Please don’t forget to vote in the important local elections on Thursday 1 May 2008. These elections will decide who will represent you at the Council for the next four years.

Hard working local resident Mary D’Albert is the Liberal Democrat Focus Team candidate on Thursday.

Important Information
- Polling Stations are open from 7.00am - 10.00pm
- You don’t need your polling card to vote
- If you have a postal ballot, but have not yet sent it in, you can complete it as normal and take the completed envelope to your local polling station on the day.

Polling Stations in St Mary’s Ward
Rainsough and Heathlands Road area - Rainsough Mission
Agecroft Roads, Butt Hill, Barn Hill, Prestwich Hills etc - Butterstyle Primary School
St Anne’s Road, Carr Clough, Lowther Road areas - St Andrew’s Church, Woodward Road
Prestwich Village - Longfield Centre Library

If you need any more information, or need a lift to the polling station call our helpline on 0161 798 0117

Thank you!

The rain battered me this morning when I was leafleting - I have taken the week off work for the conclusion of the campaign, and our candidate Mary D’Albert and I were out in the storm this morning. Mary is obviously significantly cleverer than me, and had remembered a coat. My t-shirt did not take kindly to the soaking it received.

Remember, there’s only two full days after today, and then it’s polling day, when the people of St Mary’s get to choose who will represent them on the Council for the next four years. Will it be the local hard working Lib Dem who has lived in Prestwich for years, understands the issues, and whose party campaigned to save our local school and who started the Village regeneration at last? Or will it be the Labour Party insider who has moved to the area to replace the Labour councillor who proposed the school closure, who represents the party bidding to close local post offices, and whose party let Prestwich decline over 21 long years of maladministration?

It’s as simple as that, and I believe that the evidence speaks for itself. We’ll be out on the streets of St Mary’s more or less non-stop over the next 72 hours, so if we see you, do stop and say hello. At busy times like this it’s always nice to stop and chat to the local people we hope to serve in the future.

Rick

I am a bit damp at present, having just returned from leafleting in a downpour. Obviously now that I am back inside, the sun is shinning, but that’s just the typical fun God likes to have with me.

With just three days after today left until polling day, it’s full pelt for the Bury Lib Dems as we campaign for the local elections. As well as Mary D’Albert in St Mary’s, long-standing and hard working Councillors Ann Garner and Vic D’Albert are standing for re-election in Sedgley and Holyrood wards respectively, and we have candidates in all the other wards across Bury too. So there are soaked Lib Dems up and down the Borough right now.

My finger is still attached to the rest of my hand, which is an unexpected bonus given the amount of blood pouring from it on Friday night. I nearly lost the plaster in someone’s mailbox this morning, but managed to retrieve it despite the overwhelming temptation to leave it on top of the Labour leaflet which it had fallen on to. So right now the wound is being given a chance to breath before this afternoon’s leaflet-fest.

I am not sure how frequently the blog will be updated in the coming days. My fingers should be doing things involving leaflets, envelopes and doorbells, rather than typing, I suspect. But I will try to make it every day nonetheless. It’s important that we remember the key choice for Thursday - between a Labour Party imploding across the country and trying to make poor people poorer still, whilst shutting down schools and post offices here in Bury, and a Lib Dem candidate in Mary D’Albert who campaigns for stronger local facilities, a better Prestwich Village, and really gets things done locally.

Rick

My leafleting excursions over the years have had me face to face with various excitements - wild dogs mainly, with the occasional even-wilder local resident not overly keen on St Mary’s Focus. I have grappled with gates so complicated that their design owed less to B&Q and more to the CERN Institute. And I have taken on every type of weather imaginable. I have fallen over, accidentally kicked cats, got stuck in hedges and had a memorable encounter with a goose. Once I ended up consulting health professionals after an untoward incident with a (now deceased) dog. But tonight I was almost murdered on the streets of Prestwich by an errant letterbox which, on reflection, I am sure was made entirely of razor blades and barbed wire.

My hand went into it with the same composition as normal - four fingers and a thumb, protected by skin. I am not sure what happened during the depositing of the leaflet, but my middle finger clearly got mauled by an alligator or something because when I removed it there was a chunk of skin missing the size of a 10p piece, and I was spurting blood like a macabre comedy clown. Honestly, it was like Apocalypse Now.

The blood-letting was concerning for a number of reasons. First, because I am told that copious blood loss is never a good sign. But mainly because at this time of year I don’t want to be dropping leaflets into people’s porches asking for their votes whilst at the same time staining the leaflets with threatening droplets of blood. “Vote Lib Dem or We’ll Kill You” is not the message we want to get across. Although, having seen the general direction that the local Labour leaflets are heading, I wouldn’t be surprised if their view of this tactic differs from mine. Anyone on the receiving end of my bloodied hand reaching into their hallway must’ve thought they were starring in a re-make of The Shining. If anyone was scared, I apologise. But after 15 minutes of unceasing bleeding, you probably weren’t as scared as I was.

So, in short, I was alarmed. I staggered on for a few houses, all the while dripping into a tissue that my mum (leafleting with me) provided. But once it had turned from white, through “raspberry ripple,” into pure red, and the blood still hadn’t stopped, I thought that some emergency help was required before I dropped dead on the street.

Step forward Kindly Local Resident.

My Mum approached a lady innocently filling her wheelie bin, and asked if she could spare a dying boy a piece of kitchen roll. Kitchen roll was just the start of it though, as I was led into the lady’s kitchen, past her startled husband in the lounge, and into a downstairs toilet where I was ordered to wash the wound whilst it was inspected, accompanied by worried intakes of breath and mumbled words like “deep” and “stitches.” Obviously the seriousness of the situation hadn’t occurred to the lady - in election week I am going to carry on leafleting even when I put my hand into a letterbox and a dog bites my arm off. “Deep” and “Stitches” mean nothing to me. 

Two bloodied kitchen towels and four plasters later, this domestic adaptation of Holby City was over and I was released back into the wild with only minor faintness, to continue my leafleting. I didn’t apologise at the time, but if the lady is reading this, please let me say sorry for dropping blood on the rug by your sink. It was an accident.

I don’t know who the lady was. Or her husband. They told me they were Lib Dems though, which was nice. I can only thank them for their genuine kindness. They could’ve sent me on my way with a couple of sheets of polyroll, but they didn’t. They welcomed me into their house without a second’s thought, and made sure I was alright. Joking aside, it was very kind indeed of them. And the gentleman’s remark that I should sue the owner of the letterbox has resonated somewhat with me and my still-stinging finger!

And such a brush with death makes me glad to be alive! It is only when one comes face to face with mortality that one truly appreciates the most important things in the world - like the dazzling revelation that I mustn’t die yet, because the last thing we need now is a by-election.

Rick

Last night was a special meeting of Full Council to approve the constitution which will be used by the Council in the event of us electing a Mayor. And it was as thrilling a ride as that introduction suggests.

Neck bottle of Lucozade, and proceed…

At present the Council is run by a Leader and Cabinet. The Leader is the leader of the political party running the Council, in our case the Bury Conservatives. Later in the year the people of Bury will be asked if they want to get rid of this way of running things, and instead have an elected Mayor, who will be elected every four years by everyone in Bury and who will wield lots of executive powers.

