Lord Who?

Lord Pearson of Rannoch. Anyone heard of him? He has just been elected as leader of UKIP. I'm watching him now. Inspiring is not the word to describe him. His favourite hate words are "political class" which appears to be a nebulous group of people who staff the political institutions of the UK (I wonder whether that includes the House of Lords!?)

With someone so inconsequential and uninspiring, I can only guess that the Conservatives will feel happy with this leadership election result. They are after all the most vulnerable party to UKIP.
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National Express bites the dust again

So National Express is to lose its franchise for train services in the eastern region. The company's foray into train services has been a disaster and has turned a leading UK company into something of a joke. What is interesting about the loss of this second franchise is that it is not immediate. The company will continue to hold onto it for two years? If they are seen as incapable of running the service in the future, why are they allowed to run services for two years more? Presumably their failings are happening now, regardless of their future performance.
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Deciding on war then looking for the excuse to invade

No wonder Labour politicians were so reluctant to have an inquiry on the Iraq war. Once the time had run out for putting off the evil day, the story about the decision to go to war would come out into the public domain. And so we are starting to see what did go on. Today, Sir Christopher Meyer, Britain's ambassador to the UN, revealed that they were scraping around looking for a "smoking gun" only weeks before the invasion started, yet Bush and Blair had already opted for war a year before.

So Blair was sending the troops to war without the cause for war. He never got the excuse and the rest is history. What I find so amazing however is that the Lib Dems and a minority in Labour could see that the evidence for WMDs was not there before the war happened. Why was the Cabinet not able to see that the excuses for war did not exist. Whilst Blair needs to take his share of blame, serious questions have to be asked about the craven backing for war by the senior levels of the Labour government. Responsible government broke down in 2002-3. Labour politicians who were there at the time need to explain the failure that has made them as guilty of huge misjudgement as Blair was.
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Weapons of non-construction

The second day of the Iraq inquiry and it is already throwing up some very interesting issues. Today we learnt that the weapons of mass destruction that did not exist anyway could not be assembled to be used in the infamous 45 minutes claimed for them. Apparently Tony Blair knew this 10 days before the start of the war to get rid of the non-existent weapons of mass destruction. Seems as though the war had taken on a life of its own, even before it started.

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The right decision by the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court have just spoken and they have announced their judgement: the banks can continue to charge for unauthorised overdrafts; their charges are not excessive. There is now a great deal of noise from campaigners who want the charges refunded to those who took money from banks that they weren't authorised to take and wasn't their money to take.

So, I for one want to speak up for the responsible customers who keep to the agreement to spend only their own money or not to take other people's money without permission. These people would have been the big losers if the Supreme Court had gone the other way. They would have been stung for charges as it would almost certainly have meant the end of free banking. Why penalise the responsible?

If your can't stick to the agreement you made, expect penalties, and accept responsibility for your own actions.

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Still in recession

France, Germany, Japan, USA, Eurozone, all out of recession. They are part of the world that Brown claims to be leading. But the just announced revised figures for GDP in the UK show the economy continues to shrink. Of all the world's major economies, Brown's Britain is the worst performing. I wonder what all those self-righteous Labour members in Gateshead who regularly read this blog think of their own record on the economy. Past experience suggests they will claim their own government is nothing to do with them.
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RIP John McWilliam

Back home and I discover that John McWilliam, MP for Blaydon from 1979 to 2005 died recently. He may have been a political opponent but he was always pleasant and courteous to deal with. I remember a few years ago bumping into him in the Commons and he took me for a drink in a bar there and used the occasion to tell me about the history of the building.

My sympathies to his family.

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That poll

One of the first things that caught my attention when I got back to the UK on Sunday was the poll that showed a significant drop in support for the Conservatives. Talk was of a hung parliament, the likely outcome of an election in which those voting proportions are cast. The no-win-for-anyone scenario has been what I have been predicting for some time now, despite the talk in the national media about an easy Tory victory with a comfortable majority.

For the Tories to win a majority, they need to gain 117 seats. That will give them an absolutely minimal majority. It should be remembered that in terms of seats the Conservatives are in a worse position that Labour after their meltdown in 1983. Labour needed another 3 elections before they were able to claw back the seats needed to win a general election. Admittedly the electorate is more open to shopping around with their votes nowadays. People tend to be less committed to voting the same way at each and every election. Indeed, they seem to be less committed to voting at all. So significant numbers of people can shift at a single election to cause a major change on the political landscape. 1997 and 1979 are classic examples of this. But there is no yearning for a Tory government now like there was for Blair in 1997. Whole swathes of the country remain areas where Cameron and his party are barely on the political radar screen. The North East is an example of this. The Tory ratings in opinion polls are well short of where Labour ratings were back in the 1990s and even then Labour fell well short of the expectations held at the time in terms of share of the vote (though admittedly matched or exceeded expectations on seats won in 1997). As we get closer to the general election, my expectation is of a firming up in the Labour vote.

This is not to say that Labour can hope to walk back into Downing St. Whilst their projected majority at the last election under the new boundaries was a still comfortable 55, a small swing would wipe that out instantly. Labour could also face a tactical squeeze that they used successfully against the Tories which could now work against them. That would add to a calamitous election campaign for Brown and Labour. Nevertheless, the Tories are going to need more than a Labour calamity and meltdown to win the general election outright. And at the moment I just can't see that happening. They may get to be the largest party, they may even get close to a majority, but there is a very serious possibility of a 2nd election in 2011. And what a joyous thought that is (not)!
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Testing out East Coast

I have just got on board my first East Coast train - ie the company that has replaced the total failure that was National Express. I am at Kings Cross waiting to head home to Gateshead. The livery is the same, the National Express symbols and words have not been changed (frankly there are more important things to spend money on at the moment) and the staff are the same. Let's hope however that the real change comes with the quality of service.

So, I am back in the UK after a short absence in the Atlas Mountains and royal cities of Morocco. Watch out for the inevitable run of photos and video. I've already started sorting them.
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From the frying pan into the flood

From the frying pan into the fire doesn't quite describe it. Flood is a better description. I have just got back after nearly two weeks in Morocco. I spent two weeks taking photos and video in the sun. Not a cloud in sight. Shorts worn at all time even when I was in the cooler Atlas Mountains. Temperatures were well over 30C. And yesterday I stepped off the plane at Gatwick into pouring rain, 8C temperature and the news that the North West in particular has been ravished by massive floods and the heaviest rain the country has ever experienced.

Anyway I am now back in the UK and blogging is restarting. (My last post was written before I left but timed to be posted whilst I was away.)

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Better late than never

Blaydon Labour MP David Anderson should have a motto of “Better late than never!” He called on MPs to visit pubs in the summer recess. The only problem was he made the call in October, a month after summer officially ended and with the long nights of autumn drawing in!

Mr Anderson also announced he was looking forward to the publication of a report on the blacklisting of trade unions, a day after the report was published!

And in October Mr Anderson congratulated the boxer Amir Khan on his victory over Andriy Kotelnik, a mere 3 months after the match was held.

All of the above comes from the Early Day Motions signed by Mr Anderson since the end of the summer recess.

As the saying goes, “Better late than never!”

Remembrance Day Parade

Here are the photos from the Remembrance Day Parade on Sunday in Whickham. My ward colleague Cllr John McClurey laid the wreath on behalf of residents of Whickham South and Sunniside, Cllr Yvonne McNicol for Dunston Hill and Whickham East and Cllr Peter Craig for Whickham North.









The link to all the photos of the parade are on my Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathanwallace/sets/72157622763987894/

Visiting the Butterfly Bridge

One of the victims of the floods of September 2008 in Gateshead was the Butterfly Bridge, a historic crossing over the Derwent River. The bridge was built in the nineteenth century but is on a much older, medieval road which crossed right through my ward. Hundreds of years ago it was part of the main north/south route between Northumberland and Durham.

Last year the floods swept the bridge down river. It is lying on the river bank like a beached whale. There are plans however to replace it next year so my two ward colleagues Marilynn Ord and John McClurey, and Blaydon prospective MP Neil Bradbury visited the site on Saturday. I took the photos which required taking on an interesting challenge of clambering over the wrecked bridge to get the best shots!


This is me about to be up to my ankles in mud!


Here I am climbing onto the bridge - never let your colleagues look after your camera. They end up taking photos of me!


This was one of the photos I was after.


This was where the bridge used to be.


This is the bridge as it is now.


And another of how it is now.

And the following is a bit of video I shot last year of the River Derwent flooding at Blackhall Mill.

Clap hands, there goes Cadburys

It seems as though another one of our great British companies is about to be gobbled up, this time by chocoholic Americans. Kraft is putting in a hostile bid for Cadburys. I fear that yet another market is about to be cornered by an international conglomerate with little commitment to where the company originated.

The ongoing growth of companies by merger and takeover rather than by organic growth of the business itself is something that now has to be questioned closely. Some of these merged companies are so big they are stronger than some governments.

