It’s a Metropolitan Police Authority Away Day – and we are ‘away’ in a hotel in Piccadilly. Without boring you to death over the whole day’s proceedings – the basic thrust of the day was that we have to get smarter and tougher in calling the Met to account.

I have learned an awful lot in the nearly five years I have been on the Authority and think that considering we were only ‘born’ then, a tremendous amount of change for the better has come in that period.

I suggest that the ‘strap line’ for the MPA should be – ‘Making Police Accountable (to London)’.

In the evening, it’s my regular surgery for residents. It’s so full I cannot get through everyone in time before Muswell Hill Library closes. So many problems for residents of humungous proportions – it’s a sound reminder of why it is worth fighting for better services. You might not always be able to deliver the outcome someone wants – but you can treat people well at all times.

Then rush around dropping off leaflets to deliverers (and remember to return a DVD to the video store) before it’s our local branch executive meeting.

You can tell things are hotting up because the attendance is good, the people’s reports are more or less all there and everyone is on the ball. Fundraising is high on the agenda – and the new fundraising group has put together an Auction of Promises, which is where people give something (an example is use of a flat for a weekend during the Edinburgh Festival) and then we will have an auction of those ‘lots’.

The nitty gritty about printing schedules, policy working groups, council business etc takes most of the evening and I rush home to try and catch the late night broadcast of Desperate Housewives. Pure escapism.