Looks like fraud to me

Fraud was my first thought on reading that Tory MP Derek Conway had paid his two sons to work for him while students. The full facts need to be established, but weith the Standards Committee having already found no evidence of the work of one, this looks incredibly fishy. I don't think suspension from the Commons is sufficient. Most people caught stealing from their employers would be sacked and prosecuted. Conway deserves the same and I'm expecting the police to investigate fully.

Council candidate too ill to work climbed ladders

More from the Birmingham court case of Saeed Aehmed/Ahmed (he changed his name to Aehmed to move up the ballot paper, allegedly). See this from the birmingham Post for details of his name change. I've often thought I'm unfairly disadvantaged to be called McLoughlin. I welcome suggestions to get me m oved up the ballot paper. Comments please!

Readers may recall that Aehmed claimed Incapacity Benefit for 25 years but felt fit enough to stand in several local elections, hold local party positions and campaign. Apparently this included carrying ladders and putting up posters.

These absurd cases would amuse me if they weren't true. I can't quite believe that people think they can get away with this, if it is true, or that these intra-party squabbles have to end up in court. These guys should take a reality check.

Attacks on Ken Livingstone are politically motivated

I agree with my Labour GLA member Jennette Arnold that the recent spate of media attacks against Ken Livingstone are politically motivated. Like others I know that the Evening Standard, Andrew Gilligan and others who attack Ken are doing so to boost the Tory campaign for mayor. London's voters are faced with a choice between Ken who has massively improved London's transport, had the courage to introduce the congestion charge and lead on climate change - or Boris Johnson. This is serious.

I'm disappointed but not surprised that Meral Ece, Jennette's Lib Dem opponent, has tried to fire a few cheap political shots at Jennette and Ken on her new blog. Clearly Meral's blog is a first draft, having known Jennette for some time, describing her as "one of Ken's most loyal bag carriers" is laughable and simplistic.

London global leader for electric vehicles

I read the automotive trade press for one of my clients and was pleased to see that the industry regards London as a market leader for electric vehicles. Automotive News Europe quoted Steve Schneider, CEO of electric car maker ZAP, "London has a very environmentally friendly congestion charge as well as free parking and free recharging for electric cars, the demand seems to be there, which is why London is the first place in Europe we're launching."

This pleases me as it shows that political leadership from Mayor Livingstone has created demand for more environmentally friendly products. Introducing the congestion charge and low emission zone has seen London take top spot in Europe for the technology.

Livingstone has shown effective leadership in tackling climate change, establishing a blueprint for a sustainable London in 2020, something I have written about previously. London needs Ken.

Hain quits

Peter Hain has quit the cabinet after his funding mess was referred to the police. He has been naive in not making sure his papers were in order, if not malicious and has paid a heavy price. For something rather avoidable and pointless I think this was inevitable but also a bit of a waste of a long career.

Hain and party funding

All along my thoughts are that Peter Hain has been a very silly man in letting himself get embroiled in a funding "scandal" at a time when political funding was high on the agenda. Surely this is the time to be super careful? After the whole cash for honours or not fiasco, following years of corruption claims against the Tories, surely a seemingly able politician should have been aware that he needed to be water-tight?

On Sunday Andrew Rawnsley had it right: "the political classes even now don't get it. After all the sleaze eruptions of the Major and the Blair years, you would have thought that any politician with a care for his or her reputation would be careful to the point of paranoia about funding. If only for reasons of self-preservation, they ought to have the rules lasered on to their eyeballs and those of everyone who works for them."

I just don't get why leading politicians don't employ decent lawyers to work with the electoral commission to make sure everything is above board. What is even more absurd is that many of these problems are arising from laws that Labour put in place only recently. So we should know better.

It appears the Tories are still frightened about Michael Ashcroft and would rather not make themselves targets by attacking Labour on funding when there are so many questions about their own banker.

By refusing to look at state funding for political parties and allowing these pointless "scandals" to repeat themselves, leading politicians are damaging faith in politics when it really isn't necessary.

Meral Ece's blog

Yesterday I was alerted to Islington Mildmay Lib Dem Councillor and GLA election candidate Meral Ece's new blog. She fought Dianne Abbott's Hackney North and Stoke Newington seat in 2001, coming third behind the Tories.

Personally I find the blog quite hard to read because the posts are too long, a bit of a brain-dump it seems. However, I'll be keeping an eye on it over the coming weeks and months. It looks to me like she has started it purely because there is an election coming up in May.

I was interested to note that she thinks that "Brown of (sic) Cameron, who lead parties with far more common ground (than the Lib Dems have with either)." What a load of tosh. She might be interested to recall that both the Lib Dems and the Tories voted against the National Minimum Wage.

Decline in trust?

An interesting circular about social media arrived on my desk from one of our competitors yesterday. The un-named company quoted data from Datamonitor's 2003 Euromonitor survey, where people in several Western European countries were asked whether they trust:

The press
Radio
Television
Political parties
Big companies
Religious institutions

For the UK, according to the survey, 78% of British people don't trust the press. This is a typical result. People frequrently say they don't trust journalists, politicians and estate agents. Nothing new there, people are never going to admit to believing everything they read if you ask them. However, compare the supposed distrust of the press with some views you often hear on the doorstep and the reality is somewheat different.

Quite often people will tell me that eastern Europeans/asylum seekers/immigrants have taken all the housing. Where do they get this information from? It must be the press. According to a survey reported today, only 1% of social housing has gone to east European migrants.

Interestingly, the French and Germans are less trustful of politicians than the British. The Dutch are the most trusting. Voter turnout in these countries doesn't seem to be affected by a direct relationship to the trust levels. In elections since 1960, turnout in Germany is 86%, in France and the UK are identical at 76%. This shows that trust is only one factor to take into account, though obviously still important.

Lib Dem Council annual report - Summer 2007

I have just received a copy of James Kempton's (Lib Dem Leader of Islington Council) annual report, dated Summer 2007. Not bad getting that in mid-January 2008.

So taking a look at his claims I thought I'd see how many Lib Dem "achievements" are actually because of Labour Government policy or money. These three stand out:

More police
All secondary schools refurbished or rebuilt
Building new homes

In the centre there is a map of Islington with arrows pointing to specific points, where it implies specific improvements have been made. Only political zealots like me will read this, but I did and it transpires this is just another list of Islington's achievements, which are actually because they have either been forced into them by government policy, like improved recycling, or given ring-fenced money by the government for specific purposes.

Affordable housing: Kempton claims the borough has built 3000 new homes. Actually, developers and housing associations have built new "affordable" homes. Islington has failed to meet the Mayor's standard of 50% affordable, instead falling well below 20%.

More police and PCSOs: Safer Neighbourhoods is another Labour policy. Cutting crime? Crime figures have fallen nationally for several years.

Common sense parking: new parking guidance for councils is to be implemented nationwide from March, on the basis of Department for Transport guidance.

All this simply reinforces my view of Islington's Lib Dem council, they haven't offered a vision of change for the area, they have simply managed the council. We could really do with much better at a time when we've seen so much public renewal. Perhaps it wouldn't be possible to produce a leaflet showing only their own achievements as there would be nothing on it. Got to get rid of that glossy paper some how.

