit. The story so far: friendly competition took place last year between myself and Linda Seekings, wife of Gordon from Membership Services, to win the affections of colleagues by providing home made jam in the Cowley St kitchen. .
Staff were treated to a huge array of the usual and downright obscure from the world of jam. War weary staff were forced to choose between 6 or 7 different types of jam at the same time to have on their toast in the morning.

This year the jam war is being repeated. This week, my gooseberry and elderflower jam went into battle with Linda's loganberry. But I introduced an unexpected secret weapon into the jam war by bringing in home made elderflower pancakes! So first round in the war end with a win for me with not only jam for the Cowley Street masses, but also something to spread it on!

The Parliamentary Team however demanded their piece of the action and after emails were sent complaining no jam was being delivered to the kitchens in the House, I brought in an extra jar for he who made the most noise, a certain Mr Norman Lamb MP. He even paid up a couple of quid for a jar of gooseberry and elderflower. I could keep my local party funds afloat on jam!

My next jam venture is to make gooseberry and cherry jam. The plan was to make it tonight but that seems unlikely now. I'll do it tomorrow. I also have a large amount of mint growing as well. Will make a rather nice jelly. And that will go well with Lamb!
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Cabinet seats and spin

So much for Gordon Brown wanting to end the culture of spin. The real Brown oozes out of his every pore. So today we have the well spun story, originating in the Brown camp, that General Secretary Stalin Brown is offering Ming places in his politburo once he gets the keys to the Downing St Kremlin.

This is spun to make him look inclusive in contrast to the real Stalin Brown who no doubt has already drawn up the list of internal enemies due for the show trial and the Gulag.

The reality is that politicians of different parties have meetings all the time to discuss issues and how to progress them. Councillors do it at a local level, MPs and ministers at a national level. It is common knowledge that Ming and Brown regularly talk shop. After all, they represent constituencies from the same neck of the woods.

So it is good to see that Ming, backed up by Ed Davey, has said a firm "no" to seats in government, whatever that means (presumably a reference to seats in cabinet).

But beware of Brown spin and the Stalinist style of government. He is the worst offender for spinning, rehashing and exaggerating. He is a bully and hates colleagues opposing him. But don't just take my word for it:

Telegraph, Leader, 12th May 2007
Mr Brown is no stranger..to spin. For 10 years, he has produced gimmicky budgets, triple-announced spending, hired devious spokesmen. His promise of collective government sits a little oddly with his for-me-or-against-me approach to getting the leadership.


Independent, Andrew Grice, 12th May 2007
New Gordon’s most striking phrase was to say he wanted to lead a government “humble” enough to know its place. It is not a word some bruised cabinet colleagues associate with him.

Observer, Andrew Rawnsley, 13th May 2007
Cabinet colleagues laugh cynically and scan the skies for squadrons of flying pigs when they hear Gordon Brown pledging to run a ‘humble’ government that seeks ‘consensus’. Humility and consensuality have not been the hallmarks of the way he [Brown] has treated his colleagues over the past decade.

Sunday Times, 13th May 2007
A Cabinet member said of Brown, “The man is impossible to deal with in government. He’s rude, rants at colleagues and doesn’t like people arguing with him. Ministers have found decisions get made without them knowing and then handed down to them by officials.”

Independent, Bruce Anderson, 14th May 2007
Mr Brown would have another problem if he were to claim that the era of spin and deceit was at an end. He is a master spinner and he had his dabs all over the first New Labour lie. With the possible exception of the dodgy dossier and the 45-minute claim, the Pulitzer Prize for spinning ought to go to Gordon Brown, because of his record over 11 budgets.

A few photos from the past couple of weeks

It's the jam making season and Cowley St are expecting a regular supply. So we cropped all the rhubard from the allotment to make 27 jars of rhubard and ginger jam. Later I picked 3 kg of gooseberries from the allotment to make 13 jars of gooseberry and elderflower jam.

We've restocked our pond with goldfish.

