Three days after the night before.

Thank you

What a turnout!

Well, first things first. I need to say a massive thank you to the people of Ramsbottom. 1298 votes is nothing to be sniffed at, and made me feel very humble indeed. The support is very much appreciated and it gives me even more reason to believe that the number will be even higher next year with a little more work from myself and the Bury North team. Better than 3rd place next time? Watch this space!!

My congratulations also go to Ian Bevan, who I am sure will be working hard for the area for the next few years. I spoke to him briefly at the count and he seems like a decent and committed man. I’m sure that won’t stop us from locking horns in the future however on local issues!

Can I also say here how disappointed I was that the Lib Dems lost one of our hard working councillors in Sedgley Ward after a very close contest between all three parties. Andrew Garner has served his area tirelessly for many years and I hope that this may just be a blip in the electoral cycle and we will see him re-elected soon. I know that I speak on behalf of myself and the other members of the local party  in saying that all his work for the party is very much appreciated.

Labour taking this seat and three others from the Tories however means that we are now back in a situation of Bury Council being back at no overall control status, so locally the Lib Dems will have a much greater say in things, just as we find ourselves nationally. Maybe we can stop that Tory bandwagon after all.

Climate change

We asked the question - and even came up with a few answers!

During the election campaign I had the pleasure of debating some of the key issues surrounding the environment and sustainability with other campaigners and councillors from the other parties. The event, held at the brand Fusiliers museum in Bury Town centre was very well organised and a big well done needs to be given to Tristan Humphreys from Oxfam and the Bury Times who chaired the event.

The debate itself was quite a constructive event generally with the varying points of view put forward by Councillor Derek Boden from Labour and Councillor Dorothy Gunther from the Tories. (There was also a very knowledgeable guy from Oxfam whose name I unfortunately missed). UKIP unfortunately failed to turn up – no explanation why unfortuantely!

This was my first experience of publically ‘getting my hands dirty’ with other local councillors and I think that everything went ok. I can’t deny I was a little nervous, but I think I more than held my own. The fact that Mrs Gunther felt the need to bring out a few personal attacks during the debate about me not living in the area nearly as long as she had obviously means that I touched a few raw nerves during my time on the debating floor.

 All’s fair in love and war I suppose.

The full live blog can be read on Twitter if you’re really interested! Check out http://twitter.com/oxfamnorthwest for April 28th 2010 and you’ll get the full lowdown!

On we go…

 And so the political bandwagon rolls on. As senior Lib Dems and Tories to figure out who will be running the country, the same will be true in Bury for our local councillors and campaigners. Whether it be bins and street repairs locally or the electoral system and nuclear deterrents at Westminster, I’m pleased that the Lib Dems are right at the centre of things. We’ll do our best to make sure that the best job possible gets done!

Paul Jenkins – Ramsbottom Ward Candidate

  

Liberal Democrat Ramsbottom Ward Candidate - PAUL JENKINS

 

The clock is ticking… 

 As election day looms closer, some residents have asked if they can have a little information about what the campaign for the Lib Dems consists of. As we don’t have the financial resources to be able to get printed literature to people en masse, the internet will have to do! (Why publish to 5000 homes, when the whole planet could get access instead??).  I shall be trying to ‘do an Obama’ and point people in this general direction as much as I can!

Paul Jenkins 

The local candidate 

Paul Jenkins has been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate in Ramsbottom. Living locally in the area of Holcombe Hill, Paul has been a Liberal Democrat campaigner for over fifteen years. As a drama teacher and father of two young boys, Paul’s main priorities are for high standards in Education. He is a governor at St Andrew’s Primary and pupil voice co-ordinator within his secondary school, working with young people to ensure that their views are represented within the community. 

Other areas that Paul would like to see gaining more attention from Bury council include improved leisure facilities in the area (he completed the London Marathon in 2008 and is a keen amateur road runner) and the development of more community arts based activities in the borough. Finally, Paul would like to see the heritage status of Ramsbottom maintained and would actively look at ways of improving publicity about the area to increase trade for local businesses based in the “Jewel in the Crown” of the borough. 

As well as this, local Liberal Democrats in Bury have identified four key areas to improve the local council. 

1 – Get the Basics Right
We’ll concentrate on making sure that the basic services that everyone needs work well. This will include spending more money on street repairs, getting bin collections working and better gritting. 

2 – Better Place to Live  

We’ll make sure everything we do helps make our towns and communities better places to live. Our first priorities will be improving our environment and making people feel safe from crime. This will include providing extra community policing in each town of Bury. 

3 – Power to the People 

We’ll cut back Town Hall bureaucracy and give power back to local towns and citizens. Everything we do will be open and fair and involve local people. We will immediately give back the right of people to ask questions at every meeting of the Council.    

4 – More Money in Your Pocket  

We will keep Council Tax as low as we can, and make what Bury Council does great value for money for local people. 

Thank you for your time 

Paul Jenkins 

Ramsbottom Liberal Democrats

Always on the run…

Is it a bird?…er yes it is actually…

Election campaigning combined with getting healthy … who says men can’t multi task? The bit the picture doesn’t show you is the bird on the back, alongside the website details. I’ve got some good responses so far - a few hello’s, a couple of car horns tooted and the odd good luck. The people of Ramsbottom are getting used to seeing the giant running bumblebee now… 

The second time in my life I've been dressed as a bumblebee in public. The other story will have to wait for another time...

I’m hoping the press may pick up the story as a bit of light relief from the heavy dredge of the ‘big’ campaigning that people are already beginning to tire of. Below is the text of the release that went out earlier this week. Who knows if they’ll print anything – but why should you all miss on news of my foolishness if they don’t… 

Running for Rammy!  