Ken Livingstone unveils first manifesto pledge

Today Ken Livingstone unveiled his first manifesto pledge ahead of this spring's London Mayoral elections, giving pensioners 24 hours of free travel. Despite 80% of over 60s being retired, many need to travel before 9, so this will extend all day free travel to them, the same benefit enjoyed by under 18s in education.

This shows London leading the way as a progressive city that the rest of the UK and EU can look up to and has been welcomed by Islington's Labour Councillor Wally Burgess. Cllr Burgess said: “This is great news for Islington’s older residents – a manifesto pledge for 24 hour freedom on London’s tubes, buses and trains. With Ken as our Mayor in London, Islington is moving in the right direction. Also, more people using public transport reduces carbon emissions.”

Party donations

Thinking more about Peter Hain's "mistakes" and that he this is now to be officially investigated is it worth speculating more on what happened? For me, he made quite a large oversight at a time when political donations were high on the political agenda. There really was no need for this. It shows incompetance at the very least. I don't think it was malicious, but this affair has heaped negative publicity when the Party needed it least.

If Hain survives he deserves a severe ticking off at the minimum. I still can't understand what he needed all that money for. Having had it, he didn't spend it very wisely. I suppose I feel slightly sorry for him that he let himself get in this situation. For the Party, I'm just fed up with this series of administration blunders diverting attention from trying to govern and setting the political agenda.

My previous posts on this matter were linked by "Guy Fawkes" under the banner "Labour rank and file disown Hain." This is turn led to attention from BBC Radio 4's World at One asking for my views.

Clegg makes first keynote speech

Unfortunately for Nick Clegg and Peter Hain, Clegg's first keynote speech as leader of the Lib Dems isn't the top story anywhere. Hain is. A quick glance around the news sites shows Hain firmly perched in pole position. BBC, Telegraph, Guardian, The Times, even the Indie (well it is a magazine really and they probably can't afford to update their website at the weekends). People obviously don't care. What is clear is that nobody is remotely interested in the Lib Dems and that Hain has been in the headlines for too long and will be off shortly.

Poor administration, what about your department?

So as Peter Hain continues to blame "poor administration" for the funding mess surrounding his Deputy Leadership campaign, some rather large questions need to be answered. Some already have. If he is unable to run his own small office effectively, how can one expect him to properly manage the Department for Work and Pensions?

One question I do have, is why did he need £200000 to run a campaign he was never likely to win for a post that is totally pointless?

Donations, paperwork...

Now that Peter Hain has got in on the act and "forgotten" to declare over £100k of donations that he himself solicited, I'm feeling a little tired of all this. He has said he "takes responsibility" for this. So what does that mean? Saying sorry and taking the heat and carrying on in Cabinet?

Normally I feel quite tolerant of genuine mistakes, however, even if Hain didn't personally have to fill out the forms for the Electoral Commission himself, surely he is responsible for ensuring that it got done. Political parties need to be more savvy and ensure they appoint good lawyers and get everything checked to be absolutely certain everything is above board.

I have come across people who have worked (or do work) for Hain in the past and I sincerely hope that he hasn't filled his office with political zealots who have never worked outside politics. With that amount of money coming in I'm sure he could afford some proper staff.

If there is nothing illegal about the money itself (there has been no suggestion that there is), then why get embroiled in a row over poor administration? Totally avoidable.

Being a councillor isn't working?

It obviously doesn't count if you are a Lib Dem.

In Birmingham a Lib Dem has been claiming Incapacity Benefit because he is too ill to work. However, Saeed Ahmed obviously didn't have a problem with running for election in 2002, 2004 and 2007. The reason why - according to the Birmingham Mail, because "he thought it would be an easy life." !!!

Ahmed was kicked out of the Labour Party after originally being selected as a Labour candidate when he failed to answer questions about this.

I suppose it is if you don't bother doing anything to help the people who might have elected you in your ward.

The pure cheek of it. This country.

Tim McLoughlin is one of the cleverest public intellectuals in Britain

Yes, indeed, it is true. Tristam Hunt has named me as one of his "new generation of public intellectuals." This features in Arena Magazine's February issue, page 118 to be precise, in an article on the cleverest men in Britain. Me. Yes. More soon. Read the article:

New Year, New Labour?

There is no doubt this is a big year for Labour. The biggest since 1996. Gordon Brown needs to re-take control of the political agenda otherwise he will be a lame duck PM. In the same way as one's boss is always asking one to be proactive at work, Brown needs to be proactive and pre-empting problems. He has taken a hit for things that haven't been his fault mainly because he hasn't looked strong enough or reacted in the right way.

How can he do this? Seeking to be firm and fair on party funding would be a start. It might not be that popular but state funding of political parties is the only way to stop accusations of cash currying favour. State funding would need to gain the support of the voting public by showing it to be fair and impartial. Democracy and politics has to be paid for somehow and this is the least bad option.

He also could do with looking at key posts in government and the civil service? Are all key personnel comptent? Ratings would tumble if another example of government incompetance arose.

Is Brown up to the challenge? I think so, but I'm not quite sure.

Wifi Islington

I read with interest that Islington Council has extended their free wifi zone to include Ashby House on Essex Road and the rest of the New River (Marquess) Estate. I was a candidate there in last year's council elections. While I don't doubt that with around 500 regular users of the network at any time it has benefits - I'd certainly love a free Internet connection - my experience of the estate is that many residents would be better off with council money spent elsewhere. Since the re-design of the estate now includes a circular "racetrack" popular with young scooter riders and is still home to much anti-social behaviour, installing CCTV and looking at tackling the regular individuals committing ASB might be better placed.

Black trying to pick his prison

I'm still unable to find out why Conrad Black isn't in prison. Someone please explain this to me. Even though he is appealing the judgement, most felons still have to go to jail despite an appeal pending. Right now he is trying to cherry pick the most convenient and lowest security facility for himself. I can't quite believe this, surely he should go where he is told?

Highbury Garage to re-open on March 2008

Rumour has it that the Highbury Garage gig venue is to open again on March 14th 2008 after a year of nothingness. This is good news and follows news in August that new owners had bought it.

Harriet Harman makes me cringe

During a particular party political spat of the sort that turns non-politicos off politics and makes me cringe, Harriet Harman gave Theresa May a wonderfully childish riposte recently. When defending her decision to take money from Janet Kidd (on behalf of Bob Abrahams) in Parliament she gave everyone confidence that she will remain in post by stating that "The honourable lady (May) can huff and puff but she will not blow this leader of the house down." Stirring stuff indeed.

Winning back the agenda

Listening to PMQs today, Brown is obviously trying to pain his government one one of substance over Cameron's focus on style. This has long been the big contrast between the two leaders but I worry that Cameron's lack of rigour isn't concerning the electorate while Brown is constantly reacting to negative events. These events are nothing like the cash for questions or arms to Iraq scandals of the mid 1990s Major government, yet they are not helping.

Labour is offering policies for positive change in Britain, like yesterday's announcement of the Childrens' Plan. This seeks to tackle the root causes of anti-social behaviour, crime (and the causes of crime?)and obesity and builds on the positive contribution of Sure Start.

Opinion polls have been better but they are sitting in the mid 30s and according to the Electoral Calculus (an amalgamation of all recent polls) the Tories are looking at a majority of 8 at present. There isn't an impossible mountain to climb, but we need to win back control of the political agenda otherwise nobody will be interested in our achievements.

