Here’s a quick summary of news, events and casework for April 2007
April
27th – former City Councillor, Frank Dennett dies; Frank was one of those who designed the radical transport policy for Nottingham of "zone and collar" in the seventies;
26th – tour Sherwood Vale with cabinet minister Hilary Benn MP, to highlight pro-environment policies and achievements;
25th – former City and County Councillor, Peter Burgess dies; Peter was a Governor of Elliott Durham school and believed in success for all;
9th – tour Pearmain Drive with John Heppell MP;
7th – tour Ransom Road estate with John Heppell MP;
7th – re-opening of Wollaton Hall;
6th – national scheme is introduced to protect the deposits of tenants of private landlords;
16th – tour top of Woodborough Road with John Heppell MP;
3rd - Tony Blair and Gordon Brown visit Mapperley to launch Labour’s national campaign for the English Local Government elections;
3rd - the new Old Market Square is officially opened;
And from my Blog ...
Lupins - Mon 30th Apr 2007
Met 2 of our community protection wardens whilst leafletting today. They'd been deterring illegal activity on a part of one of our estates where criminals like to trade because they can see people coming from every direction.
Over recent weeks, they'd also reported 4 or 5 abandoned or unlicenced cars and been instrumental in getting 2 mini-motos crushed.
I mentioned a quad and its driver who had been causing distress and how I'd seen the rider a few weeks back, driving at speed, with no silencer, down the wrong side of a roundabout, in another part of my ward. They were on to that too.
This reminded me of what I'd been doing when the quad rider had appeared - following up a report (from a resident) of cannabis growing wild in an unkept piece of land. I wasn't convinced - but I didn't know and had taken a digital photo, just in case.
So I showed the photo to the wardens, one of whom was able to explain that it was in fact a lupin. Dennis Moore would have known.
Promotion - Sat 28th Apr 2007
Radio 5's football commentary was buzzing today as first Man U looked set to lose whilst Chelsea won, then Wayne Rooney scored a winner just as it became clear that Chelsea were locked into a draw. And the fates of many in the other leagues were being resolved in the penultimate weekend of league football.
So a buzzing "606" programme - interrupted halfway through by the bizarre sound of the bleating of sheep. It went on and on. Was this some kind of tongue-in-the-cheek, post-PC introduction to discussions of clubs from rural areas? But then excerpts from David Cameron and Tony Blair came through - and behold it became clear - this was a promotional advert for Prime Ministers' Question Time. Yep, promotional.
Plainly, the BBC are at their wits' end. Having established a media know it all mentality, where else can they go but straight abuse.
But how does it boost audience figures?
If, instead of hyperbolic screaming exclamations of "absolutely extraordinary" when Rooney scores for a second time this week in the dying minutes of a game, they repeatedly played sound clips of how he lost his rag against Portugal and needlessly got sent off. What if, instead of Paul Robinson's majestic saves and goals scored from 100 yards, they kept playing the sound clip of a bobbling ball passing him by as he thrashed at fresh air.
Ridiculous. Unthinkable. Their sports producers understand this much at least - to win audiences, they have to play the football up.
But their political editors have failed to grasp such an obvious strategy. They seem to think they can make politics more interesting by implying that politicians are not worth listening to.
Party members should take heart. If you've been a part of the last 10 years, then you've helped more people into work. You've seen more teenagers get a job, a place in further education or training. You've helped children attain more at school, in better environments. You've reduced the waiting times for people needing an operation. You've helped reduce the level of crime and anti-social behaviour in your neighbourhoods. You've seen far more aid raised for those in need in the world than anything Live Aid could muster.
You've done it, passing the tests of both winning public support in elections and through the ideas and policies being debated in public. You've done it, largely despite the media.
And yes, it's not going to come over on the radio or TV as well as that Scholes pass and the Rooney in-stride one-touch strike. But why not think about how you can add a bit of drama to these next, last days before the local election. Make a bit of noise. And keep repeating your pride in the progress we've made.
How many L's? - Fri 27th Apr 2007
When I agreed to do this election blog, I had intended to be more frequent with the updates. But it’s been hard to keep up. Yes, the campaign’s got busier. But the kind of things of interest are now getting to be things that would give away the progress we’re making in a way I wouldn’t want to share outside the party.
Thursday was a great day. Hilary Benn - “Are you a two L’ed or one L’ed Hilary?” - “I’m a one-L’ed Hilary” - came to give some profile to the environmental progress made in our city, my ward and the neighbouring ward of Sherwood.