The election campaign is now fully underway in the general and local elections, but for one local candidate, it really has become a race for office. Paul Jenkins, the local election candidate for the Liberal Democrats in Ramsbottom is attempting to run the length of breadth of the town to try and get his message across to electors. His aim is to run up every street in Ramsbottom at least once before May 6^th. 

Paul, who has been an amateur road runner for ten years and who has completed two Great North Runs and the London Marathon, is really enjoying this new challenge. “I got the idea when I was training for the Sport relief mile with my son” he explained. “Lots of people wished us luck as I was wearing my sport relief socks – so I for figured that while I’m training for the Joe Geeling Fun Run in June, why not advertise something else I’m passionate about while I’m doing it?” 

 “The response has been good so far, with some people even tooting their horns in support as they drive past. My only regret is that some of the ward is at the top of Holcombe Hill – I’m determined to get up there though!” 

Paul is one of four local candidates standing in the Ramsbottom ward and knows that it will be struggle to get his message across. “I’ve been meeting lots of people across the ward, but without the money of the other parties to get  thousands of pounds worth of leaflets delivered in the post, I’ve had to be a bit creative with how I advertise the campaign – at least I’m keeping healthy doing it!” 

The election campaign runs until 6^th May with three other candidates challenging to be the new local councillor for the area. For more details on the campaign you can contact Paul by email paul@burylibdems.net

Rumble in Rammy

Anticipation 

The debate last night was billed as “The Big Debate” by the people at ramsbottomonline.com, and maybe considering the fact Ramsbottom is not the largest of places, you could argue they were right. The three main general election candidates were asked to put their views forward to the electorate and try and convince us all why they should replace disgraced MP Daivd Chaytor as the representative for Bury North at the Theatre Royal in Rammy. With the election campaign only a few days old, this was the chance for the three candidates to really show us what they were made of. Would Labour candidate Maryam Kahn be the feisty, young thing that we’d heard so much about on the political rumour mill? Had David Nuttall turned around his image of simply being an empty suit to fill with Tory policies? And could Richard Baum really convince a place that weighs Tory votes in stead of counting them that the Lib Dems really are a credible alternative? The audience at the Theatre Royal was buzzing with these questions at 7pm last night and the evening didn’t fail to give us answers to those questions. 

 

  

David Nuttall, Conservative. Improved, but still lacking charisma

Lighthearted 

 

The debate got off to a good start with the chair for the night Arif Ansari (from the BBC’s ‘The politics show’) keeping things real by putting the candidates very much in their place. Pointing out that Nuttall had lost his last four elections on the bounce and that Maryam Kahn had given up the law for politics whereas her predesessor had given up politics for the law (David Chaytor is one of the big three in court for fraudulent expense claims) the audience were warmed up nicely. No merry quips about Richard Baum – maybe Mr Ansari couldn’t think of anything funny, maybe there was a little bit of “Oh – and here’s a LibDem” itis, but nevertheless we were off. Questions came thick and fast about the economy, the cuts to public services, the way that the candidates would engage with their local communities. It was politics as it should be – open, transparent and in front of people. 

Apathetic? 

Politicians all over the country often scratch their heads as to why so many people are turned off by politics completely and disengage with the process that is there to serve them. “We knock on their doors and give them thousands of leaflets but they still don’t go out and vote?”. Well last night we all witnessed a concrete example of why many people have just given up on the process altogether. The room (which was very nicely refurbished – well done people of the Theatre Royal!) was filled with activists of all political colours, as well as local people who were very much of the mindset that they didn’t know who to vote for, so were going to see for themselves. What that second people saw was the true nature of some (not all) local activists, who think that politics should be a gladiatorial debate and not a process of getting the best from your community. There were jeers, heckles and outright abuse coming from some parts of the room as the candidates tried to give their answers. 

The most worrying thing was that this was not from some young upstart who didn’t know better, this was from local councillors, many of whom have senior positions on Bury Council. When I raised this point with the chair and the audience as it was not helping those floating voters with any chance of making up their mind, I was told roundly to “Shut up” and “Get a life” by the boo boys behind me. I’m thick skinned, but if that’s the way they talk to their opponents in front of the electorate, it’s no surprise that turnout has been steadily falling for so many years. That kind of behaviour is for the Stretford End, not the debating chamber in my opinion although from many years of witnessing events like this – it doesn’t really shock me anymore. 

The boy did good 

And so how did the candidates get on? Well, that’s hard to me for say in a balanced way, as you know full well that I’m 100% behind our candidate Richard Baum. From my point of 

Maryam Kahn, Labour. A real dissappointment, failed to show up

 view, I thought he ran rings around the other two candidates. Using humour to soften the audience but then immediately backing it up with some solid information about policy, he’d obviously done his homework. There was warm appluse from all sides of the room for what he was saying and he seemed to be the only candidate with real debating experience. Clearly his three years as a St Mary’s ward councillor has paid dividends and he was in complete control throughout the evening.

David Nuttall has improved in five years since I saw him debating last election but he was clearly struggling to get his point across to the audience as there was very little in the way of policy that the Tories have announced in their campaign as yet. He did well with the little he had to work with, but you really do need the charisma of David Cameron to get an audience on side with so little substance. He’s a nice man, but charismatic David Nuttall is not.