Whilst there is understandable economies of scale, is it a price worth paying if competition is reduced? Some recent mergers have been a disaster. Look at Lloyds Group. The banking crisis would have been greatly reduced had the banks been smaller. 20 years ago, the 7 institutions that are now part of the group were all independent of each other: Lloyds, TSB, Halifax, Leeds, Cheltenham and Gloucester, Bank of Scotland and Scottish Widows.

Now the process has gone too far and Lloyds, having just merged with HBOS is now required to down size. The issue now is whether or not other sectors of the economy need the same treatment.

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Blue rinse Tory Socialist Ambling to nowhere

Anne-Marie Trevelyan is the Tory candidate who will challenge Lib Dem MP for Berwick upon Tweed, Sir Alan Beith, at the general election. Lib Dems form the administration on Northumberland County Council though they do not have a majority of seats on the authority. The introduction of personal budgets in social services in Northumberland (a government requirement) has forced the County to close a number of under used day care centres in the county, one of which is at Amble. The closures will actually lead to improvements for users as more people will be able to choose and buy in their own service, through their personal budget, to suit their needs. That is the background. Here's the Tory story.

Anne-Marie has decided to do a bit of political cross dressing. In the world of local politics she has clad herself in the clothes of a blue rinse socialist, fighting to keep open a publicly provided facility. Whilst doing her drag act, she has battled against the provision of services by private and voluntary sector providers.

The problem for her is that her Tory councillors on Northumberland have blown her campaign to smithereens. Firstly, the social services changes were flagged up in the budget in March which the Tories voted for. Okay, the Tories then performed a minor uturn by backing a Labour amendment a couple of months ago to keep the centres open for 6 weeks whilst the Council was instructed to look for someone who would take over the centres. Since this had already been investigated, the whole exercise was a meaningless waste of time - however, Tory and Labour jumped into bed together to have a good time at the Lib Dem council's expense by voting through the unnecessary delay. 6 weeks later and the closure plans can back to council and despite (or was it because of?) Anne-Marie's campaign, the Tories voted for the closure. The Tory double uturn ensured the policy of personal budgets, and the closure of underused centres, will go ahead.

Undermined-Anne-Marie, wilting under the weight of her new found socialist baggage, seems however to have completely forgotten that her Tory chums have backed the closure she said should not go ahead. Just a couple of days ago she was ranting in the press about her demands that Amble Day Care Centre should remain open.

So if her own party can't be bothered to listen to her, why should the rest of us?

Writing for Whickham.mobi

For local readers of this blog, http://www.whickham.mobi is worth checking out. It is a commercially run site which provides information about businesses in the Whickham area. It also has a news section. The site is designed to be accessible through your mobile.

The interesting point for me is that I write most of the news that the site carries. The people behind the site approached myself and my colleague Cllr Peter Craig earlier this year to outline their plan for the site. We liked it so much that we offered to supply them with the news with which we fill our Focuses and email newsletters.

So I've just sent off a load more news which is also going into the next eFocus which will be emailed out shortly.

Why no declaration of interest?

Gateshead Council has just finished meeting. On the agenda was a motion calling on Scottish and Newcastle Breweries to retain the production of Brown Ale at the Dunston plant in Gateshead. (The company wants to move production to Tadcaster.) There was general unanimity and interestingly when I spoke, I was not heckled, interrupted or prevented from finishing what I had to say. One Labour Councillor, Mick McNestry, even followed me by saying he agreed with what I said. Interesting change from theantics of Labour at the last meeting.

But there was also an interesting intervention in the debate from Labour Councillor Stephen Ronchetti. He used the opportunity to attack the government on beer tax and do some special pleading for pubs. He complained that too many pubs were closing and amongst other things pointed the finger of blame at the government's decision to ban smoking in public places. In many ways it was a very strong boot up the government's backside.

All very interesting coming from a Labour councillor. But that is not what was the most interesting point. Cllr Ronchetti is a publican. He runs a pub in Blaydon. So I was a bit surprised that he decided to use a council meeting to make the case against government policy that he regarded as damaging to pubs.....without declaring an interest in the matter.
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Boy Wonder and the conference centre

Newcastle and Gateshead, in partnership with One NorthEast created 1NG as the development company for NewcastleGateshead. It has a heavy weight chair - Lord Falconer, the former Lord Chancellor. In a nutshell, its remit is to produce the economic plan the the NewcastleGateshead "City" area. As the 1NG website explains, "The NewcastleGateshead economic masterplan - 1PLAN - will set out a blueprint for economic development and physical regeneration for NewcastleGateshead." This is all about co-operation across the two authorities and a recognition that by working together, both sides of the River Tyne benefit economically. What's good for Gateshead is good for Newcastle, and visa versa.

The reason this needs to be explained in simple terms is Labour in Newcastle are having considerable difficulties in understanding this. It was announced yesterday that 1NG had identified a site on the Gateshead Quays as being the best location for an international conference centre. The childish response from Labour in Newcastle yesterday was to state:

"It will be a huge missed opportunity for Newcastle to have a prestigious international conference centre across the water. Good on Gateshead for getting their act together and shame on Newcastle for dithering around."

The comment was made by Cllr Nick Forbes, the Boy Wonder of Newcastle politics (the wonder is why on earth Labour ever put up with this loose cannon). It tramples all over the principle of co-operation between the two authorities and suggests that were Newcastle ever to endure Mr Forbes as their City Leader, there would be a shift away from mutual co-operation which would mean the River Tyne becoming more than just a watery divide between the two authorities. His comments also exhibit a level of political immaturity that should worry Labour on Tyneside.

There is a further point to consider. A major reason for the choice of Gateshead Quays as the location is the presence there of the Sage, the great new music hall. This is a magnet for other developments. And why is the Sage in the Gateshead Quays? It wasn't something to do with the rejection by Newcastle City Council of initial proposals to site the building in Newcastle, was it? And when did that happen? Wasn't it when Labour ran Newcastle Council before 2004?

So, to follow the purile rantings of Mr Forbes to their logical conclusion, the "dithering" of Labour in Newcastle is to blame for the proposed location of the Sage not being in the city he himself aspires to lead.

Cameron declares he is to take UK out of Europe

A "British Sovereignty" law, proposed by David Cameron today to replace his collapsed referendum policy, would mean that the UK is in effect leaving the EU. It would be the only way British laws in all areas are supreme over European laws. By signing up to various European treaties in the past, the UK has agreed to share sovereignty on some issues. Therefore the European institutions in those policy areas make the laws. And the European Court in Luxembourg is the supreme interpreter of those European laws. They override domestic laws in those policy areas which the treaties have agreed to share.

Any country that decides their own laws are supreme over European law in those areas of shared sovereignty means that country is stepping out of the agreed institutions and structures of Europe. Cameron should be honest. He should be clear that if you are part of the club, you abide by club rules. And if you don't like the rules, you resign from the club. Cameron talks of being "straight" with the voters. All we had this afternoon during his new policy announcement was a load of slather and posturing. He should be honest and offer a referendum on membership of the EU. And he should stop making impossible claims: a British sovereignty law means withdrawal from the EU. He should be honest about that.
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The demise of National Express as the Fat Controller

The days of National Express running trains on the East Coast are very very numbered. Excellent news. On 12th December, the National Excess Fat Controller will be redundant. A new publicly-owned operator, called East Coast Main Line, (very original!) will operate the trains. The arrangement will last for at least 18 months. The franchise may or may not then return to the private sector. I am open minded as to whether that should happen. The issue that should govern the decision is whether or not such a move will lead to better services whilst cutting pollution and boosting the regional economy.

It is interesting to note however that the Government will not require an end to the new and controversial £5 seat reservation charge for return tickets. Labour will allow it to remain in place. All that bleating and gnashing of teeth by Labour in Gateshead in the summer about how bad this charge was now all looks a bit like a dose of hypocrisy from the "socialist" brethren.
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Making Lloyds get rid of branches they wanted to close anyway

It's hardly surprising the share price of Lloyds benefited from the announcement today on cash injection and branch sales and closures. The company is almost certainly of the view that it has vastly more branches than it needs, now that HBOS has been absorbed into it. There must be hundred of Lloyds branches sitting near a Halifax. This duplication would not have continued, even if it had not been an EU requirement for additional state aid to get rid of them.

Earlier this year Lloyds announced that the entire Cheltenham and Gloucester branch network would close. Months later the closure plan was abandoned though I have a suspicion that the cancellation was forced on them so that the mortgage wing of Lloyds could be sold off with a high street presence of its own. So Lloyds gets to dump the troublesome branches after all. Okay, so the mortgage wing will have to be demerged and sold off but Lloyds could still continue to sell C&G mortgages if it turns out to be financially beneficial to do so. C&G after all has only a limited high street presence of its own so it will not want to lose the extensive reach it has by being sold through Lloyds branches. Lloyds benefits by not having to pay for the network they had initially planned to close anyway.

