Meeting in the morning at Jacksons Lane Community Centre followed by Parliament. Had long interview for Liberal Democrat News followed by one for Hansard Society – who are following a few MPs and interviewing them three times over their first year. Little huddles from the various leadership camps can be seen in every corner. Guess and hope it will all revert to normal after the competition finishes.

I’m handling prostitution today – so to speak. The Government announces its policy – no surprises there. They will crackdown on kerb crawlers (for crackdown read displace). They will allow two prostitutes to work together from premises – but not regulate or license saunas or brothels. They will educate girls that it’s not a good idea to become a sex worker. As usual with Labour – all sound-bite and no solution.

Firstly – the bit about two working girls being able to operate from a flat or whatever does nothing to separate out the prostitutes from the residents. And it’s the residents who don’t want the business on their doorstep for the nuisance, the intimidation and because if they have children it’s not nice – not to put too fine a point on it.

Secondly, their big idea is to take driving licenses away from kerb-crawling men. Hardly a convincing measure. And the insult to injury I think is whilst they talk about educating girls not to go into the business – not a dickie bird about the dicks – i.e. educating boys to behave responsibly and to respect women.

Moreover – it’s a lost opportunity. Lots of good pilots in other cities with ‘managed’ zones where away from residential areas prostitutes can ply their trade between certain hours. Keep girls safe and supervised care for the health side of the business too. That’s being tried in Liverpool. In Edinburgh – although not an official zone – for some time the ‘area’ was out at the docks. Same principle – deal with the issue, the health and safety and the nuisance to others – and regulate the saunas etc where currently the police de facto ignore well-behaved saunas and establishments.

It’s our Opposition Day today in Parliament – which means the Liberal Democrats get to chose what is debated. Our two motions are the Child Support Agency (CSA) followed by nuclear energy – both explosive! Alone in the lobbies – our motions were defeated. Still it’s good to be on the side of the angels.