The biggest shock for me was the performance of Maryam Kahn as the Labour candidate. With the questions being given to the candidates in advance, I would have thought that she would have done much more research into party policy as well as ensuring that she knew more about the local area (she has only moved back here recently to be a candidate). Struggling with her notes, tripping over herself on many occasions and failing to answer at least two of the questions put to her, she looked at one point like she wanted the floor to open up and swallow her whole. It was uncomfortable to watch at times and from speaking to some floating voters in the pub after has definitely failed to win over any of the people that came with an open mind. 

The best they can do? 

The real thing that the debate showed to me is that the problem of having the wrong  people for the job of local MP will continue for a long time to come. We all know that the Lib Dems have a mountain to climb if they are to win a seat like Bury North as there are so many ‘core’  Tory and Labour voters who would not have witnessed the debate last night, nor will they hear about it other than from political wafflers like me. The glossy leaflets which are costing tens of thousands of pounds from the two Labservative candidates will make no mention of Maryam and David’s lacklustre performances in front of their electorate, nor will they give an idea of how poor either would be as a representative of the people of Bury North. The Lib Dem campaign – funded entirely by activists (ie on the cheap) will always look third place in comparison, leading to the assumption from voters that we are not to be taken seriously as a party. With no union backing and no tax dodgers ploughing millions into party coffers, that’s unlikely to change anytime soon, so the status quo looks set to rumble on. 

Richard Baum, Liberal Democrat. The winner in the room on the night

My major worry is that if this is only target seat number 46 for David Cameron and the 46th most marginal for Labour, then what is the quality of the candidates like for seats no 100 & 150?  These people are clearly not good enough to hold this office, yet are statistically likely to do so. More than worrying. 

A footnote 

Completely aside from all this – last night I also had the pleasure of meeting the pirate party candidate for Bury North. Contrary to popular belief, he had no parrot or wooden leg and didn’t start every sentence with an ah-hargh! apparently they are a serious political organisation. How disappointing…..

And we’re off….

Shleepy 

This post WILL be short as I’m dog tired already, and we’re only at the end of day two. Maybe working till 11:30 last night stuffing envelopes for a supporters mailing wasn’t great in terms of my grabbing enough shuteye…

This could also have something to do with being up at the crack of dawn to speak to a researcher from Radio Five Live about the possibility of having some sort of local voice from the Lib Dems on their Breakfast programme that this morning came from Bury . She nervously enquired with her producer, who politely informed me that Sarah Teather MP was going to be doing our bit for adding balance to their programme from London. (Which to me defied the point of the Beeb sending a whole crew up here anyway…) And after I’d got up to get down there for 6.15am as well – how rude! Still our girl Sarah did well, even convincing an online listener to switch allegiance live on air! Having caught her speech at confidence, she is a very safe pair of hands and good at getting people on side.

Nominations are now finally in for the candidates in the locals (I am now officially ’The Ramsbottom candidate’)  and now we have to have our candidate here in Bury North’s parliamentary papers to be done as soon as possible. Will these pointless pieces of paperwork ever come to an end?? By the way if you haven’t had the time as yet to discover why you’d be silly enough to vote anything but Lib Dem in Bury North as yet, I suggest that you check out Richard Baum, our candidates website. He’s a man on a mission!

As you can tell, now Gordon’s hit the green light, everyone’s on the go – but trying to fit all that in with two kids on school holidays is not that easy either. I’m feeling a little guilty that I’m not out there with the troops tonight, but have been filling my time with my real job (exam marking waits for no man!) and doing the artwork for a campaign leaflet in one of our target wards. With only 29 days left (hooray for the facebook countdown calendar!) there are still plenty of jobs to be done. Including of course waflling into cyberspace for no good reason…

Chuckle

To finish I thought I’d share this with you, as it made me laugh at just the right time today. Sums up everything we already knew…  

I've seen many of these floating around, but this was the first to make me chuckle out loud...

I hear you knocking….

No need to ask he's...

 

Perma-grin  

It was Tony Blair who was the first to really nail the technique of smiley inanely no matter what cataclysmic events were going on around you. Love him, loathe him, voted for him or not, you have to admit that the man knew how to put on a public face. There’s reason Gordon has dragged him back onto the campaign trail this week. Who else could have seen his approval rating shoot through the roof in the week following the death of our nations ‘treasure’ – the ‘peoples princess’ as he dubbed her… (one of these days I’ll get round to writing a post about that awful week… Best not to do that when we’re mid election though…Might just see my chances getting votes in double figures plummet…).Blair is a politician who knows how to turn on the charm, even when he’s marching you into countries you have no right to invade. In the words of Sade, he’s a smooth operator. 

Aside from all my general loathing of the chap, learning how to put a brave face on it has been directly nicked from Blair by yours truly and its been put to good use this week as I seek hunt down nominations for our candidates for the local elections. Between my new permagrin and the inevitable implementation of 24 years of stage experience, I have played the role of keen yet likeable, community minded gent pretty well, despite a number of fairly big obstacles this week.  

Life don’t make it easy  

The week started badly with the car officially conking out on me. My little Meg is no more and it put me well behind schedule in getting out to electors for nominations. For those of you that don’t know the process, each local election candidate will need to be nominated by ten eligible voters  in that particular ward. If you can’t get to them to sign your bit of paper then you’re having trouble. Bearing in mind that we’re working to a strict deadline to get all the papers to the town hall by a Noon on April 8th delays are not something that are useful.  

So with no car I go swiftly out and trade my rusty 13 year old 3 door blue Fiesta for a rusty 13 year old 5 door sick green Fiesta (that’s it’s official colour on the dulux chart). Back on the road I get ready to go out and face the public…And then get straight back in the car as a deluge from the heavens that Noah would have been proud of appears.  Mother nature clearly not a fan of democracy this week.  