Obviously if the people say “yes” then we have to alter the Council’s constitution. And last night was about approving what we’re going to alter it to. Although, for lots of Councillors, particularly on the sparsely populated Labour benches, last night seemed to be about not going to the meeting at all and spending the night electioneering instead. Which is fairly disrespectful in my book. And a bit illogical, if the point of winning the election is to serve on a Council which you then choose not to attend…

The meeting itself was fairly mundane, as most of the recommended changes were approved without great debate. I suppose the whole thing is academic at the moment, and may indeed never come to be important at all – that depends on the referendum result later on in the year.

But it was interesting to see my fellow Councillors all looking as harassed and stressed as I am at the moment. This election lark may be the life we’ve chosen, but at times it’s not enormous fun!

Rick

Election statement to readers of the Bury Times:

Liberal Democrats across Bury have had a brilliant response from local residents. People are telling us that they are fed up of Labour closing post offices, taxing poorer people and watching the economy slide. People are uncertain what the Conservatives stand for, and haven’t noticed any improvement since they took over last year.

Liberal Democrats in Bury have three clear priorities:

We want safe, thriving communities across Bury. People must feel safe in their own streets and communities. This isn’t just about tackling crime, it’s about stronger, united communities. That’s why we’re opposing Post Office closures and why we secured massively increased funding for children in the Council budget. It’s also why we have always opposed the unfair and divisive congestion charge.

We want Bury to be the greenest Metropolitan Borough in Britain. Last year Lib Dems secured blue recycling bins for every house, and this year more money for parks and cleaning. We cherish Bury’s beautiful environment. We will work hard to protect it.

We believe in giving power to local people, not keeping it at the Town Hall. This means that decisions should be made locally in the six towns that make up Bury. It means local people making decisions at the most local level about the services that effect communities.

On May 1st we have a choice - A return to the 21 years of neglect under Labour’s rule in Bury, uncertainty under the Tories, or a clear vision for a better Bury from your local Liberal Democrats.

The election is a week today. In St Mary’s it is a two horse race between local Lib Dem candidate Mary D’Albert, and Gordon Brown’s Labour Party candidate. The Conservatives can’t win here. The results last time show them way off the pace. This year, canvass returns are showing that people sick of Labour lies know that the best candidate for Prestwich is the Lib Dems’ Mary D’Albert. There are seven days to go, and here are seven reasons why Mary D’Albert is the only choice for St Mary’s:

Only Mary D’Albert has lived in the ward for years. The Labour candidate is a former Labour Party big-wig who knows lots about polling data but little about community issues in St Mary’s. Vote for the local candidate.

Only Mary D’Albert campaigned to stop the closure of our local school. Labour PROPOSED the closure, but were defeated when Lib Dems joined with local people to stop them. Vote for the candidate who sticks up for St Mary’s.

Only Mary D’Albert is campaigning to stop Post Office closures. Labour PROPOSE the closures, and won’t come clean about which ones will close until AFTER the elections. Vote for the candidate who values community facilities.

Only Mary D’Albert and the local Lib Dems have secured extra money specifically for street cleaning and youth facilities. These are what YOU said you wanted when we asked you in our surveys. Labour’s solution was to earmark vague funding “for Prestwich” by CUTTING services to children and vulnerable people across Bury, and emptying Council emergency funds. Vote for the candidate who listens to what local people want.

Only Mary D’Albert and the Liberal Democrats are campaigning to stop the unfair Congestion Charge. Since this LABOUR PROPOSED TAX on local people was first suggested, Bury Lib Dems have led the fight against it. It isn’t right for Bury, and the Council have now backed the Lib Dem position after an amendment put forward by us. Local Labour sit on the fence. They can’t support their own government’s congestion tax because they know that local people don’t want it. Vote for the candidate sticking up for your right to get quality public transport before even thinking about congestion charging.

Only Mary D’Albert will stop a return to Labour’s neglect of Prestwich. Labour controlled Bury Council for 21 years, and look what happened to Prestwich – the Village was crumbling, the traffic was terrible, they closed three local libraries and tried to close the school. Since you first elected a Lib Dem in St Mary’s in 2006, the school is saved, the Village regeneration project has begun, we are taking out some of the troublesome traffic lights slowing down traffic, and we’re trying to stop Post Office closures. We’ve also started the Clough Day as a celebration of all that’s good in Prestwich. Don’t let Labour back in for more of the same neglect. Vote for the candidate who is putting the pride into Prestwich again.

Only Mary D’Albert keeps in touch all year round with Focus. It’s nice that Labour have put out a couple of leaflets recently, although their grasp of the truth is missing in a lot of cases. But where are they for the rest of the year? Lib Dems stay in touch all year round, not just at election time. Vote for the candidate who keeps in touch.

The Labour Party nationally are in a shambles. Led by a man doing more about-turns than a soldier on drill practice, and incapable of making a decision whilst the economy stutters, his own party rebels, and teachers are so fed up that they won’t teach our children.

Send a message that Labour’s neglect isn’t good enough. Remember - it’s a two horse race between Mary D’Albert, the local, hardworking Lib Dem, and Gordon Brown’s Labour candidate taking us back to years of neglect. The Tories can’t win round here.

Vote for Mary D’Albert next Thursday 1^st May to send a message to Labour and to carry on the good work that local Lib Dems have been doing for St Mary’s.

Rick

Last night was what canvassing should be all about. A warm evening, my coat left in the car, a cooling breeze, only the occasional quasi-rabid growling horse-dog charging me, and a great reception from loads of local people on the doorstep.

Unfortunately though, everything warm but the reception has stopped. Spring has lasted all of 18 hours, and today is greyer than a concrete prison cell with only a table, a chair, and John Major in it.

Last year there was only one night in April when canvassing and rain came together in the most ill-advised marriage since Catherine Parr looked at Henry VIII and thought “Well, two beheadings out of five seems a reasonable percentage to me. I’ll take my chances…” Luckily for both Catherine Parr and me, she survived and I got elected last year. But this year, the weather refuses to be quite so kind.

The problem with canvassing in the rain is a biological one. God simply has not endowed us humans with enough hands to hold an umbrella, a clipboard, a pen, some leaflets and a few posters all at once. Attempting to do so means looking like a cross between a one-man-band and a Barnum and Bailey circus act. And adding gate-opening and/or doorbell-ringing into an already complicated equation means that it just becomes easier to stand still, study the house from the outside, and judge voting intention by the colour of the curtains rather than going through the rigmarole of asking.

Yesterday I obtained the dubious distinction of enduring the longest stare-out between Man and beast of the campaign so far. I defy anyone from any other party to have stared at a dog through a letterbox for longer than I managed yesterday at one particular house. The sun moved visibly in the sky, I was there so long, pitting my iron will against the dough-eyed, floppy-jawed, speedboat-sized mammoth dog within. Obviously he won, and I didn’t risk sticking my hand into his lair to deposit both the leaflet and my fingers in his mouth. But, for a time, Humanity and the Animal Kingdom faced-off, right on your doorstep in Prestwich.

The election is a week tomorrow. If you have signed up to receive a postal vote, it should now have plopped down on your mat along with the pizza menus, St Mary’s Focuses etc. So don’t forget to fill it in and return it! It needs to arrive by election day, so it’s probably wise to send it off before the weekend, just to be sure. Or remember that you can hand it in at a polling station if you forget to post it off. If you post it late, it might not arrive in time and it won’t be counted. It’s going to be very close between your Lib Dem candidate Mary D’Albert and the Labour Party candidate, so make sure that your vote counts.