Abrahams affair

Like Luke Akehurst, I've not had a single voter mention the Abrahams affair to me when canvassing in Highbury recently. Not one. My feeling is that most people don't really care too much for the Westminster Village's in fighting, though continued coverage of such events does help the drip, drip, drip effect of massaging and latent cynicism.

Black

Conrad Black gets convicted of fraud, but somehow isn't in jail even though he has been sentenced. How has that happened? The judge, St. Eve told Black that the law applied to him "no matter how high your social status, how powerful you are, how wealthy you are, how successful you are, how intelligent you are, what your title is or how you educated you are." I'm quite sure that in the USA most convicted felons are "taken down" on sentencing.

I can't quite understand how Black is still getting away with it.

I'm also shocked though not suprised that high profile Tories like William Hague actually appealed to the judge on Black's behalf for clemency. This must be the same Hague who also recommended the thief for a peerage. Also the same Hague who claimed that Michael Ashcroft would be paying millions in taxes to the Treasury if he was also given a peerage.

Orient - Millwall and Anderlecht - Spurs

Anyone reading about the missiles thrown at the Spurs team at Thursday's UEFA cup tie in Brussels against Anderlecht might be forgiven for thinking that here is yet another example of continental hooliganism, contrasting with the clean behaviour of fans at home.

On Tuesday I witnessed more of the same as Millwall followers showered the Brisbane Road pitch with bottles, ripped seats, wood and coins. One coin only missed the referee's head by a few centimetres. We can't be so smug here in England, football disturbances still take place regularly, but with much less media appetite for reporting them than before.

Manchester Victoria

Being a fan of stations in general, I was always saddened by the seemingly forgotten plight of Manchester's Victoria station. However, it appears that Network Rail are keen to upgrade it, which is good news. Duoble however thuogh is that no specific plans have actually been relaesed yet.

What is going on?

I've not blogged as I managed to break a bone in my hand playing football recently and am only just now getting back up to speed with typing properly. The plaster cast means I'm continually hitting space bar.

I've also been away, to Zurich, which seems like the Swiss party town. I saw Interpol and Klaxons play live. Interpol were excellent, Klaxons fun though I'm not sure they meet their top billing yet.

The Labour Party seems to be in a mess too. The government seems as if events control it rather than the other way around. Hmmm...

I went canvassing at the weekend in Highbury with Jeremy Corbyn MP, Islington's Labour Group Leader Cllr Catherine West and Cllr Richard Watts. A highlight included speaking to a real man called George W Bush, who was undecided about which party to support. I suppose that happens when one is about to leave office, the desire goes.

Compass, Cruddas and Trickett

Using the Compass banner, Jons Cruddas and Trickett have fired a "friendly" warning shot at Gordon Brown. They seem to be suggesting that by going for a "big tent" approach and appealing to those traditionally outside the party, Brown has blurred the party divide. I find this sort of rhetoric unhelpful at best and damaging at worst. By adding to the cynical view that all politicians are the same this argument ends up turning people away from politics and away from the Labour Party. I'm inclined to follow Martin Kettle's argument here.

I'm not really sure what they are trying to achieve. what has been achieved is a set of negative headlines criticising Brown for poor leadership. This just plays into the Tories' hands. I'd like to see an internal discussion from Compass where they actually present some more robust ideas to the party than this.

European Treaty

The whole hoo-ha about the is it a constitution or not with the EU treaty seems a little over the top to me. Clearly most of those who are shouting against are probably against the EU full stop. I am not one of those people.

The treaty brings in more Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) for an EU of 25 states to replace the single state power of veto which applied in more areas when there were just 15. This is a sensible move because nothing would ever get done if one state could block Justice and Home Affairs (JHA). QMV is weighted to population so large nations like the UK, Germany and France have more votes than smaller ones. Obviously this means that some countries might have to accept EU legislation that they don't like. This isn't idea but it the concept that a union is based on.

However, the UK has secured the right to opt out of specific legislation so I really don't see what the problem is.

Ming off!

I find it quite useful that just when the heat seemed to be on Gordon Brown for the election that never was, the Liberal Democrats self combust. Ming quits. Thanks!

Question time, Chuka Umunna and Kelvin McKenzie

I was delighted to see my good friend Chuka Umunna giving a great account of himself on last night's BBC1 Question Time. I was also sickened by the vile vitriol coming from Kelvin McKenzie's mouth. He seems to hate the fact that Gordon Brown is Scottish. Perhaps he needs to be reminded that we live in a United Kingdom. What I thought was interesting was his praise of George Osbourne for asserting "traditional" Tory polices. So The Sun might well support the Tories for going back into their core ground. However, this didn't work in any of the last three elections.

What was notable last night was that Chuka was the only panelist who dared speak out against McKenzie's racist drivel. The panel included Caroline Spellman and Harriet Harman.

Conference notes

Having finally got myself back together after spending several days in Bournemouth for Labour Party Conference 2007, I feel able to write about it. Before going off again. In the morning I'm off to Cyprus for 11 days. They have lots of sun there.

The late accreditation office was better than last year in that it was actually possible to get a pass this time. I'm still a little stumped as to why it takes them so long to print a pass that is ready. One still gets different answers every time you ask a different member of staff. For a party that lectures the public sector so much in how to administer itself, the Labour Party clearly has a great deal yet to learn. But I got in.

The general feeling this year was very positive and united. All of the fringe meetings and discussions I took part in and attended were all focused on making sure Labour won and put forward progressive policies. I was impressed by David Blunkett's relaxed and comedic performances. I was impressed again by James Purnell.

The best party of the week was surely the New Statesman champagne reception. Highlights of this included John Spellar sweating profusely, people talking over Geoffrey Robinson and Jeremy Paxman refusing to allow me to have my picture taken with him after someone else just had. "I think one is quite enough. Don't you?" he questioned. I disagreed but he walked off with his blonde. To get my rudeness back for the weekend I saw Ian Paisley and called him something extremely rude, to glares from his bodyguards. However, I did get several supportive cheers and claps from some Geordie members for that. I definitely would do it again.

Congratulations to Alon Or Bach for his election to the NPF. Well done to him and I'm looking forward to more of his excellent reports back.

Let's get ready for an election...

Bournemouth 2007

Off to BOurnemouth for conference this afternoon. My entrance assumes that there isn't a fiasco like last year with late accreditation at both Labour and Tory conferences.

Harman update

It appears that the police have tracked Harriet Harman down, after she admitted a speeding charge in Suffolk by post today. Hopefully now this is behind her she can set about filling whatever role the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party should be.

Laura Willoughby

Having a scout around for information on my local Highbury East councillor Laura Willoughby, I noted that her website still isn't working. Neither is her "PPC page" at the Lib Dem site. I wonder if she is working hard for me?

When things go wrong don't apologise, just look to the future

I've been slack since my trip to Holland. Naughty me. I'm off again in ten days time to Cyprus, so I promise to get a little more in between now and then.

I seldom manager to make it all the way through a newspaper, especially on Sundays, but last weekend I managed to get as far as Armando Ianucci's Observer column on the back page of the news section. I loved his description of a conversation with a former Bush aide:

I'm so glad you asked
Talking of doubt, last week I had a conversation with a genuine neo-con who didn't have any. He was one of George Bush's former speechwriters and I asked him how he responded to the never-answered complaint from most of us that invading Iraq was senseless, because all the terrorists were in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. His only response was: 'That was then. The question is, what do we do now?' I kept telling him that where we were now was a result of what he did then, but he kept saying: 'No, but what's important is what we do now.' Which is a bit like saying: 'I know I set fire to your house, but can we draw a line under that? What's important now is that I've got a charred hand, so where's the medical care?'