My aunt Carol was over from New Zealand so the Family went out for dinner. That's my accommodation sorted in New Zealand. The problem now is finding the time to go!

David fell asleep after a long day in the allotment. Freda, our cat, decided to use him as a bed!

The allotment itself. As you can see, having just taken it on, it needs a great deal of work doing to it!

No change in Newcastle by-elections

A double by-election was held in the Newcastle ward of Wingrove on Thursday with both Labour and Lib Dems defending a seat. The contest was a hang over from the local elections when the death of a Green Party candidate caused the election to be deferred.

The by-election resulted in no change.

The double vacancy was caused by our one councillor in the ward resigning due to a change in job. The ward itself has a bit of a mixed history. Until the late 1980s it was strongly Conservative buth then went Labour. During the 1990s and early 2000s it was safely Labour. As with so much of the North East, the Conservatives have made no recovery at all and are reduced to the margins.

In 2004, when Labour collapsed in Newcastle, the Lib Dems took the top seat but the other 2 stayed Labour. In 2006, Labour were defending and held on with a majority of only 37 over us. Labour were assisted this time by the fact it was a by-election. That meant the fringe parties such as the Greens and Conservatives were able to put more effort into the ward. It also meant Labour were able to throw in all their weight. Their campaign was helped by the fact their defending councillor is high profile.

That wasn't enough however for Labour to take our seat. Labour came first and third, we were 2nd and 4th.

In what is politically a mixed ward, this will make for an interesting contest next year.

BNP candidate throws in towel

Here in Gateshead, for the 2nd time in less than a year, we are facing a by-election in the Dunston and Teams ward, the BNP's top target in the North East. They are not having too good a time of it however. Their candidate from the last 2 local elections and last year's by-election has thrown in the towel.

He has been replaced in the ward by their candidate who stood in the neighbouring Lib Dem held Dunston Hill and Whickham East ward where she got a derisory 5% in May. Indeed, she was even beaten by the Conservatives (though only by 5 votes). Given that there is a tendency for the Conservatives to come 4th behind the BNP in Gateshead, this result was therefore quite an achievement.

Also making an appearance in this by-election as the Labour candidate is a certain Mr Gary Haley. This person was the self-styled champion of Whickham South and Sunniside from 2002-4 when he fought my ward. He spectacularly performed an amazing demolition job on his party's vote in 2004 when he ran a shrill and hysterical campaign against the Lib Dems, blaming us for just about every disaster that has ever afflicted the planet. His reward was a collapse in his vote from 1800 to just 900.

2 years later Mr Haley re-appeared as the self-styled champion of Dunston Hill and Whickham East, another Lib Dem held ward which was created mainly from a safe Labour ward in 2004. It counted as a gain for us in that year though the majority was marginal. Mr Haley's actions and claims in the ward have been outstandingly successful in helping us to increase our majority in the ward in 2006 and 2007. In 2004 our majority was 130. This year it was 520.

So Mr Haley is making his 6th attempt to get on the council, this time as the Labour by-election candidate for Dunston and Teams. In May Labour won the ward with 55%. He is therefore the front runner.

Clearly Labour are struggling to find quality candidates who have an interest in the community to which they aspire to represent.

I delivered our leaflet this morning in part of the ward. Front page included a photo of Mr Haley conceding defeat at the count for Dunston Hill and Whickham East in May. It was taken from the video I filmed of the declaration. It was the same video Mr Haley sought to have removed from my blog. It's still there for everyone to enjoy!

One of those moments of despair

I have had a moment of despair today in Gateshead. Labour councillors should hold their heads in shame after voting against a planning application that would have secured the future of the post office in Sunniside, the village where I live and which I represent on Gateshead Council.

The Bank of Ireland want to install a 24 hour, free to use cash machine at the front of the Post Office. It will be the only one in the village. I handed a 240 signature petition into the council in favour of it. The application is well within the planning policies of the council on supporting small town centres, tackling social exclusion and supporting post offices (the Bank would pay rent to the branch for siting the machine there).