So, the EU and the government have provided Lloyds with the excuses for dumping a huge number of branches, many of which the company will see as a drain on its resources. No wonder the share price has gone up.
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I picked a great day to try to upload videos....

I have been in London for a few days and took with me my laptop to edit a load of travel videos. I don't upload them to YouTube from the laptop as the files I create are so large that it would take forever (and cost a lot of cash). So I stockpiled them to upload now that I am just back from London. I thought I'd put them up before heading off to the Sunniside History Society meeting and pie and pea supper tonight.

Alas at this moment YouTube announces that the site is closed for a short while "for maintenance". Bloody typical. I've got 10 videos waiting to go up. 1 gig total size. I'll have to wait til after the meeting.

Will Milliband head for Europe?

One interesting impact of the Czech signature on the Lisbon Treaty will be the future of David Milliband. The possibility he will be the new European 'Foreign Secretary' throws up the need for a by-election in South Shields, just down the road from us in Gateshead (what a joyous early Xmas present that would be - not). It's enough to make any political activist wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat!

The second and arguably more serious point is about Labour itself. No doubt (and despite the portestations of non-interest in the post) Milliband will have considered future prospects. Let's assume a poor result for Labour at the general election. Brown resigns as Leader. But what state will Labour be in? It could be that they will be out of power for a considerable time. The new Leader could spend many years in opposition. Would someone like Milliband, who enjoys the reins of power, really want the job of rebuilding Labour in opposition with prospects of power not being strong? I'm not sure he does. The European Foreign Secretary position could be a tempting post, striding the world stage and giving him the stature he craves and the influence he clearly enjoys exercising.

Or maybe rebuilding Labour is a challenge he wants to take on. But there again, to become Labour Leader, he needs to win a leadership election and I'm not convinced he could pull it off, especially with his Blairite baggage.

This is of course all speculation. Labour have not yet lost the election but it will be interesting to see which way he goes. And were Milliband to opt for Europe, it would suggest that at the very heart of government, the writing on the wall is being read.
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Events forcing Cameron's hand

The Czech signature on the Lisbon Treaty today now forces David Cameron's hand. No longer can he hide in a fog of meaningless statements. He will have to state his abandonment of a referendum or look completely ridiculous. It also means that the anti-European obsessives and headbangers in the Conservative Party will be going wild with rage at Cameron's climbdown. Should make for an interesting exhibition of traditional Tory mutual knifing!

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Labour's bank u-turn

The proposals coming out of the Treasury today that the big nationalised banks will be partly broken up raises the question of why on earth did Gordon Brown push through the very opposite last year with Lloyds and HBOS. This merger was very much the pet project of Brown. It has been a disaster for Lloyds. And it also created a vast banking organisation which a year later the Government wants to reverse. The merger went ahead because Brown did not want another nationalisation on its hands. The outcome was that instead of nationalising HBOS it has had to part nationalise a far bigger share of the banking sector which itself was weakened by the decision to merge.

It seems that the Government are making policy up as they go along and it changes regularly.
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Tory Euro policy in tatters

Quite how the Tories are going to respond to the final implementation of the Lisbon Treaty will be interesting to see. The news in the Guardian this morning suggests Cameron will abandon the promise to hold a referendum once the Czechs have signed up, which is expected within a month. It means that the Tory Europhobic headbangers will go apeshit. Cameron very much has himself to blame. He made unsustainable promises to the anti-Europeans which means an embarrassing climbdown will have to be made. And it all suggests that were the Tories to win the election and form the government, Cameron will face continuing divisions on Europe and the anti-Europe obsessives grabbing the headlines all the time.

So nothing new there.
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Hardly a surprise

So Tony Blair is not getting the backing of the socialist group in Europe for the Presidency of the European Council. Can we really be surprised at that? After all, Blair can hardly be described as a socialist. And being best mate of a failed, right wing US president is hardly a characteristic that will inspire support.

I wonder just how many of the "socialist" brethren of the Labour Party would be keen on a Blair presidency. At the rate they are going however, there are probably more than there are who want a Brown leadership of the Labour party.
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Brown associates himself with someone more popular

If you are deeply unpopular in the eyes of the public, as indeed Gordon Brown is, why not associate yourself with someone much more popular!? I remember the Spitting Images sketch from the 1980s which featured Neil Kinnock trying to fit in the words "lovely nurses" into everything he says in an attempt to boost his popularity.

So now Gordon Brown, the man who had a festering grudge against Tony Blair whilst the latter was Prime Minister, is now heading up the Tony-Blair-for-President campaign in an attempt to make him top dog in Europe.

It's almost like politicians cuddling up to bankers in an attempt to make themselves more popular in the eyes of the public.

Anyway, Brown says Blair would be "excellent" for the job of Euro President. Sounds llike the kiss of death to me!
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Growth in US and continued recession in UK

The failure of Labour on the economy and their absurd posturing that they "saved the world" and are "leading" the world out of recession have been exposed yet again today. The growth figures in the US just announced add that country to the list of countries out of recession. The list includes the Eurozone and Japan. China never went into recession. So all the leading economies are now out of recession, all except the UK.

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Dave the Chameleon Watch - no.2: the 10:10 campaign

The 10:10 campaign is familiar to many. The following Early Day Motion in the Commons explains what it is all about:

This house welcomes the 10:10 campaign, which aims to unite every sector of British society behind the idea that, by working together, it is possible to achieve a 10 per cent. cut in the UK's carbon emissions in 2010; notes that the campaign provides an opportunity for people, businesses and schools to come together to make a meaningful difference by concentrating on immediate, effective and achieveable action; recognises that climate change is one of the most important challenges facing humanity, requiring urgent and radical action; urges individuals and organisations to sign up to the campaign and pledge to cut their emissions by 10 per cent. in 2010; and calls on the Government to match this commitment at the national level.

This EDM was proposed by Labour MP Lynne Jones on 12th October. Note the demand for action from the Government. Blaydon Labour MP David Anderson signed up to the EDM 3 days later.

However, less than a week after Mr Anderson called on the Government to back the 10:10 campaign, he was faced with the opportunity of voting for it. The following was the Opposition Day Motion from the Lib Dems on 21st October:

This House
•believes that it is vital that the UK demonstrates political leadership at all levels in response to the climate crisis, and that this is particularly important ahead of the United Nations Climate Change summit in Copenhagen if there is to be an international agreement which will avert the worst effects of catastrophic climate change;
•further believes that immediate practical responses to the crisis should include a massive expansion of renewable energy and energy efficiency and a commitment for all homes in Britain to be warm homes within 10 years;
•acknowledges that action taken now to tackle the climate crisis will cost less than action taken in the future;
•notes the declared support of Labour and Conservative frontbenchers to the objective of the 10:10 campaign which calls for 10% greenhouse gas emission reductions by the end of 2010;
•agrees that the House will sign up to the 10:10 campaign;
•calls on Her Majesty's Government and all public sector bodies now to make it their policy to achieve a 10% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by the end of 2010; and
•further calls on the Government to bring a delivery plan before this House by the end of 2009 on how these objectives will be achieved.

Mr Anderson of course voted to kick this out and opted instead for a weak Labour motion that in effect said the 10:10 campaign is fine for others to follow, as long as the Government doesn’t have to sign up itself.

Yet again, Mr Anderson showing consistency by being inconsistent.

This is a union that is determined to strike regardless

The 2nd CWU strike has gone ahead. Why? It seems that the CWU has a negotiating team that is willing to do what its name on the wrapper suggests - to negotiate. But the moment they go back to the CWU executive, the negotiated solution is rejected and demands are increased. So the negotiating team goes back to Royal Mail with the CWU having moved the goalposts (or did they move the letterbox!?)

This is a dinosaur union that is determined to strike come what may. It behaves as if the 1970s had not ended. It is wrecking the business in which its members work. Their leadership has also raised 2 large fingers to Brendan Bracken and the TUC who tried to broker a deal. This is a badly led union that is on a suicide mission. The result of their behaviour will be even more job losses than the modernisation programme would otherwise cause.

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Second mortgages and family on the payroll

The recently leaked Kelly proposals on 2nd mortgages and family members on the payroll is likely to be the latest cat amongst the MP expenses pigeons. Events have moved on since earlier this year when we all seemed to be putting forward proposals on how to tackle the crisis. My idea was to taper the support MPs get if they buy a 2nd home as the cost of mortgages in real terms goes down the further you are into it relative to a person's income. Meanwhile, they should get nothing for furniture etc. They are after all well paid.

Events have moved on and Kelly's new proposals must be regarded positively. I appreciate the plan to stop MPs employing spouses or other family members will cause some problems. And it can sometimes be that MPs and their spouses first met in their political roles with spouses therefore sometimes being an ideal candidate to work for an MP. However, some of these people are paid massively more than what the equivalent jobs elsewhere get. Sums of well in excess of £40k for a secretarial role are way beyond what many more important and demanding jobs would expect to fetch.

