Brown's Enron style numbers

Comrade Chairman Brown is on an election tour of Iraq to announce that 1000 troops are coming home. There must be a gap in the audience of soldiers meeting Brown drafted in to his expensive tax payer funded election tour, sorry I mean his completely necessary fact finding visit. The gap consists of 270 soldiers. They're the ones who have already come back home. Yes, here we have another Brown example of spin and double announcement. The figure of 1000 troop reduction actually includes 500 announced in July, of whom 270 are back in the UK.

Brown speak would find a good home in the annual report to shareholders of Enron!

Brown's next election visit: Baghdad

If anyone thinks that nice Comrade Chairman Brown would not do all he can to get the Tory conference out of the headlines, his visit today to Baghdad is all the proof you need to know he will use any instrument he can to manage the news agenda and deny opponents the coverage they would expect to have in a multi-party democracy.

Brown is posing as the statesman and is on a "fact finding" mission to Iraq. Oh yer, pull the other one, it's got bells on! The person who wrote the cheques and could have stopped British involvement before it started knows all the facts he needs already. So this is simply a massive publicity stunt for Labour to keep the Tories off the front pages, a jolly paid for by the taxpayer.

Mind you, given the choice of going to Iraq of Blackpool, I'm not sure which one I would want to do!

Expect an announcement next week in Parliament of a further troop reduction which the formerly pro-the-War-and-now-very-much-against-it Labour party will spin for all it's worth as the end of the Iraq episode. And then expect an election shortly afterwards.

Brown is probably planning something big for this Thursday as well. It could be the trip to the palace or perhaps a major policy announcement. Whatever it is, expect Labour to attempt to manage the news agenda on the day away from the Conservative conference.

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Autumn is here!

A cold morning and my breathe condensing when I stepped out of the house shortly after 7am. The sun had only just risen and the car was covered with condensation. The leaves on the trees were turning brown. Yup! Autumn is now with us. What an ideal time to have a general election! Just think what it will be like in a month's time.

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My last weekend before he calls the election?

The last 2 days may have been the last weekend before the election starts. This did not affect things campaignwise in my own area as we were already in the middle of producing and delivering focuses - frankly a job that never ceases. Still, it did give an added sense of urgency to matters.

So Sunday morning saw me down in our Whickham office printing focus leaflets I had written on Saturday evening. Sunday morning also arrived with an early morning phone call. The chairman of the editorial board of Parliamentary Campaigner was calling to make last minute changes to the urgent edition going to candidates later that day. I had to crawl out of bed and go to the office in my house and make some changes to the document (most of which were corrections to typos).

I suppose I had myself to blame however. The idea of bringing forward the final edition of 2007 of Parliamentary Campaigner by 2 months was mine. This time last week, as I sat on the train to London, I spent the time emailing the editorial board and campaigns dept suggesting this as a course of action and proposing the contents. Having got agreement, all I had to do was write the thing! All the usual pages were scrapped. Parliamentary Campaigner instead became the guide all candidates need to get them started on the general election!

There were some domestic jobs that could not be delayed which involve our food supply. I had a mountain of pears and crab apples I picked last weekend which had to be cooked or put into the compost bin. The freezer was also crammed full of recently picked blackberries but we needed the room for other things. The useful thing about jam making is that I can write focuses, deal with correspondence, catch up with the news headlines, have my dinner and, okay I admit it, watched a bit of The Terminator on one of the Sky Movie Channels whilst the jam pan is boiling away. A case of multi-tasking! It was also the last weekend I could gather in a good crop of hazel. Leave them any longer and the nuts become windfall of get eaten by the squirrels! I gathered in about 5kg. Had I had more time, I would have picked about 3 or 4 times the quantity.

So will he call it this week? I suspect Thursday could be a busy day. Sham Cam gives his speech and at the end of it suddenly there is no coverage. Instead the big story is the election being called. And if that scenario is what happens, the trip to London I am making now is going to be a bit longer that I had planned!

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Carpenters and Cowley Street

Cowley Street was invaded yesterday by carpenters, electricians, furniture removal people and so on. The board room, next to the Communications Unit where I am based, was stripped bare and then refurbished in the space of one day. It is now the war room, ready for the big names to occupy the moment Brown goes to the palace. It was quite fun watching the progress through the day. I should have taken some photos but didn't think to do so! By 7pm, when I was trying to edit an urgent edition of the North East Democrat, I was drafted in to move some furniture into the war room.

Meanwhile, I spent yesterday putting together an urgent edition of Parliamentary Campaigner to go out to all candidates this weekend. My job tonight is to do the final drafting changes. At the moment I am sitting in a hustings meeting for the North East Euro selections. After this I'm off to Whickham where we are having a garden party for all our helpers in the area. Turns out to be good timing - with an election about to be called, we can encourage them to deliver more leaflets!
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New dates for announcing the election

Further discussions today with various people about options for the date Comrade Chairman Brown will call the election. This Monday continues to be an option but some claim Brown could not be so blatant in abuising the system for poliical gain by wrecking the Tory conference. I won't put it past him but consider the following instead.

Suppose he calls it on Thursday, immediately after Cameron's speech? That allows the Tory conference to go ahead but he wrecks Cameron's big day by killing at one stroke the publicity Cameron gets from his speech. And all without the allegation of having attempted to wreck the conference by calling the election during its proceedings. Nice Comrade Chairman Brown allows democracy to prevail! This option comes with the bonus of firing the starting gun when the majority of Tory activists are coralled in Blackpool. Labour (and Lib Dem activists) meanwhile have a flying start back in the constituencies. Your can just imagine government inspired roadworks and rail repairs suddenly being imposed around Blackpool which brings all transport to a halt for a day or so!

The other option is to call the election a week on Tuesday, when Parliament is sitting. Under this scenario, Alistair Darling has published the Comprehensive Spending Review which will be spun for all it's worth (covering up the fact that the next spending round will be much tighter than previously.) There may also be an announcement that Basra has been handed back to the Iraqis, with formerly pro Iraq occupation Labour (and Conservative) MPs tripping over themselves to rush out statement about how they have always been against the war. Having attempted to convince everyone that somehow the war was only ever a Blair personal project that never ever ever had anything to do with Labour, Brown then announces a general election, possibly even giving Parliament a vote on whether to dissolve or not. The whips may have an easy day on that. Not so much a case of turkeys voting for Xmas, more a case of Turkeys voting for Xmas to become a vegetarian feast!

Comrade Chairman Brown is meeting his advisers this weekend to take a final decision on whether or not to hold an election. I find it difficult to believe they will not be able to keep the decision secret for long. I can foresee the decision being leaked through the week with the result many Tories have abandoned their conference to get back home. Cameron may find himself speaking to a rather empty hall.

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Sleep walking into a one party state

Thoughts on the date of the election and the day on which Comrade Chairman Brown will call it vary from one person to another. I wrote the other day that I think he will call it this Monday for 25th Oct. Since then the share value of an announcement tomorrow, Friday, has risen, as has the prospect of the election being on 1st Nov.

If he were to announce on either of these 2 days, it would have to count as one of the biggest abuses of the democratic system of recent years. Wrecking the opposition's conference is the sort of thing you would expect in what is effectively a one party state where opposition parties are allowed but mainly just for show. The reality is that one single party controls the system to its own advantage. A bit like Russia today, or East Germany of old. Were Brown to make such a move, I fear it will be another step, indeed a leap, in the sleep walk of this nation towards what would be effectively a one party state.

A bit extreme viewpoint? Not for those of us who have experienced one party Labour rule in the North East. Whilst they may be feeling the heat in some areas from the Lib Dems (the Tories are dead in the water in the region), Labour remain the dominant party, often attracting people to it who are interested in being part of the establishment rather than actually believing in anything. Labour are of course bolstered by a fraudulent voting system that gives them 94 percent of the parliamentary seats in the region on barely half the votes cast. The same system works in their favour across the country, though not on the scale it does in my region.

