Well – I don’t think much of polling day in the Crewe by-election being called for 22 May. In an era when we are supposed to be engaging people in the political process it would seem that Labour have called it as quickly as is allowed using the antiquated rules on these matters. Of course this gives the advantage to the incumbant’s Party – so Labour are simply using what’s available. But that’s no reason to say the rules shouldn’t be changed. If you’re talking about listening and learning – well here’s a chance: change the rules so that all Parliamentary by-election campaigns have to be of a decent length, giving voters a chance to really find out about the choices on offer.

That having been said we took two seats off Labour in the elections last week – and the Labour leader of the council lost his seat – so we will work hard as usual – and as everyone knows – we are the by-election experts! Elizabeth Shenton is our champion this time – and best of luck to her and the team!

Well – the BBC TV coverage of the local election results has come in for a lot of flack, particulary for the Jeremy Vince / American Wild West shootout stuff. Of course the bit I appeared in was perfect! But overall – did the coverage give the depth of information you were interested in? Was it a successful attempt to make election results interesting? Or an awful trivialisation?

Vote in my poll and have your say – and of course comments welcome too.
http://www.libertyresearch.org.uk/rp/34
(One vote per IP address)

Soooooooooooooooo – not bad at all! That’s my verdict on how we did in the local elections in England and Wales based on the results in so far. We gained seats off Tories and Labour and won seats right across the country. Gaining St Albans against Tories and Hull against Labour was a good message of how we are the only national party. However – losing Pendle wasn’t great. Shame to have missed taking Oldham, Warrington and Cheltenham by just one seat in each of them – but that’s the name of the game. Seeing Labour’s disastrous result – pushed into third place by us – was pretty cheering.

Overall – I would say pretty good for Lib Dems, disastrous for Labour and encouraging for the Tories. I don’t think any of this exactly fortells what will happen in a General Election which could be two years away still – but lord knows Gordon has a lot of ground to make up and so needs a lot of time to do so. Those fielding the coverage on TV for Labour keep saying they are learning and listening. It’s going to take more than that!

Overall, it is three party politics – the percentages blast out that fact! I just wish the coverage all year round honoured that the way the voters do.

Well – out with the lark delivering our ‘Good Morning’ bright and breezy leaflets to remind everyone that today is the day you can VOTE for Mayor, constituency rep and list member for London Government!

I was elected through the list vote in 2000 and 2004 – that’s the third vote where you just get to put an X for against a party name. Monica Whyte is the Haringey / Enfield constituency Liberal Democrat candidate – so an X next to her name for that vote would be good. And then obviously X for Brian Paddick for Mayor! You get a second choice too.

Anyway – off I go again to pound the streets and knock on doors until 10pm tonight. Then later I am doing broadcast coverage from City Hall around 1am. Just hope I am able to keep my eyes open!

Don’t forget to vote! Polls open until 10pm – no polling card needed. Postal votes can also still be returned by handing them in at a polling station.

Not sure where you should vote in Haringey? Give our team a call on 07763 745 402 and they can tell you – and also give you a lift to the polling station – and back home again! – if you need one.

Briefed on local elections as will be covering one of the BBC slots on results shows for Thursday’s elections. Now there are some folk in each party who can name every constituency in the country and give you the general and local election results there since the dawn of time. However, I’m not one of them! Which means I have to study and retain what any particular result will mean for the prospects up or down for each of the parties.

Being that we (Lib Dems) started with such great results four years ago in the national local elections for England and Wales and it’s more or less the same seats up again – we have a high base to start from. Labour are expecting a mid-term bashing and the Tories have to gain a lot of seats for Dave C to hold his head up high!

‘One Community, Many Voices’ was the apt title of the conference organised by JAN (Joint Association of Nissa Trusts) on community cohesion. As one of the keynote speakers I was delighted to hold forth on this subject as it is so fundamental to making life work for the multitude of communities that choose to make Haringey their home.

It was also about tackling extremism and eradicating radicalisation of young Muslims. On my way to the conference, I heard on the radio that new figures showed a 300% rise in race crimes in the last few years – so the need for social cohesion, vigilance and non-stop, day in day out work is vital. Overall, we do pretty well in many respects on these issues in Haringey – and after 7/7 there was not one single race incident in Haringey and because so much work has been done by the politicians, the council, the Race Equality Council, The Peace Alliance, The Faith Forums, JAN Trust itself and the many organisation who work to ensure that no community is isolated.

With new communities arriving, we need to ensure that our history of funding separateness (with the best of intentions) is now mutated to fund togetherness. There is lots of good work going on. And our local police team is a great bonus in that they are so engaged with the community. For example the Police Amateur Boxing Club is doing outreach with Muslim boys from the Wightman Road mosque.

And we are blessed with our local mosque and the elders who reach out and invite the local community in.

Anyway – JAN Trust itself does brilliant work with women from a number of different ethnic backgrounds – helping them access public services, teaching English, IT and sewing skills and giving advice on jobs and careers. Rafat Mughal, who started it and has run it for 17 years, is the driving force – nagging, begging, cajoling and pleading for funding to keep this important pathway for women into the world.

Congrats to all!