When I eventually did get out of Harry (note -when you name a new car, get a 5 year old to do it – they inevitably choose somthing sensible) I was ready for the task ahead. The image had been carefully chosen – (smart, but not annoying politician smart) the clipboard was at the ready (from my recent shopping spree at Lib Dem image) and my Blair-esque smile was on, filled with the knowledge that I would meeting some new faces, collecting a few signatures  and going on my merry way. I was clearly in a naive little bubble. And as my fellow Hammers will tell you at the moment, Bubbles are very easily burst.  

Fortune’s always hiding  

The first fifteen or so houses were no shows. No one home or the television is deemed too important to leave your chair for. You wouldn’t believe how many people will just take a glance at the window, see that it’s someone they don’t know and not bother to get up. I could have been delivering a cheque for £1 million pounds and they wouldn’t have shifted their inactive backsides. I suppose ‘Home and Away’ is just too important to drag yourself away from sometimes.  

But eventually I get off the mark. A nice lady in her eighties allows me to come into the hallway away from the intermittent drizzle to sign the form, she spends a good twenty minutes telling me her stories about what she wants to see changing locally – simple stuff, the things the local politicians can do something about, bins collections, street lighting, tidy the place trying to find something for the kids on the estate to do. She’s pleasant, she compliments me on doing something to try and change things and sends me on my way. Okay, so in a time and motion study I’ve spent twenty minutes getting one signature, but I don’t care, I feel like I’m a bit more informed about the challenges that this particular part of Bury faces. I’ve done something that matters so I walk away, bubble very much intact.  

The part of "man who will think twice before threatening me on a doorstep" will tonight be played by an actor, as taking a picture of him might be considered 'provoking' by a court.

 

Swearing  

I don’t like casual swearing. I don’t mind it in a comedy routine. I don’t mind it in close company and I definitely know the cathartic value of using guttural words in short bursts when you stub your toe for the nineteenth time of the same piece of skirting board. It’s got it’s use and I’m certainly not an angel in that sense. Working in a secondary school also immunises you to a lot of ‘catharsis’ so I guess I should be less taken aback by the use of the expletive deleted in everyday conversation. But I don’t think I’ve been ever been verbally attacked in a way that made me so ashamed to be a member of the same genus as I was on the doorsteps this week.  

I knew there were going to be people who were disgusted by the actions of the MP’s embroiled in the expenses scandal well  in advance. Being in Bury North, David Chaytor the outgoing MP is a member of the big three who are currently involved in the criminal trial over fraudulent mortgage claims. I know people have been let down – hell, I have and it does make me angry. But would I try and take out my anger on a stranger on my doorstep by telling someone “to f*** off, you p*** in the same f****** pot!” (slam). No I wouldn’t. Partly because I’m a grown up and partly because I check my facts. There have been very few times that I have done as he’s suggesting, but I don’t recall any of the candidates for Ramsbottom ward sharing my potty, let alone Elliot Morley and David Chaytor, all of whom are of a significantly greater age than myself. Maybe I just forgot.  

I won’t deny that there was after that a little bit of me just wanted to give up and go home at that point. Why should I put myself on the line for abuse when I don’t appear to have any means of registering a retort? Well, luckily for all involved I took a deep breath and carried on.  

The rest of the street was as we’d begun. Twenty odd out, nice people here and there, signatures from most who were politically minded enough to want to get involved and more outbursts almost identical in nature from men in their fifties who should by now have learned better. I was quite proud of myself at one house towards the end of the route when I managed to sneak in a bit of a fightback. Bizarrely, he used exactly the same wording as the first old grump that answered the door further up the street. Word must have got round about my toilet habits. He wasn’t as physically intimidating as the first Neanderthal but did have an equal amount of venom in his voice. But he wasn’t as quick with the door and that was his downfall. When informed that I metaphorically contributed to political detritus in a colloquial manner I came straight back in my best teacher voice with a very firm “Actually, I don’t”. There was a brief pause as the the shock of someone arguing back with a coherent statement dawned on his ill informed face, followed by “Have a nice evening sir, please take the time to vote on May 6th”. A flash of permagrin, 180 degree turn and away. I didn’t actually punch the air, but we all know that in my heart I felt just a couple of feet taller.  

Small victories.  

Now first of all I don’t advise getting into petty arguments with people who are likely to lamp you if you don’t get the timing right, nor am I going to get into any silly arguments when I’m canvassing on doorsteps over the next three weeks. It’s a fruitless task that doesn’t help anyone. But I do think that we need to do something about the negativity surrounding politics and politicians in general. The connection between everyday people, local campaigners, councillors, MP’s and the government has been completely broken, with nobody knowing if they are coming or going. I’m pretty sure that I have never raised the level of VAT on goods back to 17.5% in my life, but I actually got blamed for it on a doorstep this week. Because politicians did it. It didn’t matter to that person that it wasn’t my party doing or that economic decisions of that nature are not taken by people standing in local town council elections. Politicians have become ‘them’ and apparently the nation has even provided us with a collective bucket to relieve ourselves in.  

Fightback  

So the fightback needs to start. No more hairshirts because of the actions of the few, I’m going to be pointing out to people the positive things that my colleagues and I do that are not part of the general nastiness floating about in the media. We get stuff like roads and pavements fixed for people, we work closely with people like the police service to try and make things just a little bit safer for people, we organise local events to raise the profile of the area, we fight on people’s behalf when they come to us with a problem that no-one else seems to be able to solve. Local politicians and campaigners are still doing the same job they’ve done for hundreds of years.  