Drawing a line, redefining the issue, re-evaluating the situation in the light of a fresh context; these are all highly sophisticated reverbalisations of: 'I don't know; can we start again?' George W Bush declares progress, even though his definition of progress is to get unbearable violence back to the level it was a year-and-a-half ago. If he goes on redefining phrases to mean around 96 per cent of their opposite, it won't be long before he manages to persuade Americans to think that a 'debacle' is a good thing. Especially if it's an improvement on an outright disaster. Expect soon to have American families celebrate Debacle Day, host Fiasco Barbecues and organise Shambles Carnivals.

If only it were that easy.

Where is Harriet Harman?

Fair enough, it has been the summer, BUT! When there was no contest for the Labour leadership, a great deal of media attention focused instead on the Deputy Leadership elections. When Harman was elected there seemed to be much speculation as to what she would actually do and whether Brown would pay any attention to the position. So far I have to say I've seen nothing. Does anyone know any better than I do?

Ayre fish curry - Kanye West and me

I tried out a Bangladeshi fishmongers in Stoke Newington yesterday and brought home some Ayre. I made a curry, it was very good, however I was unable to find any specific recipes online. Searching for "Ayre fish curry" just brings up news hits for when Kanye West ordered that same dish to be taken out to him in New york from a
Welsh curry house for £2000. Mine took me about an hour and to serve four, the whole meal cost about £10.

Lowlands

I've been away on my holidays having been to Amsterdam and the Lowlands festival. Having previously been to Benicassim in Spain (just four times) I was interested to see what the Dutch would make of the music festival. It had no beach but it had real toilets, free saunas, showers and no mud. And the Dutch who are the most easy going people I've ever seen at a festival. No pushing or shoving, fantastic - unlike Benicassim which has now been taken over by us Brits.

Is Lowlands the world’s most easy going festival? Dubbed “A camping flight to Lowlands paradise” and with a line up to match any UK festival it is hard to disagree. In it’s 15th year, Lowlands attracted top billing from The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, Arcade Fire, Interpol, Editors, Motorhead and Tool. The 55000 sell out crowd were treated to superb acts at a festival so well organised it puts the British mud-baths to shame.

Substitute portaloos with real toilets, mud with proper drainage, poor sound with fantastic sound, dirt with real showers and queues with the easy going Dutch. Lowlands is a music lovers’ paradise.

All the things that annoy me about festivals don’t apply here. Did I mention free laundry and saunas and that returning ten beer cups gets you a free drink?

The Killers rocked Friday to the rafters of the vast Alpha tent with a superb hit-laden set. Pure energy from start to finish, revellers were treated to Brandon Flowers at his best, stomping across the stage in a silver suit and pumping his arms to tune.

Calvin Harris played his first overseas festival date and proved that he has what it takes to continue exciting fans with his 80s fun pop. Fans packed in to see West Londoner Jamie T though I left feeling a little short changed from his set.

Saturday saw a fine display of powerful post-punk from moody New Yorker’s Interpol who delivered the good for me as a big fan. They had a great light show and played all their best songs, which helps. Kaiser Chiefs naturally lived up to expectations and had the whole festival pogoing away on Saturday night. They really do sound more and more like Blur.

With the sun blazing down on the lakeside site, on Sunday Kings of Leon finally lived up to their hype - the fourth time I've seen them now - and delivered the perfect prelude to godfathers of grunge, Sonic Youth.

I signed off the weekend with Canadian art-rockers Arcade Fire, ten on stage and I was in thrall thrall as the festival drew to a close, with a string of storming tracks from recent album Neon Bible and against a stunning backdrop including a church organ, screens and all sorts.

Happy holidays

This blogger goes to the Lowlands festival tomorrow morning so nothing will be written for a week. I'm going to see Sonic Youth, Arcade Fire, CSS, Interpol, Motorhead and more. Report to follow.

Lib Dem councillor and a stripper rolls on

The Bideford councillors who resigned from the Lib Dems after discovering that a fellow representative was a stripper have written to their local rag the North Devon Gazette to put their side of the story. Now that the tabloids have moved on, the three councillors claim they quit because Cllr Myrna Bushell's extra curricular work could be distressing to some. Perhaps this is a fair point, but I'm keen to know the Lib Dem Party line on this as they clearly sided with the stripper not the Bideford Three.

Did somebody ask how Mark Oaten is?

Oi Redwood! No!

Just a quick message to John Redwood and Cameron: I'd like to keep my guaranteed four weeks of holiday. So I really don't think reducing people's holiday entitlement will really be that popular, especially when we already work the longest hours in Europe. This is another challenge to Cameron to show if the Tories want to stay camped firmly on the right or if they are prepared to compromise and move to the centre ground. He has so far failed to align too closely with Redwood's review, but if he doesn't back it why set it up in the first place? My suspicion is that Cameron does back most of these proposals. We'll see very shortly.

Highbury Garage could re-open

According the Graun, the Highbury Garage has been sold along with several other London music venues. The venue was an important part in growing up in London as a music loving teenager and walking past it every day since it closed last year has always saddened me. I had assumed that it would be sold for housing but it looks like it will remain a music venue. The staff at the Garage had all been told it was closing for "refurbishment" but the venue closed and has stood empty since. To upgrade it will require a lot of work as it was quite run down, but I hope this will happen now it has been bought by entertainment group Mama.

Too much red tape for employers?

John Redwood seems to have devoted his career to reducing government's influence and cutting red tape. He must have been like a kid in a sweet shop when Cameron offered him the chance to prepare a policy paper for the Conservative Party on economic competitiveness.

However, the widely reported recommendations look to be ill thought out, such as opting out from the working time directive - which isn't possible - or just unnecessary, like making it easier to make staff redundant. Britain currently has one of the most successful labour markets in the EU so why change? Especially when employers aren't even asking for change.

I was heartened to read in Personnel Today that employers' lobbyist David Yeandle of the EEF (representative body for manufacturers) said "there is no great demand to get rid of existing employment legislation."

Britain backing Brown

So the polls show Labour still in the lead and the public backing Brown as the best leader by far. This makes great Saturday morning reading.

Cameron needs to respond and offer leadership and an eye catching policy that will attract voters. I'm still not convinced he has what it takes to haul the Tories out of their malaise. Tax cuts? Give me a break. Not a tax one though. Though this seems to be what he thinks will get Britain back on the Tories' side. I'm just waiting for a backlash in the Tory Party about Europe then the set will be complete, tax cuts and Europe. Will they ever learn that repeatedly beating the same drum in 1997, 2001, 2005 and now 2007 might not work?

£21bn of public service cuts would be a disaster at a time when investment is finally bringing services up to scratch. John Redwood's policy review claims that together with tax and regulation, poor infrastructure is a problem in the UK. How does he propose that we invest in new infrastructure with less tax revenue when what we have isn't enough?

Labour gears up for election

Following my last post, there just seems to be more and more coverage pointing to Labour getting ready for a general election fight. We appointed a new election chief yesterday and are now choosing our ad agency. Appointing Experian to manage the voter database, hopefully this means that a significant upgrade to Labour.contact will have a real effect.