There is a possibility after a snap election with the Tories, having performed badly (and then descending into civil war again) and with the prospect of another long period of Labour rule ahead, that Britain sleepwalks into what is in all but name a one party state.

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10 reasons why Brown will call an election next week

Stand by for a snap general election. That is the key message from the Labour conference. Brown could have killed off the speculation with a few words saying there will be no election. He has chosen not to, knowing the consequences will be that the Labour conference will be dominated by the pending election. In other words, the conference is a huge, week long election rally that dominates the headlines to the exclusion of coverage of any other party.

I was previously doubtful about there being an autumn poll but over the weekend, I have looked again at the situation and have come to a different judgement.

I conclude there are 10 reasons why Brown will go for an October poll. Here goes:

1. There is something of a Brown bounce that has put Labour ahead of the Conservatives over the summer in the opinion polls for the first time since Cameron became leader of the Tories. There is no guarantee however that this will last. That brings me to the 2nd point below.

2. The chances are things are more likely to get worse than better for Brown. It's harder to go up in the polls when his support in the polls is relatively strong, but it is easy for the support to slip. No election this autumn and any small loss of support will be viewed as a large swing away from Labour and the talk will be instead of a Brown under pressure who missed his best chance of holding on. The autumn talk will be about his being James Callahan Mark II.

3. Meanwhile, the perception of the Tories is that they are in a mess and Cameron is seen increasingly as a liability who will say anything to get into power (a genuine perception of the truth!) Yet Cameron could, with time mount a recovery. Why would Brown want to give him that chance?

4. Indeed, why give your opponents the chance to build up a bandwagon? One clear lesson Labour have learnt is that a snap poll benefits them. They learnt that the hard way with the Brent East by-election. They put their lesson into practice with Sedgefield and Ealing - another week's campaigning and the results could have been different.

5. A linked point is that there is no cap on what a party can spend in a constituency outside an election. We know the Tories have bags of money being poured into target seats. How better to put a stop to that by holding a poll now, with all the spending limits in constituencies that involves.

6. Which brings me onto donations to Labour. They have the money they need from their super rich backers and the trade union barons who love to spend their members' money. But those donations can't be sustained. Best spend it now.

7. Back to Labour's conference. If this is the first week of the election campaign, by not announcing the election until Monday next week, Labour's conference can hog the headlines without the problem of the Representation of the People's Act (RPA) kicking in (as required once the election is called) which shares out the tv and radio coverage more fairly.

8. And a related point. Brown calls the election next Monday and it immediately cuts the coverage the Tories can get for their conference as the RPA kicks in. No week of headlines dominated by the Tories. All those Tory activists will turn up at Blackpool, be stuck there at a conference that is no longer the focus of media attention. Meanwhile their opponents are back in their constituencies fighting the ground war.

9. Talking of ground wars, Labour have performed well in council by-elections since Brown became Labour leader. The Conservatives have done poorly and Lib Dems reasonable (though last week was poor - that's what happens when your activists are at conference and not in the ground war). What the results show is that Labour support has lifted since Blair resigned. But this may not continue as the "newness" of Brown erodes with time.

10. Brown wants what he reagrds as his own mandate.

We are told Brown is a cautious person. He doesn't want to take a risk with his premiership. I can quite believe it. Given the circumstances, cautious Brown is not likely to want to risk loss by holding out for a later poll. So be ready for a snap election. It's coming your way and should arrive on your doorstep next week.

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Jam later today

Oh just great! A bridge has collapsed onto the main East Coast line near York. So here I am stuck at Newcastle. Many services have been cancelled. I was told that this is because GNER want to avoid lots of train delays. How best to avoid a delay? - cancel the train!

I've spent the last half hour making urgent calls and emails to various people.

Rumour has it the collapsed bridge was called the Cameron Bridge - a rather old structure with a lick of glossy paint. Apparently the paint couldn't hold it together and it gave way. This is of course just a rumour!

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Here I am stuck in traffic

A few minutes makes all the difference between getting straight through to Newcastle and getting stuck in congestion. We are in the latter at the moment, stuck between Sunniside and Lobley Hill. Fortunately my train is not til 9am. And of course it is raining. A good start to the week!

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Packaging lunacy

And today's rant is about GNER's on board catering. I have just been to the buffet car for a tea (a technical fault on the trolley means it's only serving cold drinks). I also wanted some fruit. All they had was sliced apple in a packet, a snip at just one pound fifty. Apart from the fact this is a seriously high price for a bit of apple, it is also absurdly over packaged. And add to that the slices will go off faster than a whole apple. This is lunacy wrapped up as product presentation.

One of the train staff has just walked past me with a large plastic sack collecting rubbish. There's plenty of it!

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Fruit baskets and the Cowley St kitchen

I arrived in Cowley St this morning to find a gigantic basket of fruit in the kitchen. A present from Ming and Elspeth to us hard working staff who ensured conference went well. At 8pm Chris Rennard walked into my office and said that nearly all the fruit had gone despite there being far fewer people that normal in HQ. The Communications Unit had by then carefully removed all evidence of apple cores, grape stalks and the other debris of a fruit feast!

Onto other things. Some of my conference photos were put into circulation today for local campaigners to use though the big job on that begins next week when I have to email out all the photo op pictures, of which there are over 1000. I used a couple from the North East in my next members' newsletter which I will be printing in our office in Gateshead tomorrow.

And that means that I am on the train heading North now, though I am about to ask the person sitting behind me with a muffled clunk, clunk, clunk coming from his ear phones to turn the music down.



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Photo op photos

These were taken at the photo ops the Communications Unit arranged at conference for campaigners. I have taken the liberty (ego?) of including those of me except the carbon footprint one. I didn't get a photo of me with Chris Huhne so I have included one of Peter Maughan, who represents the neighbouring ward to my own and who was at conference on Sunday and Monday.

I posted up the cutting income tax pic earlier this week.

A few photos from the Glee Club

I normally avoid the Glee Club at conference, but the opportunity to get some photos was too much to resist. So above: Lembit take to the stage; Paddy tells the same joke as previously told at Glee Clubs and Team Sedgefield serenades the gathered masses.

Photos of Ming's speech

These are some of the photos I took yesterday morning.

Lembit Opik MP at the Glee Club

For those of you fortunate enough to miss the Glee Club at conference on Wednesday, here's Lembit Opik's performance......

The Ming speech

As usual I was in the photographers' scrum for Ming's speech. Good inspiring, uplifting stuff. Now could the doubters shut up!?

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Lembit but no Cheekie Girl

The 4th and final photo op I had organised for candidates was held this morning. It was about Labour's post office closure plans. Lembit Opik is the Shadow Business and Enterprise Secretary so the photos were with him. There was no Cheekie Girl in tow.

I spent some time this afternoon putting photos onto the parties website. Most are not taken by me but by Alex Folkes. However, mine filled a few gaps in the coverage.

And so that brings me to this evening. It's the hunter/gatherer phase of the day when we go in search of fringe meetings with good food and, of course, interesting issues for discussion. I missed the first round of meetings at 6pm as I was in a Northern Region meeting. When I got to these meetings, all that were left were empty plates and a bowl of olives! The next meetings start at 8pm.

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Cutting Income Tax

Here's the photo of metaking part in my own photo op yesterday with Vince Cable cutting income tax!

Press at my back whilst Vince saws through income tax

I have arranged to put on 4 photo ops for candidates and campaigners at conference. The first was on Sunday with Norman Lamb MP and a giant tooth. This is for those involved in the health campaign and the photos can be used to illustrate the decay in the NHS dentistry service. Advance notice of this appeared in the Guardian recently!

The second was yesterday with Chris Huhne MP. This involved 2 carbon footprints, one large one, representing people's carbon footprint as it is now, and a second smaller one, representing the smaller carbon footprint under Lib Dem policies. This one had queues of people around the block!