First, meeting the passengers of the demand-responsive bus service - aimed at older and less mobile people living on estates between main bus routes. Then to meet a school’s science department to talk about the 21st century science curriculum - which covers calculating the carbon footprint and energy efficiency in the home. And then to acknowledge that my estate happens to be those whose residents have taken up more grants than many to have cavity insulation and loft insulation, meeting a resident who has gone a step further to have solar water heating.
Great chat, good energy. Just nice. And most of it witnessed by a local journalist, so we look to see some coverage in Saturday’s paper.
Maggots - Tue 24th Apr 2007
A particularly busy time in the run-up to the Nottingham Returning Officer posting the postal ballots today.
Still not had a Tory campaign to compare & contrast against and it appears that this is because they think they've won my ward already. At least that's what one of their candidates has told a resident at a recent meeting.
It's a tad arrogant but reflects the nature of the Tories in Nottingham. Their Deputy Leader announced I'd lost my seat in March to full Council.
Still, he also told the full Council about how maggots were a problem in bins because of their determination to get in, crawling all the way up the outside of the bin. Oh yes.
National trends do affect results, and there is an appetite to draw national conclusions from these elections, but the question voters are being asked is "who do you want to represent you from this ward on your local council?"
And not everyone decides by national criteria.
Postal voting is more popular - Sat 21st Apr 2007
Latest update of postal voters has been published. There are currently 1577 in my ward compared to 1157 postal voters last time (nearly 100 of new applicants in the last 3 weeks or so). So, postal voting has been more popular this time, despite people having to re-apply, despite the controversy over postal voting and despite the longer opening hours at polling stations.
Current guidance about elections is more positive about the role of political parties in boosting turnout, and on their attendance at polling stations to ask the polling numbers of voters. It's a shame the guidance wasn't extended to give candidates progress of postal voting, cos having such data in a previous election made our work in boosting the turnout easier.
The Lib Dems in particular have protested about postal voting at Nottingham Council meetings. But its popularity is a reflection of the convenience it offers in what can be busy lives for people.
"What I'm hoping is that people will remember everything that's gone on" - 08:17 am, Fri 20th Apr 2007
BBC's Nick Robinson covered the local elections by focussing on Blackpool.
Prompting a social club to say who was going to run the council, he said he heard shouts of Conservative despite the first shout of "Labour".
His editorial was that people weren't going to vote Labour.
Yet 2 clips stood out -
- the community activist pointing out a new school, a new doctor's surgery, a new city learning centre and some new housing; "What I'm hoping is that people will remember everything that's gone on"
- the young family who said they're voting Labour because they are a young family and the tax credits work for them.
Then, in fishing for opposition, he met a man saying he'd never voted; and prompting someone to say something helpful about why they weren't voting Labour - "Iraq?" - "yeah, no, getting all these foreigners over here, they should ship 'em back".
And in the whole piece he didn't meet anyone saying they'd vote Tory.
Was this bias? I know it's the obvious reaction but underneath it all, the frustration remains of a media that seeks to interpret moods rather than present the arguments that the local parties are making to run the council.
One BBC radio journalist on Radio 5 actually boasted the other day that they were going to talk to people about the Welsh Assembly elections without talking to a single politician.
A given then that politicians do no good.
"What I'm hoping is that people will remember everything that's gone on" - Yeah me too.
We've put out 4 newspapers in my ward to remind them. But it now seems obvious that the Tory party's strategy is to say nothing.
I'm told that in the neighbouring borough of Gedling, the Conservatives have not yet published a leaflet.
Opposition are keeping a low profile - Thu 19th Apr 2007
Two weeks to go and the local Conservatives still haven't put an election leaflet out. Hard to judge, but I think this is a poorer effort than 4 years ago. However a similar approach still got them with 48 votes (2%) of winning last time.
But once again, Labour is having to work to give the election any kind of local profile. Maybe that's the opposition strategy - give the election no profile. So we are now pointing out that our opponents aren't trying.
The capacity of the Conservative and Lib Dem parties in Nottingham seems to be getting weaker. They have candidates from Notts and even Derbyshire.
UKIP trump that with a candidate from Northants.
Most surprising is the UKIP candidate for the Wollaton West ward; the husband of a Tory Councillor for Wollaton West who is retiring this time.
Nottingham Labour Party is very reluctant to nominate candidates who don't live in the municipality of Nottingham and haven't done so for a very long time.