The only counter to all this is Labour's financial position. We are in massive debt and the Tories seem to be on a decent financial footing. The longer we wait the better our finances will be but by then the Tories will probably have raised more so the gap will be the same - unless of course even more of their recent donors give them up.

Highbury, Corbyn and the general election date

I spent the morning canvassing with Jeremy Corbyn under a blazing sun. Our discussions turned to whether Labour will hold an election in May and we thought yes - Gordon Brown hasn't dampened the speculation which he would have done had May 2008 not been the plan. This will also be a problem for the Tories as it doesn't give them much time to actually come up with some proper policies. The next few months could be very interesting indeed.

It being Highbury, we also bumped into Nigel Slater. Awesome.

Healy

Cracking interview with Denis Healy in today's Graun. I always sigh with despair when I think back to what might have been had he become leader of the Labour Party and what was instead.

Spoof party political broadcasts

I've updated my links on here and while having a think about what I read online, I found the link to some spoof party poltical broadcasts from 2005. They are made to be what the two main partys and the Liberal Democrats would have made had there been no restrictions.

The Labour one shows a woman waking up with a posh Tory after a one night stand, but she can't get rid of him. He suggests going to Heathrow to 'test all the foreigners for AIDs.' Priceless.

The Tory advert shows a dirty Britian of anti-social behaviour and vandalism. It doens't seem very spoof, it is alarmingly realistic.

The Lib Dems 'portray' themselves as the caring independent arbiter for those sick of Labour and the Tories bickering. Of course, us Islington residents know that they are far from caring.

Am I really that good?

Yesterday I got a real boost as this blog was listed as one of the top 20 political blogs by highly rated sjhoward. Top Tory blogger Iain Dale has requested that people submit their top 20 and mine got submitted. I encourage you to submit your own list and please put me on there too!

I'm having a think about mine and will be posting it soon.

Lord Baden-Powell arrested!

On this centenary celebration day for the Scouting movement, I thought it pertinent to raise the thought of what might have been. I can recall reading in William L Shirer's excellent The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich as a youngster that had Operation Sealion been successful, Lord Baden Powell would have been arrested. Did the Nazis really think that the scout movement was a threat?

The challenge for Cameron

With criticism of his 'new' direction from the Tories ringing in from all directions, the real challenge for David Cameron is whether he can ride the challenge and see off the threat from his critics. He failed to do so on grammar schools, can he now see off Saatchi, Miraj et al?

Tubelines not keen on Metronet contracts

Reading about Tubeline's apprehension in taking on Metronet's failed Tube PPP contracts one thing seemed remarkable to me. It appears that much of th eprescribed work laid out in the PPP contracts omitted some crucial details. Terry Morgan of Tubelines cites the upgrading of Arsenal station, my nearest station:

"He cites an upgrade at Arsenal station as an example of the complexity of deciding the scope of work. Tube Lines undertook to put "a new cover on the station", but found it could not build on the existing roof. "So we had to strip the existing roof," he said - at Tube Lines' own cost."

It is remarkable that despite £500m of public money spent on drawing up these contracts that 'unforseen' situations like this could occur.

Hornsey and Wood Green - just two years out of date

I stumbled upon the Hornsey and Wood Green Labour Party website a few moments ago. I clicked on the "your MP" option, a little unsure as to what I'd find. Of course Barbara Roche lost in 2005 to Lynne Featherstone, but according to this site she is still running surgeries...Someone take it down please!

Metronet to become next Network Rail?

I read the headline "London mayor's transport team in talks to take charge of failed tube contractor" and so into the article where it was mooted that Metronet's contract will be taken over by TfL. However, half way through one notes that this story was driven by (my own) trade union Unite's statement that the Mayor had proposed to "limit the period that Metronet remains in administration and instead bring the operation under the control of TfL." This was withdrawn after Livingstone said it didn't reflect reality. I can't see Prime Minister Brown yielding to this either after the PPP was pushed through at his behest.

Lib Dem cllr and stripper

I picked this up from the Mail today: The woman who is a stripogram, kissogram and a Lib Dem councillor. Three Devon cllr colleagues of Cllr Myrna Bushell have resigned in protest that Bushell is running a sex phone line from her home in addition to appearing on Escort Magazine.

According to the Mail: "beneath several saucy photographs a price list says a kissogram is £85, stripogram (lingerie and strip) £95, topless strip stripogram £110, stripogram (full or g-string strip £125 or Strip Show (2x strips with a change of costume) £160."

Langham trial

Chris Langham, on trial for sex offences, has had four charges dropped against him today and told the Court he had been sexually abused as a child. It looks like this case will continue to unfold.

Black still set for life in jail?

According to legal experts quoted his old stable Telegraph, convicted fraudster and former Lord Crossharbour Conrad Black could still be sentenced to over 20 years inside. At least food and shelter is free in jail, as I was saddened to read that he also faces losing his Florida mansion - not that he'll be needing it - after failing to pay the $5m mortgage on it.

Of course it is worth noting that Black was nominated for his peerage by then Tory leafed and now Shadow Foreign Secretary, William Hague.

Twenty years of Tory mess

I'm not actually talking about their often ruinous tenure in power from the year of my birth until the moment when our Tony stated "a new dawn has broken has it not?" to the Royal Festival hall in the early hours of 2 May 1997. No, actually about the turmoil that followed the ousting of Maggie and what followed.

Edward Pearce is a prolific writer and journalist. His comment is free column today is well worth a read. He makes some wonderful historical and slightly tongue in cheek comparisons between Tories and historical figures. Thatcher as Pope Pius IX the infallible. Good to look back on what theyhave been up to while all us Labour folk think about ourselves all the time.

Metronet: Atkins and Balfour Beatty keen to keep on

Reading statements from Metronet partners Atkins and Balfour Beatty recently suggesting that they take part in a new PPP contract surprised me somewhat. Especially the quote from the BB spokesperson that "we have all the staff, equipment and know-how there already." Is this the same know-how that led to £2bn of cost over runs and repeatedly missed deadlines for engineering work blighting Monday morning commutes?

The next 50 years of Tory mishaps?

I was mildly amused to read this about the Tories future incompetance - and be reminded of the potential for the future. I'm not getting carried away but it would be nice...

The future for the Tories

As I stated last week, yesterday's Housing Green Paper is a good start towards sorting out Britain's property crisis. Politically it creates a critical juncture at which the Tories must decide whether they believe in social mobility or protecting the interests of those who have wealth.

The Tories will either opt for nimbyism as illustrated by Grant Schapps or will they embrace the spirit of Thatcherism and support plans to extend property ownership to those who can't afford it any more with spiralling prices, like myself? Not that I'd ever vote Tory anyway. Remember that they sold all the social housing off in the first place.

The Tebbit test

I was fortunate enough to be given a free ticket to yesterday's play at Lord's for the First Test between England and India. I went with some Asian friends who were supporting England and India. I had a great day and saw some great cricket, Pietersen's 134, RP Singh's five wickets and then some great early bowling from England. It was disappointing that Sachin Tendulkar didn't make a big score though I was delighted with Panesar's wicket and subsequent celebration. Unfortunately some of the British Asians in the crowd seemed to take offence to Luton born Panesar playing for England. There were some racial taunts aimed at him in Punjab when he fielded near the Mound Stand which my friends objected to. Some unsightly scenes followed but without any major incident ocurring.

