Leafleting in Horsforth

There is much to criticise about the "Focus" culture of the Lib Dems of which more in a minute. Nevertheless its the anchor of the party in local communities and my solidarity trip to Horsforth on Thursday showed why. If you spend a lot of time walking up and down the area you represent you can't help but (a) meet a lot of people (b) get a very good picture of what state an area is in. A walk in the evening sunshine is as much exercises as I ever get and far from unpleasant. I had a good nose a round, noted some planning applications and case work points and had a good chat with some Horsforth activists.

There in was a mild frustration. Delivering the quantity and quality of leaflets that the Lib Dems do takes time and effort. Frequently to the exclusion of other things. It was interesting to hear the old cry that we never have time to discuss policy or think. All because the delivery timetable is so tight. I have nothing original to say about how to square this circle but don't apologise for talking about it. We have a tendency as a party to ware people out and on occasions treat them as delivery fodder. I have given my self a mental kick as well. I have been promising to organise some discussion groups for years and have done bugger all about it.

The Knightsbridge of the North

While walking down Briggate yesterday I had to smile. Strolling along was a woman with a full Burka. Not an unusual sight you might ask in Central Leeds? The smile came from the fact she was burdened down not by the yoke of Patriarchal Islamic oppression but 6 Harvey Nichols bags.

One of the reasons I remain a long term optimist about integration in Britain is this. What ever anybody says underneath we are all more or less the same.

Londonistan by Melanie Phillips

I have read this book so you don't have to. I imagine I will get little sympathy from progressives for having paid out hard cash for a Phillips book. As it turns out I deserve none as its a 300 page Daily Mail article. The writing is superb, the internal logic is unhinged. My defence is I do try to do some counter intuitive reading now and again and had heard good reviews. Also perhaps the liberal left needs to pause and think a bit more about the Multi Cultural project when indigenous citizens start blowing us up. I remain of the view that the most disturbing aspect of the post 7/7 posthumous videos of the bombers was the impeccable Yorkshire accents.

However this book is a travesty. After about 50 pages of genuinely thought provoking stuff gives way to 250 pages of shrill hatred. The pitch heightens and heightens until by the final chapter only the Dogs can hear it.

Islamic terrorism has been made possible by the BBC, the Church of England and the Gays. We have committed cultural suicide, created a vacuum and radical, Nihilistic Islamofacism had filled it. A more disturbing Original Sin has been committed though. We have not supported Israel sufficiently and anti semitism pervades western culture.

Trying to follow the logic of opposition to say, the Civil Partnership Act and following it through to people being blown up on the tube, is a wonder to behold. I'd be fascinated to hear her analysis of White Christan terrorism like the IRA or ETA.

Does she make any good points? frankly yes but no one will ever consider them because of the all deafening hate. I recognise the political classes tendency to recognise self appointed tribal leaders as speaking for the "Muslim Community" what ever that is. But then is that really so different to buying off the chair of a Local residents group that emails a lot? I doubt it. Have we tolerated some unpleasant people in London over the years rather than departing/imprisoning them? Perhaps. Has this generosity been abused? perhaps. However the central , fatal weakness in Phillips argument is this. She wants to defend western liberalism and free speech but then complains bitterly when people use it to say things she doesn't like.

The Revenge of Gaia by James Lovelock

This is a deeply unsettling book.

Chilling in that its not a standard call to arms over Climate Change. Lovelocks argument is that its already to late. Climate cooling feedback mechanisms have already "tipped" into reverse and will add up to 8 degrees to global temperature ending Civilisation as we know it.

Chilling in that it makes you think. Lovelock takes aim at a number of sacred "Green Cows". He is pro nuclear power, anti renewable energy, scathing about organic food and queries whether Urban lifestyles can ever be made "sustainable".

Chilling in terms of his prose. His passages evoking the dark ages as metaphor of whats to come grip me and the shadow over the book is that its clearly his last. Given his age and tone but it adds to the dramatic effect of a prophet crying in the wilderness.

Chilling because its James Lovelock and the name means that you have to stop and think whether he right?

Its only 150 pages and I would urge everyone to read it. Its not perfect. If civilisation is doomed I'd be more comfortable if he buttressed his arguments a bit more. However that's what makes it such a good read. His lack of apology for using the original Gaia metaphor ( thought up by William Golding ) sumates the style. This is Old testament prophesy rather than pop culture Science. Its comforting to be told that the Planet is screwed but don't worry switch energy supplier and go to the bottle bank and it'll all be OK. This isn't that kind of Book. Gaia is angry and we have invoked the Fury of the Goddess. He makes no attempt to persuade you, Lovelock is delivering judgement.