And for some of us who have not yet reached the lofty heights of being elected, we do it for no financial reward. I’m out here knocking on your door, because I want to make our local area a little bit nicer. 

Please don’t slam the door in my face.

An old grump writing to moan.

 Grumpy

 Last week I sent this letter to the Bury Times. Stuff not being done properly makes me grumpy and I’d had enough. They’ve decided not to publish (as yet) so you may as well have a gander at my chirpy, yet damning verdict of waste collection services in dear old Rammy.  

 

A blue bin with rubbish to be recycled in it - for all you Visual learners out there....

Dear Editor…

I have held off from writing this letter for many months now, as I wanted to see just how ludicrous things would get before I put pen to paper. I think we may possibly have reached the pinnacle now, so I feel confident that things couldn’t possibly get any more disorganised with our waste recycling here in Ramsbottom. 

At the end of last year, a new recycling calendar was put through our door after the Conservative council decided to change the delivery routes to ‘improve’ things for us all. Two weeks later, I received a different calendar in the post (this time in a costly envelope with a first class stamp) with a note to destroy the old one as it had been delivered to our route by mistake. A glitch? No, it was just the beginning. 

 On the first run, they missed us completely. But I bit my tongue – we’re classed as a farm route and I can understand why the blue bin might be missed as we’re classed as being in an ‘awkward’ place (that’s the call centre’s description – not mine). 

Then came the snow. Lack of grit equals lack of road. Lack of road equals lack of collection. It was the beginning of February before my Christmas wrapping paper was on its way. At least this time though they got it right for the blue bin, but mucked up the paper. Bags were taken – but not replaced. Oh dear. More phone calls, new bags delivered. 

February was mostly fine, we all thought we’d settled. Until we had the same problem last week when the green bags were not replaced after collection again. Personally I’m ok, as I managed to pull one out of a ditch at the bottom of my hill that must have fallen off of the truck – I have no idea how many others may be bagless. 

And then to top it all off, today I received a copy of the recycling calendar – the same one I received three months ago in the post! What a waste of money, time and my patience. When the Conservative council promised to make things ‘easier’ by changing the routes, was this really what they had in mind? 

All it means is that it has strengthened my resolve to become a councillor myself, and I would like to thank the frustrated residents of my street for offering to nominate me in the upcoming election. I hope I would never make as much of a mess of something which should be so simple. 

Yours sincerely 

Paul Jenkins 

Ramsbottom Liberal Democrats

Roving reporter…

Nick Clegg delivers a rousing speech at conference

On location

Today’s batch of waffle is a bit special, as it’s coming from you on location! Ooooooh! Well, it’s being drafted on location and you’ll get it tomorrow, but the spirit is there nonetheless. I am currently sitting in the reception area at the Lib Dem conference in Birmingham, watching the great and the good go by. It’s kind of like hanging out at the Oscars but the Gucci’s been replaced with fleece.

Nick Clegg is as we speak doing a piece for Channel 4 news about ten feet away to my left, while all around me people councillors, campaigners, MP’s and pressure groups do their bit on the political merry go round. If you’re into this sort of thing, which I clearly am, conference is the place where you feel like a pig in mud.

 Now Chris Huhne’s just walked past. No Prada handbag though…

 It’s my first time at a national conference and I have to say it’s been a very motivating day. From my arrival onwards, I’ve found the whole thing to be wholly professional and very slick, a sure sign that the Lib Dems are aiming for much greater things in this election and beyond.  Let me take you on a tour….

The Conference hall

If you’re right at the back, it’s a very calming place to grab a few z’s, as I found at least one of my elder colleagues doing late in the afternoon session (no names – I’m not that cruel!). If you’re at the front its where the magic happens. Policy debates (we’re one of the only parties that still have them) happen here as well as the key note speeches. So today for example I’ve heard the policies on fair taxation and manufacturing adopted, as well as hearing a speech on Housing from Sarah Teather.

The afternoon session in the hall was given to a Q & A session with the leader and Nick Clegg clearly knows how to handle a room. We’re a friendly crowd but not frightened of asking difficult questions and I quite bravely put my head above the parapet to do so.

Halfway through asking about how the party was going to deal with accountability for head teachers in failing schools, I suddenly realised that a room with all my local colleagues as well as the front bench team (including Vince Cable, Chris Huhne, David Laws &  Ed Davey) were all listening to this difficult bloke from Bury North. It was only when I sat down that I realised how much my heart was  pounding! Good to know that even after years of experience stagefright can still grab you when you least expect it. Keeps me on my toes!

 Fringe events

Lunchtime was going to be filled with an event on the fixing the problems in our electoral system but it was full by the time I got there – which goes to show I think the popularity of Chris Huhne in the party. He may have lost the leadership election, but he still pulls a big crowd. I am however off to a shindig at the BBC this evening, which should be an event in itself as its being hosted by Sue Inglish, head of political programmes. I wonder if she read my last post??!!

As well as this there were numerous training events across the conference plaza – some on campaigning, some on electoral law. If you want to get genned up on your political activisim – conference is definitely your place.

The stalls.

Every man and his dog wanted to be my friend today. I’ve missed a few out here but I’ve had a fair old chat with people from the Agents association, the association of Lib Dem councillors,  Lib Dem LGB, Christian Lib Dems, Secularist and Humanist Lib Dems, the Education branch, Liberal Youth, the European group… I couldn’t find the Lib Dem Jedi branch but I’m sure they must exist. If not, I’ll have a stall next year.