Ruth Turner

I just have to say how pleased I am that no charges will be made against anyone involved in the cash for honours (or not as it turned out) case. I'm absolutely delighted for Ruth Turner. I have worked for her, taken her advice and found her to be a generally inspiring, honest and super person.

Metronet: taypayer pays again

The taxpayer paid £500m for Metronet and Tubelines respective PPP contracts to be set up. Now Metronet are unable to manage their finances properly, the taxpayers pay again. It appears to me that this stems from Metronet's greed in attempting to award all contracts to their constituent companies thereby keeping all money within the cycle. However they couldn't even make this work when they were running it all themselves. So we'll probably have Tubelines running the whole PPP.

One night, two Labour meetings

Last night I went to two Labour Party meetings. The first was the Progress debate in Parliament: How can Labour Win. The second was Islington North CLP's monthly General Committee.

Progress: How can Labour Win was invigorating and motivating. Speaking were Roger Mortimer from MORI, Chris Leslie from NLGN, Polly Toynbee, Yvette Cooper and personal favourite, James Purnell. The "usual" topics were covered. Mortimer stated that there is a gap between voters' local experiences of public services (very good) and their views of the national picture (less so good). Importantly though he stated that for Labour to win, we need middle class votes. To win in the coming years around two thirds of Labours voters need to be from the middle classes. We can no longer rely on C2DEs. This is why James Purnell is right that the only way Labour can be successful is by staying loyal to New Labour.

The main out-take from this event is that Labour has a good story to tell - and we need to go out there, campaign hard and ensure that everyone knows about it.

Housing repeatedly arose as an issue. Here we have a real opportunity. In the 1980s the Tories were the party of the home owning masses. Today Labour has the chance to seize that territory. More social housing but more shared ownership schemes are needed. I await the Housing Green Paper on Monday with baited breath. This is also something that has been consistently debates at Islington North's GC.

Tube bans Gay Times ad

I was disappointed to read that the Tube had rejected a Gay Times advert (shown here)celebrating 40 years since being homosexual ceased to be a criminal offence. It will be interesting to see what the London Paper and Gay Times poll finds. Do people still think this sort of image inappropriate? I hope not, I hope we've moved on and that the Tube can be shamed into their backward thinking of this. We should be celebrating 40 years of a progressive law change under a Labour Government and this sort of petty behaviour really doesn't help.

Black versus Maxwell

So today The Guardian's Michael White wrote a thought provoking article touching on some of the same points I raised no Friday following Conrad Black's conviction for fraud. Read it.

Metronet going bust

Yesterday's post about the Tube PPP Arbiter's decision not to cave in to Metronet's demands for more Government hand outs attracted attention to this blog from both PPP contractors, Metronet themselves and Tubelines. It is of course interesting to note that Tubelines hasn't faced the same problems as Metronet.

Metronet failed to competitively tender work, preferring to offer it to it's member companies, including Balfour Beatty, WS Atkins and Bombardier. They obviously saw this as a way to make more money at the public expense from themselves by running a closed shop. Tubelines have offered contracts competitively.

More seriously though the public purse looks likely to pick up th ebill from Metronet's chronic failure to deliver. The transfer of risk from public to private sector was one of the strongest arguments made at the time the PPP was being proposed. At the time I thought the cost of drawing up the PPP high. The vast sums, around £500m, spent on lawyers and management consultants to draw up these contracts failed to envisage this. This money could have been invested in the system directly. However, I was happy to see the PPP go through if it was going to deliver real investment into the network at effectively a fixed price to the public purse.

Now it is likely that Transport for London will have to arrange a re-financing package. This isn't how it was meant to work. Something was clearly lost between the Government's argument at the time and what was put into place. I'm sorry to my Dad as I remember saying to him at the time that the PPP was nothing to worry about when clearly this is proving a big waste of time and money.

The National Audit Office's 2003 report into the PPP "London Underground PPP: Were they good deals?" will make for more interesting reading now.

Metronet

So Metronet look like going bust. The only people who seem to have benefited from the PPP on London Underground are management consultants and lawyers who drew up the preoposterous idea in the first place. The whole point of the PPP was to transfer the financial risk away from the public sector. Yet when things go wrong, Metronet simply hold out a begging bowl to the public purse. Asking TfL for £551m to cover extra costs wasn't on and I'm pleased that Chris Bolt, the PPP Arbiter, only offered them £121m.

I'm not sure what this means for the future upgrading of the tube but what it says about poor decisions made in the past is stark. Transferring risk to the private sctor doesn't always work - just look at the rest of the railways. Metronet have shown little regard for the public purse and I'm pleased that they are being stood up to. London Underground's MD, Tim O-Toole, said “I’m determined to make the case that the public should not be forced to pay a penny for Metronet’s inefficiencies.”

Conrad Black guilty of fraud

I was pleased to read that Conrad Black, made Lord Black at the request of WIlliam Hague, has been found guilty of fraud. He is looking at 15-20 years inside for plundering $6m from Hollinger's funds, including the pension fund. Sometimes I feel that the USA for all its unbounded corporatism gets it right where the UK seems toothless. Shame he couldn't quite manage to take the Daily Telegraph down with him...Chicago remains my favourite US city. This case shows that sometimes, if you really are very guilty, it doesn't matter how much you spend on the best lawyers.

You can't polish a turd.

I wonder how William Rees-Mogg of The Times now feels after he wrote of his support for fraudster Black a few months ago? Rees-Mogg talked of the lavish parties, which were at the expense of Hollinger which Black did not own, and not of the charges against him. He said "risk-taking entrepreneurs are essential to the development of the economy." I suppose Robert Maxwell was a "risk taker" as were those in charge of Enron.

Arizona State Government

I've had several hits from Arizona's State Government since my blog about their Department of Corrections selling prisoners uniforms. Good to see they care about their image.

Grange Grove's finest to run for Mayor?

Accoding to this, Boris Johnson now seems likely to run for Mayor. About a week ago he said he wasn't interested. Next time I pass his house on my way home from work I'll have to knock and ask him.

Hanworth Park by-election

I noted that last night Labour's vote increased slightly in the Hanworth Park by-election, Hounslow, next to where I grew up. I hope to see a similar boost in Ealing Southall shortly.

Alistair Campbell at Foyles

Next Thursday at Foyles on Charing Cross Road Alistair Campbell is giving a talk promoting his book. Right now watching his diaries on BBC2 I'm looking forward to hearing him speak again, getting a signed copy and reading it. On Tuesday I was talking to a close friend, a former City Editor of The Observer and Sunday Times and he said to me: "Am I the only person who really likes Alistair Campbell?" I replied, not at all, perhaps it is just the both of us. Next Thursday I look forward to finding out if there are others.

2020 Vision

After all the furore over Charles Clarke and Alan Milburn's website launch a couple of months ago, little else seems to have happened. Perhaps they have got out of their respective prams and are crawling around on the floor looking for their toys?

The Thick of It

Armando Ianucci's The Thick of It is my favourite comedy of many a year. It annoys me that many of my politico friends haven't seen it. Shame on them. The last two episodes have not featured Chris Langham's character, Minister for Social Affairs Hugh Abbott after Langham is now on trial for child porn and abuse allegations. The trial is now underway and Ianucci said he didn't want to make another series without Langham. We'll see what happens.