I'm not a scientist but Gaia: A New Theory of Life on Earth was one of the first serious books I read when I was young. I didn't fully understand it but I got the idea. I think for many people its the author himself that will be most upsetting about this book. Lets all hope he's wrong but he's not a name you can dismiss as easily as the Guy with the Sandwich Board saying the end is nigh.

Elinor Lupton Centre Update

Today's YEP confirms that the Elinor Lupton Centre, part of the Leeds Girls High School site is indeed being targeted by Wetherspoons for conversion into a pub. Not just any pub but by some margin the biggest in the area. I often reflect that I went into politics to change things and actually spend much of my time trying to stop things happening.

I think like most long term residents of the area I just groan at the news. I can't imagine they have a hope in Hell of getting either a licence or planning permission so we would be looking at just shy of an 18 month fight via the Planning Inspectorate and a court fight over the Councils "Cumulative Impact Policy" (CIP) for the A660.

I know a lot of outsiders will ask why all the fuss over another pub on the "Otley" run and point to Wetherspoons positive policies on things like real ale and family dinning. The answer of course is " walk round Headingley on a Saturday night." Although we all talk about the "Town Centre" Headingley is a residential suburb and ordinary streets intermingled with vertical drinking establishments have brought misery for many people. Its all very well talking about the regenerative effects of the Night Time Economy but that's little comfort to a community that faces nightly violence and vandalism and wants to know why the Council can't cope with the vomit, rubbish and broken glass.

I'm doubtless sounding like the Daily Mail. I spend a lot of time in pubs and am not anti alcohol. However I can just speak as I find and the growth of Headingley as vertical drinking centre has devastated the shopping centre and driven many residents out.

LGHS were keen to exclude the ELC site from the planning brief we are all arguing over at the moment. Now it seems we know why. I'll be writing to the school in the morning to ask them to choose a more socially productive bidder than a super pub. I will let everyone know what the reply is.

School Days

The future of the Leeds Girls High School site off Headingley Lane continues to absorb lots of time. I'm chairing an Area Committee working group on the issue and this is generating a lot of meetings and email. The good news is that the Leeds Girls High School Action Group ( LGHSAG ) is doing excellent work. This is a residents led, democratically mandated group that makes all the difference in these kinds of planning battles. I'm pleased we have been able to get them about £950 of council funding to pay for there administrative structures and costs. Communities are always the Davids to developers Goliaths in these battles.

With a decision on the Draft Planning Brief ( see previous posts for a critique ) due on 22/8/07 at the moment we are focusing on press coverage at the moment which is beginning to roll in. As I have observed before the planning system doesn't really allow you to plan anything. As is always the case we seem focused on preventing negatives rather than achieving positives.

We fight on.

Advocatus Diaboli

For mid term By Elections, in Government held seats, after 10 years in power Ealing Southall and Sedgefield are remarkably good results for Labour. I will enjoy as much as anyone the next few days of Tory turmoil as the wheels come off Cameron's bandwagon but I have to ask aloud whether the Lib Dems have a Plan B for a deeply unsettling scenario. That the " Brown Bounce" becomes the " Brown Recovery".

I won't take any national polling seriously till after the Conference season churn is over in October. Its quite possible even likely that "events dear boy, events" an interest rate spike and faltering house prices will soon bring Brown back down to earth. All I ask is a few of the runes from these results be read and we are prepared for tougher times ahead if they come.

1. No Tory squeeze in either By Election. Why Not?

2. Disturbingly High "others vote" in Sedgefield. Are we now sufficiently "establishment" as a party to not be a protest vote? Indeed in terms of vote share we seem to have done little other than pick up most of Reg Keys vote.

3. Ealing Southall is the first By Election since 1989 where have failed to win against a government having started second. Its also one of the lowest Anti Government swings in a By Election for 25 years.

My argument isn't that these results are bad. We have made clear progress in both. My argument isn't that its a deep mystery. The "Brown Bounce" explains why our progress may have been blunted. My argument is that we all seem to assume that the recent labour recovery is a flash in the pan. What if it isn't? What if 3% to 4% have gone back to Labour post Blair as they always intended to. We have dinned out for years on the famous Photo of Blair and Bush grinning at each other plastered across a million focus leaflets. There are more than enough other reasons to oppose this illiberal government but for the moment we have not worked out what that looks like now the more obvious Iconography has gone.

