Surgery all morning, adding in an extra Saturday session because of the high demand.

I think it is so high for a combination of factors. Firstly – there is about a five week hiatus where the sitting MP during an election is no longer officially the MP and therefore cannot hold surgeries – so there is a basic gap in service provision.

There are a group of people who were seeing the previous MP and their problems had been unresolved – and would be irresolvable quite frankly by any MP – who think they will have another go.

There is another group who were seeing the previous MP and who were now anxious about what will happen given the MP has changed – and often want to see someone in person to assure themselves that their case will be worked on.

And then there are those who want to give the new MP a try out plus – of course – the regular diet of normal issues which arise. And there are some who just, quite sweetly, come to say hello.

So – since starting – I have been doing anything between 7 and 10 hours surgeries a week. We’ll see how the demand goes, especially now that I have my casework staff in place and so more people can be dealt with more quickly by phone and other means.

Anyway – I had received reams and reams of stuff from a guy who was very angry about a matter. Many agencies had obviously found him very difficult to deal with – and in the correspondence that I had received in advance it was obvious to me that there might be some difficulty.

He didn’t turn up for his appointment at 9am. However, he did turn up about an hour later. I explained that his appointment had been at 9am but said I would try and fit him in – though with everyone else arriving on time it might take a while.

Anyway – at about 11.30 I asked him to come in as the gentleman who had arrived for an appointment at that time had arrived but was clearly unable to talk he was so out of breath – so I asked if he minded waiting for a few minutes.

So – it began badly. Mr X heard nothing I said. Jumped down my throat. Started shouting at me. Called me a liar. Was extremely aggressive. Said that I was basically as bad as everyone else who was against him and so on. I tried to help by explaining that some of the difficulties he was encountering with all the agencies involved in this case might be because of his aggressive approach – and that he might be making it difficult for people to work with him even if they supported him. This did not help. And he stood up shouting and saying he was going to leave. So I opened the door for him. There is nothing you can do in such situations – other than hope it doesn’t escalate into physical violence.

There is a panic button under one of the desks in the room where I do my surgeries – but I don’t know what happens if you press it. I will find out! I haven’t felt until now very threatened – but I know Barbara Roche (my predecessor) had to wrestle someone to stop them setting fire to themselves and a Lib Dem MP was attacked and badly hurt and his assistant killed at a surgery. So these things are no joke and it is why I don’t do surgery alone.

Also today my latest newspaper column comes out – on ID cards. Tragically the issues about terrorism are now very topical, though I had written it a week before. Manage to update the internet version though.

Surgery all morning and then off to North Middlesex Hospital at 2pm for a meeting with the Chair of the Trust and the PFI team who are involved in the massive redevelopment of the site.

In the evening I go to a Hansard Society event on on-line campaigning. There are four speakers (including me). I am there as the ‘practitioner’ – as I actually do the business (like this blog).

The others are commentators or academics who pontificate on the subject. They were all excellent and the two statisticians/academics gave us the numbers on who was using the net in elections and why. Stephen Coleman was pretty clear that he didn’t care about politicians (hurt – I was) but that his passion was for a democratic voice from the people. Stephen Ward also did some number work on how and why people use the internet during elections. It seemed to fall into different uses – some for information – some for details on issues. Young people (not surprisingly) used it the most.

It was kind of what you would expect in terms of the whys and wherefores. There was a keenness from the panel for ‘interactivity’ – but I’m not convinced that’s what people want when push comes to shove. It may very be what people say they want – but experience has demonstrated to me that mostly information giving is appreciated better.

The other panellist was a media journalist – Bill Thompson – who took a broader look at where and how this e-democracy fits in with other media. Bill is clearly a free spirit and was clearly against the suggestion from one of the audience that bloggers who are actually political parties at work – but who don’t own up to this on their sites – should follow some code of conduct.

Bill was dead against this. Obviously – because then it would limit what got said – and under the guise of anonymity people would have the freedom to be bold and brave in their pronouncements. I take the opposite view – I think they are cowardy custards (custors?)! We’re not talking about issues like someone talking bravely about a medical condition, raising public awareness and understanding but wanting anonymity. For these sorts of sites we’re just talking about political banter that’s often barely more than insults and abuse. So – if you want to say something nasty or critical of me – fine – but have the balls to say it with your name attached! (I changed the word ‘balls’ to ‘guts’ when I spoke. Overawed by traditions of Parliament already!).

As the event is going on – simultaneously – I was one of the nominees for the media awards for the New Statesman being announced at a do somewhere else in London. As I say to the assembled – I am pretty sure I can’t have won as I am not there – and you have to believe that they would have wanted me there if I had.

So – I leave the Hansard ‘Spinning On-Line’ evening – and rush over to the CRE (Commission for Racial Equality) reception which I was meant to speak at – but told them I couldn’t get there in time. Happily I do get there in time for a glass of wine (or two) and a lively discussion with Hugh Muir of the Guardian about ID cards. Diane Abbot joins the discussion and as we are both on the side of the angels in this debate – and we need another wedge of Labour rebels to defeat the Bill when it returns. I ask her why Sadik Khan (who kicks up about a number of race/religious issues) voted for the Government proposals. Diane said she hasn’t discussed it with him. Well – given how few Labour votes need to change sides – a bit of active lobbying might be a good idea.

Then rush back to chamber for a vote. In fact no vote is taken – the ayes have it. But there is a division on the ‘programme’ motion for the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill. More jargon! A programme motion is just the length of the time or number of sessions it will get in committee stage. We vote against – because there should be more debate on the issue.

First meeting of the day with a woman from St Mary’s Estate (also known as the Lightfoot Estate) in Hornsey. The list of things Haringey Council are not doing that they should be doing is as long as my arm. So much of it is just stuff that should be done – for which we are paying. I will pursue all items with Haringey Council!

Up to the Commons for the asylum, immigration and nationality debate. The Government is rightly trying to make our laws on immigration and asylum better, however – in their usual fashion – are making a pig’s ear of it. I intervene on the employers part of the bill – where I think that the new fines, inspection regime and penalties will frighten employers into discriminating against employing ‘foreigners’ in case they are breaking the new law. And the guidance, information and indeed, documentation, is so unclear – a risk-averse employer will simply play safe. So even though the government’s intentions are good in wanting to stop the exploitation that we have seen of foreign (illegal) workers – they need to do a lot more work to make sure there are not unintended consequences.

I spent the morning in church – a black Christian Church celebrating its first anniversary of coming to Wood Green. Housed in the old Gaumont Cinema – now called the Dominion Centre – it hosts a thriving and growing community, a bookshop and many community activities.

As I walked in to a giant congregation (with that wonderful salutary experience of being the only white person amongst around three or four hundred black people) Reverend Sam was preaching. And in the best style of preachers a la Jesse Jackson – he was absolutely compelling, riveting.

Then there was the singing, the wrap, the performances by the children. The warmth of the community wrapped itself around me. And when I addressed the congregation – they were incredibly supportive and warm. This church is doing good work. The level of caring about each other – and particularly the youngsters in their community – is what will make their future avoid the desperate culture of knives and guns which blight and sometimes end entire lives.

And I did a bit of dancing too – impossible to keep still with the music. I really enjoyed the whole service – and was incredibly impressed with the whole morning.