No news trumps climate change pledge card - Tue 17th Apr 2007
Spent some time on Monday making sure David Miliband's office was properly briefed about Nottingham in time for today's announcement on the Climate Change pledge card.
So I've been looking forward to the media coverage today cos the work of the Labour Nottingham City Council on both -
- improving energy efficiency in the home and
- having launched the Nottingham Declaration for local government on climate change
were to be mentioned.
It hasn't happened. I understand fully that there was some terrible news and some other significant news today. But the media made space for the future party leadership question (which as I understand it was no change) but not climate change.
No doubt somewhere down the line, we'll be told, by journalists, that politicians don't take climate change seriously enough.
Just for fun - Tue 17th Apr 2007
The Labour party candidates met tonight. To understand the challenges and the opportunities, we created a swingometer to show the impact of various scenarios. Short of the wonderwalls and software that Peter Snow has on the BBC's election night programmes, we asked our candidates to stand in an ordered line and to show either a blue grumpy face or a pink smiley one as the scenario changed. It had something of the style of the National Theatre of Brent about it, but hey, it was "just for fun".
But thanks to the lack of Tory and Lib Dem ambition and support, we were able to explore how we might make gains.
Elsewhere, it was push on with issuing posters and erecting garden displays.
260 tons - Mon 16th Apr 2007
Spent all day visiting households most likely to display Labour posters; and in doing so taking the opportunity to check for late changes that meant people might want to a postal vote.
Such a glorious day. Sunny and hot. Not what construction workers relaying one of our main roads wanted. They started at 6:30 in the morning relaying the junction of 2 of our main roads (with the inevitable impact on traffic) and the top end of the road. 260 tons of tarmac containing recycled road chippings and waste material from steel plants was laid this Sunday.
During the next four days, they’ll be doing about half a mile of the road, having over previous weekends installed road safety plateaux, reset old granite kerbstones and re-laid the pavements (having first found they needed to reconstruct the retainers that supported the pavements on the west side).
All this explained to Mo Munir, my co-Councillor and I, by the man in charge on site, who happens to live locally and was taking a real pride in the job.
As for the road safety scheme itself, it’s being introduced after 3 fatalities in the space of 18 months, from 3 separate accidents, all speed-related and 2 involving speeding motor-cyclists. One of the victims was a motorcyclist, one was the driver’s mate after a Saturday night out, and one was a local 14 year old, cycling with his mate, down the road, to meet his girlfriend.
We’ve seen significant reduction in the numbers of people killed and seriously injured on Nottingham’s roads. Road humps work. But what we would most dearly love is if drivers didn’t speed in the first place.
Elections and YOU - Sun 15th Apr 2007
ITV broadcast “Election” last night. Wonderful movie. It’s about an American school president election and thankfully doesn’t imply too much about British local elections.
My involvement in school and university politics was not a great success. In a mock election at school during the 1979 General Election, my main memory is of the surprise amongst students that parties in those days had local colours. In Shrewsbury, the Liberals had red, so we had to wear green and yellow.
At university, it turned out that each main party’s most active newest members were all studying physics. 3 parties, 2 places for the student union council. The Tory stood as an independent and published leaflets with the word “YOU” typed in bold letters. The Liberal stood as an independent and published leaflets with the word “YOU” typed in bold letters. I stood as Labour. And lost 19 - 18 - 17. (In my second year, I lost on lots, to another independent).
Every profession seems to have had at least one TV drama portraying them as heroes. Can’t think of one for local gov’t councillors. The reason of course is obvious - whilst what we do is significant, the stuff we do of significance has its impact over years, not 90 minute slots, and is very rarely dramatic. Children at the secondary school I chair are doing much better at GCSEs - over a third now get 5 or more good GCSEs, when it used to be less than a tenth. It’s down to extra investment and better practice and an improved attitude from the children - over 10 years - but it would be hard to pick a moment or a set of moments of drama that made the difference.
Even the dramatic parts of election counts are got wrong on TV dramas. Candidates standing on a platform nervously waiting to hear of their fate at the declaration. Of course, activists know that candidates already know the scores by then. The drama is actually in the phase before the declaration as the separated votes are collated into bundles and the first hint of the actual result comes through. At the last General Election count in Nottingham East, tellers had not been sufficiently disciplined about the keeping each parties’ bundles apart. I raised a general challenge and lo & behold, the Lib Dem majority over the Tories for second place was reduced from 1,022 to 22, cos a Tory bundle had initially been counted in the Lib Dem pile. (Yeah, still not exactly drama is it.)