Today's photo op was with Vince Cable cutting income tax - using a saw to cut a banner representing income tax. Again, queues around the block for this one. Somehow, the media took an enormous interest in this event. So in front of me was Vince with a saw and a succession of candidates whilst behind me were press photographers and media cameramen catching anything that moved. So I suspect there are a large number of photos of my rear end and a large amount of footage of me shouting at candidates to stand in a certain way, hold the props at the right angle and especially to keep smiling and stop talking!

What struck me afterwards however was that if the media thought this photo op made for interesting pictures, then they will make interesting pics in people's focus leaflets,which was what this whole exercise was about producing.

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Laws of conference no. 1: get me to the fringe on time

Organisations hosting fringe events at conference have a standard practice for getting people through the doors and ensuring there are bums on seats. It's called "Refreshments available". This is a well tried and tested practice and is a good way of getting people into a meeting about an issues of which they have very limited knowledge or indeed interest.

It is possible to go through a conference without having to buy a meal. But there is a snag. I was due at the Northern Regional Development Agencies' meeting last night. Lots of food and wine available. I had helped promote the event as one of the sponsors had been in touch with me asking for advice on advertising it and I even took their ad and put it in my regional newsletter, The North East Democrat.

But last night, as the meeting was underway, I was stuck in our office in the Brighton Centre uploading photos to the website. By the time I had finished cocking up the process and got it right, I was feeling rather hungry. So I sped off to the RDA meeting just in time for, well, just in time for the speeches! The last of the wine had been sozzled and all that was left to eat was a handful of sandwiches no one else wanted!

I have just had breakfast in the Grand. My first proper meal since breakfast at the Grand yesterday! Expect me to lose weight at this conference!

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Dr Death and the Liberal Democrats

The press cuttings were delivered to my hotel room this morning. A quick flick through told me that David Owen (aka Dr Death) was making a reappearance on the political stage. Sadly for Dr Death, he is a figure that has now been largely forgotten by the good people of the UK. Instead of a front line political career in the Lib Dems when the SDP and Liberals merged in 1988, Dr Death (middle name Ego) decided to storm off into the wilderness to create a shortlived party (SDP Tick) in his own image.

The historical ineptitude of the press today however is amazing. He is variously described as a great figure of the Liberal Democrats, or the Liberal movement. Dr Death has never been a member of the Lib Dems and he has spent most of the past 20 years trying to destroy us. It is no coincidence that on the eve of our conference, he is making pro-Brown pronouncements, almost certainly assisted by the vast Brown spin machine which, far from being dismantled, is growing ever bigger.

A political handshake with Dr Death however is the equivalent of taking hold of a live wire. You are going to get hurt! Owen has shown that he can make serious errors of judgement. He is a person whose ego is far bigger than his common sense. It could of course have been so much different. He could have led the SDP into the merged party instead of throwing his toys out of the pram. Frankly, if Brown wants him, he's welcome to him.

I wonder how Labour members in Gateshead (especially the ones with the big egos reading this blog) are taking to yet another inclusion of an old enemy in the big tent of Gordon Brown. The big tent however is an image rather than reality. It is all for show so that Chairman Stalin Brown can appear inclusive and nice whislt ensuring all power rests in his hands. Perhaps it is more a case of a big top than a big tent with Brown's political circus there to entertain and bamboozle the audience. The question is, who is taking on the role of the clown. Back to Dr Death I think...

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Ming arrives at Brighton - the exclusive photos!

I was at the front of the Grand Hotel in Brighton in the press pack waiting for Ming to arrive. So here are a couple of the pics I took as he spoke to the press.

I had arrived there about half an hour earlier. Alas, whilst the press pack was there in force, it wasn't waiting for me! But my taxi driver was amused anyway!

Heading for Brighton with a studio in my case

I am on the train to Brighton now to go to party conference. It feels like I have a studio's worth of cameras and camcorders in my suitcase. After I added my conference papers and various papers from Gateshead and from constituents I will deal with when I am at Brighton, there wasn't much room for my clothes!

So it's a week of early morning meetings, late nights, minimal sleep, meals grabbed on the move, herding people through photo ops and generally enjoying myself! The drawback is that I'm not home this weekend. So next weekend I will have to double my number of voter contacts when I'm back home.

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Food for thought

There has been some interest recently in a report outlining the findings into research into what people were eating in Britain thousands of years ago. The main focus of attention was on hedgehogs and nettles. There seemed to be a degree of surprise that such foods were eaten, and what's more, they were cooked with other ingredients, not eaten raw.

Much of this was turned into a joke by media commentators. Okay, let's take off the menu any thought of hedgehog. Rather than eating them, I could do with some of them in my garden to eat the snails. But there are a remarkable number of nutritious wild foods in the UK that are widely available and enjoyable to eat. I use nettles for soups and flans. How about dandelion and blackberry leaf salad? How about rose hip tea? How about spicing up a salad with wild garlic leaves? How about roasted wild beech and hazel nuts, or blackberries or wild strawberries for a dessert?

Regular readers of this blog will know I am a bit of an enthusiast for wild food but the treatment of the issue as a bit of a joke by some commentators shows we have lost so much of our traditional foods in this country. That is a shame given we have good quality foods growing wild all around us. Making an occasional meal of them would save our environment so much by not having to import from thousands of kilometres away so much of the food we eat.

So if you haven't tried nettle soup, rosehip and crab apple jelly or a dandelion salad, put them on your menu!

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Last day in office before it all starts

The last day in the office before conference is always a hectic, hair ripping out episode in which everything that needs to be done that hasn't been done needs to be done! My conference diary is only half done, my contribution to a training session the Communications Unit is putting on is not written, I have a mountain of itty bitty jobs to shift for the photo ops we are hosting and I need to back up more data than I can shake a stick at.

Yet after that, conferences nevertheless turn out to be great fun!

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There now follows a short rant about Sainsburys

I needed to go to Sainsburys tonight to get some dinner. So I called in at 9pm, picked up 4 bargain priced bagels (30p for the lot), a bag of salad leaves and a bunch of spring onions. So off to the queue I go. As it is late, there are only 2 tils open. Why is it I always end up behind the person who, half way putting his purchases through the til, suddenly decides he hasn't finished his shopping and therefore disappears off into the store for ages?

I ask if I am able to put my rather meagre purchase through rather than wait for the disappeared shopper to make a reappearance. "But that will mean I will have to void the transaction and do it all again," I am told. Not very helpful for the customers who bothered to do their shopping before getting to the til, but I politely continue to wait until the assistant spots an opening at the cigarette counter. I am sent there to pay for my low calorie salad.

Except there follows another problem. Having handed over cash (yes, some of us do sometimes use it rather than plastic) the cashier then closed the til having forgotten that this old fashioned form of purchase of goods sometimes requires change to be given. So he had to put the next customer through before I was able to get my 52p change from the two pound coin I had originally handed over.

I then had a battle to stop him putting my purchases into a new Sainsbury carrier bag. I had to wave the one I had brought with me to make sure I didn't want another added to the 17 billion free carrier bags stores in this country give away each year.

As I was leaving the store, the guy who had gone off to complete his shopping had still not returned to the til.

I never get these problems when I'm in Somerfield in Whickham or the Chapel Store in Sunniside!

On a cheerier note, I communicated with over a thousand constituents tonight. In other words, I completed edition 43 of my Whickham email newsletter. Only one new video on this one.

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Cowley Street has gone green - literally

This is the landing outside my office in Cowley St. The grey, rather thread bare carpets have been stripped out today and new green ones have gone in their place. Another green initiative to add to the energy audits on the building and the paper, can, plastic and glass recycling bins and lights that switch themselves off automatically if the room isn't in use. Anyway, here's the pic.