We need to think about that soon.

The Banks of the Wear

Monday had one of those moments of unalloyed joy that are so rare. I fell in love with Durham, when I studied there, way over and above affection for a old University town. Before heading off for campaigning duties I spent an hour walking round the river banks of the Wear by the Castle and Cathedral and along the Bailey passed my old College.

The magic was as much aural as visual, the morning chorus of the birds, the river, the swish of oars and the rustling of the leaves. I'd defy anyone to begrudge the Durham peninsula its world heritage site status but I have always felt it does early morning and dusk best. Its something about the lighting of the stone. The old Walter Scott cliche about the Cathedral being "half Church of God, half Castle against the Scot" sprung to mind.

I know its easy to be nostalgic but I was struggling for a reason that morning not to pop back for a year or two. Setting that aside i really can't explain why I haven't been back for a day trip for years. Its a little over an hour on the train. Durham (sadly) absorbs very few of its graduates as permanent residents and I suppose the fact that no friends stayed on is the real reason why.

I also smiled to see that St Nicholas' the Market place Church had changed little and seemed to have introduced more measures to getting passers by into the Building. An odd link to end with but much thought has been going on about the Churches presence in Headingley town centre. I will blog about this soon.

The Woman In the HSBC

After Orange Boarding at Charles Kennedy's visit to Newton Aycliffe yesterday ( and by the way he was on very good form, if he can beat the bottle I'd vote for him to come back like a shot.) I popped into the HSBC branch to make a counter withdrawal. ( My bank card being down the back of the sofa in Leeds)

It was one of those epiphany moments which remind me why I went into politics. The Counter assistant was a bit bemused by all the hoopla outside. Apart from the Lib Dem scrum we had had what we think was a Labour activist in a fox suit and a BNP loud hailer van with leaflets from the Christian Party ( It seems they don't like the Gays )

She spotted my orange sticker and asked if I was with the Campaign. We had a really lovely chat about the (quite appallingly) run down shopping centre and the effect it had on the town. And why seemingly no one, not even Tony, could do anything about it. She was local, had always lived in the area and I suspect wouldn't be moving any time soon. The pride about the town radiated in her voice. Admittedly I had done no canvassing but it struck me as the only real conversation of my three days there. We finished the conversation with a sigh implicitly acknowledging that in all probability nothing would change. Foolishly I didn't check her name badge but I couldn't help but mull about her for the rest of the day.

Three Days in Sedgefield

I returned this afternoon from Sedgefield where I put three days into helping the By Election Campaign. It reminded me about everything that I love and hate about By Elections. The Chief thing being that By Election HQ's don't do nuance and reflexivity. So if I admit to having love and hate emotions about them to anyone there I get rather strange looks....

I enjoyed myself enormously. Great hospitality from the Durham City Councillor who put me up, gossip from across the country from fellow activists, debate and lots of wisdom from some of the older County Durham Members who were flocking to help. Despite appearances I'm not a "Green Ink" emailer to national figures in the Party but I suspect the Director of Campaigns may be getting some thoughts after polling day.

The Constituency is stunningly beautiful in my view. Semi Rural and stuffed full of strong communities. There are some real pockets of neglect and we are entitled to ask that if a PM can't deliver certain basics in his own patch then God help the rest of us. I would just add though ( warning, reflexivity approaching..) I wonder if some of the southern based activists really know what the Thatcher Governments and the Miners strike really did to coal mining areas. Labour have failed in all sorts of ways but would a Tory Government have even tried?

Go if you are free tomorrow http://www.sedgefieldlibdems.org.uk/ What ever the result there is a certain satisfaction from seeing a generational one party state getting both barrels of our by election machine. As a political activists shaking up a one party state is reward enough for me.

Game On

The thing I am most enjoying about Post Blair political life is the reemergence of serious policy debate. In the last 10 days we have had the outline of serious Constitutional reform from Labour, the launch of " Breakthrough Britain " from the Conservatives and today's proposals from the Tax Commission from the Lib Dems. While doubtless much of this has been saved up to try and attract press attention I suspect we will be better governed by discussing ideas rather than the TB/GBies or speculating about when Blair will go.

You wouldn't expect any coherent theme to emerge from policy announcements from 3 different parties. Perhaps I'm looking to hard but if I spot two its these.