Look out for us on the streets between now and the election. I’ll be the one with the yellow rosette, dropping his leaflets, clipboard  and posters into a puddle, grappling with giant umbrellas, being chased by dogs and shaking my fist at the sky. Come and say hello. It’ll make me feel better.

Rick

Nine days to go until election day in Bury, and the Lib Dem campaign continues to gather momentum and support. Last night on the doorstep the groundswell of positive feeling was better even than last week, and for the first time during this campaign I survived a night without a single close encounter with a dog the size of a caravan.

It’s not a surprise to me that we’re doing OK when we meet local people. Nationally, Labour are imploding over a 10p tax rate abolition which makes the poorest poorer and which Lib Dems oppose. Lots of people are telling me that they’ll never vote Labour again. Lots more are saying that, for now, there’s no way they an believe a party who seem so out of touch and so willing to betray their traditional supporters for no apparent reason.

The Lib Dems nationally, and the Bury Lib Dems locally, present a real alternative. Locally, Labour are keen to escape their legacy of 21 years of neglect, their disgraceful attempts to close our local school, and their continuing plans to close local Post Offices. Lib Dems in Bury have been fighting for a fairer deal for residents for years. After we were the only party to fight the school closure, you elected Cllr Donal O’Hanlon to represent this war. As our work to improve local facilities and work with communities continued, you elected me last year to join Donal carry on the good work. And we’ve continued to work hard this year, with tangible success in Carr Clough, Rainsough, the Village, St Ann’s Road and right across the ward. So we’re asking you for your votes again so that Mary D’Albert can join us and become your third local Lib Dem councillor.

Assuming we aren’t all eaten one by one by angry dogs over the coming days, we’ll be out and about and anxious to meet as many local people as we can. If you want to get involved, just look out for us or get in touch using the Focus leaflets you’ll have been getting. Our community stands on the verge of a great change. In five years Prestwich Village will be unrecognisable to how it is today, as the regeneration and improvements take shape and transform the ward. I am proud to be a part of that, as is Donal, and as is Mary, elected or not. Join us and be a part of it too.

Rick

Further evidence that Labour face a massive rebellion from within their own ranks over the 10p tax rate abolition today, from one of the party’s own Parliamentary candidates. The decision to abolish the 10p rate will make many of the poorest working people in the country even less well off, and millions more ever more dependent on complicated tax credits and government handouts.

John Wiseman, the Labour candidate for Westmorland and Lonsdale, told a Labour website that he wanted Gordon Brown to “wake up and smell the coffee” over the tax rate abolition. As Labour across the country prepare for elections next week, Mr Wiseman admits to being “in the middle of a nightmare” over the controversial proposals which are angering people across the country.

I know from my own experiences on the doorstep over the past few weeks how people locally are increasingly disillusioned with Labour. Lib Dem supporters who are swayed by our local record of action to save schools, save post offices and get the streets cleaner, are telling me that they feel betrayed by a Labour party intent on making life even harder for the poorest who are already struggling with rising bills and more expensive mortgages. At a time when we look to government for help, they are abandoning us to bail out banks and cut taxes for the super-rich.

Mr Wiseman echoes what I’ve been hearing across the ward. “Everyone seems depressed” he said. ”Gordon has decided to take money away from his core vote. Junior Ministers are threatening to resign! When are we going to wake up? There are hundreds of councillors who are going to lose their seats if Gordon doesn’t listen.”

Mr Wiseman is right. Mr Brown isn’t listening. He is carrying on regardless, and on election day the people of St Mary’s have a straightforward choice. Do you risk your vote on a party that wanted to close Prestwich Arts College, wants to close our Post Office, and wants to make the poorest working people poorer and ever more dependent on the state? Or do you trust your vote to Mary D’Albert and the Lib Dems, with a proven local track record and a tax policy that is fairer, greener, and will take millions out of poverty?

Rick

I really should stop reading “Have Your Say,” the BBC News website’s comments forum, because most of the time I read it my blood pressure rises to levels that really wouldn’t impress medically qualified professionals.

Normally the pages are home to quite a bit of ill-informed commentary, but there is often a balance and some rational responses lurking amidst the shouting. But yesterday there was a debate about John Prescott’s announcement that he has suffered from bulimia for many years, and the explosion of ignorance, and almost glee in some quarters, from the responding public really did shock and disappoint me.

Take a look at the debate here. Here’s a man who has just opened his heart and confessed to an illness which is not only deeply personal, but one traditionally associated with people far different from himself. And the most recommended comment (recommended by 138 people) not only doubts the truth of his claim, but infers that it’s all a ruse to justify the size of his food bills!

Another comment, recommended by 90 people, says that Mr Prescott has a “monumental ego for thinking that anyone cares about his problems.” A monumental ego? I wonder if this contributor has thought for even half a second about the emotional turmoil and discomfort that this story would bring to Mr Prescott? Has he thought about the increible amount of relief fellow sufferers will feel in hearing that older men with good careers can suffer from bulimia as well as waif-like young women, simply because Mr Prescott has gone public? I doubt it. Instead, all the contributor has seen is an opportunity to poke fun at a fat person. Disgraceful.

People make fun of his size, choose to make cheap political jokes, and refer to his marital life. The entire first page of most recommended posts are exclusively nasty, hurtful, personal attacks on a man who is clearly in distress, and whose confession will help lots of others.

Shame on those who wrote those comments, and shame on the BBC for publishing them. They are not valid contributions to this argument, and do nothing but snigger at a tragic condition.

Whatever anyone thinks of the guy’s political legacy is one thing. But this debate and this issue is not the time to be raising thoughts of his policies. And beyond his now-ended Cabinet life, any opinion anyone apart from his family and friends has on John Prescott is based exclusively on hearsay, media tittle tattle and half-stories.

Mr Prescott has been very brave in publicly admitting his illness, especially when I’m sure his experience prepared him for this kind of ignorant backlash from people more inclined to sneer than to learn. The stigma attached to eating disorders is still very much in evidence, and it is a shame that when public figures admit to their own problems, they are lambasted as fakes and ridiculed as gluttonous.

Unfortunately the media seems ever more willing to give tremendously loud voice, and ample opportunity to shout it, to ill-informed people with axes to grind and absolutely no sensible contribution to make to debate and argument. Someone in public life, way outside the typical demographic for the disease, confesses to bulimia, and the BBC choose to give voice to random members of the public who know nothing, know not one thing, about the disease.

Vox-pops and “audience participation” seem to have replaced so much expert contribution, in everything from the serious (like this, and debates on European Treaties that are waged amongst the fact-less and hijacked by xenophobes) to the trivial (like football and gossip - how many phone-ins is it possible for Radio 5 live to have during the day, giving voice to people who really have no idea at all what they’re talking about?). It just fans the flames of prejudice and gives voice to people who’s opinions just aren’t valid because they are based on nothing but prejudice. A debate amongst experts in fantastic -arguments waged by people passionate in their viewpoint and convinced by different sides of complicated arguments. It’s what the media should be about. But debate amongst people with time on their hands and nothing in their heads is a waste of everyone’s time. Of course, people can say what they like, but I think it is irresponsible not to balance the opinions of the bandwagon-jumpers with both sides of the expert view.