So whilst I recognise that many family members working for MPs do a great job, the minority of abusers have forced an "enough is enough" response.
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Delivering Birtley

Sunday was a mix of the good, the bad and the downright careless. In the morning I went down to Dunston with the local councillors and our Blaydon candidate Neil Bradbury to do some photos outside the Fed Brewery which S&N want to close. Then I managed to wreck the video camera. Apparently it doesn't like being dropped on the ground. The night before I had managed to wreck an external hard drive which, also as it turns out, doesn't like being dropped on the floor. Fortunately I was planning to get a new video camera (widescreen, high resolution, shoulder mounted and Jonathan proof) so I have been wandering around Newcastle camera shops today looking at what's available.

Anyway, after the expedition to Dunston, we headed off to Birtley for a modest leafletting session. On one street there was a "Gordon Brown For Sale" sign. It was amusing enough to take a photo which I will post up at some point though Neil has already posted it on his blog. How unfortunate for this estate agency however that they share their name with the most unpopular PM on record!

The horrors of the day did not end with my camera trashing experience. When sorting my post in the evening I checked my mobile bill. Turns out my mobile provider was charging me 10p a text (and I do lots of them!) This wasn't quite what my contract stipulated. Unlimited texts are not supposed to cost 10p each. A phone call the next day to the company sorted it out. The money will be offset against future bills. How very kind of them.

Anyway, I am on the no 43 bus now heading back to Sunniside and a bit of Focus writing.
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Freda RIP

I was amazed at how much interest there was over on my Facebook site about my cat Freda. She was nearly 21 years old when she died last week. She had a significant local following in our village of Sunniside with people regularly calling to see her. And when she died, I had loads of messages including a steady flow on Facebook. So thanks everyone.

Here's Freda's picture:



Meanwhile, our nephew Jay even managed to take some of our photos of Freda and produce this video:

Keeping Broon on Tyneside

Newcastle Brown Ale is as much an icon of Tyneside as the Eiffel Tower is of Paris. So the idea that brewing Broon should be transferred by Scottish and Newcastle to Tadcaster in Yorkshire is not being universally welcomed on my home patch. So we are launching a petition to the company asking them to think again.

I met up with some of my colleagues this morning to launch the campaign outside the brewery in Dunston, Gateshead. I took the photos, including the one above. Neil Bradbury, our Blaydon candidate, is heading up the campaign.

One of the bottles in the picture will be used tonight in a casserole we are making. Waste not, want not!

In the photo above are Neil Bradbury and Councillors Yvonne McNicol, Allison Chatto and Peter Maughan.

Dave the Chameleon Watch no. 1

Remember the Labour attack on David Cameron. They called him Dave the Chameleon because he changes what he says to suit his audience. A reasonably accurate description but there is another Dave-The-Chameleon on the block. It is none other than David Anderson, Labour MP for Blaydon. Readers of this blog will recall that the interesting inconsistencies do often get raised by me. However, I have decided to put them onto a more formal basis. So today, I can exclusively reveal that I am launching "Dave the Chameleon Watch"!

Today we are featuring Mr Anderson's position on Equitable Life. Back in May 2009, Mr Anderson was so annoyed about his government's handling of the Equitable Life disaster that he put his made to an early day motion which read:

That this house notes the Parliamentary Ombudsman has taken the unusual step of using powers under the 1967 Act to present Parliament with a further and final report on Equitable Life;

also notes that the Public Administration Select Committee's second report on Equitable Life, Justice denied? concluded that the Government response to the Parliamentary Ombudsman's report was inadequate as a remedy for injustice;

recognises the vital role the Ombudsman plays in public life;

reaffirms the duty of Parliament to support the office of the Ombudsman;

believes the Government should accept the recommendations of the Ombudsman on compensating policyholders who have suffered loss;

welcomes the formation of the All-Party Group on Justice for Equitable Life Policyholders;

and notes with regret its necessary formation and the fact that over 30,000 people have already died waiting for a just resolution to this saga.

Move forward to 21st October and Mr Anderson actually had the opportunity to stand by his demand for action by voting for the very same motion in the Commons, proposed by Vince Cable. There was only one small difference. Vince's motion included the line "notes the outcome of the Judicial Review announced on 15 October extending the period for compensation claims back to 1991". This simply took into account a recent development but did not materially change the motion.

So, did Mr Anderson last week vote the way he demanded in May? Did he hold the government to account, the same government of which he was so critical earlier this year? Errrr, no, he didn't! Instead, he voted to kick out the motion and replace it with something that backed the government.

Not very consistent are you Mr Anderson?

(I took the photo in Madagascar in December 2007!)

Doing last night's job tonight

I got off the train from London yesterday afternoon and went straight to Gateshead Civic Centre for meetings with my two ward colleagues Marilynn Ord and John McClurey and officers. Very useful and hopefully some progress will be made on the issues we raised.

When I got home however, my very elderly cat Freda (nearly 21 years old) was not looking too well. She had had breathing problems on Sunday evening but she seemed okay by the morning and whilst down in London I was getting messages from David to say she was okay. By yesterday afternoon however she was clearly unwell and so we took her up to the vets at Sheriff Hill. There she was diagnosed as having kidney failure.

Rather shaken by the potential loss of something that has been part of our lives for 20 years, we took her home. She died at 6.45am this morning. I buried her in her favourite part of the garden where she used to like to sunbathe.

It meant last night I didn't get the printing done I was planning. I am now in our Blaydon office running off 1600 Focuses. I also need to sort a few things out for our Blaydon constituency branch meeting tomorrow.


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Where does this leave Labour's claims to be leading the world?

Yet more dire economic news. Perhaps people thought there would be growth in the GDP figures produced today, reflecting the fact the Eurozone has climbed out of recession. Japan is out of recession too. But here in Britain, the figures are still in the negative.

The question is, will we continue to hear Gordon Brown claiming he is leading the world out of recession? The answer is probably yes. After all, Labour cannot do anything other than claim they lead on everything. In the real world, a place totally alien and unknown to Labour, the situation is very different.

Meanwhile, the pound is under pressure following the announcement of the GDP figures. Bloody typical. The pound slides just before I am about to go abroad.
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Heading home

I had a hellish journey by Tube across London this morning. The Victoria line was congested. I had to wait with hundreds of others outside the entrance to the Tube station for ages before they let us in. Fortunately I still got to Kings Cross in time and my army of Labour readers in Gateshead will no doubt be delighted to know that I am now heading home ready to do battle with the "socialist" brethren.

Meanwhile, I have a meeting at 2pm in Gateshead Civic Centre about ward issues. Assuming the train does not get delayed, I should be on time for it.

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A politically motivated strike

I watched and listened with amazement. It was like back to the future, 1984 all over again. I don't mean the great novel by George Orwell. Watching the CWU press conference was like watching Arthur Scargill misleading the miners into the disaster of the miners' strike.

That strike hastened the demise of the deep coal mining industry and of the National Union of Mineworkers. It was a politically motivated strike. And I can't help but feel that the CWU is heading down the same route.

Look at everything they said at the CWU's press conference and you will see a long political rant against the government. As readers are likely to know, I am no fan of this government. But I dislike even more the self-appointed spokespeople for the country who think they can wreck the economy, people's jobs and businesses in pursuit of their own political agenda.

Labour's rewritten history of the Northern Rock saga

It's happened again. Gordon Brown in Prime Minister's Questions today attacked the Tories for their failure to support nationalisation of Northern Rock. The Tories got it wrong - that's Labour's message. Actually they are right on that. The Tories repeatedly got it wrong on Northern Rock as they had a different policy on different days on what to do with the failing bank. Indeed, they often had different positions on the same day.

But Labour posturing on Northern Rock overlooks the fact that they ineptly let the bank drift through the crisis for four months before events forced their hand and they nationalised the company. Vince Cable was the first to call for nationalisation. The proposal was put forward by the Liberal Democrats in December 2007 in the Commons. This brought a hysterical response from some Labour MPs in the North East who came close to accusing Lib Dems of eating babies for breakfast because of our call to nationalise Northern Rock.

Blaydon Labour MP Dave Anderson said in the debate, "The Liberal Democrats have come forward with proposals that they think will grab a headline. We are used to that. The people of the north-east will see through what they are doing and will not forgive them for it."

Now Labour claims they led the fight to nationalise the bank in the teeth of opposition from the Conservatives. Such posturing overlooks the fact that Tories and Labour we dithering in bed together on this issue for 4 months before Labour abandoned their hostility to nationalisation, and a large number of Labour MPs had to eat their words, along with a large helping of humble pie.

Lord Rennard is innocent!