Labour council refuses free school bus pass to unbaptised boy

I could hardly believe it when I first read it but the news release below arrived a few minutes ago from the office of Fiona Hall MEP. So Labour are refusing a free bus pass to a child attending a Catholic school on the grounds the child has not been baptised! Surely this must be a breach of the Human Rights Act?

The news release speaks for itself:

COUNCIL REFUSE BUS PASS FOR UN-BAPTISED SON

Despite being accepted as a pupil at St Leonard’s RCVA School, Durham, Elliot Stewart from Brasside who has started school this week has been refused a free bus pass because he has not been baptised.

When Elliot’s mother enquired about a bus pass for Elliot with Durham County Council she was told that he could not be issued one as he has not been baptised. She was then advised by a Council employee to get Elliot baptised in order to get a bus pass.

Mrs Stewart contacted local MEP Fiona Hall who raised the issue with the Council and received a response to say that it is was agreed between the Roman Catholic Diocese and the County Council that for a child to qualify for free school transport both that child and at least one parent must have been baptised, the Liberal Democrat commented:

"I am surprised at the attitude of Durham County Council on this issue.

"Surely if a child is offered a place by a Roman Catholic school it is only fair for the County Council to provide transport to make it possible for the child to attend.

"Whether or not a child is baptised should be a matter for the parents, not the council.

"I am seeking clarification from the Roman Catholic Diocese and from the Schools Minister."

50 years old

Not me! But David is, or was, on Friday. And by coincidence, arriving in my council courier bag over the weekend was a leaflet about events and activities in Gateshead "for those aged 50 and over"! David's turning 50 opens up a whole new world for us as well. I'm really looking forward to a Saga holiday and going to B And Q for the older people's discount evenings. There is of course another decade to go before he can get free off peak travel on the buses!

And so to my weekend's activities, much of which revolved around printing, delivering and collecting surveys on recycling though last night I had a meeting with the leaders of a couple of our local scout groups about the fayres they will be holding next year.

I also made it to the opening of the Whickham Community Association fayre on Saturday. Whilst out delivering survey forms on Sunday, I chatted to someone who recognised me at the fayre. My advice to councillors and candidates - always go to fayres put on by local groups. Not only are they great for buying the best homemade cakes, they are also very useful for your profile.

If you are a Parliamentary candidate, you should have by now the the results of more of my weekend handiwork - the Parliamentary Campaigner was completed yesterday.

And so, here I am, sitting on the train, just leaving Newcastle, heading for London. Ahead of us - the joys of conference!

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Photo opportunities at conference

Speaking with my political communications unit hat on, we are holding 4 photo ops at conference for candidates and campaigners. They will be held in the West Bar, next to the Internet Cafe, in the Brighton Centre as follows:

Sunday 16th September: 3.30pm-4.30pm Norman Lamb - Dentists’ Survey (have your photo taken with Norman and a giant tooth!) This photo will highlight the decay in the NHS dental system.

Monday 17th September: 4.30-5.30pm, Chris Huhne - Environment Campaign (have your photo taken with Chris to show how Lib Dem policy will cut your carbon footprint.)

Tuesday 18th September: 2.30-3.30pm, Vince Cable - Income Tax Cut (have your photo taken with Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable cutting income tax.)

Wednesday 19th September: 11am-12pm, Lembit Opik - Post Offices (have your photo taken with Lembit Opik signing a giant copy of the Post Office petition).

The photos will be taken by me and emailed to you after conference. It would be helpful if you could email me on j.wallace@libdems.org.uk in advance (and preferably before the start of conference) if you are coming to any of the sessions. Please say which ones you are coming to, give us your name (!) and which constituency or local party you are from.

Comfortable win in Crystal Palace

News just in. We have comfortably held the Crystal Palace by-election. I have a slight element of interest in the result as it is where my London home is. Well done to the local team. Result is: Lab 537 Con 398 green 139 LD 1051.
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The sort of email I like to receive

I have received an email from a constituent saying that she is looking forward to "JW" being on the door on No. 10! And then she offered to help deliver our Focus leaflets! Now that's the sort of email I love to get!

Tonight I have been working on the drafts of the North East Democrat (which is emailed to about a third of the members in the North East) and Parliamentary Campaigner (which goes to our Parliamentary Candidates). I can't send out the Democrat until Ming has done his visit to Durham and Newcastle tomorrow. Someone is taking photos and will email them to me tomorrow. The aim is to have the newsletter in people's inboxes in the evening, fresh after Ming's visit.

Meanwhile, if you are a Parliamentary Candidate, you should have the Campaigner with you over the weekend. Note the things in it you are recommended to do before conference!

These 2 publications will inevitably mean I will have a battle on tomorrow to get away on time from Cowley St to catch my train home to the North East. If I miss it I know who to blame.

I wonder what Labour MPs think of Brown's adoration of Mrs T

A statue of Margaret Thatcher has been erected in the members' lobby in Parliament. It sparked this Early Day Motion in February:

"That this House recalls the cruel and divisive reign of Margaret Thatcher and demands that the statue be removed from the Members' Lobby until such time as its erection has been approved by a vote in the House." (EDM 981, 2 Feb 2007)

Given that Gordon Brown has just heaped adoration on Mrs T and now tries to compare himself to her, I wonder what those MPs who signed this motion and backed Brown feel about their Leader's "lurch to the right"!

The power of blogs

My blog post about Labour MP Sharon Hodgson writing an Early Day Motion to praised herself has been well noticed! The Guarian diary column carried it the other day. And yesterday, it was a page lead in our regional newspaper The Journal. Very nice of them to put a big photo of me in it! The Journal story came about as a result of a press release I produced, rather than from the blog. They phoned me on Thursday to do an interview. But the fact the Guardian ran the story having lifted it from either my blog or more likely from my blog via Lib Dem Voice, only goes to show that blogging can be a good way to place a story in the public domain.

I love Lib Dem members

I have just got back from a quick tour of members in my ward. I got two new leafletters, one cake, an invite to a garden party and some useful information I need for some casework. I love Lib Dem members!

I am off to the kitchen now to complete the process of making crab apple jelly. Colleagues in Cowley Street will be sampling it tomorrow. I have 2 videos to edit later. Ones a campaigning video, the other is of a visit I made to the Roman City of Leptis Magna in Libya in 2004. From one extreme to another.....

Fitting a quart into a pint pot

On the train back from London last night, I wrote a list of the things I need to do this weekend. As usual, it was a case of fitting a quart into a pint pot, or to be metric, a litre into a 25 cl pot. So today, I was in our office at 9am printing surveys to give to Peter Maughan at 10am so he could take them to his ward team in Dunston Hill and Whickham East. I then went off to visit some of my leafletters and helpfully take them bundles of leaflets.

When I found one had a broken foot, I delivered her patch for her. Then back home, I wrote a village focus (not for my ward), then went down to the Whickham in Bloom flower show (I bumped into Dad there), then went to print the village focus I had written, then went off to deliver it (to the Labour readers of this blog I'll keep you guessing where). Then back home to catch up with David before heading over to the allotment to water the veg. Then down to an old orchard in my ward to pick crab apples. Then back home to chuck the crab apples in the jam pan. I am about to have a relaxing soak (the bath is running now) and then I have a pile of letters to write to constituents.

Tomorrow I will try to do the things on the list I wrote last night!

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Why do new jeans have to have a worn look?

A friend went to a shop this evening and bought 2 pairs of jeans. Both come with the ready worn look. He gave one of the pairs to me. Thank you! But I don't quite understand the fashion requirement that new clothes have to look as if they've been worn 100 times before. Surely new clothes should appear as precisely that - new! If I wanted the worn look, I would dig out one of my old pairs which have already enjoyed years of hard work. If I wanted to buy a pair that already looked worn, I'd go to a jumble sale. And because all my clothes already look worn the last thing I would do is biuy the worn look!

Or am I just getting old!?