Firstly its interesting how all 3 seem to want to redefine themselves against a previous self image. My own party has the ( excellent ) proposal to cut 4p off the standard rate of Income Tax leaving the lowest rate since 1916 ( the last time we were in power nationally). It was of course not that long ago that our signature policies were a penny ON Income tax to pay for education and a new Higher 50p tax rate for incomes over £100k pa. In fact the package is more redistributive than the old one and a major shift to Green taxation. But the mood music is different.

The Conservatives focus on a "Broken Society" admits that there is such a thing as society. Although strictly speaking this was a misquoting of Lady Thatcher this phrase came to symbolise for many what the previous Conservative government was about.

Labour seems to be screaming in code "Forget Tony". Parliament voting on wars and ditching the Super Casino are counter intuitive moves designed to say we have changed.

I offer no explanation why all this is going on but it does dovetail with my second thought. Is the political class finally cottoning on to the fact that all is not well? The last 10 years have seen a consumer boom fuelled by what is almost certainly an asset bubble. Yet the social science suggests we are not any happier for it. The emergence of the housing shortage as an issue, the sudden prominence of debt and addiction as topics for debate... I suspect we politicians are waking up to that other insecurity of modern Britain. We have had no shortage of medicine these last years for the fear of terrorism. From tanks at heathrow to 90 day detention government has tried to assuage our fears. However bubbling along is the stress of a credit fuelled chase for more and more goods chasing an ever more perfect and unaffordable home. I some times wonder if Location, Location, Location has caused more insecurity than some terror alerts.

I'm not suggesting that the banks will be nationalised tomorrow or the commanding heights of the economy seized. Perhaps it will all blow over by September but when even the Daily Mail begins to complain about the super rich perhaps something some where is shifting. The reason all parties seem to want to travel from what they once proclaimed is because they realise that the voters are out ahead of them this time?

Astro-Turfing

I have been following the By Election coverage on varying blogs including Lib Dem Voice and Conservative Home. I fear things may be getting a little out of hand. I enjoyed today's post from Stephen Tall on http://www.oxfordliberal.blogspot.com/ about the tribalism that by elections bring out. I'm off to Sedgefield on Saturday and Ealing on Monday. I'm capable of answering the tribal war drums. I shouldn't admit it in public but I always find there's something a bit "Lord of the Flies" like about the intensity of by elections.

It was 20 years ago last month that a 14 year old David Morton won his school general as a liberal candidate ( Don't try and visualise its too distressing!) I have never felt more self confident in my own liberalism than today. I suppose whats changed over the years is a dislike of the pettiness that some tribalism brings.

Thankfully no one reads blogs other than the political anoraks (like me) so this will all blow over. Defecting councillors and Vice Chair People, out of context blog quotations and troll posts will wither to dust. However the communities will still be there and so will our principles and that's what matters in the end.

Still Don't Panic

Varying political websites are reporting tomorrows Sunday Mirror ICM Poll of Lab 37 -2 Con 35 N/C and Lib Dem 17 -1.

I remain of the view I expressed earlier in the week that the anonymous briefing against Ming and the Blog mutterings are misplaced. Given the political upheavals of the last two weeks these poll ratings look quite respectable in my view. They are of course much better at this stage of the by election campaigns than they were in Dumfermaline! I personally won't take to much notice of the trends in Polls until after the churn of the Conference season and the Brown 100 days is over.

That's not to say we don't face massive challenges and threats. Just that panicking won't help at the moment.

London Calling...the Shots

I find something slightly Ruritanian about the fact that the Church ( the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentemu ) and the Monarchy ( The Prince of Wales ) have led the civic response to the Yorkshire flooding. Put at its bluntest if similar numbers of Londoners, Westminster or Chelsea for example, had been made homeless and lost everything would it have taken the Prime Minister of the day over a week to get his fat backside up there to visit. Or would the national media have taken quite so long to cotton on to the scale of the damage?

No it bloody well wouldn't have. Even the "Manchester" Guardian relegated initial reports to page 6. Thankfully Leeds has not been hit as hard as some city's but we still have people that can't go home and whose lives will not be righted until next year.

Perhaps this may not seem like the time to make a link but if this had been Scotland or Wales
the response we have had would have been unthinkable. With devolved and maturing self government, but both with smaller populations than Yorkshire, they would at least have been able to howl for aid and probably better equipped to lead there own response.

Our Island's economy, media, culture and political structures are still over dominated by London. Devolution is too often portrayed as an anoraks charter. In fact as have been tragically proved its about the quality of Government and the impact that has on peoples lives.