So why no stories today from the doorstep? Well, cos the feedback about the issues of concern remains varied and much less defined than 4 years ago. 4 years ago - there was a consistent expression of concern on crime & grime; this year less so. 4 years ago, no-one raised environmental issues - this year, some people are raising the matter at least.
Alexei said "I wish I was a computer programmer" - Sat 14th Apr 2007
My MP was free yesterday morning, so we visited parts of the ward where older people live. Some cases picked up - none of them pensions related. I understand older people today are the first in British history to be no worse off than the population in general, and I guess yesterday’s canvassing reflected that.
Instead, there were some points to pick up on, on recycling. Recycling is trickier to deliver in the more challenging circumstances of Nottingham city than in the neighbouring municipalities that cover more of the suburbs. Yet still we get Greens who live outside our municipality telling us we should be doing better - happened again in Thursday’s newspaper.
We met a D-Day veteran. Always pleasant. Reminds me of Dennis Pettitt from Eastwood, who was Leader of Nottinghamshire County Council when I was first elected to that Council, and was a D-Day veteran with the Warwicks. He was also a founder member of the first multi-racial political party in (I think) Kenya. The local newspaper once ran a 2 page feature on his life - at the time the most exciting thing we could say about our city leader was the time a nasal spray meant he was well enough to take his accountancy exams ... no, no, no, not true.
I, on the other hand, have lots of interesting stories to tell about my time as a computer programmer (remember the Alexei Sayle song) and how my first program was called P0207 and how the network could freeze if someone let the network printer jam. I’ll write them up after the election campaign, if you’re interested.
Emilie's blog - Fri 13th Apr 2007
Came back from canvassing and tipped-toed past the living room so as not to disturb my partner’s book-club. They were talking about “Perfume” by Patrick Suskind. I was surprised to hear the voice of one of our City Councillors. She must be clearly feeling that not only has all the canvassing she and her colleagues have done from last summer put them in good stead, but also that the current returns are backing up how we’re all starting to feel.
I joined them as the group were finishing and this blog was mentioned. I was a bit surprised to be told that it’s only men that do blogs. (I didn’t know - I’m only doing what I was asked to do by our Regional Organiser, Emilie.) A view that seemed to be backed up by all 4 women in the room.
If I was a nineteen-eighties Ben Elton, I’d be able to make light of this situation. As it is, I’m merely going to say, that whilst not having read the book, I have seen the film and I thought not only was the plot preposterous even by the standards of the genre of fictional murder stories, but the story was deeply unpleasant as well. Hope that covers it.
Power to the mandate - Thu 12th Apr 2007
A big concern is the low registration rate of residents for voting. My hunch is that register could be 10% - 20% larger if everyone was registered.
The main problem in my ward is associated with houses converted to flats, with shared letterboxes and bells that don't always work.
But there are some surprising gaps elsewhere. Often people have assumed that because they pay Council tax, they must be registered to vote. And of course, the council cannot guess whether a tax payer is qualified to vote.
I raised the matter with a local journalist again yesterday, cos the updates for the month of March actually saw my ward register fall by 3. The register this year is around the same size as 4 years ago, which is disappointing cos there are at least 2 new streets, around 8 new blocks of flats, house conversions and other in-fill development that ahs been built since.
The TV adverts are great fun and I hope they're having an impact. What they emphasise is that people might have a reason to go and vote. Which is a good argument. Council materials will emphasise it's your chance to have a say - again good point.
But the argument I prefer is that election days are the days when we are all equal, irrespective of wealth and other perceptions of status.
And the mandate is a powerful and often decisive tool for change which non-elected organisations try to make up for with surveys. The mandate is strengthened if more people are registered and more turnout.
And voting and the election process does have a knack of drawing out the key concerns upon which action must be taken. 4 years ago, crime & grime came across strongly - and our response was the "Respect for Nottingham" campaign.
The deadline for registering is next week and is later in the process than ever before. I hope more people take advantage.
Energy and voting - Wed 11th Apr 2007
Enjoyed canvassing tonight. Warm weather. And toured some streets in Mapperley Park, one of the more expensive parts of our city to live in, which nevertheless has streets that vote Labour.
This trend started just before new Labour, becoming really noticeable during the pit closures after the 1992 General Election. Turned out, a lot of people had grandparents who were once Notts miners. It helped us win the ward for the first time in 1993.
We received some welcome comments on our transport policies, and on casework and even the newspapers we’ve been publishing from lifelong opponents, which is always nice in the middle of the long sessions of meeting as many people as possible during the longer April evenings.