Labour Watch - Lib Dem candidate for Sedgefield

I have to say, good spot to Suz Lamido. I've been a regular reader of Labour Watch for a long time. I'm a Labour loyalist but the gossip on his blog and some of the mishaps made me laugh - and he was always very close to much that was going on. So like many others I noticed that invited readers only can now access this. Good spot to Islington Lib Dem blogger Suz that Greg Stone, the author, is the Lib Dem candidate for Sedgefield.

Fancy an Orange jumpsuit for your birthday?

USA's penal system frequently sickens me. They have harsh penalties, high crime rates and a racially unbalanced prison population. Since reading Jon's Jail Journal for the last few years, I've become particularly interested in Arizona's system and the harsh system of remand in Maricopa county under Sheriff Joe Arpaio. I discovered the Arizona Department of Corrections website and didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I saw that it is possible to buy the full range of prisoner uniforms.

Ealing-Southall

Some interesting under-hand activity from the Tories in Ealing-Southall it seems. I first read Tom Watson's blog about underdog parties betting on their candidate to shorten the odds on them, then release campaign material saying "it is neck and neck here." Then I read the Lib Dems response. They must be furious that it appears that E-S Tory campaign head is posting YouTube videos claiming to be from the Lib Dems. I'm not convinced but I'll keep an eye out if the truth is unravelled.

London Oratory School and Alistair Campbell

I was interested to read in Alistair Campbell's diary that Neil Kinnock dubbed the London Oratory School a "waffen SS academy" whileCampbell himself held strong reservations about the school. I have a number of friends who went there and I could never get over the ridiculous rules and discipline of the place. It always reminded me of a private boarding school, without the fees, though pupils are expected to pay for lunch there, by the school magazine, pay for school events and buy an extensive uniform...Saturday detentions for 6th formers etc.

Come back to Labour

I know that many of my contemporaries who wold naturally support Labour have been put off voting for the Party because of student tuition fees. I wonder whether any of these might consider the Party again in the light of today's announcement that two thirds of all undergraduates will now qualify for a grant?

A few snippets

I was trying to see whether Cuddly Dave's Tories actually had any published policies on their website and perhaps they are starting to get there. I thought I'd see what they were proposing in 1997 and a few of that manifesto's promises made me chuckle. Were they never to be, well actually, though Labour has been in power, I found one that definitely has.

In 1997 John Major's Tories wanted to:

"Over the next parliament, our aim will be to achieve our target of a 20p basic rate of income tax, while maintaining a maximum tax rate of no more than 40p."

This was a feature of Brown's last budget as Chancellor.

Further, from this year on Corporation Tax Major's mob proposed:

"We will cut the small companies rate of corporation tax in line with personal taxation as we move towards a 20p basic rate."

This was enacted this year too.

But of course, I don't want to be doing the Tories' job for them, they are bad enough at that already. There is much they opposed in 1997 and after that I wanted Tony Blair's government to do and they did.

Major proposed that:

"No Conservative government will sign up to the Social Chapter or introduce a national minimum wage We will insist at the Intergovernmental Conference in Amsterdam that our opt-out is honoured and that Britain is exempted from the Working Time Directive: if old agreements are broken, we do not see how new ones can be made."

Of course, we signed the Social Chapter and this has made drastic improvements to the quality of life of millions with more holiday, better paternity and maternity rights and an end to poverty pay with the National Minimum Wage.

Gordie

Listening to Gordon Brown's leadership speech is getting me excited about the next couple of years in this country. The biggest issue facing the country is the lack of affordable housing. That Gordon prioritised this as the first policy area in his speech shows how important he sees it. I hope that involving the private sector, housing associations and local authorities can bring about the sea change we need. It is a matter of supply and the supply must increase for the price to drop and it remains to be seen who will be building these new eco towns. I'm not sure how building new towns will really help people like me though. I was born in London. I work in London and I don't want to live anywhere else. In London there has to be smart development, making the best use of land and it means increased density.

Tony Benn and Lynne Featherstone

Normally one would be shocked to find a member of your own Party supporting the opposition, that is true of course except when it is Tony Benn. It just sickens me. I picked this up from Adrian McMenamin's blog. A high profile Labour member appearing on Lib Dem literature supporting them and not us.

I can't understand why someone should be allowed to be in the Party when they are campaigning against it. Surely that is why one joins a different party? This is even more shocking for those of us living in North East London, especially as a local friend and colleague, Catherine West (Leader of Islington Labour Group) could well be fighting a Parliamentary election against Lynne.

Labour and the media

Tony Blair's speech yesterday where ghe dubbed the media a "feral beast" has gained plenty of coverage. His point that the media no longer reports news, instead comments (and passes judgement on it) struck me because about five years ago I went to a Camden Labour Party meeting at which Alistair Campbell made the same point.

Isn't this because newspapers specifically are always behind the 24 news agenda, they are no longer in real time and are never informing their readers of events for the first time. Campbell gave this response to my question in Camden when I asked why Labour, a government meant to be obsessed with spin, is so poor at getting it's message across.

I do feel that Blair's analysis of the present situation of the media - politics relationship is correct. However, I feel it is much more a chicken and egg situation as to who is to blame. I do feel though that Labour's paranoia was inevitable after 18 years of opposition and unfavourable media coverage. The easy answer is that the media despite claiming to have been pro-Labour at least in the immedate post 1997 years, is naturally anti-Labour.

Many have commented that Blair is feeling sour grapes as the tide as turned against him and while there is truth in that, I think he has prompted a worthwhile debate about our political media. Michael White states that his analysis is "hard to dispute" and I was interested to note his comment that Blair downgraded Parliament, but so did newspapers in stoppoing Parliamentary reports in the early 1990s.

London Lidos

When it is the weekend and the sun shines I head for a lido. I am lucky that I grew up near Hampton Pool and now have both Parliament Hill Lido and the newly rebuilt London Fields Lido close by. On a warm afternoon a trip to a lido is a holiday at home, I can't recommend it enough. London Fields Lido has just been rebuilt and after opening rather late is probably the owner of the best facilities of London's lidos.

My South London friends are always going on about Brockwell Park Lido so I was pleased to read that this is going to get a facelift.

You should look like the people you represent

I've always believed that the people's representatives should look like the people they represent. That is one of the reasons I stood as a young man in last year's local elections and support measures to increase the numbers of BME and female representatives, like Labour's all women shortlists for winnable seats. It is a shame the Tories and LiB Dems are not so interested.

For Dave's Tories, his famed A-List of candidates has struggled to make the changes to how they look that were originally vaunted. The Lib Dems don't look like they've even tried if a look at their candidates for next year's GLA elections is anything to go by.

Indeed, this has caused quite some controversy within the party, including Islington Mildmay councillor Meral Ece and local blogger Suzanne Lamido. This also got a short piece in the Islington Gazette. For me this shows that while many political tourists see the Lib Dems as to the left of Labour, this is another example of what they really stand for - as Meral says, a "white" party. It certainly isn't the behaviour of a party committed to equality.

The leftist CLP in the country?