Best of all (sad, sad, sad…) I went shopping at Lib Dem image. New car sticker, new pin badge, new clipboard. I stopped short of a mug with Vince Cable’s face on, or the “Nick Clegg’s Credit Crunch chocolate” which was ironically quite expensive. There’s only so much yellow you can have in your life. Best buy was clearly the key ring for my car keys – no repeat of the dropping them without realising events of two weeks ago! Ha ha!!

Star struck

Saw Floella Benjamin. Nuff said.

A good old social

Luncthime I ran in to the Parliamentary candidate (PPC) from Basildon, Geoff Williams - friend of the family and one of the nicest men in politics. (Last time we saw each other I was in short trousers, crossing electors off the list on polling day – you’re forgiven Geoff for not recognising me!) We caught up, reminisced, shared a few ideas. The evening was also great, sharing a burger and a chat with two of my colleagues from Prestwich (Ann and Andrew – the £10 will be winging its back to you soon I promise!) and the Parliamentary candidates for Warrington, Leeds & Walthamstow. It was a lively evening and everyone was very welcoming. A sure sign that politicians can be personable after all.

I am also reliably informed that there is a ‘glee’ club after hours which delegates flock to make absolute fools of themselves by having a good old sing song. Pre-dating the American sugar coated trite that is currently gracing our screens on Sky (it seems this has a 20 year history at least..), this appears much more rough and ready. From the reports I’ve had it seems like a mixture of overworked politicians,song and red wine - a damaging combination I’ve had experience of before. I escaped though – had a long drive home and just caught a hint of what I escaped on the radio. Discord was definitely the name of the game from the clip that Jon Pinaar was subjected to.

Tired boy

The following day and I’m shattered – an awful lot packed into one day – goodness knows what it must be like for those at the top end of the party who also have to fit in a few thousand interviews with the press and the ‘special interest’ groups who I saw floating about trying to woo political support for their respective causes. But a good day nonetheless and everyone’s now suitably perked up for the election to come. Bring  it on Gordon – we’re ready to rumble

I’m really not a friend of Andrew Neill

Scream

The television is the reason I’m involved in politics in the first place. During the run up to the war in Iraq I got tired of shouting at Blair through the 6 o clock news and did something more practical instead by helping to cause traffic jams by laying in the middle of the road with some other grumpy students. After getting a sore bum and almost getting trampled by a few dozen police horses I felt I had at least achieved something. It didn’t stop a war but it made my voice heard. Albeit briefly.

Now, seven years later and I’m shouting at the TV again. Except now it’s not shouting at ‘the man’ that’s getting my goat. (Metaphorical – I may have moved closer to the countryside but there’s been no acquisition of any livestock at chez Jenkins). No, now I’m shouting at the gogglebox because of the people that put ‘the man’ on a platform in the first place. I’ve been getting increasingly frustrated as we run up to the election with the complete lack of balance shown by our broadcasters towards the political process.

I have come to accept over the years that our commercial broadcasters will always have a leaning towards the right in some way or another and to be honest, that actually makes a little bit of sense to me – well at least I can understand how it would happen. Monsignor Murdoch owns the lions share of the broadcast and printed media in the UK so I would expect that his content would be skewed towards anyone who stands towards the right of British politics. Are you frightened about immigration? – so are Sky news! Are you of the opinion  that all young people are just yobs who are high as a kite on smack while throwing bricks through windows? – ITV news are your guys… These broadcasters rely on advertising for their funding, so it’s inevitable that there will be some sort of sensationalist approach to the news. It has to be exciting or who the hell will watch?

So if you want balance – you’ll have to go to Auntie. The good old beeb. Our national broadcaster, funded by us all and the envy of the world in terms of its journalistic integrity.

Yeah, right.

It’s not easy being green.

I’m not a green voter. I don’t think Caroline Lucas (the leader of the greens) has any real coherent argument when it comes to forming a national government. I can see a glimmer of reason in what the Greens stand for at a local level but their policies on the economy, education and crime do seem to have been tacked on around their central argument of ‘We have to save our floating rock from turning nasty’. I will recycle Caroline, but I’ll never be voting for you.

A recent poll yougov poll however recently showed that nearly 34% of people would ‘consider’ voting green in an election, suggesting that environmental issues are beginning to find a platform – maybe even giving a wake up call to the ‘larger’ parties in Westminster. But did we hear about it?

At the more distasteful end of the spectrum , there good ol’ Nick Griffin, everyone’s favourite Nazi. The BNP has a support that is growing as steadily as a tenor’s waistline and yet there is little coverage of their political activity unless it is in the courtroom or there are dairy products flying about. Would I LIKE to hear what they have to say? No. It will drive me nuts, but then at least I will be able to see clearly how ludicrous voting for them would be and I can make an informed decision.

We got a glimpse of it on the recent Question time but we’re now back to them being in the shadows, which quite frankly is where they are at their most dangerous. The media torch needs to be back on the party of hate if we are going to be able to show them for what they are. Which is frustrated people desperate for some answers and lashing out because of it. Will that happen? I doubt it.

The same is true for the people in Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland. They have a real argument about the upcoming leadership debates for the Westminster election where they have been clumsily sidelined by all. Its not just the right to decide on education and health spending that’s been devolved. Apparently their voice has been too.

Grumpy Thursdays

Thursday nights for me are becoming increasingly frustrating. Question time appears to be trying far too hard to grab viewers by ignoring the idea of balance entirely and bringing in guests who seem to have no awareness whatsoever of the issues at hand. Occasionally you’ll get a gem like the Eric Pickles event (it still makes me laugh – if you have seen it – it’ll make you chuckle – youtube’s finest) but mostly it’s turned into a ball of political fluff – with little to really write home about.