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Another casework surge

I had another casework surge today from constituents. All by email. And all in the space of a few minutes. All the issues are different but I was reminded of when I first started to use email as a way of communicating with residents, back in 2000. The number of emails I had today was around what I would have got in the whole of the year. People then still used the traditional form of phone calls, letters or visits to the surgery.

Whilst people still use these to communicate with me, the number of emails I get has rocketted. It has been helped by our email newsletter eFocus. I first produced eFocus in 2003 when I had the email addresses of 50 constituents. We now have a 4 figure sum of emails. Each time I send out the email newsletter, I am communicating with 1000s, rather than 10s, of people. I also now produce video articles with links from eFocus. They are growing in popularity and as all this is still relatively new, I am learning what works and what doesn't. Now I have the problem of producing enough video material to ensure we have at least a couple of new videos on each eFocus.

But you can't get away from old technology for too long. I spent some time tonight phoning some of the helpers in my ward as the next focus is ready to be delivered (I printed it on Monday evening - a good bank holiday activity!) And of course, Focus remains the main form of communication with residents.
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Northern electoral 'permafrost' puts chill on Tories' hopes

There was an interesting insight last week in our regional newspaper, The Journal, into what the Conservatives really think of their hopes at the general election, whenever it is held.

An unnamed aid to David Cameron was quoted as saying, “We have to accept that at the moment the North is permafrost for the party. We don’t have to win seats in every Northern city to win an election but there is this permafrost which is difficult to overcome."

There were then all sorts of denials from other Conservatives that the Conservatives were doing badly in the North East. One of the most ridiculous of claims was the Tories' problems in the region are only in "pockets" such as Newcastle (a Tory free zone). The problem for the Tories in the region is that most of it is a huge pocket of dereliction. Attempts to spin the holding of a few seats in Sunderland, North Tyneside and Darlington councils as meaning unalloyed success across the region will not work, despite the Tories' best efforts at smoke and mirrors.

I use a different analogy to permafrost. The North East is a desert for them with a few oasis. Their one council controlled oasis is about to succumb to a Labour sandstorm when it is abolished as part of council reform over the next year or so.

And their North Tyneside oasis has reached its limit and has even shrunk a bit - such as when they lost their only elected mayor in the country in 2005.

There was a time when the Conservatives had a string of seats in the region. Tynemouth, Newcastle Central, Darlington, Stockton South, Langbaugh were all Conservative in recent memory. In Newcastle Central they are now a distant 3rd and they are no better off under the new boundaries.

The Conservatives need an electoral breakthrough in the North East if they are to stand any chance of winning an election nationally. And whether your analogy is with a baking desert or an ice age, either way the only way the Conservatives can succeed here in the North East is if there is a major change in the political climate that allows them to flourish again.

Frankly, there are no signs whatsoever of that happening.

Uses for bottles of coke

I spotted a news article a couple of days ago on News 24 about the impending problems that will occur when the cost of tourist visas for non EU citizens travelling to Lithuania rises from somewhere in the region of 7 Euros to ten times the price. The biggest impact will be on neighbouring Belorus, a country most people have not heard of, despite its being in Europe. (I once went into a map shop in Newcastle and asked for a map of the country. Back came the reply, "Belorus? Is that a country?" So if a map shop said that....)

The News 24 item explained that there is a growing tourism trade in Lithuania fuelled by Belorussians visiting to buy goods that are otherwise not available in their own, rather poorer and centrally state managed country, dubbed the last dictatorship in Europe. It was filmed at the border between Lithuania and Belorus. It reminded me of when I was crossing the same border back in 1999 when we were on a tour of Eastern Europe. Our tour guide handed out visa forms on the coach as we left Vilnius and warned us that we could get stuck for a few hours at the border unless a kindly borderguard on the Belorussian side could be persuaded to let us through. There was however the rigmarole of filling in the visa forms to go through. Since only the tour guide could speak Russian, he talked us through where to put our names, ages, hotels we were staying in and a whole load of other information about where we were born, purpose of the visit and so on. He also suggested we leave blank the bit asking us to declare which weapons, including guns and missile launchers, we were carrying. Fortunately I had decided not to buy that ground to air heat seeking anti aircraft missile I saw in that quaint tourist shop we had visited in Riga!

The guide then took all our completed forms and our passports and left the coach with a bottle of coke from the on board fridge, warning us he may be some time. 10 minutes later he returned with all the passports stamped but missing the coke. We were then waved through and were back on the road heading for Minsk.

Turns out the cost of the shortcut was the bottle of coke. All the completed visa forms were immediately filed in the wastepaper bin and we could have put any name on the visa form.

It's amazing what you can do with a bottle of coke!

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Jam today

A large part of our allotment is yet to be developed. At the moment it is covered in brambles which are however producing a good crop of blackberries. On Saturday, David wanted a handful to make a pudding so I went down to the allotment to pick some. I came back with a carrier bag full, far more than he needed. So yesterday I made blackberry jam. That means my work colleagues will be kept happy! They have come to expect home made jam every week in Cowley St. So in my expensive executive style reused carrier bag is a jar of blackberry jam and one of rhubarb and ginger I made earlier this year. I'm at Newcastle Central Station at the moment waiting for a train to London. But the jars will be in the Cowley St fridge this afternoon. Colleagues who read this blog will therefore have an unfair advantage over those who don't! I expect the jam to be gone by Wednesday!

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Angelic upstart, icon or rip off? A return to the Angel of the North

The Angel of the North has been in place for 9 years. Some describe it as being like a crashed airplane whilst others describe it as an icon. I have however decided to write this post about it because a week ago a survey of visitors to tourist attractions rated the Angel as the 2nd most disappointing sight. It was beaten, oddly enough, by Stonehenge, for the slot of most disappointing location.

Back in the 1990s I was one of the leaders of the campaign against the Angel. I was reminded of this yesterday when a couple of friends of mine who are presenters on Tyne Tees TV came to our house in Sunniside for lunch. They also reminded me that next year will mark its 10th anniversary and I could end up being hauled in front of the cameras again to give me views of the statue 10 years on! That should be fun!

However, my views have not changed a great deal over the past decade. I think it is the product of a 2nd rate artist with a size fixation who has successfully made a mint out of gigantic statues often paid for by public funds. Their attraction is their size and scale, rather than the artistic merit. The Angel in particular was an industrial engineering project build in a factory to the designs of the artist. It is not the manufacture of his own hands.

That said, we simply live with it. It is of an enormous size, and dominates the landscape, but nevertheless, people have got used to it. Indeed, it is simply now just a major landscape feature. Some have grown to like it. Some regard it as an icon. It is sometimes used as a backdrop to photos about Tyneside or the North East generally. I still have memories of having to go to the Angel in 1999 because a local government magazine wanted a picture of me on its cover in front of the Angel. The issue had nothing to do with the Angel (it was about regional government) but the statue was regarded as a good backdrop for a photo about the North. (Interesting to note that many equivalent photos are now taken with the Gateshead Millennium Bridge as the background.) Fiona Hall, our Euro MP, last year opted for the Millennium Bridge as the backdrop to the main photo in her annual report to constituents. This year, Fiona has gone for the Angel!

I am not an opponent of public art. It has its role and frankly, if you were to put a monumental piece of art anywhere, the location of Angel is clearly the place to put it. It certainly gets seen! The issue we had back in the 1990s was not about whether we as politicians liked it (or disliked it!), Instead, I had difficulties with what I viewed as the minimalist approach to consultation and involving the people in the decision.

I personally think Gateshead Council learnt from the experiences of installing the Angel. The public involvement in the design and choice of the Gateshead Millennium Bridge on the Gateshead Quayside was a far cry from the You're-having-it-like-it-or-not approach adopted towards building the Angel.