According to one scribe, my CLP is "arguably a contender for the leftist CLP in the UK." Of course, this blogger is part of the Socialist Youth Network, to which I have never been interested in being a member of. It was interesting to read the thoughts of other readers who were surprised that INCLP voted for Gordon Brown (when he was the only candidate) and Harriet Harman for deputy. Perhaps this shows that the Labour Party remains pluralist but perhaps not in the manner that some who might like INCLP to be the leftist in the country want it to be. My CLP has always been comprised of a number of different political affiliations, far beyond the McDonnell and Campaign Group supporters.

Hornsey and Wood Green

I came across an interesting discussion about Labour's chances in Hornsey today...

Hornsey and Wood Green

Islington Labour Group Leader Catherine West has been shortlisted as a candidate for the Hornsey and Wood Green constituency and the next general election. Good luck to her.

Michael Howard

Something of the night was at the European Cup final last night and was interviewed by Nicky Campbell on Five Live this morning about the poor organisation of the crowd control. He said he didn't think the game should be held there. William Gaillard, UEFA's rent-a-quote who I normally think of as a vacuous man of words and no action came back with a tremendous riposte:

"It is very easy to say it is not a suitable stadium, coming from the man that invented the poll tax."

Well said.

South West Trains

I've been meaning to write something about this for some time. The publishing of the Local Transport Bill and the proposal to allow local authorities to introduce pay-as-you-drive charging reminded me of the 20% increase in off peak fares for those travelling from outside of the Travelcard zones area. SWT are trying to price people out of travelling in busy periods, though this now stretches until midday.

While studying economics at university our tutor explained how pricing can be used to control market behaviour and cited British Rail as an example. SWT are now doing this because people travelled at the end of the peak period to avoid high prices and overcrowding. This smacks to me of operators promising the Treasury big payments to secure franchises, money that has to be recouped. In the past it was directly from tax payers, now indirectly from sales taxes and service users.

Brent: Dudden Hill by-election

Just thought I would mention that a good friend of mine is running the campaign in Brent for Thursday's Dudden Hill by-election. A Lib Dem councillor with a majority of only 32 was disqualified for being a council employee and elected at the same time. Funny how nobody told her? Anyway, Camden and Islington Lib Dem blogger Suz Lamido reckons the Lib Dems might lose. Fingers crossed...

Islington South

Islington South CLP has a place in my heart - it being where I stood in the local elections last year, but also a constituency that is warm, welcoming and hard working. This goes right down from MP Emily Thornberry herself (the boss), to the staff and activists.

So it is with pleasure that I can point your gleeful eyes to her new website, it is well worth a look. I like the fact that it includes examples of her campaigning on issues in each ward. It has been very well thought out and shows a real local campaigner with evidence of activity across the constituency - not just a "working hard for you" slogan done in that handwriting font in the top corner of a leaflet. Go on, have a look.

I live in Islington North, home of Jeremy Corbyn, who we all know to be a great constituency MP. I'm a governor at Highbury Fields School where the Head Bernard McWilliams has achieved fantastic results in recent years (despite Islington's poor reputation for education). We discussed a planning issue for which the Head had written to Jeremy and he said that "as always" he had received a prompt and detailed response. Good to see both Islington MPs working hard for us.

Islington Lib Dems at it again

The Islington Fire Sale continues to generate interest, with today's Guardian diary featuring a snippet on yesterday's post about the Islington Lib Dems protesting against their own post office closure at 238 Essex Road. I got there first, but I suppose I don't have to go to print...

Sustainable Ming, part 2

I recently derided Lib Dem leader Ming Campbell for his pledged support for the Sustainable Communities Bill - seeking to preserve high streets - while also supporting his party's administration of Islington. Islington Lib Dems as we know is in the process of selling off more than two hundred properties across the borough.

It has been widely stated that the sale of these properties will drive rents up for local shopkeepers and threatens to turn Amwell Street and Essex Road into big brand chain store clones. So it was with interest that I heard about Ming visiting Essex Road post office today to campaign against it's closure by the government. Funny that, when this property is actually one of those to be sold under council leader James Kempton's Islington Fire Sale. The sale brochure states that the buyer of the post office site could increase the rent by 85%, from about £15000 a year, to around £28000.

Is Ming finally losing it? Has he gone senile? Campaigning against the closure of a post office that your party itself wants to close? Or perhaps he has decided to carry on where Charles Kennedy and Boris Yeltsin left off and he has hit the bottle...

This is yet another example of Islington Lib Dems claiming that they are listening - having "learnt" the error of their ways having received less votes than Labour in last years local elections - and instead continuing to ignore the wishes of the community. It is so absurd it would be funny if it wasn't true.

Deputy Leader Hustings

Last night's Fabian - Progress Deputy Leadership hustings certainly helped me decide between the six candidates. When the carousel started I didn't see much between the candidates, though I thought that a Brown premiership should be balanced by a female deputy. My favoured female candidate was Harriet Harman, though I felt her performance was woeful.

When Harman spoke I switched off, she didn't show any passion, rambled and didn't grab my attention.

Blears = passion.
Hain = polished though not engaging.
Johnson = relaxed.
Benn = kept talking about international development. Not enough Party talk for me.
Cruddas = looked out of his depth.

You could tell it was a Fabian audience, I felt there was too much talk about education, though there was an interesting discussion about the 11+. Peter Hain said selection is not a socialist issue, Alan Johnson thought it electoral suicide to scrap the existing grammar schools and I agree. I'd like to see an end to selection, however Labour's electoral position makes that impossible at the moment.

Michael Crick thought Hazel Blears the winner of the night. I agree. She showed passion, desire and enthusiasm, exactly what the Labour Party needs to reinvigorate itself and campaign to win. At university I used to go to Salford Labour Party to phone canvass every week and she was infectious one on one as she was last ngiht in front of an audience.

Peter Hain came across as slick and polished, every bit the professional politician. However I didn't get the feeling from him that he was "one of us" - a party member in cabinet. I feel he wants the job for status, not for what Blears would do, to motivate the Party.

Alan Johnson, up to now, my choice, came across as relaxed and natural. I think he would make a very strong Deputy Leader. He had all the best quips and reminded those present that Labour needs to win elections to do anything, which is why some compromises have to be made.

I'm now undecided between Blears and Johnson, though I'm tipping in favour of Johnson. I do so because I think he comes across better in public. Blears can often come across as "media trained" and like a bit of a Blairite robot. That is harsh I know and she really isn't like that, but on TV it sometimes looks like it.

Dirty Leeds

I can't help but think that Leeds United have cheated their way out of debt by going into administration then having the adminsitrator KPMG agree to sell the club to a new company comprised of the same people who were in charge before. Nevertheless, it is still great to see them fall.

Have they no dignity?

Islington Lib Dems are up to it again - voting themselves through a 5.5% pay rise while offering their staff a below inflation 2%. Already the highest paid councillors in the country this is another slap in the face for Islington's council tax payers.

Council leader James Kempton called the Labour Group's decision not to take up the increae in allowances and to donate it to charity a "cheap shot." I can't believe he has the cheek to say this when he is feathering his own nest quite comfortably while letting down those who work for him and pay his wages. Even Islington Lib Dem blogger Suzanne Lamido agrees with Labour's stance. What exactly has Kempton done to deserve such a hefty hike just a year on from the local elections which saw his ruling party cling on to power by the Mayor's casting vote, despite polling fewer votes than Labour. At least Ming is still their national leader, so they'll keep missing open goals on that front whilst creating them for their opponents in Islington.