The nice lady on the BBC complaints line is now used to our Friday morning chats about the imbalance of the previous night’s panel, especially on days when the selection is made up of one red, one blue and a selection of supporters for either side. I’m sure if I made the effort we could be on first name terms now – she probably even has the form filled in for me before I call.

Why am I so bothered about it? Isn’t the argument that if we as LibDems were actually challenging to be the next government then we’d be given more airtime? Well yes, the BBC in particular has an obligation to show a balance according to support at the last relevant election – but surely that only reinforces the status quo? How will we ever get the chance to change our political system for the better unless we know what our alternative options are?

Following question time in the schedule however is the real reason for this posting and the thing that makes my blood boil. ‘This week.’

What you never saw it?

I will admit now that there are probably only about seven people in the entire country who watch ‘This week’ and they are all political nerds like me, but how the format can be justified in any way shape or form I have no idea.

Let’s leave aside the fact that’s its caricature imagery and sweeping populist reporting are a pile of tosh in terms of quality programme making. Let’s forget that its a political comment show scheduled so late that its existence can’t really be justified. And lets leave aside that in Andrew Neill we have the most sycophantic and talentless presenter ever to grace a sunbed. It is a terribly made programme, made on the cheap to make up the quota of political programming and  ticking a box to justify the licence fee to the naysayers who hate auntie.

But to fly in the face of any kind of pluralism in such blatant a fashion shouldn’t be allowed. Labour are represented by Diane Abbott(did she mention she was the first black woman MP in the last three minutes or not – she must be slipping), the Tories have Michael Portillo (the reason I ended up with a hangover on 2nd May 1997). And the LibDems/Greens/UKIP/BNP/SNP/Plaid/Sinn Fein/UUP/DUP/Alliance are represented by…. Oh hold on they’re not. Because apparently UK politics is a two party affair. You’re red or you’re Blue and there’s nowt in between.

If you’re lucky enough to be invited on with your ‘little party’ issue, then you can sit and be grilled by the big boys. But don’t you dare sit on ‘their’ sofa. You’re different to them. You CAN’T be a party of government. Grr.

And Grr again.

How on earth can we possibly pretend we have been suitably informed of our options when our national broadcaster continues to give us this fictional gladitorial battle? It reflects nothing of what we see in the key battlegrounds, the three way marginals and particularly those seats outside England. It’s a ridiculous state of affairs.

This week, every week.

I phoned again this morning, registering my mark on the edexcel spreadsheet of complaints never to be actioned at Auntie’s headquarters. I’ll continue to do so and I urge anyone who gives two hoots to do so as well. Maybe whingeing and whining will get me somewhere – or maybe one week they might just hear me shouting through the TV.

House hunting

Would you believe this was supposed to be a short post….

A name that will stick in the mind

If you’re ever at a party with a man called Martin Collins, ask him to buy you a drink – he can afford it. It was a name that didn’t mean much to me until today but it is now one that I will have engraved on my brain for a long time to come. Martin owns a joinery business as far as I can tell, and business seems to be pretty good, by the amount of adverts he has on people’s front doors. Well, I say people’s front doors. It’s actually on the big board where the front doors should be, but they’ve been removed as the houses are unoccupied and boarded up. I saw an awful lot of his adverts today.

I’ve been helping out the  Burnley Lib Dem campaign team today and have had my eyes opened in a fairly stark fashion to problems with local housing which I hadn’t even considered before.

I’ve been doing this campaigning lark  a while now in leafy Bury and before that in even more leafy Canterbury. The biggest problems I had to face up to now when delivering campaign literature have been the odd dog or those annoying vertical letter boxes. (If you’ve got one, chances are your postman swears at you EVERY day – be warned). But today came with something unexpected. I had to play a new game called ‘hunt the residency’. 

I’ve been to Burnley helping before so I thought I knew the patch quite well. The odd runs of classic North West terracing interspersed with some nice ‘little england’ cul-de-sacs. All friendly, all recycling, all worried about whether little Johnny has his first choice of school. And I thought very naively that was pretty much what we in the political world had been reduced to, well at a local level anyway.  We’re all chasing the same votes blah blah. The battle for middle England blah snore. In hindsight, it’s just squabbling really. 95% of the what I have experienced so far when visiting Burnley has been the same as any other town I have been to  in the North West. It has its day to day problems, but hey, where doesn’t?

Done in half an hour

So today, when I was given a round that was described as easy to deliver terraces – I jumped in the car thinking it would be fairly simple. Nice simple redbricks layouts, done in half an hour, back in the car to listen to the second half of the football. (BTW Hammers – what on earth are you playing at – You lose to BOLTON??? I despair -again!). Sorted.

What I actually saw really knocked me back, as I was actually going to (and I really don’t say this lightly) what I can only describe as society’s dumping ground. There would be no cul-de-sac today, little Johnny will get whatever school he can walk to and whether recycling bins were going to be emptied once or twice a week suddenly became utterly irrelevant. I got a glimpse of a quite harsh reality. As I sit here writing this in my modest but comfortable two bed terrace in Ramsbottom (snigger) I realise that contrary to everything I moan about, I am very much with the haves, not the have nots.  

When I saw the environment that people had found themselves living in this afternoon, I honestly did not know what to say. Whether I’ve been sheltered or blinkered to the problems with housing I don’t know, but I’m a little more up to speed now.