One point I fundamentally disagree with when I hear the proponents of the Angel speak is the claim that somehow by having the statue here vast chests of development cash have been opened up for Gateshead and the Tyneside area. I think the claim is nonsense but I do hear it said that we would not have got the investment for the Baltic Gallery or the Gateshead Quays if we had refused to take the Angel. Indeed, listening to some supporters of the Angel, angelic powers appear to be the deciding factor in anything successful happening in the region. Get real people!

It is worth remembering that when NewcastleGateshead and Liverpool went head to head for the honour of being the 2008 City of Culture, Liverpool were the winners. They didn't have a Guardian Angel. They simply had a Liberal Democrat council!

And finally, is the Angel that original a design? I'm not so sure. A couple of years ago, when I visited Rio de Janiero, I went to the famous Statue of Christ overlooking this Brazilian city. I was struck by the similarlity of the Angel to this statue that is 70 years older. The photos included above will help you make up your own mind.

Labour MP sponsors motion praising herself

I stumbled across this whilst looking for something else but I feel I must share it! This line is from Commons Early Day Motion 1386 which attacks the customer complaints procedure of EasyJet.

The motion includes the gem "welcomes efforts by the hon. Member for Gateshead East and Washington West to ensure that the rights of online consumers are incorporated in the Consumer, Estate Agents and Redress Bill."

And who is the primary sponsor of this motion? A certain Sharon Hodgson, Labour MP for, errr, Gateshead East and Washington West.

Ms Hodgson may not have much longer to write self congratulatory motions and engage is self-backslapping. She has been dumped by Labour after only 2 years in the job as candidate in Gateshead at the general election. She was beaten by Dave Clelland, who must be around 20-25 years her senior.

Rumour has it she is hoping to parachute into a Sunderland constituency, possibly jumping from an EasyJet plane!

Get JW on Facebook reaches 100

Well, the target has been reached. I promised I would go on to Facebook if 100 people signed up to the Get JW on Facebook Group, set up by Dave Hennigan from Rochdale, and my recent colleague on the Sedgefield campaign. With a bit of help from the New Stateman, the group's growth has rudely brought me back to the commitment I made. So some time during Friday I will have to set up a site. Unless of course, there are a few resignations from the group! Were all the Hennigan family members to leave, for example, I would be well short of the 100!

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The final set of pics from Wales

The 2nd and final batch of pics from Wales I'm putting on the blog:

1. Penmaenmawr quarry - looing more like a crater on the moon!
2. Me on Penmaenmawr beach with Anglesey in the background.
3. This seagull on Llandudno pier walked about like a cloaked Count Dracula!
4. Me at Caernarfon Castle.
5. A flying seagull which I managed to catch on the telescopic lens as it swooped past me in Caernarfon.
   

Some pics from that Wales trip

I visited North Wales a couple of weeks ago and here are some of the 360 photos I took. Thankfully I'm only putting up a handfull!

1. I loved the contrast between new and old: the first pic was taken through the battlements of Caernarfon Castle of the big wheel in the neighbouring funfair.
2. Penmaenmawr, the town where I stayed, from the top of the mountains.
3. Some of the wild ponies living in the mountains to the south of Penmaenmawr. I snapped them during a hike in the hills.
4. The inside of Caernarfon Castle.
5. Me on the top of the mountain overlooking Penmaenmawr.

Historic buildings at risk

English Heritage recently published their updated register of historic buildings at risk. There are a number from my patch in Gateshead included on the register, including Ravensworth Castle.

There is a strong family connection to Ravensworth (as well as simply representing much of this country estate on Gateshead Council). My great grandfather Henry Wallace was agent to Lord Ravensworth in the later Victoria period. My grandfather John was born and raised on the estate. In the 1920s the castle was used as a boarding school for girls and my Dad's sister Margaret was a day pupil there, walking to the school each day from the family farm in Sunniside.

In the 1930s and again in the 1950s, much of the stately home was demolished but the old medieval towers and the courtyard remain. 2 years ago, we took Margaret, at the age of 92, to Ravensworth to see what she could remember of the old school. And this is the video I made of the visit.
I did an interview with Century Radio yesterday about historic buildings at risk. Naturally, Ravensworth got a number of mentions!

Squirrels at my courgettes!

Red squirrels are a rare site nowadays. I remember seeing some on the old Watergate pit site near the village of Sunniside where I live many years ago, before the site was reclaimed as a park. And in the Derwent Valley, efforts have been made to conserve them.

But at my home in London, we are plagued with the grey variety. There are some very large and mature trees in the back garden where these rats with fluffy tails live. This morning I stepped out of the front door to find they have made a feast of the courgettes we were growing.

Whilst I will do everything in my power to support the endangered red variety, I do wish the greedy grey variety would at least leave my vegetable patch in peace!

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Which Post Offices will be closed?

The Royal Mail is currently carrying out a government inspired demolition job on the Post Office network. Having closed 4000 branches since they came to power in 1997, they now want to close a further 2500. The bureaucratic wheels are now turning and decisions are being made now as to which branches are due to close. We should know soon which communities will suffer the loss of their branch.

I raise this now as one of the postmasters in my area phoned me last night and, as you would expect, it cropped up in the conversation.

It is the case that the income of Post Offices has fallen in recent years. Some of this is down to choice by customers who, for example, opt to get their pensions paid directly into a bank account (though frankly the government's crude armtwisting of pensioners to have pensions paid into bank accounts was a disgrace). Some of it has simply been government decisions to end activities carried out through post offices.

The main focus of the government and Royal Mail should now be to increase the business of branches in new areas. Despite the financial problems of the network, the branches across the country still constitute a large presence on town high streets. And some work has been done to capitalise on that presence. For instance, banks are interested in placing cash machines in some branches where they don't have a bank branch of their own. Putting a cash machine into a post office instead makes sense and as they rent the space from the branch, there is an immediate benefit to the branch itself.

In my village of Sunniside in Gateshead, an application was submitted for a cash machine and yet, bizarrely it was turned down by the planning committee on the grounds that increased customers could cause road problems (the branch is next to a pelican crossing). This is almost like saying the post office shouldn't be there in the first place as it is likely to attract customers and people to the area. As it is, there is a post box right outside the Post Office and right next to the pelican crossing. That doesn't cause any road problems now.

Both the postmaster and I spoke for this application at the planning committee in June when it was considered. I came away from that meeting stunned when they turned down the application. The argument we made was that this would help to secure the future of the branch through its own business activity. We both collected a petition of over 200 signatures in favour of the application. We wait to see whether or not the bank will appeal but given the large number of bank cash machines next to pedestrian crossings, my feeling is that this is an appeal that would win were it to go ahead.

It is unfortunate that the branch has been put in this position. At a time when the post office branch network is under threat, Labour councillors (and it was only Labour councillors who voted to reject the application) have put the boot in needlessly into one individual branch. And given it is their party ordering the closure of so many branches (they claimed in the local elections in May they were against closure of branches) their record on post offices is at best lamentable, certainly hypocritical and at worst downright damaging.

No doubt when the first wave of closures is announced, Labour members will scream about how terrible the closures are. And once they have finished posturing, their party will swing the axe.

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The wrong train

I got to Newcastle Central Station in good time to pick up the 8.30am train to London. I got on the train and got out the blackberry to check emails. It was only at 8.35am I checked my watch and began to wonder why we had not moved. Well, in all the years I have been doing the London run, this is the first time I have managed to get on the wrong train. I headed back across the bridge to the main concourse and the GNER information desk. They advised I speak to the guard on the 9am train to see if I could use the ticket on that train (which was the incorrect train I had initially boarded). So I sought out the guard. She was very helpful, listened to my confession of cock up and said that as I had sought her out and raised the problem with me before the journey began that she would allow the ticket to transfer to the 9am train. This generosity has saved me over 90 pounds!

Which brings me to my final point. When National Express takes over the East Coast franchise, I hope we don't lose the high level of service and customer care were have had from GNER.