Spoke this afternoon to the local newspaper about green issues. Had the text lined up -
We have the best transport planning policies, the best tram and the best buses. The City Council is in the top ten of green energy purchasers. The Council has just won a national award for reducing water consumption. Our combined heat and power plant is the largest municipally owned in the country. We expanded doorstep collection of recyclables, on top of reducing waste going to land-fill. We have a national and international reputation for our work on climate change, through the Nottingham Declaration and the Nottingham Call. We are delivering change through the political process.
Too long, I'm afraid.
However, had I known at the time, I would also have welcomed the latest announcement by Miliband and Darling - "to make real-time electricity monitors available free of charge to all households in Britain to help combat climate change. ... electricity suppliers would be required to provide these displays free to all customers who want them.”
Requiring electricity suppliers to provide such monitors overcomes issues that might have been tricky for local councils to deliver and manage. A welcome move.
Campaigning was cancelled today ... - Tue 10th Apr 2007
... cos my co-Councillor's daughter-in-law had her first baby.
2,000 times more likely - Mon 9th Apr 2007
Bank Holiday Monday! Sunny and warm. And yep, we canvassed and leafleted today. I blame the MP.
I was gonna have the day off. See the football team that I haven’t seen for 8 weeks and which, in the meantime, almost set a near-club record for being undefeated.
Still, mustn’t be too hard on the MP. Since he’s joined the canvassing, the number of people saying they’d take posters has risen dramatically. What’s his secret? He makes a point of asking.
Meanwhile, the local newspaper has run a front-page story about yobs in the neighbourhoods west of mine called Sherwood - “Sherwood hit by violent yobs”.
And the response to the article on the paper’s web-site has been full of the usual -
“New Labour councillors ... these left-wing people in the council are mentally ill I think” Nice.
“i think it is time the good people of the areas blighted take the law into their own hands”
“I once saw a copper on street beat in carlton 3 years ago. Nearly had a heart attack at the sight of him. Havent seen one since though.”
My hunch is these correspondents don’t get out much.
A police car patrolled the estate I was canvassing this morning. And another came past me this evening on another estate, just as I was pulling out (without me having signalled to do so - oops).
At today’s rate, I’m 2,000 times more likely to see Police officers doing their duties than the correspondent.
Still we know people want more reassurance. That’s partly why, 4 years ago, we created City Council neighbourhood wardens as part of our “Respect for Nottingham” initiative. The force is now 100 strong and taking part in the roll-out of neighbourhood policing across the city.
Just one more correspondent -
“It is a great shame the BNP are not fielding any candidates in Nottingham City”
Wherein, lies a story. The BNP did try to nominate a candidate for a 2 member ward in Nottingham. They brought the nomination papers in an hour before the deadline, but it was ruled out of order because one of their nominators had already signed the nominations papers of 2 other candidates. They later brought a fresh paper in, but just after the noon deadline.
Tories kicking over sandcastles - Sat 7th Apr 2007
Apparently, it’s 10 years today since the first blog was started. I’ve only just started doing one, not least cos I couldn’t see how I’d have something to say every day, not least on an Easter Saturday.
Like - “today I went to a park, and we’ve just launched an open and green spaces strategy for the city council” - No, No, No. Or “I got home and the tulips are already dried out and doesn’t this just go to show how climate ch....” - No, No, No.
I’ve also been deterred by the kind of dialogues in response to blogs, and now newspaper articles, on the web. So destructive, so bitter. Full of comments from correspondents who’d kick over a sandcastle rather than make one themselves. (The latest being 3 correspondents from London, Nottingham and Leeds all calling each for having the time to respond Nottingham newspaper articles - get in.)
I also wonder if some of these communications encourage you “to ink before you think”. Despite my best efforts, I’ve had to hone my new entries for spelling, grammar and meaning. (Of course, it’s not that I can’t spell - it’s just that I can’t proof-read very well.)
This new media has proved useful for drawing out the opposition. Not least one of the Tories standing in my ward who, in response to an article on Nottingham Labour’s manifesto, said on the local newspaper web-site - “Labour ... have to go and be replaced? by anybody? absolutely anybody”.
Not quite sure what the question marks were about, but does the Tory really mean “anybody”, “absolutely anybody” would be better than Labour when he’s set to advocate the cause of the Conservative party?
Nottingham Conservatives are a very miserable bunch. No sense of let’s build something up. They’ve plainly failed to develop a vision that inspires their candidate to come out and say only vote Conservative.