As I start to sip my pint of heavily overpriced Fruili in the White Hart near by house in Crystal Palace, news comes through that Chris Rennard has been cleared of any wrong doings on expenses. He broke no rules. Rather puts the boot into all the stories of wrong doing that those on the right (possibly upset by his record of destroying the Tories in byelections) have spread. The right are wrong! Not for the first time.
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Even the Leader asks about the allotment!

It's often the first question people ask me: how is the allotment? I can add Nick Clegg to the list of people who have now asked! I was at the National Liberal Club tonight to do photos of Nick Clegg and candidates. Well, he did ask, so I told him! Allotment doing very well thank you. He wasn't the only one to ask.

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Heading down to London

I have just boarded the train at Newcastle to London. I am heading down to do the photos at the Parliamentary Candidates Association reception tomorrow. It's also the chance to do a few other small tasks. It was touch and go this morning as to whether or not I would get everything done I needed to do. It was one of those days when if it could go wrong it did go wrong. I phoned council officers who weren't in. I had a printer that wouldn't work properly and a pc that was being very difficult. In the end however I got to the Central Station with 45 minutes to spare. Typical!

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Feeding tabloids and fingers to dogs

I went to a village in Blaydon constituency called Kibblesworth today with Neil Bradbury, our Parliamentary candidate. The aim was to deliver our latest tabloid in the village. We kept going until we ran out. There seemed to be an awful lot of dogs, all of which seemed to be located behind letter boxes and all of which seemed to be so hungry that they ate the leaflets as I put them through doors. Fortunately my fingers did not manage to get onto any doggie menus today.

I delivered tabloids in West Denton in Newcastle North on Thursday as well. There I encountered 2 enormous rottweilers in someone's front garden. No house could be left out of the delivery so into the garden I fearfully headed. Yet, rather than treat me as a fresh meal, they were instantly out of the gate and up the road. Fortunately the front door of the house was open and I was able to call to the people there that their pet meat eating machines had gone walkies. I saw the people a few minutes later walking their canines back home.

I have only once ever lost blood as a result of being bitten by a dog whilst out delivering. It was during the Langbaugh byelection in 1991. Big, loud dogs are better than the tiny little terriers specially breed to be silent and deadly with fingers. They lie in wait all day behind letter boxes ready to silently sink their serrations into human digits. Post, leaflets and newspapers are shredded by them as well. My memories of Langbaugh are of having to go to hospital for all sorts of injections. I don't know whether the dog survived the experience!

Anyway, I took this photo of Neil in Kibblesworth after today's delivery on my new fangled blackberry.

Vince Cable's speech to regional conference with video and photos

Vince Cable was our guest speaker at the North East Liberal Democrats' regional conference in Gateshead yesterday. You can see the video of his speech below:



As you would expect, I also took some photos which are now of Flickr. A few of them now follow:



Me and Vince after the photo op with candidates. Thanks to Greg Stone for taking charge of the camera at this point.



Carol Woods, candidate in Durham City briefs Vince on a few local issues.



Vince addresses the conference. My rough head count was 130 members present.



Food for thought at conference.

The full selection of photos can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathanwallace/sets/72157622606549030/

North East regional conference

I have just left Gateshead Civic Centre where the North East Lib Dem conference has now finished. We were in the council chamber, all feeling rather happy, with Vince Cable as the guest speaker.

Down the other end of the civic suite, in a smaller room, Labour were meeting. You could tell who were the Labour members. The "socialist" brethren were the glum looking ones!

Vince spoke well but don't just take my word for it, judge it for yourself. I have Vince's speech on video and will be posting it up on YouTube later today (hopefully). As you would expect, I did a load of photos so they will be posted up shortly.

That however will have to wait whilst I do something more important - get my hair cut and the grey removed. Amusingly, my hairdresser has moved to new premises in Blaydon. The former occupant of this building was the Blaydon Labour Party. The purpose of this building has now improved enormously. Pity I missed the official opening of the hairdresser shop. Apparently they got through 40 bottles of champagne. Not that they drink that in Labour offices any more!
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22 photos in this publication

I am currently working on the Northern Democrat, the email newsletter which is emailed to members in the North East but which also finds its way to members in Yorkshire and Cumbria. 7 pages now written and I will do the front page tomorrow evening after the regional conference in Gateshead.

I remember years (okay decades) ago when I first started editing publications - amongst my first lessons was that the photos are very important. And when I first wrote Focus leaflets, the often didn't have photos in them. Those days are well behind us but I wonder if I am doing photo overkill in the current edition of the Northern Democrat. 22 photos on 7 pages of A4 seems an awful lot.

Anyway, this publication will be put to bed tomorrow and hopefully members attending conference will be able to read about it (and see the photos) by the time they get home tomorrow evening and check their emails!

My old mate Dave Hodgson, now Mayor of Bedford

Congratulations to Dave Hodgson, announced today as the Lib Dem victor in the mayoral by-election in Bedford. The fact I have known Dave as far back as the mid 1980s does not appear to have damaged his political career!

I still have memories of going to Dave's parents' house in 1984 in Bedford for a party back in our Young Social Democrat days, which really does mean it was a long time ago! As for those house parties we went to in Liverpool and Washington........

More recently Dave and I were colleagues, both working for the party. We have both now left: Dave to run Bedford, me to run my allotment!

Well done Mayor Hodgson, I know you'll do a great job.

Vince Cable in Gateshead tomorrow

Regional conference in Gateshead tomorrow and the guest speaker is Vince Cable. The conference has already had record advance bookings. I will be there to do the photos and report on proceedings by video. Watch this space!

It is also an excuse to post up this photo:



It was taken at Bournemouth conference on my camera at the end of the photo op for campaigners with Vince Cable. I think it is only one of two photos of me at Conference.

The Monday morning blog - on the bus to Kielder

Today's blog comes live from my local bus service! It makes a change to blogging from the train to London or from my bed before I get up in the morning. I am off to Kielder Reservoir, owned by Northumbrian Water, to look at the facilities of the biggest man made object in Europe and one of the few man made structures that can be seen from outer space. Okay, that's the interesting but otherwise unimportant facts over with. The bus is taking me to Gateshead Civic Centre where I pick up the coach to head to north Northumberland. I am going armed, as you would expect, with cameras.

To other things.

So, the government's fireside sale is starting. Seems a stupid time to sell off assets, at the bottom of the recessionary curve when prices are low. I don't object to the Tote and Student Loans Co being in the private sector but there is a duty of care on the government to ensure the assets of the taxpayer are giving us the best return.

And finally, the loss of Stephen Gately. I have to confess to still having somewhere my Boyzone poster from the 1990s. Stephen was always my favourite. You will be missed.

Bus is about to arrive at Gateshead. I'll blog more later.


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Is that an escape route I see before me?

I belong to the cock-up school of history, not the conspiracy one. I believe events are not pre-ordained. They happen by chance. Nothing is inevitable. But.....

The story of Gordon Brown's eye problem is leaving me with the feeling that the ground is being prepared and an escape route is being created. In the soap opera of politics, has the excuse for his departure been set?

The fightback at Labour conference would suggest otherwise. Or maybe the fightback was the final stand and if recovery did not follow, he would go without the palace coup that would otherwise be required.

The odds are he will still be there at the general election. But.....
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Ward work

10am this morning I was with Cllr Peter Craig on Oakfield Rd in Whickham to do a street surgery. About 40 people came along. The issue that was attracting attention was the planning application for the shop on the road to extend its opening hours. This is one of those situations where the legitimate concerns of residents have to be balanced with the legitimate right of someone to carry on their business.

After this we went down to Chase Park to meet up with other Whickham councillors to take some photos for the forthcoming Focuses about the move to set up Friends of Chase Park.

Then off to Washingwell School to do an interview for our Video Focus with Peter Maughan about the local schools review. Once that was done I met up with Neil Bradbury, our Blaydon candidate, to sort a few activities for the coming couple of weeks.

Glad to say this afternoon I spent some time on one of my other favourite activities: foraging for wild foods and cooking. I picked a load of hawberries and made hawberry ketchup. Watch out for the forthcoming video on this!

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For a limited period only, Compassionate Conservatism

On sale today from the new, improved Conservative Party - Born Again Compassionate Conservatism. This time limited offer has been brought to you by CP's chief salesman David Cameron.

Buy now whilst stocks last.

(Warning, may contain nuts. Seek advice before purchasing.)

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Why this union must stop its back-to-the-future approach

The Royal Mail monopoly on postal sorting and delivery ended over three years ago. Parcel delivery monopoly went even longer ago. Yet the Communications Workers Union seems to be reliving the bad old days of the 1970s in which monolithic state industries with a legal monopoly run a fair chunk of the UK economy. In the real world of 2009, Royal Mail no longer has a monopoly and is now open to the harsh winds of competition.