It’s a shame that this hasn’t happened here. And Mr Prescott has been done a dis-service by many in a country he continues to serve, at the end of his long and distinguished career.

I wish him well in his recovery from this disease.

Rick 

I have delivered a frankly obscene amount of leaflets this weekend - so many in fact that my hands have taken on a yellow and black tinge from the ink, and at one point during the rain earlier the entire contents of St Mary’s Focus transposed themselves onto my skin due to running ink. However, I am grateful for the fact that we live in an age of water running from taps, because it allows me to wash it off and not be cursed to wander around forever more with a mirror image of “Don’t forget that Labour tried to close our local school” on my palm. Not that anyone should forget of course, because it is a very salient point at the present time. I just don’t want them remembering by grabbing my hand and reading it in the mirror.

I am not alone of course in passing my own body weight in leaflets through the various letterboxes of Bury these past days. Our cohort of willing Lib Dem volunteers is equally responsible, as the sky high pile diminishes slowly as time passes. My Dad was also up this weekend to help out, and now understands quite clearly why the seemingly simple task of “leafleting” is rendered difficult by the fact that there are 15,000 of them and only one of me.

There’s only 11 days to go now until the big day - a week on Thursday, the 1st May. Mary D’Albert, our candidate for St Mary’s ward, has been even more busy than I have been, with leafleting and canvassing coming on top of meeting lots of local people keen to talk to her. As someone who has lived in this area for a very long time, unlike the Labour Party candidate, Mary is well aware of the history and values of the local community. Mary knows how much we value local facilities like our school and our Post Office, whereas it seems that Labour are now only too happy to see local Post Offices fall by the wayside just as they wanted to close Prestwich Arts College. It’s all in the name of profitability and “efficiency,” but, as the current Labour implosion over the 10p tax rate abolition clearly shows, Labour know the price of everything but the value of nothing.

The Lib Dem record locally speaks for itself. As well as being the only party to fight the disgraceful school closure plan in Prestwich, we’re also the only party who have been opposed to congestion charging all along. The only party who have secured more funding for street cleaning (including Saturday sweeping) in Prestwich, and the only party who have made progress on the Village redevelopment after two decades of Labour sitting on their thumbs and doing little for Prestwich.

Don’t be fooled by Labour lies. Their latest letter being put out in the ward once again spreads unfathomable lies that smack of utter desperation rather than honest policies. The party of “education, education, education” tried to close Prestwich Arts College. The “party of the working poor” now has policies to make them poorer still. And the party that claims to stick up for families now wants to close the family post office. How can we believe anything they say any more? We promised to stick up for local communities - and that’s what we’ve done. And we’ll continue to do so with Mary D’Albert as your local Councillor.

Rick

I was disappointed this morning to hear an exchange on Radio Five Live about the decision of Angela Smith not to resign after all over the 10p tax rate cut. A listener texted in explaining that in his view the decision to stay in post came about as a result of Gordon Brown reminding Ms Smith about the “extra money, £180k mortgage expenses, and perks” of her job as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

The listener is entitled to his view, but Nicky Capbell (the presenter) didn’t challenge the complete factual inaccuracy of the text, and instead just read it sneeringly, thus adding to the growing tide of disrespect flowing towards parliamentarians and other politicians who are, on the whole, decent people regardless of party allegiance.

I have no idea why Ms Smith flip-flopped over resigning. I think the 10p tax rate abolition is disgraceful, and she clearly has reservations. But people blithely assuming that any decision made by an MP must be about personal greed rather than principle is annoying, and doubly so when it is accepted so casually by the mainstream media. Maybe she just changed her mind, like people do.

PPSs don’t get paid, so deciding not to resign actually means more work for no more money at all. In addition, this whole issue of expenses is blown ludicrously out of proportion in my view. Out of the 600+ MPs, of course there will be one or two who take more than they should. Derek Conway’s conduct was neck-deep in the immoral and probably bordered on the criminal. He has brought politicians into disrepute, but the disrepute that has been brought to them is way out of proportion to the reality.

Of course all of our MPs are in the public eye and should be held to a higher standard than those not paid from the public purse. But the reason expenses claims seem so high isn’t because MPs are on the take, but because they need somewhere to live, and they need to furnish it, and they need to staff an office to do their job, and they need to travel up and down the country, and they need to eat away from home, and they need to try and not let their families disintegrate through distance, as well as actually having to do a job for which the weight of expectation can never be met. And I bet every penny in my pockets that the vast majority of them got into it for the right reasons - wanting to bring about a positive change, wanting to follow their beliefs, and wanting to make a difference to people’s lives.

If MPs only got into politics for the money and the perks, they made a very poor choice. They should’ve become lawyers or bankers instead. A lot more money for a lot less hassle. I reckon that David Cameron is way down the list of top earners compared to his chums from Eton and Oxford. And of the 600+ MPs, a dozen or so might get a car and a driver in exchange for working 100 hour weeks, but the rest probably lead fairly miserable lives spent mostly on trains and in lonely flats.

On the doorstep in the campaign I am staggered by how poor the regard for politicians and politics in general is. There’s a tired government, battling a weakening economy, and for the first time ever in this country those two factors are being scrutinised by a 24 hour news media and an internet which stretches into every nook and cranny of everyone’s lives. And the Tory opposition is gaining ground less because of its wide array of groundbreaking policies (which doesn’t exist) but more because of a vague desire for “change” caused by being “sick of that Labour lot.” It’s so sad to hear on the doorstep that someone is voting Tory rather than Labour, but doing so in the strident belief that the Tories will do no better.

I long for some positivity in the media, because obviously it is the media which drives the agenda and forms the opinions. MPs of all parties make wonderful speeches, come up with great ideas, and set them forth only for the front pages the next day to be dominated by the one dissenting voice. Of course all sides should have their say, but let’s have fairness with it and shine a light on the positives.

Maybe tonight, and over the weekend, sentiment may change. And don’t get me wrong, the people who are nice on the doorstep, of all political allegiances, still outweigh the ones who aren’t. But I much prefer someone to say “Yes! I’m voting Lib Dem!” than hearing them say “I’m sick of Labour so I’ll give you people a shout this time.” And at the moment, I’m hearing lots of the latter as well as lots of the former.

Rick

I am tired today. I wonder how the candidates for the American Presidential race manage to be in campaign mode for up to two years (followed by then being President, which is no cake walk!) without expiring after the first couple of months. Local elections in Bury are harder than I thought from the outside years ago, despite all the support we’re getting from local people!

At least the weather is less threatening today. Yesterday’s promise of sleet didn’t materialise, although my hands didn’t like being out in the cold one little bit last night. Who knows what tonight may bring though? I just went outside to buy some lunch, and was almost blown down the street by gale force winds. Mother Nature has no appreciation for the finer points of electioneering, clearly.

Rick

Politics Home Index is a great website that I had recommended to me by a colleague last week, and today it highlighted this article from the Guardian which very eloquently sums up a lot of the feeling I’ve been getting on the doorstep in the last few weeks about the crushing disappointment in Gordon Brown and the Labour government.