Parting of the Ways

I have decided to leave the Hyde Park area. I've lived at more addresses than I care to remember around Woodhouse Moor ( known colloquially as Hyde Park ) since I moved to Leeds and the area 13 years ago. Its the "Bed Sit Land" of song title fame also known as "Studentland" and simply as " Leeds 6" . Academic research christened it Britain's first " Post Modern Suburb". In my time here it has had riots and reported to be home to " Britain's most burgled street. " It was also home to the 7/7 " Bomb Factory ".

I once described it as " Part Blade Runner, Part Bohemia ". It has the most amazingly diverse, creative, tolerant and stimulating population. All human life is here and 13 years of inter action with it has helped make me who I am. Anyone with a pair of eyes can see it suffers from nearly all of the failures of urban governance. I have tried to do my bit.

Why leave? Well it won't be quite yet I'm looking at a slot a few months either side of May 2008 when I stand down from the Council. I don't yet feel ready for a life in Slippers and the Suburbs but I do need a bit of a rest from complexity. I have a few ideas in Leeds where I might go for a while but nothing settled.

Meanwhile the sounds of seasonal change fill the air. The nights now seem silent after the student exodus but the days are filled with power tools as Landlords move to hack away at empty properties. I don't buy the Ghost Town idea of the area during the summer. Population density is down to the city average now that all. Never the less so intense is the rest of the year that the summer seems blissfully quiet.

Wetherspoons in Headingley?

Credible intelligence reaches me that Wetherspoons is in the bidding for the Elenor Lupton Centre on Headingley Lane, part of the Leeds Girls High School site. This is a huge building and would be the biggest pub in Headingley by quite a margin.

While I'm not entirely immune to the charms of wetherspoons - cheap beer, real ale and cider, food and family centric and with no live music or sport - I think 99% of long term residents of the area will be apoplectic. Another huge pub on the "Otley Run" can only add to enormous problems we already have with alcohol related disorder. The site is in the "Cumulative Impact Policy" area some times known as a "saturation policy" which superficially allows the Council to simply refuse a licence for new big pubs in the area. However Wetherspoons have a history of successfully challenging these policies in court and have all the might of a big national company.

While the school has always been open about dealing with the ELC separately from the main site perhaps we can now see why. They would never have got acceptance of a super pub into a Planning Brief so its useful to have this site outside its scope. As I have observed before this site is private property and the School can sell it to who it wants. Yet more community energy will have to go into fight inappropriate development when we all have better things to do with our time. Watch this space.

LGHS Public Meeting

First a local update. Leeds City Council has extended the deadline for comments on the Leeds Girls High School Draft planning brief ( view details on www.leeds.gov.uk/lghs ) till 12/7/07. A final decision will be taken by the Council's Executive Board on 22/8/07.

I won't say this improves our chances of getting a better deal but it will now be a decision taken by elected politicians in public not unelected officers in private. That can only be a good thing. Last weeks public meeting was well attended and a bit choppy at times. Its worth noting that in the whole two year process to date not a single resident has told me they are sorry the school is going. I have no ideological objection to private education but am I being harsh to suggest that the Schools major contribution to the area has been a major traffic problem? To say "Yes" would be popular with a lot of residents. The one major contribution they have made is what makes the sale of the site so sensitive. The school is a collection of open green spaces, excellent and often listed buildings, sports facilities and mature trees. It typifies the best of the Headingley conservation area and symbolises so much of the quality we have lost to Landlordism. Everyone has a collective fear of seeing a substantial site being crammed with Buy to Let portfolio flats.

So far the local community is singing from the same hymn sheet. Unanimous opposition to the Draft Planning Brief - it fails all the tests on green space preservation, affordable housing, public benefit and housing density.

The worst thing I could do is over emphasise the influence that local politicians have on this. The School complex is private property and can be sold to who ever the school likes when they like. In many ways we could say we are "lucky" that the Grammar School is seeking to sell with out line planning permission. I suspect its easier for us to deal with a public body with a reputation to protect than some faceless property developer at this stage. My advice to residents?

1. Comment on the Development brief if you can.

2. email your local councillors and MP.

3. be prepared for a lot of hard work. This process is going to take years till the new development is finally built.

According to Sterotype

Today I received the news letter of PAFRAS ( Positive Action For Refugees And Asylum Seekers) www.pafras.org.uk. This is a Leeds based organisation doing grass roots relief and advocacy work in the Harehills area. The letter along with a thank you note was sent because of my £200 council MICE grant I had sent them.