For starters, at least half of the houses on the estate we were visiting were derelict, boards along whole streets as I have already said, whole sections falling apart, waiting for a bulldozer and a developer to ride to the rescue. Naturally I wasn’t delivering down there as no one appeared to be home. But it was not much better in the streets I had on my list to give letters to. Many streets looked like they were simply waiting for the end to come quick. At least 30% of the homes in this area had boards across the doors or tape across the letterbox. And miraculously in amongst the vacant buildings, people were clearly trying to get on with their lives. These front doors were pretty tidy, the owners or tenants clearly proud of what they had. Triumph of the human spirit is alive and well and living next to the A679.

Across the estate however, there were things that these remaining residents just couldn’t control. The large pile of tyres dumped in the street, the burnt out chairs or the endless litter. Some dropped, but most the result of dumping.

Normal

The thing that really got to me was they way that everyone was just getting on with things as if this was some sort of accepted normality. I was delivering to one row of terraces, just next to a main road, where the only two residents around where two small girls probably aged about 7 or 8. Their parents were some of those who were clearly doing the best they could in the circumstances, their property was quite tidily kept and they had installed a trampoline out front for the girls to play on. If you look at the house from one direction and with a squint in your eye then everything looked pretty ok. But turn 180 degrees and you see the full extent of the challenge that we’ve all got ahead of us. If I didn’t know that it was supposed to be a street, I’d struggle to describe it in a way that didn’t make it sound like a bombsite. These two kids were playing (very happily) in amongst some of the worst conditions I have seen in a long time.

Actually, I’ve really only seen stuff like this in arty ‘look at how photographic the working class are’ exhibitions before and being there in the thick of it was a massive wake up call. The two girls, smiling away, let me know that no one lived at number 2. Great, one tree saved – I’ll put my leaflet through the next one. “That’s my house – I’ll give it to my Mum” came the voice. “Thank you, that’s very helpful” was my obvious reply. All the way along the street – I then had a guided tour informing me which of the houses were empty,  where Jenna her friend lived and which house had a cat. (There were three). Despite being on what you might well call the ‘margins’ of society there was certainly no lack of confidence in my pint sized guide. But then on reflection I suppose her situation has determined that she has had to learn to be confident even at such a young age.

As I have said, I went through a lot of shock of surprise and then anger. This is Britain? It’s 2010 for pity’s sake and we’ve got kids growing up in conditions like this? All sorts of daily mail words were running through my brain (disgraceful, shocking, scandalous, outrageous… you know the drill….).

Gordon (no not that one…)

So you would imagine that I came away from it all pretty depressed. surprisingly I didn’t. As I have said before, I was out with the Burnley campaign team for the upcoming election, and in particular the parliamentary candidate and leader of the council, Gordon Birtwistle. For those who have never had the chance to meet Gordon, he is a formidable character. Tall, imposing and one of life’s do-ers. While we were out shoving bits of paper through letter boxes, he gave me a potted guide to the area in between stopping to introduce himself to locals and listen to some of their problems. He talked me through the problems that having a BNP presence in the area causes and gave me the lowdown on how to maintain a positive campaign when all around you are slinging mud. It was a fairly action packed three hours.

When I asked him about the housing situation in the area, he gave me an overview of the plans. Which bits were being flattened. Which were getting new fascias to improve the look of the area and also what the council were trying to do about the dumping problem. (The phrase chasing your tail sprang to mind here but I kept my gob shut).  The problem had it appears been much worse when he became leader of the council in 2006 (and a bit of googling when I got home confirmed this) and this particular area was part of a quite a wide ranging scheme to improve all the environment all across the area.

Indeed, you can see the fruits of everyone’s labour beginning to make themselves clear. At the far end of this particular estate, there is a clean, well maintained park with the end product housing finished. The words “diamond in the rough” really are the ones are applicable here. A big sign standing proudly next to the new park tells the residents about how in the next few years that their estate will be a great place to live, work and relax. I feel that there is someway to go – but the signs are promising. These new or newly refurbished homes are all tidy and occupied and the rubbish is non existent. People have been given something important and they are clearly holding on tight to it. But it will take a generation or more for some of the neglect that this area has suffered from successive governments to be undone and that’s without taking into consideration the long list of knock on social effects that poor housing stock creates in urban areas.

Party Politics

I could try and make this one a party political point, but actually it isn’t. Yes, the Lib Dems are currently taking a very positive agenda to the problems in Burnley and what I witnessed today just confirms all the good reports I keep hearing at conferences and on the grape vine about the administration there. Gordon is also an excellent candidate and I will be doing everything I can to help deliver him as Burnley’s next MP.

But the work that needs to be done on the estate will more than likely be a part of a multi agency approach with some players being political and some not so much. The money & the leadership needed that will solve these problems in the long term won’t just come entirely from the local authority, but from national, possibly even European grants too and it can’t come soon enough. So I shan’t be trying to claim the political high ground here as let’s face it solving the housing problem and the thousand splinter problems that accompany it is a tad more important than what colour ribbon someone was wearing when the building work started.

There is something more important here.

The point is this…

After all the expenses and the scandals and the protests etc etc the country seems to have lost faith completely in its politicians.  People feel disenfranchised, betrayed and powerless. “What’s the point?” is something I hear on doorsteps all the time. Well today I saw the point very clearly. I don’t care what colour is on your rosette. It’s our politicians who can change these things – they are the ones who will make those important decisions on our behalf. If we don’t engage with the process, then we don’t have the influence to tackle these important issues that are (‘scuse the pun) sitting on our doorsteps. If we don’t have that process of re-engagement soon, then our politicians really will become distanced from us and ergo from the problems we are all trying to tackle.

The little girl with the trampoline and all the other kids like her deserve a better future than that. 

PJ