Last night, amongst the many supporters we met both old and new, a genuine feeling of disenchantment and disappointment came across. Not with local issues exclusively, although there is growing worry about nuisance crime and the closure of Post Offices, but with the feeling that real concerns have been forgotten about by the government.

It’s a shame, because I like to hear positive things on the doorstep. And we do get some of them. Last night I was delighted to speak to a lady who was very pleased that we’d managed to brick up some derelict garages near her home. But her neighbour asked why she couldn’t get a mortgage, and why it was costing more to buy food, heat her home and fill her car with petrol, whilst the government claim that inflation is barely budging. There’s certainly less money in her pocket.

Meanwhile, Gordon Brown flip-flops on the issues: Indecisive on Northern Rock, and indecisive on the Olympics and China. And where he does make decisions, they’re wrong - 42 days detention without charge is a savage and unnecessary attack on civil liberties. And the ending of the 10p bottom rate of tax is heartbreaking for the poorest people in society who will suffer from an ill-though-out piece of opportunism.

I urge you to read the article in the Guardian. I think most of it is spot on. It also highlights what Prestwich Lib Dems have been saying in leaflets and on the doorstep throughout this campaign - that Labour are out of touch and dishonest. Nationally they stand by and preside over the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression, whilst claiming that all is well. Locally they say they stand up for local facilities, yet tried to close our school, are trying to close our post offices, and presided over 21 years of neglect.

How can we believe a single word they say?

Nationally, Lib Dems oppose the same measures that Gordon Brown trumpets. We strongly oppose the 42 day detention limit. It is illiberal and unfair. And we oppose the 10p rate cut. Instead our Green Tax Switch would improve the tax situation for millions by cutting 4p from the basic rate.

And locally, we stand by our word and get things done. We’re the only party consistently against congestion charging (proposed by the Labour-controlled Passenger Transport Authority, overseen by the Labour government, and voted for by the Labour controlled Association of Greater Manchester Authorites). We were the only party campaigning to save Prestwich Arts College. And we are the only party in St Mary’s ward campaigning to stop the Post Office Closures, whilst our own Labour MP votes to close them down.

The choice on election day is clear - more Labour lies? Or sending a message to Gordon Brown and the lame-duck Labour let-downs that their neglect of Prestwich and their failure to grasp the issues of the day in this country must be stopped.

Rick

So, my birthday is over. There’s only one thing more depressing than contemplating a birthday and seeing another year fly by. And that is contemplating the day after a birthday, and realising that it’s a whole year until the next time anyone gives you cake with candles in it and lots of presents. That is essentially where I am today.

However, I am keeping the howling wolves of Time’s unstoppable force from my door by dabbling in some case work.

Now that we’re out canvassing, it means that rather than ring me up to ask for things to be sorted, local people can just stay at home and wait for me to knock on the door.

I have chased up a couple of things this morning on behalf of local residents who I’ve spoken to on the doorstep in the past couple of weeks.

There is an issue in Rainsough at the moment with the new roofs being put on the leased houses. A lot of the privately owned houses in the rows are being affected by the works, although obviously aren’t getting a new roof. So I have been making sure that the construction workers are considerate in removing the debris and keeping the disruption to home-owners to a minimum. It’s great for the tenants to be receiving home improvements, but the people who own their own home mustn’t be inconvenienced if at all possible.

Also today I have been working with the Council to get a patch of Woodward Road cleaned up. Yesterday a resident of that road pointed out the very bizarre green slime that has accumulated, and is creeping down the road due to what I presume is a drainage issue beneath the pavement. I hope it’s that anyway, or else we have been invaded by a strange alien life-form, which I could do without at this election time. In any event, I have been told that the street care inspectors and the cleaning team will head down to take a look at it later, and take whatever action is needed, such as a mechanical clean or engaging Ghostbusters.

I will keep you informed.

And we’re out again somewhere tonight (I don’t do the organising, and am not told where we’re going to canvass until about half an hour before, like it’s a secret gig of some sort at a dank underground nightclub). So there’ll probably be more issues tonight. Assuming the slime doesn’t get us all first.

Rick

Yesterday I was leafleting and saw a man allow his dog to foul the pavement twice within about 50 yards, whilst the dog was on a lead about four feet from the owner. One of the two occasions was actually right outside the man’s own door.

I could barely believe what I was seeing, and would have challenged him were it not for the fact that his dog looked a bit growly, and he himself looked like he could kill me with a single blow, and wouldn’t hesitate to show me how.

People get so fed up with dog dirt on the pavements. And it’s no surprise. It is one of the most unpleasant acts of vandalism that I can think of, and I can’t believe that anyone would let their dog do that without immediately cleaning it up. Apart from the general unpleasantness it is also obviously a major health hazard. If we had people just squatting down and doing that on the pavement, rather than dogs, there’d be outcry, so why do some people find it acceptable to let their dogs do it?

If the dog was a stray, or the owner wasn’t looking, then I could accept it a bit more – carelessness rather than malice. Yes, it should be sorted, but worse things happen. This guy though, was right there in front of his animal, and just walked away, leaving the mess behind for someone else to deal with (and lots of other people to step in).

I despair sometimes that people can treat their community with such shocking disrespect. Where’s the morality in saying to your neighbours “I value you so little that I will let my dog crap outside your house, and just walk away and leave it there. It’s someone else’s problem, not mine. I have better things to do.”

Lots of people complain to me about dog mess, and I sympathise. We have asked for more patrols, more enforcement, and more warning signs. We have got a lot of it, and we’re getting more. And this guy will get a prosecution letter through the post because I grassed him up this morning. But it will never be solved without the message getting through to the thoughtless minority of dog owners that they owe us all the courtesy of cleaning up after their animals.

It’s the same mentality for litter-bugs. We need more pride in our community, which is one of the reasons why our candidate Mary D’Albert launched her “Pride in Prestwich” campaign for these elections.

I feel bad that I didn’t challenge this man, but he will get his comeuppance, and we need all the good people to make sure that all the bad ones get their’s too. So if you see dog-fouling, or litter dropping, then let me know. We can work together with the Council to get more enforcement, fine and punish the culprits and make it clear to everyone that we want pride in our local area.

Rick

I can’t quite put my finger on which year it was, but there must have been one year when the balance of my birthday decisively tipped away from wrapping paper and candles, and towards emails and report-writing. I suspect it was around 1998.

And so today, whilst there was indeed some gift unwrapping at 7am, I will mostly be doing mundane things. Which is a shame I think, partly because I am yearning for lost innocence and my youth back, but mainly because I think we’re all inherently lazy and would rather be reclining on a chaise-longue being fed grapes and given gifts rather than sitting at a desk typing. I certainly would.

I have been very lucky this year and received lots of nice things. Tam got me some CDs, having unleashed me in HMV on Saturday armed with a shopping basket and her debit card (God bless chip and PIN, now I don’t even need her there to sign anything). And my work colleagues have made a donation of £43.50 to Speakability, a charity for people with aphasia, a very nasty illness which my Grandpa suffered from. The gift also gives me the opportunity to go hunting round the office this afternoon looking for the tight-fisted git who decided to give the 50p. I also have a few other things coming my way apparently, including a book on Gordon Brown, which I suspect will flap about a lot and prove to be a major disappointment.