I have been reflecting on the philosophies and prejudices of how a Councillor allocates the £3000 he/she gets every year to allocate to projects. I have always been fiercely parochial about grants keeping them in ward. However in valedictory mood I thought about the principle of redistribution. If I have £3000 of tax payers cash do I have any responsibility to simple give some of it to those that have nothing?

My second more complex thought was about symbolism. As it happens I think much of the liberal left is dismissive about peoples' genuine concerns about mass immigration. However can there be a more demonised group in Britain than refugees and asylum seekers? I would argue not. I did a brief stint in an Interim Accommodation Project in Sheffield earlier in the year. The asylum seekers I met were certainly in Public Housing - some of the worst available and yes were in receipt of (pretty low) benefits. I have no doubt though that they were relative and absolute poverty.

It may be acting according to stereotype for an old hippy like my self but if we are dishing out public funds I think PAFRAS is as good a recipient as any. It may also be according to stereotype for a liberal like my self to use public funds to make a point. All politicians spend money to make points and this is mine.

www.leaveleedstidy.com

If 70% of Headingley's housing stock is buy to let multi occupancy and 80% of those houses turn over tenants on the 30/6 to 1/7 then you can imagine what the ward has looked like over the weekend.

A bit like an Inner Urban apocalypse. The rubbish system can't cope with the sudden out pouring of domestic waste, Landlords dump tonnes of what is in my opinion trade waste on the streets and teams of bag rippers descend on the area looking for pickings and credit card receipts. I have done my best to try and improve the Councils response over the years ( though the tax payer should foot the bill I don't know) and my Colleague James Monaghan has led the charge over the last two years. All credit to both Students Unions' for coming up with www.leaveleedstidy.com and the accompanying leaflet. There are so many alternatives to just dumping stuff as well as the social benefits of donating to charity shops.

Students get a hard time in the press but three cheers for this initiative. Apologies for plugging it so late in the day.

Don't Panic

I hope tomorrows Populus Poll ( Lab 37 Con 34 LD 18 ) will calm a few nerves. I read Norfolk Bloggers thoughtful piece today calling for Ming Campbell to stand down or be forced out. As an aside it will be interesting to see what role the blogosphere will play in the issue over the next few months. It was the media inferno of 24 hour rolling news that was used to ease out Kennedy last year. Could the party's internal guns be used next time? ( Fellow Leeds Blogger Carl Quillam also has it in for Ming)

As I have commented before when discussing or trying to engineer a forced change of Leader. Be careful what you wish for. Another bloodbath may well put in place, eventually a more telegenic face but that's all. It won't shift Gordon Brown and the appeal to Iraq protesters to go home, it won't shift David Cameron or stop him being the first Conservative leader for 25 years to tack to the centre. Its unlikely to whistle up amazing numbers of new members. Whoever had been leader over the last 18 months would have had to cope with the ending of the most benign political weather for the party for 25 years. We have made massive gains while faced with a Unpopular government AND opposition at the same time. This was never going to last for ever.

Agitating for a new leader is a useful kind of transference which will allow the party to avoid facing up to some hard issues. Narrative, equidistance and possible coalition. We may feel better for 6 months after woods but they will still be there waiting for us.

Jamie Matthews selected for Headingley

Jamie Matthews has been selected to be the Lib Dem Candidate in Headingley Ward next May when I will be standing down. He is 23, lives locally and works as a political organiser. One interesting biographical note is that he tells me he had co editing responsibility for the infamous Jody Dunn By Election blog in Hartlepool in 2004.

On this basis you can imagine what he has had to say about this one over the last year. I promise this will be your only appearance on this blog Jamie but I just couldn't resist....

Good Luck!

I would like to be an MEP but....

I Cancelled last Saturdays " Euro Policy Conversion interview". For non party hacks this is a process I needed to pass to be able to stand for the European Parliament. The Lib Dems are beginning to select there candidates for the 2009 elections now. I would genuinely would love to be a Euro MP and standing this time round would be essential experience for a serious attempt in 2014. So why cancel?

One of my great CV weakness as a Politician is my lack of experience at internal selection processes. Having seen a few at close hand over the last few months and witnessed the fall out from the GLA list selections one thing was clear to me. I had done absolutely none of the preparation necessary to fight a selection contest across a region the size of Yorkshire and the Humber. Without money and a campaign team I'd be on a hiding to nothing.

Whether this should be the Epiphany that it was is debatable. Internal self promotion inside the party is a skill I have often admired but never learned. Still at least it will allow me a few "Euro posts" over the next few months without fear that I'm canvassing for votes!