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Welcome Journal Blog Central

Our regional morning newspaper, The Journal, has set up Journal Blog Central which effectively goes live on Monday morning. My blog is one of a handful from across the North East which will be featured on Blog Central. There will be a feature article about the new site in the Journal on Monday morning so hopefully there will be a few additional hits on the blog. I am described on Blog Central as commenting on politics. Those who know me, know I comment on much more.

So if you are visiting this blog for the first time from Blog Central, welcome and here are a few details about who I am: 43 years old; Lib Dem Councillor for Whickham South and Sunniside in Gateshead (which I have represented for 20 years - making me one of the longest serving yet still one of the younger councillors in Gateshead!); work as a communications officer for the Lib Dems; photographer; video maker (you'll get plenty of these on the blog); allotment holder; jam maker; wild foods "chef"; historian; Dr Who and James Bond fan; small scale dabbler on the Stock Market (a dangerous area to be at the moment!); and I enjoy travel. My family reads this blog to find out where I am and what I'm doing!

So enjoy this blog and feel free to comment!

Skons Park Opencast Appeal Withdrawn

I shot this video on Saturday for constituents to bring them up to date about the latest regarding plans for a giant opencast site in my ward in Gateshead.

The site is next to the Gibside Estate, one of the most important landscapes within the ownership of the National Trust in the North East. I have been fighting against this proposal since the plans were first submitted to Gateshead Council 2 years ago. The petition I wrote and helped to organise was signed by over 16,000 people, the biggest ever submitted to Gateshead Council.

The application was rejected by Gateshead last year and the applicants, Halls of Durham, appealed. A public inquiry was due to be held later this year. But recently, the applicants withdrew the appeal.

But they are expected to submit a new application later this year.

The video explains all.

Penmaenmawr Beach, North Wales

This is the last of the videos I shot in North Wales when I was there earlier this month. I stayed in Penmaenmawr, the village frequented by Gladstone in the nineteenth century for his summer holidays. (A statue of him is in the village.) Pen has some of the highest sea cliffs in Europe and the area is definitely worth a visit.

Penmaenmawr Quarry, North Wales

Another of the videos I shot whilst in North Wales. This is the quarry at Penmaenmawr and looks very much like a crater on the moon.

In search of wild horses

This is the 2nd video I shot whilst in North Wales earlier this month. We went up the mountains above Penmaenmawr to look for the wild horses living there. Eventually we did catch them on camera.

Caernarfon Castle

This was one of the videos I shot on my recent visit to North Wales. Views from around Caernarfon Castle. Watch out for the Lloyd George statue.

Rubber wheels on my train - I must be heading home

The more I think about the Redwood plan for rail, the more I think the Tories must be mad for ever letting this man anywhere near policy making. There used to be a time, admittedly probably well over 15 years ago, when the Conservatives at least had some media sense. Other parties were the victims of what used to be a well oiled Tory machine that would jump on any small gaffe such as rubber wheels for trains. But times have changed. The Tories, having completely flipped from the position they used to occupy, are now the mad, uncosted, lunatic fringe of politics, espousing cranky issues and coming up with incredibly minor but ridiculous solutions to sort out the major problems of the world. Which leads me on to Redwood's proposal for rubber wheels for trains, which, it is claimed, allows trains to stop quicker, and hence, so the Tory logic claims, you get more trains through each station. The people who know what they are talking about clearly have their doubts about this save-the-world-easily scheme.

Meanwhile, here I am sitting on a GNER train to Newcastle contemplating life under a Tory government in which the infamous John From-the-planet-Vulcan Redwood is a member of the Cabinet. Shortly I shall wake up from this nightmare.

One final question which has nothing to do with the Tories, why is the phone reception on the first few km out of Kings Cross so poor? I was in the middle of a phone conversation with Fiona Hall, our regional Euro MP, organising a bit of campaigning in my ward for tomorrow morning, but half the message was lost. She is coming to my house at 9am tomorrow. The rest of the message about what we are doing is whizzing about the ether somewhere.

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Rubber wheels - making the trains run on time

I couldn't resist the temptation to make a reference to rubber wheels on trains. This is the great plan by John Redwood to get the trains running on time and to slot more trains onto the network. Described as "technically illiterate" by the "Railway Gazette" (free anorak with this week's edition!), I can just imagine a GNER train on the now to be reprivatised Network Rail slamming on the brakes on the approach to Newcastle Central Station. Imagine the burning rubber! Imagine the skid marks! Imagine the train delays caused by hot rails melting the wheels! Wrong kind of sun on the tracks! (oh and don't forget Redwood in March this year was welcoming global warming as it would make UK tourism more popular).

I was going to say that John Redwood must be off the planet if he thinks we should take his rubbish seriously. Off the planet? Well, perhaps he's just reminding us of his Vulcan traditions (and his Vulcanised rubber train wheels).

Cowley Street scoffs the lot!

The plums I brought into HQ today from the allotment in Sunniside were gone within about an hour of being put in the kitchen. (Don't forget this is national allotment week!) The jam seems to be going more slowly. I brought in 2 jars of rhubard and ginger after kind hearted colleagues complained about the absence of jam for morning toast! I give it until Wednesday before it's all been eaten.

Tonight will be spent sorting through the replies we have had to our resident's survey on recycling in Gateshead. So far we have about 200 replies from about 1000 delivered. They are all bundled up in a parcel going with me to the flat.

Got a nice thank you call this evening from a constituent I have done some casework for recently.

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Cracking open the champagne

We did this last night - having brewed up 13 bottles of elderflower champagne earlier this year, Sunday was the first time we tried it. We were very happy with the results!

When I got to Newcastle on Friday evening (the train did eventually get me home an hour and a half late) David picked me up as usual. And as we were leaving the station, a moron bumped his car into the back of ours. I got out to check for damaged only to be shouted at by this scumbag to "Get out the way." He then sped off along the road. Fortunately there was no damaged but hopefully this macho little boy racer will meet with, well, shall we just say, an event that stops him repeating his arsehole style of driving.

I spent Saturday carrying out our survey on recycling with my constituents. 250 delivered in the morning and about 50 replies collected in the evening.

Sunday I split between picking plums on the allotment, visiting constituents and doing a piece of work about my email focus for the powers that be in the party. We have too many plums to eat ourselves so I am taking them to Cowley St. And it is to there that I am heading now. I'm on the train heading to London now, having just left Newcastle.

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And we're off!

At last at last! We are off. Train just pulled out of KX only one and a quarter hours late. Now let me get to the buffet car!

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Fire at Stevenage, stuck at Kings Cross

Fantastic. An open ticket. It meant I could get a train at a more civilised time. So I headed to Kings Cross to get the 8pm train to Newcastle tonight. I am on the train now. But we are still at KX and it is 8.35pm. No sign of any movement. The problem is there is a fire on a train at Stevenage and all the power lines have been switched off. The GNER train guard has been at pains to point out that the fire is on a Hull train, not a GNER.

Ironically, the first we knew of the delay was when I was shortly after I got on the train and was on the phone to Gateshead making arrangements for the delivery of a Focus and survey which is due to got through doors this weekend. I wrote them before leaving the office this evening. Not sure I'm going to get home to get deliveries sorted.

So whilst I waited for the announcement from the guard to tell us he had no news, I viewed the video I shot in north Wales last week. That filled 20 minutes. Now I shall read the book I brought with me, Anna Funder's 'Stasiland'. And when I'm through that, I'll get to work on some of the correspondence in my briefcase.

But I really could do with getting home tonight.

PS the train guard has just announced again that he has no news.
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Star of New Statesman

It just doesn't get better than this! I am in the New Statesman. No, not the 1990s comedy about Tory MP Alan B'Stard. (Isn't it time they brought him back as a New Labour MP in a new tv series?)