And before I can enjoy any of them, I have work. Then some electioneering of some sort this evening. Yesterday I saw the Labour canvassing teams out in the ward. Obviously they’re doing what we’re doing. I often wonder what would happen if we both ended up choosing to canvass the same street on the same night. Who would give way first…? Or would we both race between houses trying to knock on the door before the opposition? It would be amusing… Not for any of the hapless residents caught in the crossfire and watching some kind of War of the Rosettes in their street. But for me, certainly.

I hope everyone enjoys the day.

Rick

The weekend has been a very busy one. I must have shipped four-figures worth of leaflets myself, and of course I am just one small cog in the local election machine across Bury which has been whirring away spewing leaflets and letters out into doorsteps across the Borough. I was out in Holyrood and Besses wards as well as lots in St Mary’s, and if you saw a bedraggled person swimming across Prestwich at high tide during the downpour yesterday lunchtime, grimly holding onto some mulch that resembled a Focus leaflet, that would’ve been me. But I’m dry now. Just.

Being out so often does mean I get to meet lots of local people, to whom I must speak whilst encased in a whole body leaflet-suit. Today I sorted out an election day lift to the polls for somebody, and also took on some casework about the shoddy state of Sherbourne Court in the ward. I was out and about with Mary D’Albert, our candidate for St Mary’s, earlier on, and lots of people seemed delighted to meet the “lady from the leaflet” in person, which was nice too. There are only so many people you can meet in community meetings and on the doorstep, but at this time of year when lots more time than usual is spent out on the streets of the ward, there’s plenty of opportunity to say hello to lots more people.

Monday is my 27th birthday. This last year has been pretty good, and has seen a lot of changes - new house, new car, new job, and of course my election as a local Councillor. Hopefully year number 28 will be just as good. But, like all recent years, and maybe like lots more to come, I am cursed by accident of birth to spend the auspicious day campaigning. I never liked being born in April, because I was one of the younger ones at school. I had to watch friends get their BMXs or Super Nintendos or driving licenses many long and interminable months before I did. And now I like my April birthday even less, because it’s right in the middle of the busiest time of the year. I share my birthday with Sedgley Councillor Andrew Garner though, so I know he shares my pain. And Mary D’Albert has an April birthday too, so we’re all in this mire together, and we can moan in unison whilst we shove things in letterboxes rather than blow out candles and eat jelly and ice cream.

I await the present-and-card-fest tomorrow. Tam let me go mad in HMV, but then stole the CDs off me as soon as we left the shop, so now I have half a dozen waiting for me to unwrap in the morning. I don’t know what else is coming my way. So long as it isn’t 500 leaflets, I don’t care.

Rick

Last night whilst leafleting I stumbled blindly into the type of social situation I try my utmost to avoid at all costs. I think you’ll agree that by running away, I handled it in the only sensible way.

I was jamming a leaflet into a letter box, and my idiot-fumblings clearly aroused the householder, who probably thought that war had been declared in his street. When he came to the door I immediately knew who he was, because I used to be friends with his brother. And he asked “Do I know you?” meaning of course “I know you, what are you doing trying to break into my house?”

Now, bear in mind that I hadn’t seen or spoken to him since I was an awkward school-boy, and throughout the intervening dozen or so years, during which time I have progressed to being an awkward adult, I have tried to avoid giving him and everyone else I knew / evething else I did at the age of 14 single moment’s thought. At that precise second though, stood with my hand through an open door’s letterbox, all my horrific teengage insecurities came flooding back in a tidal wave of school-changing-room-scented awfulness.

So essentially I had two choices. I could have engaged in conversation, enquired after his health, activities, and the well-being of his family whom I vaguely recall, and maybe re-kindled an old friendship. Or, I could have said “No mate, don’t think we know each other,” and hurried away, arms flailing like a maniac. Obviously, the thought of chatting to someone who’s last recollection of my was as a shaky-voiced 14 year old fills me with utter horror, so I chose the second option, and ran away.

This is the by-product of not being brave enough to move away from my home town. Around every corner there may lurk an older version of the playground bully or my first crush or my best friend from primary school who I haven’t seen since 1989. What can I do but run away? After all, they might have made more of their lives than me, and I couldn’t face finding that out. Thankfully we live in an age where people can easily move abroad, and by God I wish they all would. Tesco would be much less of an ordeal.

So if by any chance the person concerned has been giving our encounter as much thought as I have, and has Googled me today and found this site, let me say that I have no excuse for my rudeness other than social ineptness. So… sorry. And please stop stalking me.

Despite my experience, I’ll be back out on the streets tonight, no doubt. Leafleting and/or canvassing. My biggest fear of course is knocking on someone’s door to canvass them and discovering that we sat next to each other in geography in about 1993. I honestly think I’d flee the scene screaming. And to hell with the votes.

Rick

The St Mary’s Focus Team heard back form a local resident last night who was very pleased to discover that a missing bollard had been replaced, after intervention from our election candidate Mary D’Albert.

We heard last week that the bollard had been removed from the edge of Prestwich Clough during recent fencing works, and the people involved had not replaced it. This had led to illegal motorbiking activity in the area, because the bollard which had been installed to stop it had now been removed. Mary and the team got onto it and now the bollard is back.

During canvassing last night, we picked up a bit more casework too, so this morning our election candidate Mary has been chasing that up as well. One elderly lady was concerned that she wouldn’t be able to manage bringing her blue bin down her drive way, so we have asked that a refuse collector assists her with this, similar to the arrangement already in place for her grey bin. The lady was delighted to see local Lib Dems again, because we got the street light outside her house fixed a few weeks ago after a call to the team.

We have also heard from the Friends of St Mary’s Park, who contacted the team to talk about plans for a flower bed in the park. The group is one of a number of small community interest groups that Mary D’Albert and the team regularly attend and try to help. The Friends of the park have the plants, but not the time to plant them, so we are trying to work with the Council to get the flower bed planted by the time of the next Prestwich Clough Day, which will be in a few weeks. Lots of local people were delighted to hear that the future of this excellent community event has been secured for at least the next two years thanks to a grant of over £2,000 from the Lib Dem controlled Prestwich Local Area Partnership.

Prestwich Lib Dems will be back out on the campaign trail tonight, and we look forward to meeting more local people. If you see us, do stop and say hello, and let us know if we can help with anything.

Tonight I am back on the campaign trail, and it will be nice to be back and taking the opportunity to meet more local people. I particularly enjoy knocking on the houses of people I met last year, and receiving just as warm a reception now as then.

Afterwards I am meeting a constituent to discuss a school admission issue which I am keen to get to the bottom of. I know how lots of local people get very stressed trying to get their children into good schools, and whilst we all want every school to be as good as the next, it is important that the admissions system is as open and transparent as possible in the meantime. So I am going to find out a bit more about this person’s problem.

Also today I am chasing up a housing issue. Many local people will be aware of the current works in Rainsough and Carr Clough being undertaken to renovate the roofs of the Council houses there. A resident who owns his own home rang me last night to discuss the issue of repairs to a chimney stack that is jointly his and his tenant-neighbour.

So the casework doesn’t stop as the campaign goes on, and of course our St Mary’s candidate Mary D’Albert, and me, and the rest of the Prestwich Lib Dems are more than happy to assist with anything at this time of year.