And the result of the strikes organized by the CWU? Royal Mail has just lost the contract for Amazon, its 2nd largest customer. This is not something that can be dismissed. The growth of internet retail sales could offset the huge fall in the number of letters sent. This is the area of growth Royal Mail must get into or otherwise see its business go down the pan. And the CWU needs to wake up to the real world or risk a suicidal course of action that could destroy the business in which its members work.
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From voice of the army to Tory hack

Whilst I accept it was a bit of a coup (hopefully not a military one!) for the Tories to recruit former head of the army, General Sir Richard Dannatt as an "adviser", the guy has instantly undermined his position as a respected voice for the army and our troops. From now on he will be seen as the voice of the Conservatives.

The additional unfortunate point for him is that the Conservatives are not committed to backing his demands for additional troops for the war in Afghanistan. He's lost his independence and may well lose the argument.

What's up Doc? - MPs should check what's behind them in photos!

I was greatly amused by this. Check out the website of Dave Clelland, Labour MP for Tyne Bridge: http://www.david-clelland.org.uk/index.htm.

The 2nd photo down the page is really a lesson in why care needs to be taken with the camera! Check what's behind you. And then reject photos that make you look like you have sprouted Bugs Bunny ears!

And just in case Mr Clelland should have the offending photo removed, I've thoughtfully copied the page.....

Example of a Conference video diary

This is the conference video diary I made for Carol Woods, our candidate for the very winnable Labour held seat of Durham City. The aim was to have just a few minutes to cover the whole of her time at Conference.

A sign of things to come

As a YouTube partner, I find this very interesting. The forthcoming football game between England and the Ukraine will be shown live only on the internet. No terrestrial or satellite channel bid for it. Last week we had the announcement that in the UK, more is now spent on advertising on the internet than on tv. Meanwhile, channels such as ITV are struggling. Is view on demand overtaking traditional viewing habits? Is this a sign of things to come?

We won't be able to answer that for certain for some time but my feeling is that we are moving into view on demand as a major form of communication, possibly the most important individual form. In addition, people are increasingly turning to sites such as YouTube for information. I produce videos on how to preserve or cook wild foods or the produce of our allotment. I get a large number of viewings, far more than my political videos get. People are constantly searching using the term "how to". It's worth bearing that in mind if you are making local political videos.

Candidates absolutely must have an internet presence at the general election or risk losing significant profile. And any videos they do must be full of action and information. It's what people are after. Miss out the internet as part of local campaigning at your peril.
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The Monday morning blog: two different policies in one interview

Boris Johnson is experiencing the same problem as David Cameron. He is all over the place on a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Watching Johnson on BBC News 24, I saw him first demand a referendum on Lisbon now (perhaps he overlooked the fact the Tories can't deliver that from opposition). Then it was put to him that the treaty will be ratified by the general election so an incoming Tory government would have missed the chance to have a referendum on the Treaty. Johnson then said he wanted a referendum on "specific bits" without saying which "bits" the question should be about. Moments later he was demanding a full referendum after the election on the whole Treaty.

All this detracts attention away from the Tories' policy of solving the unemployment crisis by cutting benefits to disabled people (perhaps the Tories believe they have been made "iller" by the NHS so they should be encouraged out of their "work shyness" by making them poorer). In a sense, the growing row over Europe could save the Tories from media scrutiny of their shallow, soundbite policies. There may therefore be, in Tory eyes, a silver lining to this cloud.

And finally, did anyone see Cameron's interview yesterday in which he called his party the "New Conservatives"? Now, what does that remind me of?

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Not quite what the Conservatives wanted

Scheduling the Irish referendum for the eve of the Conservative conference is the stuff of political soap opera. Having hoped for a showcase to display their back-of-an-envelope policies, suddenly the Conservatives' most divisive issue comes back to haunt them like a giant Euro chicken coming home to roost in Manchester.

All that talk of honesty and being straight with the British people comes to nothing if Cameron can't answer the question of whether or not there will be a referendum if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified by all member countries before the general election. Twisting and turning is no answer. Watching Eric Pickles squirm when questioned about this has, of course, provided the entertainment for the evening.

Not quite how the Conservatives hoped to start their conference.

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Survey and tabloid in Blaydon

I was in Blackhall Mill this morning helping our Blaydon candidate Neil Bradbury deliver a survey in the village. There was some door knocking and chatting to residents and a useful call into the community centre where a coffee morning was being held. People were happy to talk.

From Blackhall Mill we headed to Rowlands Gill to deliver a couple of patches with our latest tabloid. 400 copies hit people's letterboxes and it was then back to my office to work on the next leaflet. Neil has now headed off to a meeting elsewhere, leaving me free to sort out the next Focus for my own ward and a street letter for the neighbouring ward. That, alas, means a trip to the constituency office this evening to do some printing. At least I was able to take a few minutes off this afternoon to watch Carry On Cleo, a classic of the British film industry.

Tanfield Railway Steam Gala Weekend

If you are interested in steam trains this video will be of interest to you. I filmed it at the recent Tanfield Railway steam gala weekend. The Tanfield Railway is the worlds oldest continuously running steam railway. It is also in my ward in Gateshead.

Up the mayoral creek without a paddle!

Actually, down the Tyne and on a ferry, hired for the evening for a charity fundraising event by the mayor of Gateshead. It's dark and cold outside but the disco is in full swing as we head to the mouth of the Tyne. Not that there's anyone on the dancefloor at the moment. I think everyone is waiting for the pie and pea supper, and possibly some music that is a bit more recent than the mid 60s! Not that I should complain - Elvis has just been played!

Wouldn't it be rather funny if we won the raffle prize of the bottle of House of Commons whisky donated by Dave Anderson, Labour MP for Blaydon who is sitting only a few tables away!? We've bought plenty of tickets - here's to hoping (and winning!)

PS DJ is onto the 70s now. Rod Stewart. Bring back the 60s!
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Photos available: Nick Clegg exhibition tour at conference

This is one of 57 photos I added to my Flickr site last night of Nick Clegg's tour of the exhibition area of Conference in Bournemouth last week. The photos can be used by Liberal Democrat members in Lib Dem literature.

The link to the photos is: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathanwallace/sets/72157622496903234/

Singing to keep up spirits

It is the end of Labour conference. I'm watching it now as the socialist brethren attempt to sing their way through the "Red Flag". After a decade under Blair in which the singing of this anthem of the left was likely to result in a knock on the hotel door in the early hours of the morning with delegates hauled off to visit the Labour Stasi, the result is obvious: very few of the "brothers and sisters" know the words. Mumbling from some, suspicious looks at the hymnsheet from others! It looks like a bad X Factor audition! I wonder whether they are singing just to keep up spirits.

I'm not sure whether or not putting up the Lady Harriet as the warm up to the singalong was meant to be a stroke of genius or sheer bad planning. I suppose it depends on your viewpoint. For me, I am in the former category. The more the Lady Harriet is seen by the voters, the less the voters will warm to Labour. Keep up the good word mi lady.

I did however fall off my seat laughing when she tried to make out Nick Clegg constantly changes his mind (no he doesn't) and then went on to claim that Britain was leading the world on bankers' bonuses. This from the party that at a European meeting just a few weeks ago was arguing against statutory controls on, you guessed it, bankers' bonuses.

Anyway, the "socialist" brethren have now ended their jamboree and next up is the Conservative bash. That should be entertaining.
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Scare-mongering or heros?

I couldn't let this go by without comment. Earlier this month I moved a motion at Gateshead Council about rail services. It was in response to a proposal by Network Rail that a high speed rail network be built that bypasses the North East. I say "moved" - the reality was that I was shouted down and constantly interrupted by Labour. And I was accused of "scare-mongering" for raising the issue. Quite why raising an issue of major importance is "scare-mongering" is beyond me. Are we supposed to remain silent each time something important happens? Perhaps that is Gateshead Labour's approach.

Anyway, what do we have at the Labour conference at this moment? - a debate about rail on the East Coast! Presumably that means in Gateshead Labour's eyes that Labour conference is "scare-mongering". Or is it just that Labour regards anything we do as "scare-mongering" yet when they raise the same issue, Labour regards themselves as "heros". (And everyone else regards them as hypocrites.)

Anyway, the Labour conference has now moved on to a speech by Defence Secretary Bill Ainsworth. He is a very worthy guy but his speaking style is deadly dull.

I'd better sort out remaining conference photos and video instead.
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Labour can't complain

Labour are complaining loudly about the timing of the Sun's decision to switch to the Tories. Whilst I have some degree of sympathy for their case - it was a clear example of creating an alternative political news story to detract from and undermine the Labour conference - Labour can hardly complain. Back in 2007 Brown headed off to Iraq during the Tory conference in what was a deliberate attempt to shift media interest away from the opposition. Having let the chickens out, Labour can't complain when they come home to roost.
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The Sun no longer shines on Labour

The Sun has decided to back the Tories and abandon Labour. That's hardly surprising and the question has to be asked, when was the last time the Sun actually backed Labour rather than sniped at them. The Sun is a classic example of a political weathervane. It always backs the party that looks likely to win an election so that it can claim it was the Sun "wot won" the general election for the party it claims to be backing.
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The Conference Video

This is the video I put together about conference. It is mainly about Northern members but there are other bits of national interest as well.