No, I'm on the New Statesman website in an article about Facebook and blogging. They have spotted my comments about going onto Facebook only when 100 people have signed up to the Get-Jonathan-Wallace-on-Facebook Group. I blame my colleague George Crozier for revealing to the world the target of 100.

Apparently there are now 62 on the site, down one. Someone must have had a change of mind!

Meanwhile, I'm off to lick my wounds after a rotten day on the stock market....Alan B'Stard would never have tolerated this!

A "healthy recovery" for the Conservatives?

I found these comments by Tory MP Peter Luff on his website defending David Cameron. He claimed:

The Labour Party has been all but obliterated in the South of England at local level, and is under severe pressure from the Tories in the rest of the country.

And:

there is still much to be done. We still have no councillors in Liverpool or Newcastle, but the May elections were a good step towards a healthy recovery.

Quite what sort of “healthy recovery” the Conservatives are making in Liverpool and Newcastle is not clear. Just for the record, I thought I would point out the situation:

Number of seats on either council held by the Conservatives: 0
Number of seats winnable for the Conservatives in either council: 0
Activity by Conservatives on the ground in either city: 0
Conservative hopes of making a breakthrough in either city: 0

This is of course repeated elsewhere in many other areas where the Conservatives are extinct, such as my own borough of Gateshead.

So if this marks a “healthy recovery” for the Conservatives, let’s have more of it!

56 people now on the Facebook group

I jokingly said to colleagues today that I will go onto Facebook when the 100th person joins the Get Jonathan Wallace onto Facebook group. I understand it now stands at 56. I discovered this whilst looking over the shoulder of my colleague George Crozier as he joined the group. I also noticed that a certain Dave Hennigan has been posting up my not so serious emails about forthcoming videos I am working on! However, there needs to be another 44 people joining the group before I go on.

I spent this evening alternating between writing focus leaflets and phoning constituents. It is sometimes the case that people phone up and leave a message asking me to call but forget to leave a name and number. One such lady phoned yesterday. David was able to get the number by dialing 1471, so I did a search on this on the database and came up with a name. But when I phoned, I found the name was completely different. Turns out I had the name of a near neighbour. I don't know quite how I had managed to have the number against the wrong name. And it took a few moment for us each to work out who the other was. She thought initially I was the window cleaner!

It's Dad's birthday today. 77 years old. I decided to give him a call, having failed in my duty as a son to buy a card. I called him as I left Cowley Street at 8.30 tonight and discovered most of the family, including David, sister Esther and soon to be brother in law Ian were there. Matthew and Jayne had already left. So here I was stuck down in London whilst the family was having a picnic in Dad's garden in the sun in Whickham! The larger than anticipated family gathering meant I was on the phone for as long as it took to walk from Cowley Street to Victoria Station. And it also meant I missed the train by half a minute!

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Leaving Wales

A trip down to the beach at Penmaenmawr completed the tick boxes for the trip to Wales this morning. More video and photos taken. In total on this trip, I have taken about 300 pictures. I'm on the train heading to Euston now, doing some work for constituents.

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A walk in the mountains

We headed into the mountains above Penmaenmawr this morning with the intention of getting some panoramic shots across the North Wales coast, catch some shots of the wild ponies here and photograph the granite quarry. 100 percent success. We even got to the druid circle as well. Photos will be posted on the blog shortly.

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Cable car down

We came along to Llandudno this morning with the intention of going up the Great Orme on the cable car. The aim was to do some photography from the top. But when we got to the cable car station, we found it was closed down. We abandoned the Orme and went along the pier instead, got out the telescopic lens and took a series of panoramic shots. Not quite what I was after. However, I did one of my old tricks of taking a long series of shots of slightly overlapping photos through a turn of 180 degrees. I have a programme that joins up photos like this into a superwide panoramic picture. I'll give it a go when I get home. Meanwhile, unlike Caernarfon, eating establishments were more available, and more importantly, they actually served food as well! So lunch was easier to come by than it was yesterday.

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Watching the moon rise

It is now midnight and I have just watched the moon rise above the mountains above Penmaenmawr in north Wales. At the same time, I have been watching the news about the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Surrey. I see the new PM is cancelling his holiday and returning to London. I guess the Labour party has learnt its lesson from previous crises in which Blair continued his holiday in Egypt. So the People's Commissar is returning from his dacha to take control.
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They don't do food in Caernarfon

We caught the bus from Penmaenmawr to Caernarfon this morning. I spent most of the journey writing emails to officers back in Gateshead about an application for an office license in Sunniside. It took about an hour to get here.

The first thing that struck us on arrival was that it was much colder than we expected. Since we were in shorts and short sleeve shirts, we were better dressed for a Mediterranean cruise rather than the good old British summer. A trip to a local shop which had a clothes sale was required. 6 pounds for a new jumper. Then off to Caernarfon Castle to photograph every nook and cranny of the building. The aim is to add these to a collection of British castle photos I am building up.

With the castle (and Royal Welch Fusilier Museum) done, all we had to do was get a meal. This turned out to be more challenging than we expected. All the pubs around the castle advertised their culinary delights. Step inside and ask for a menu and at each place get the same answer: "Oh, we don't do food today." And there was a shocking shortage of small cafes. This was amazing for an area that has tourism as one of its main industries.

We did find, eventually, a cafe that was open and serving. However, the tea didn't arrive with the toasted sandwiches, so we had to go in search of a waitress to find out what had happened to it. And then I asked where the toilet was, only to be told they didn't have any but I was welcome to use the public loo on the other side of the square outside (behind the Lloyd George statue). Can't say I was greatly impressed!

Anyway, I'm now on the bus waiting to leave Caernarfon.

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Bound for Wales

I'm off to north Wales to do some photography around one of my old stopping grounds. I'll be staying in a village called Penmaenmawr which is where I used to stay in the days over a decade ago when I worked as the organiser for Conwy constituency. So I have just lugged the cameras across rush hour London to Euston station, having called in at a camera shop to buy camcorder tapes. Unfortunately, I have just realised my small, back up video camera has been left behind, though not sure where. I don't think it's in the house at Sunniside so it will either be in the office or the flat. I have the new camera with me so it shouldn't be a problem.

Okay, so now for something completely different. I am getting a number of amusing messages from friends about our allotment. So here is the latest exclusive allotment news, just received by email from David. The main news tonight is that something is eating the leaves on the gooseberry bushes. Detailed analysis of this shocking situation reveals we have no idea what the culprit is. Other allotment headlines: slug pellets have been used for the first time. And finally, weeding of existing flower beds has been carried out today by David. More shocking allotment revelations to follow, once we have some!

Best wake me up when we get to Crewe!

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Cowley Street makeover

Cowley Street is getting a makeover, or rather, the main stairwell is. This is the view from the landing outside the office in which I am based. The carpets, which were getting rather well worn, are also being replaced.

More exclusive, where-the-action-is-taking-place photos will be posted over the next few weeks. These will include photos of paint drying and other such interesting views!

The Get Jonathan Wallace on Facebook group and other things as well

I see a new group has been set up on Facebook: the Get Jonathan Wallace on Facebook group! (Creator David Hennigan of Team Sedgefield fame) Seems as though there is a burning desire amongst some for me to spread my wit and wisdom to this social networking site. As it is, I have been asked 4 times in the past week if I am going on Facebook. Now there is a group of 20 people awaiting my arrival. I will inevitably not resist the pressure to get on board.

Talking of resisting pressure, I do wish some with a discontented, rent a quote disposition would resist the pressure to pose as the voice of the party by putting in the boot on Ming in the media. If a journalist phones you up, just say NO! I suggest some conference training for some on how to avoid self-indulgence and needless oppositionism. An additional module on how not to deflect attention from Tory Troubles would be especially useful for some.

I took my mind off the damage caused by needless attacks on the party leader tonight by doing what I like most - writing Focus leaflets. I suggest some members may wish to join me in this activity - ie, attacking our opponents, rather than attacking ourselves.

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