Rick

Tonight I am taking the evening off canvassing to attend a work function, which ironically is at Bury Town Hall. A few years ago the thought of spending a worknight anywhere but slumped in front of the TV or out with my friends would have had me harrumphing my way through the evening in a gale of indignant unhappiness. Now of course the Town Hall is like my second home, so I don’t mind at all. And there’s probably the chance to recoup some time owing in lieu. So that’s a double bonus.

Despite my frequent delusions of grandeur, colleagues in the party assure me that my absence tonight won’t have the campaign grinding to a temporary halt. So the leafleting and canvassing will continue this evening, and you may get the opportunity to meet Mary D’Albert, the Lib Dem Focus Team candidate for St Mary’s ward in the May 1st election.

Today I have started thinking about my birthday, which looms like a an ominous shadow in an otherwise blue sky. I would gladly mark the occasion with nothing more than a private wailing ceremony, shaking my fists skywards from the top of an isolated hill and loudly demanding my youth back off a clearly vengeful God. Unfortunately, both Tamsin and social convention dictate that I have do something more “sociable,” and thus I have been pondering restaurant opportunities, with the idea being that I invite a couple of my closest friends, leave the ones on the fringes to their Saturday nights in peace, and grab a quick bite before heading home to old age and death.

These days I’m glad that my birthday can pass without being force-fed garish-coloured alcopops in a hideous neon-universe of bars and clubs until I succumb to an alcoholic coma. But even though I am more willing than I once was, there’s still this nagging doubt I have in my mind that, as well as being a celebration of the desperately unwanted passage of time, none of my mates really want to spend their money on celebrating the fact that many years ago I popped into the world on an arbitrary date that coincides with today.

So I try to make the event a bit more special than normal by finding the most ridiculous restaurants in Manchester to go to. So that people can get so flummoxed by the menu that they ignore me, and I can kid myself that they’re all out to experience something bizarre and cultural, rather than stare grimly at me whilst I unwrap cards and they simmer with resentment at missing Dr Who.

I am torn between the Lebanese one in the Northern Quarter, and the new Russian one on Sackville Street. I must say I’m hedging towards Russian. Not just because it’s bigger and thus less likely to chuckle knowingly when I try to reserve a table, but also because it isn’t in the “Northern Quarter,” a name and an area so laughably pretentious that it makes me want to vomit my spleen out onto the ripped jeans of every hair-gelled whining label serf I pass there.

If anyone’s been to either, let me have the recommendations please. I reckon I’ll book on Wednesday…

Have a nice day.

Rick

The saga with the DVLA over my “missed tax payment” has come to an end, with an admission of error from the DVLA. But I am still feeling angry and let down.

Regular readers will recall that a few weeks back I received a very strongly worded letter from the “Continuous Registration Centre” accusing me of failing to pay the tax on my old car. This despite me telling the DVLA twice that I’d sold it. The letter came with a bill for £80 and a threat of legal action.

I appealed, mainly because they were wrong, but also a little bit because I don’t like being spoken to like a child.

And now they have sent me a very terse reply saying that the contents of my letter have been noted, and that no further action will be taken.

Well, how gracious of the DVLA.

So now I don’t have to pay them £80 of my hard-earned money because of a mistake made by their computer.

But of course I am still angry. How dare they send me that letter, assuming themselves to be correct when they were so clearly wrong? How dare their demand for my money come with no telephone number to ring, no human being to appeal to, and no crumb of comfort amongst the threats? And I wonder how many people would simply have paid up, too scared or confused to know that there’s any option? The only alternative is to send a letter explaining the situation, and hoping for the best.

It is a disgrace that we are barred from pleading our case in person. It isn’t on that these computers can demand money off us, and can be so wrong. I am glad I’ve got them off my back, but this just isn’t a fair approahc for a government agency to take with its citizens.

So I am writing to the DVLA asking them to stop this practice, and to at the very least provide a telephone number for appeals. I am also asking them to tell me, under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, the number of these letters that have been sent out, and the number which have been successfully appealed against. It is shocking that these menacing letters, essentially demanding money for no good reason, should be sent out by this government to the people it purports to serve.

I will let you know the results.

Rick

This week’s “First” magazine, produced by the Local Government Association, has a letter from me in it which continues a debate about how to attract younger people, and those from a successful business background, towards being a Councillor.

The thrust of my argument is that I think Councillors should be paid more - in fact, they should be paid a large proportion of the salary that they give up to become Councillors. It’s no wonder that the average age of Councillors in England is 58, and that so many Executive Members are retired, when the allowances are so low. For me to be an effective Executive Member in Bury, I might have to give up half my working week or more. The amount of money I’d be given in return would nowhere near compensate for my lost wages. And of course I’d be trading job security and swift career progression for a potentially vulnerable Council job which might disappear at the next election.

I know that being a Councillor is about public service and volunteering to help the community. That’s fine, and I do it without complaint. But if the opportunity arose to become an Executive Member, and I’d been judged appropriate by the electorate first and my fellow Councillors second, I’d have to turn it down on financial grounds. And that’s surely not right. I wouldn’t be able to afford the mortgage. And I would lose the chance to get promoted at work because I wouldn’t be there half the time.

We are asking Councillors to be leaders, but we aren’t paying for the qualities of leadership. What person in their right mind would swap financial security for themselves and their family in exchange for a Council Executive Member position?

Of course some people do it part time, and manage adequately. But Councils have budgets of hundreds of millions of pounds, and the Executive Members are responsible for it. Some may argue that spending, say, £50,000 on an Executive Member is a waste of public money. But we happily pay that for some Council officers. And is it not a worthy investment to pay for the best people to guard these massive budgets well?

MPs are the same. We pay MPs £60,000. That’s lots more than the average salary, but it’s lots less than a huge proportion of MPs would be able to earn in the private sector. The brightest, most able working people in our society earn lots of money, and rightly so in my book. So why would they be attracted to public service when the trade-off is so poor? It’s why so many of them claim so much on expenses. Not because they’re all thieves, but because they’re working seven day weeks, running two homes, missing their families, and losing out on tens of thousands of pounds of wages they’d earn doing any other job.

I’m not saying we should pay MPs and Councillors the same as merchant bankers or top barristers. But let’s reward the impact that they can make in communities by giving a reasonable salary. To put this in context - the three Councillors in St Mary’s ward earn less between them for their Councillor work than a single average salary in this country. Executive Members, most of whom are full time, earn only about half an average salary. And the Prime Minister is paid less than some Council Chief Executives.

These days, with £200,000 starter-homes, student loan repayments, rising bills and everything else, the brightest young things are rarely going to opt for public service ahead of financial security. It’s sad, yes, but it’s inevitable unless we face up to the fact that to be an effective Councillor means sacrificing lots of time, and thus requires adequate financial recompense.

We all want a diverse crop of Councillors who are all the most committed and able people to lead our communities. But if we want leaders, we must pay for them.

Rick

Liberal Democrats have announced a full team of candidates to contest the elections for Bury Council on Thursday 1 May 2008. One third of the seats on the Council are up for election, with one councillor to be elected in each of the 17 wards.

Two Councillors are seeking re-election - Vic D’Albert in Holyrood and Ann Garner in Sedgley.