Chris Rennard speech to Lib Dem rally, Sept 09

Chris Rennard has retired as chief executive of the Liberal Democrats. This was his first speech to conference since his announcement he is stepping down. Chris spoke at the rally at the start of conference on 19th September. He was introduced by Party President Ros Scott.

Voting reform - but not yet

Brown may come to regret his cowardice on this. He boldly announced yesterday he will do nothing on voting reform whilst spinning the message he will do everything. Bringing in alternative vote in place of first past the post for Parliamentary and council elections is a good first start that can be done rapidly. Brown chose to announce merely a referendum on this mild reform will be included in Labour's manifesto.

The reality is that Labour will be defeated and the referendum will never be implemented. He can make the offer to spin the message that he represents "change" (despite 12 years at the heart of government) whilst keeping the dinosaurs and reactionaries of his own party (typically Labour in the North East) happy by making an offer of reform which he knows he will never have to keep.

Spin over substance - how typically Brown. 10 out of 10 for polished spin, 0 out of ten for competent governance.

The interesting point is that voting reform could be the change that saves Labour but if they are kicked out at the general election, they may never get the chance to implement their own survival. After all, the Tories aren't going to bring in AV. Despite the history of the past 12 years, and the huge hurdle they face in going from where they are now to a majority government in one election, a study of elections over the past century shows that the current system benefits the Tories. Too many in Labour are too short-sighted (or too stupid) to realise that.

Charles Kennedy MP speaking at Lib Dem Conference rally 19th Sept 09

This is the video of Charles Kennedy speaking at the rally at the start of Bournemouth Conference last week.

Vote no-change for change

I am currently watching Peter Mandelson giving his speech to the Labour Conference. I am on record as liking Peter Mandelson. His skills have to be admired. He turned Labour from the unelectable bunch of dinosaurs into a great election winning machine (a quality Labour now appears to have lost). Anyone who could achieve that must have impressive skills.

He is also something of a comeback kid. Twice resigned from the cabinet but back for a third time. The question is, can he give Labour the comeback it needs. That may be the mission impossible for Mandy. His argument in his speech is that Labour at the election needs to pose as the party of change. Vote for no change if you want change. That seems to be his message. I really can't see that working.

Nevertheless the attacks on the shallow Conservatives were good stuff. It is likely to be a sign of what will be kicked about at the general election. And as I keep pointing out, whilst I think Labour will go down to defeat, the outcome of a majority Cameron government is not a certainty.
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The Monday Morning Blog - back on National Express, polls and nuts

A strange feeling of deja vu - it is a Monday morning and I am on a National Express train. No, I'm not heading to London. Actually the reverse, I am heading out of London to Newcastle and home to Sunniside. Amazingly, the train is not cancelled! Stranger things have happened.

I caught the Independent poll on GMTV this morning. Labour and Lib Dems both on 23%. I hoped to pick up a copy of the Indie at Kings Cross but WH Smith must have had a run on them. I ended up getting the details of the poll from the Indie website instead.

What was mentioned in passing, but not given sufficient attention, was the low rating of the Conservatives. At 38%, this is short of the minimum they need if they want to become the majority government after the general election. Think back to 1997 and you will recall the stratospheric support in the polls for Blair and the "new" Labour project (perhaps it should be "Labour" that is in inverted commas). Despite this, Labour fell well short of the shares of the vote predicted by the polls, with about 41% when people went to the polls yet there was a gut feeling amongst the majority of the population that the Tory government had to go and Blair and his team should take over. (It was clearly a long time ago!) Anyway, that same gut feeling just does not exist for Cameron. There is no yearning for a Cameron government.

Polls of course should be taken with a great pinch of salt, especially when they come from ComRes. Nevertheless, they can show trends - and in this instance they continue to show that the Tories are comfortably ahead of Labour only because Labour are so comprehensively behind. And it also show that Eric Pickles and his attempt to lovebomb the Lib Dems have failed. Mind you, the attempt by Eric Pickles to pass himself off as a progressive Liberal is like a drunken alcoholic claiming to be teetotal.

Anyway, my long weekend in London is now over. Some of it was spent in park and woodland in Crystal Palace picking nuts - sweet chestnuts to be precise. They are all packed into a box which is coming up to Sunniside with me on the train. All part of the self-sufficiency drive.
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Blood on the walls or weary resignation?

The questioning of Gordon Brown this morning about his health by Andrew Marr was unreasonably direct. A bunch of disorganized anti-Brown malcontent Labour moaners twitter away to the press about excuses for Brown to go and the media jumps in feet first. Brown's health is not an issue. His competence to be prime minister is the issue. The intrusion into his health was inappropriate and unreasonable.

Nevertheless, as the gathering of Labour's great and the good (and the not so good, the useless and the malcontents) takes place in Brighton, the question has to be asked: is this a blood on the walls conference or one dominated by defeatist resignation. My guess is that whilst Brown will come out fighting against the Tories with claims of a rosey future and a fantastically strong economy that is leading the world to amazing prosperity unlike anything ever seen before, most Labour people know the reality on the ground is that their chances of a Labour 4th term with a majority is one in a million. I am of course being nice. Many in Labour are looking at the next election as a choice between unmitigated disaster and the slightly better appalling losses.

There will be no blood on the walls in Brighton. Labour don't have the stomach for regicide. They are stuck with a person who cannot lead, inspire or deal with the difficulties faced by his party. Now they must accept the consequences of their own decision to put Brown at the helm. Some more charitable people would say "Good luck" to them.

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I am a star in the BBC Village People video

There was great amusement on Tuesday evening at Conference when it was discovered that I had appeared in a BBC video about Conference called "Village People". No, I hadn't been caught dressed as a new York cop or a builder. Instead, unbeknown to me, the BBC had filmed the photo op I held for campaigners with Simon Hughes and the carbon footprint props.

Despite all the handheld devices we were carrying, we could not access the video and we were away from a pc so viewing it had to wait til Wednesday morning. I'm about one and a half minutes into it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8267930.stm.

Enjoy!

Nick Clegg speech at Bournemouth Conference rally

This is my first video from conference: Nick Clegg's speech to the rally on Saturday 19th September

Still processing those conference photos

I have nearly 4000 photos and 3 hours of video from conference which I spent yesterday processing. The job is not yet finished but some of the member photos with MPs are now on my Flickr site and the rest will go up today. I have had a string of emails from members eager to get their pics asap. If you are one of those people, they should be on Flickr by this afternoon. Check www.flickr.com/photos/jonathanwallace.

Also started is the editing of my conference videos but that job is secondary to sorting the photos. I'll be posting them onto YouTube and this blog when they are done.

I am on my way to Cowley St now to do more sorting, editing and uploading. I won't be back home to Gateshead til Monday. Meanwhile I went to the theatre last night. It was the smallest theatre I have been in, Shepherds Bush. I saw a play called 2nd May 1997, set in the hours immediately after the general election. It followed a Conservative MP and his wife preparing to go to the count knowing he had lost and worried about being seen as a failure, a Lib Dem activist who ended up taking a girl back to his home after an election party but she turned out to be drunk and then discovered she had got off with the wrong guy, and two gay Labour students, one of whom was from a wealthy household who was unconsciously patronising towards the other who was his best friend (who was also 'working class') but the richer one wasn't prepared to give his friend what he wanted. It was an interesting satire of politics as it is nowadays.

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Conference is now over

3500 photos and 4 hours of video: Conference is now over and I am on the train heading back to London. A successful gathering and Nick spoke well this afternoon. Such a contrast to Brown. Labour as we know are now leaderless at so many different levels of their party. It will be interesting therefore to see how they cope next week with their own gathering.

I'm staying in London for a few days to sort out the garden. There is likely to be a trip to Cowley St in the next couple of days as well. I don't fancy uploading to YouTube and Flickr all the video and photos via the dongle on my laptop. I've asked the powers that be and I can do that instead from one of the PCs in HQ.

Tonight however is pub quiz night. Since most of the people on my team are Labour members, I'll not mention politics.

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Photos galore

Day three at conference and the customers have been rolling through the photo ops. Today the queues were long for Simon Hughes with carbon footprints and the Guardian's 10:10 logo. The 2nd photo op today was with Tim Farron about fair trade and the lack of fair trade for British farmers from supermarket chains. That required an early morning trip to Tescos to buy some props for the event. Alas, all Bournemouth Tescos could offer was one brand of fair trade tea and one of coffee. Seems as though this town is not massive on fair trade - or possibly its only a gimmick for Tesco.