The only objection was from the Council's own engineers who opposed it because it was next to a pedestrian crossing.

I spoke at the planning meeting this morning in favour of the application and took with me Paul Mein, Sunniside's post master who spoke for it as well.

The vote split along party lines. 7 Labour against, 5 Lib Dem in favour and one honourable Labour member in favour as well.

Even the officers were talking about their recommendation to refuse being an "on balance" one. It was clearly one where a bit of judgement is needed. But Labour opted instead for the heavy handed and over zealous imposition of a rather nebulous road safety point which is not a problem at the moment - the Post Office is a news agent and there is no parking problem currently with people pulling up in their cars to nip in to buy a paper. With the pedestrian crossing outside the shop, it would be extremely difficult to park there anyway and a few bollards would solve the problem if there was a parking problem developing there (which is highly unlikely.)

So much for Labour supporting post offices. The first opportunity they have to let a branch develop business that would secure its future and they kick it out.

And it is a bizarre ruling that a business on a front street of a community can't be allowed to develop for fear of attracting people to use it. We live in a mad world.

And I still feel very angry about this decision.

The Good Life in Gateshead

Next year, our aim is to grow as much of our food as possible. And if we don't grow it, we aim to pick it wild. That is the intention anyway. It's our bid to cut down our carbon footprint. So we now have one and a half allotments which we need to get ready. They are quite a size and need quite a bit of work doing on them. Nevertheless, we have made a start.

One, admittedly small, corner has over the past 2 weekends, been dug over. We have planted onions, leaks, cauliflowers, strawberries and gooseberries. And I have dusted down my wildfoods cookbook which I haven't used for a while.

We have already had our first crops which, I have to confess were already growing on the allotments: last week I pick 6kg of rhubarb and the weekend just gone 3kg of gooseberries. Cowley St colleagues are now enjoying the first jars of jam to be made from these crops. We now have a stock of 27 jars of rhubard and ginger jam and 12 jars of gooseberry and elderflower. I suspect the jars I put in the Cowley st fridge will not last long. (Past experience suggests 2 days!)

So if David and I are doing a Geordie version of the Good Life, we haven't yet decided which of us is Tom and which is Barbara! We don't yet have a Margo and Gerry! Volunteers would be appreciated!

Final pics from the Rennard BBQ

This is the last set of pics.

Even more pics from the Rennard BBQ

This set includes one of me. People weren't going to let me get away without my appearing in at least one!

The Rennard BBQ video and a few more pics

Seems as though you can't get enough of the Rennard BBQ with the blog having had an unusually large number of visits over the past couple of days to view the photos. So why not view the video as well: Chris Rennard BBQ

And how about a few more photos? Enjoy!

And a few more Rennard BBQ photos

5 more and you can have some more tomorrow.

Exclusive photos from the Rennard party

You've all been waiting for them so here are the first 5 photos from last night's BBQ bash at the stately home of the Lord and Lady Rennard in Stockwell. More to follow!

At the Rennard summer party

Well, here I am at the Rennard summer BBQ. Exclusive photos and video to follow over the next day or so.
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A belated entry about Newsnight

I normally avoid watching Newsnight but I was more or less required to watch it last night as Richard wanted to sit through it - and frankly there was a distinct absence of anything else vaguely worth watching.

Sarah Teather put in one of her best performances and she certainly earned her right to be the party's representative on future editions of the programme.. But Caroline Spelman was all over the place and exhibited a shocking ignorance of history with her claims about Churchill not going abroad during the 2nd WW. Perhaps he had a lookalike attending Casablance, Washington, Cairo, Tehran and so on, but what staggered me more was the failure of the historian sitting next to her, Simon Sharma, to pick her up on her monumental historical gaff.

Still, watching her struggle to sell the Tories' latest u-turn on grammar schools was one of the most entertaining episodes of the evening. Back in Margaret Thatcher's days as education secretary, she wouldn't have taken all this nonsense and gobsh*t about demographics. She would have just closed down the gramar school and replaced it with a comprehensive!

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