"The massive rise in antisocial behaviour is due to ... rewarding problem families." - Fri 6th Apr 2007
Nominations of candidates have been published and so it’s time to review the opposition. As usual the Green candidate in my ward has asked her neighbours to nominate her.
There usually isn’t any political capital in the nominations - the public expect us to focus on issues - unless it’s something like a Lib Dem Cllr. standing for 2 neighbouring authorities!
But we now know that one of the Conservatives standing in my ward was the person who said on the local newspaper’s web-site, in response to the launch of the Nottingham Labour Party manifesto -
“The massive rise in antisocial behaviour is due to local Labour policy of rewarding problem families.”
No doubt crime doubled under Thatcher and Major for the same reason.
The new Old Market Square - Thu 5th Apr 2007
Glorious day today - almost too hot for this morning's 3 and a half hour leafleting session.
So went to the Old Market Square at dinnertime. The new Old Market Square.
It's the largest such space in any British City and the Labour Council decided to renew it, with Regional, national and European money, to make an accessible and open arena, made with the best materials and with a new fountain feature that actually allows the kids to play safely in the water. And my how they played today. Running to Mum to say the water's cold before running back into the fountains again.
Of course changing something like the Old Market Square was bound to cause some public concern. People have very strong memories of the good things, although they may have forgotten the concrete slabs, the benches under the trees that were not exactly a hygienic place to be and the awkward view of the stage when the council put on events.
The new square has more seating and a lot of people were taking advantage today to sit in the sunshine during their dinner break. It felt good.
Major investments like this didn't happen under the Tories. 18 years with oil revenues - used to keep people on the dole.
The Tories in Nottingham are particularly miserable - no ambition for the city at all.
2 places, 2 faces - Wed 4th Apr 2007
The Leader of the Gedling Lib Dems has decided to stand for both Gedling Borough and Nottingham City councils, on the same day.
The Nottingham Lib Dems are hapless. They won 11 seats 4 years ago, which included holding the 2 member Bridge ward.
But within 6 weeks their group split 6-5, the 5 becoming independents.
Three years on, the 2 remaining independents are not standing again.
One in Basford ward - which the Lib Dems have abandoned (one of the Cllrs. has done a chicken run to a seat they have held for over 10 years).
And one in Bridge ward, for which they came to a desperate measure of allowing a party member to stand in neighbouring councils on the same day. (Has anyone ever heard of this anywhere before?)
The public will be invited to consider how any person can represent 2 places at the same time. And we deserve to know, given he is a known resident of Gedling, how & why he credibly deserves to be entitled to stand in Nottingham City too.
(He was granted permission on the grounds that he owns a garage and that he's worked in the city for 12 months, first with the City Council and in the last few weeks at a solicitors firm.)
Tigers meet in Mapperley - Tue 3rd Apr 2007
Colleagues from across the city came to help in my ward this evening. Very re-assuring.
We finished on a housing association estate which has been refurbished, most particularly with metal fences and gates. Some of our team were Councillors for a ward called Greenwood, which once covered the estate and they were shocked by the improvements. They then quickly recovered to explain that the improvements had been lobbied effectively for by them over 7 years ago.
So much more has been possible since the Labour Gov't got in. Before then, we'd celebrate a new street light with a ward newsletter - now we're planning to renew nearly all of the street lights in the through a PFI deal. In the eighties, the Labour County Council Group split over whether to reinstate traffic lights on the corner of our Old Market Square. But since 1997, we've introduced 2 schemes of pedestrianisation, improved Friar Lane, removed underground subways along the Maid Marion Way, moved traffic further out from the north of the City Centre, and introduced the tram - Britain’s best.
And today, our new Old Market Square was formally opened by Princess Anne. It’s a different world.
Tony & Gordon launch the election campaign in my ward - Tue 3rd Apr 2007
... and I didn't know.
Oh sure, people told me. But in code. And I didn't crack it. "My uncle is the captain of a Swedish nuclear submarine." Would you? Sounds more like an excerpt from a 1980's English to Serbo-Croat dictionary. Oh, yeah, I forgot - it was.
Of course, I would have been let in, but at the precise moment the door was opened, constituents - genuinely excited to see Tony Blair - wanted to talk to me about it and see how long they might have to wait if they wanted to see him come back out.
BBC News 24 announced that Nottingham had been chosen cos a 5% swing costs us the council. I didn't know that and I'm not sure it's right. So I spent 10 minutes telling the journalist about local & city achievements. Then ran home to produce 100 direct mailshots to nearby houses.
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