We did a Nick Clegg session with candidates this afternoon. However, this was invite only for key seat candidates - which meant Neil Bradbury from Blaydon was there as well. The really busy one will be on Wednesday. We have an open invite to conference members to have their pic taken with Vince Cable. We are expecting queues - long ones.
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Heading off to the Lib Dem jamboree

I'm on the train now, heading to Bournemouth for the Lib Dem conference. Yes, it's that time of year - the Lib Dem annual jamboree, complete with late nights, scans of the directory for events with "refreshments" and a week on adrenalin.

I should arrive at 11am. My first activity is to photo Nick Clegg's arrival. In total I have lost count of the number of events and photo ops I need to photo. I also managed to leave the printed version of my diary in Gateshead Civic Centre. Thank goodness for memory sticks and here's to hoping I can get access to a laser printer at conference!
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Speculating that Brown will remain

Steve Richards in the Indie has an interesting article about Gordon Brown remaining as Labour Leader to the general election. It is interesting because it focuses on Brown remaining as leader as if that were a new concept. Ever since the fiasco of the election-that-never-was, the coverage of Brown in the media has never strayed far from the view that he will not survive as leader. So the article in the Indie is a bit of a refreshing change.

Richards argues that the Parliamentary timetable prevents a Labour leadership election. With virtually no time left before the election, Brown will remain in place. Gordon as Labour leader at the election has been the line I have followed since 2007 (except for one small wobble). Unseating a sitting Prime Minister against his or her will is extremely difficult. It's happened only once in my lifetime. So, Brown remains as Labour leader til the election. Then the Labour bloodletting may, or may not, begin.

The other issue touched on was the actual timing of the general election. Richards rules out June as going right up to the buffers. Clinging on to power to the very end does not inspire as an election slogan. He accepts May, coinciding with the local elections, as a possibility but downplays it. His argument is that it is still too close to the buffers. Instead, Richards believes that April is the likely time, the same month chosen by Major in 1992. He says he has spoken to a number of Labour ministers who favour April.

Whichever date is chosen, the one certainty is that with the party conferences starting tomorrow with our own in Bournemouth, the election campaign has started. Oh joy!

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Back in London

Having smelt the stench of fear on Labour in Gateshead yesterday, today I am giving them relief from their trauma. They can save their running-round-like-leaderless-headless-chickens performance for another day. Today I am in London. I came down last night to sort a few things in the flat before going to Bournemouth for Conference on Saturday.

I need to be at the Marriott Hotel by midday for the arrival of Nick Clegg. It's my first photo duty of Conference. Then I will be on the beach. Alas, this is not to go sunbathing. It is for a photo op we are running about flooding in the North East. And a candidate wants his photo taken there in jogging gear at the same time!

Any other candidates wanting specific photos taken can catch up with me at Bournemouth but be quick, my diary is nearly full.

Meanwhile, I am off to pick sweet chestnuts (as part of my self-sufficiency drive). There are a load of trees here which are ready for picking.
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My badge of honour

I am on the train from Newcastle to London, having just finished a full meeting of Gateshead Council. And what a great meeting it was! I feel energised and even more determined to put an end to Labour rule in the borough. And now that I have given up my Cowley St job, I have much more time to do it.

Today's antics from Labour, led by Cllr Mick Henry, are good reasons alone why they should be dumped at the ballot box. If only more people from Gateshead could see council meetings. They would see how he "leads" his band of merry followers. I proposed a motion opposing the proposals of Network Rail to create a high speed rail network that bypasses the North East. I wrote the motion in the expectation of cross party support. It went on to call on the Transport Secretary to ensure the East Coast was included in any high speed network. There was no criticism of the government, nothing attacking Labour, it was purely a motion attacking Network Rail. As far as I could see, it was fully in line with with Lib Dem and Labour aspirations.

Except that Labour cannot vote for an unamended motion from the Lib Dems, especially one moved by me. So they did one of their wrecking amendments. Every reference to Network Rail was removed, a big chunk of the motion was taken out and then put back, word for word the same and the real teeth of the motion - calling on the Transport Secretary to back the inclusion of the East Coast Line - were axed.

But the really interesting point was that I could barely be heard because of repeated interruptions from Cllr Henry. He even interrupted me before I had said my first word. And every few seconds I was interrupted. The few people who were in the public gallery must have thought Labour were using a barrage of noise, shouting and bellowing to drown out what I had to say.

After the meeting was over, fellow Lib Dems congratulated me. Labour are getting rather nervous now that I'm back. Some members even described Labour as "scared". After all, if I wasn't a threat to them, they wouldn't waste time attacking me so vehemently.

So I am definitely looking forward to the next full council and another Mick Henry performance. I am also hoping far more members of the public attend and see for themselves just what Labour are like in Gateshead. Indeed, I can foresee an article in my next efocus encouraging people to come to the Civic Centre to see Cllr Henry and his band perform.

Meanwhile, I have had a message from a friend saying that I should wear Cllr Henry's attack on me as a badge of honour. I certainly will!
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Conference photo ops

Okay, a message for all those attending Lib Dem Conference in Bournemouth this coming week. Here are the photo ops I am running which are open to all Conference members to attend:

Sunday 20th 3pm-4pm: Lynne Featherstone, knife crime

Monday 21st 10.30-11.30am: Simon Hughes, environment/carbon footprint/Guardian 10:10

Monday 21st 12pm-1pm: Tim Farron, fair trade/farming

Tuesday 22nd 2.30-3.30pm Norman Baker: Labour/Conservative rail failure

Wednesday 23rd 10.30am-11.30am: Steve Webb, unemployment

Wednesday 23rd 11.30am-12.15pm: Vince Cable

In addition, we will have a number of previously used props which we are bringing to conference for use without MPs. There will be two of these “general sessions” in the Tregonwell Hall: Sunday 20th, 12pm-12.30pm; Tuesday 22nd, 6pm-6.30pm. (These two sessions can be used for taking portrait sessions as well.)

There will also be a session for candidates to have their photos taken outside the front of the Bournemouth International Centre on Sunday 20th from 11am-11.30am.

If you have other photo or video requirements, catch up with me at conference.

Food for thought on the phone

There has been a long string of phone calls to the house tonight but the one that stands out was one of those calls from market research companies trying to build a profile of my shopping behaviour. I guess I wasn't much help.

After asking if I could spare a few minutes to answer a few questions, I was asked, "Where do you do your food shopping." "We don't," I replied. "We grow our own food." Silence for a few moments. "I guess you've not had that answer before!" I continued, successfully breaking the awkward silence that had met my answer. He admitted it was a new answer to him.

I was asked a few more questions about my buying activities.

"Where do we buy bread?" - Answer: "We make our own."

"Where do we buy clothes?" - That was a bit more challenging. I rarely buy clothes these days. The last time I went clothes shopping was just before Conference last year. House of Fraser, Victoria St, was therefore my considered reply.

"Where do we buy books?" Amazon (and Waterstones).

So, all in all, I'm not sure, after answering a whole range of questions, whether or not there was a category into which my retail activities could fit me.

Or maybe I am about to be hit by lots of offers for books from Amazon about growing your own food whilst shopping for clothes in a store over 400km away from home! I wonder if someone has written such a book. Well, that's food for thought!

Meanwhile, I am pleased to say that I have just completed and circulated the pre-Conference edition of the Northern Democrat. It comes hot on the heals of Parliamentary Campaigner which I finished over the weekend.

I was planning tonight to write my speech for a motion on highspeed rail I am moving at Gateshead Council tomorrow but I think I'll have a cup of tea instead, leave the speechifying til tomorrow and go to bed.

Nick Clegg visits Newcastle September 2009

Nick Clegg was in Newcastle yesterday. This si the video I shot of his visit.

Nick Clegg on Tyneside

I spent today in Newcastle doing photos and video for the Nick Clegg visit. We met him at the Central Station and then went to look at City Council apprenticeships, then the Newcastle Jobs Fair, the Cyrenians (training former drug addicts, in this instance in gardening) and then to Gosforth for a public meeting. All captured on video. I'll edit it and post it on Youtube tomorrow.
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Vince Cable to do conference photo op

The final piece is in the conference photo op jigsaw. Vince Cable will be doing one of 6 that I am putting on at Lib Dem conference in Bournemouth. I will post up the list soon. I can't at this precise moment do so as I am sitting in the Moti Jheel in Whickham waiting to collect my takeaway (it's David's birthday so we are taking a break from homegrown food.) As I don't have the list of photo ops on me you will have to wait.

The Vince event is open invite for all those attending conference.

In the meantime, I have just returned from doing a leaflet delivery in Newcastle North. One hell of a delivery patch as well. Massive posh houses with drives as long as the A1 covered in range rovers and BMW 4 wheel drives. The leaflet is about Nick Clegg coming to Newcastle on Thursday. Having delivered 200 I have now worked up quite an appetite!

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