Liberal Democrat candidates are:
Ramsbottom, Tottington and North Manor
Ramsbottom - Janet Turner
Tottington - David Foss
North Manor - Ewan Arthur
Bury West
Elton - Robert Sloss
Church - Tamsin Thomson
Bury East
Moorside - Nissa Finney
East - Emma Davison
Redvales - Paul Jenkins
Radcliffe
Radcliffe North - Lynne Molloy
Radcliffe West - Joanne O’Hanlon
Radcliffe East - Mike Halsall
Whitefield and Unsworth
Unsworth - Theo Tzymcyca
Besses - Julie Baum
Pilkington Park - Wayne Burrows
Prestwich
Holyrood - Vic D’Albert
St Mary’s - Mary D’Albert
Sedgley - Ann Garner

The Lib Dems have claimed to be the “practical” party of local government at the launch of their campaign for council elections in England and Wales.

Leader Nick Clegg said the party’s record was a “success story - quality services, and value for money”.

Speaking at the campaign launch in Sheffield, he accused Labour of failing on crime and the Tories of having “no stomach” for addressing green issues.  

The party currently controls 29 local authorities across Britain, and is defending 700 Council seats on May 1^st, including Sedgley here in Bury. We also hope to make other gains in Bury, including of course in St Mary’s.

Today, Nick Clegg said the party had come up with local solutions to problems including housing, crime and the environment.

“The Liberal Democrat record in local government is a success story - quality services, and value for money. And we are ready to apply the lessons that we have learned to councils throughout this country. “ He said: “We don’t promise to fix or solve every problem, but we do promise to give people a say, to give them the opportunity to fix things for themselves.”

Here in Bury, that message rings true. The Lib Dems constantly strive for better services, and stay in touch all year round through Focus, giving you the chance to have your say. We have led the way on environmental issues such as ensuring an extra £100,000 for street cleaning in the budget.

Rick 

There’s more canvassing and leafleting tonight, as the campaign continues. I can only hope that the warm reception we’ve been getting continues tonight. It’s been great so far, and I’d like to thank everyone we’ve met who has been so kind and supportive.

After canvassing tonight, I am attending the annual open evening of “Northern Air,” the hospital radio station of North Manchester General Hospital, of which I have been involved for the last ten years. I was an active member of Northern Air for about four years in total, over two spells, and have been in touch with the station and supportive of their efforts for the rest of the time too. Now I remain a member and attend special events, but sadly can’t help out much more very often because most of my time outside of work is taken up with being a Councillor.

I think hospital broadcasting is an excellent volunteering activity, providing enormous benefits both to the patients in hospital, and the volunteers themselves. When I used to visit the wards collecting record requests and talking to patients, it was wonderful to hear how they liked listening to our programmes. I know that for many volunteers this is the undoubted highlight of the whole experience. But others can learn very useful media skills in radio presentation and production, as well as making the types of contacts necessary for a career in the industry. I used to have great fun writing and presenting radio shows, and made lots of friends with whom I’m still in touch now. There are some lovely people involved in volunteering, and I would urge anyone who’s thought about giving their free time to do any sort of voluntary activity to give it a go. You’ve really got nothing to lose.

Hospital radio was the one for me. My dad did it years ago, and because I always fancied myself as a bit of a DJ, and thought that this would be a good way of learning the ropes as well as helping people out! It turned out that I wasn’t much cop at the radio lark, but I enjoyed getting involved in the community, and that’s obviously led to other things. That’s not to say that everyone taking to the airwaves on hospital stations is as rubbish as I was! Plenty of well known names in radio have started in hospitals, including Ken Bruce, Pete and Geoff and Nemone, (the latter two actually at Northern Air), as well as countless others both in front of the microphone and behind the scenes. Terry Wogan is in fact closely involved with the Hospital Broadcasting Association.

The Mayor of Bury, Councillor Dr Farook Chaudhry, will also be in attendance at the open evening tonight, as the guest of honour, and although I won’t be there in my role as Councillor, I hope to be able to welcome him and introduce him to some of the very dedicated volunteers who help run the station. The efforts that they put in, giving of their own free time to help sick people in hospital feel better, and to help young people develop new skills, really is extraordinary. It is great that the station opens its doors like this every year and is so warmly received by the community. 

If you would like to find out more about Northern Air and the hospital radio service that it provides, or perhaps are interested in becoming a volunteer, drop in tonight. The broadcasting studio is located next to the Trust HQ building at North Manchester General Hospital, on Delaunays Road in Crumpsall. And if you can’t make it tonight, you can call the station on 0161 740 7474. 

Rick

The campaign for the Local Elections on May 1st is now getting into full swing, and last night was another enjoyable evening of canvassing on behalf of the St Mary’s ward Lib Dem candidate Mary D’Albert.

Because there’s quite a few of us, and because lots of people are out (or just see us coming and don’t answer the door…), I only reckon I get to speak to someone every dozen houses or so. But it’s nice on occasion to meet someone who I’ve spoken to on the phone or helped with casework over email in the last year. That happened a couple of times last night, and it was great to be able to put a name to the faces of people who’ve been ringing me over the months.

Last night’s score on the Angry Local Dog Maul-o-meter, was a paltry 1. And it was less of a mauling than an inquisitive nose to the knee from an exuberant golden retriever. I did trip up some steps at one point though.

Overall I was again delighted with the response we’re getting on the doorstep. People are keen to meet Mary, and supportive of the work we’ve all been doing across the ward in the past. Who knows what tonight will bring?

 Rick

Last night I joined fellow Lib Dems, including St Mary’s Liberal Democrat election candidate Mary D’Albert, canvassing in the ward. It was great to be back out on the doorstep again, and the reception we received was overwhelmingly positive and warm.

I miss canvassing. When I first did it, I didn’t like it. I thought people would be annoyed at being disturbed, or would shout me off their property with frying pan in hand. But the reality is always so different. We are kindly welcomed by almost everybody, regardless of who they tell us they’re going to be voting for. And it gives me more opportunity than anything else to meet the people of the ward.

This year it’s particularly gratifying because people know me from Focus, and appreciate the things local Lib Dems have done for them over the past twelve months. They were eager to meet Mary D’Albert, and I was proud to be canvassing with someone so clearly committed to the issues important to St Mary’s.

And I also wasn’t chased by any dogs or other livestock. The closest I got to a fatal animal attack was when a very gentle ball of fur sniffed my shoe.

I am looking forward to getting out there again tonight.

Rick

The Lib Dems in parliament voted last night to massively boost investment in Council housing for the neediest in our society. Despite being backed by thirty Labour MPs rebelling against their own government, Lib Dem proposals were defeated.

In one of the biggest revolts since Gordon Brown became prime minister the rebels joined the Lib Dems in calling for more money to “acquire, rehabilitate, and build” more homes.

The rebels included five former ministers, Frank Dobson, Peter Kilfoyle, Michael Meacher, Frank Field, and Kate Hoey.

The amendment to the Housing and Regeneration Bill called for more resources to build and repair council homes - but was rejected. Mr Meacher said the supply of council housing needed to be vastly increased and it was “unrealistic” to rely on the private sector to build the required homes.

Labour’s Austin Mitchell said the changes would prevent the “bribery, bamboozlement and bullying” of councils into privatising housing stock.

Unfortunately the Labour government didn’t agree, and once again sound a worrying call the poorest in society who are finding that privately run housing associations are less effective, less accountable, and less suitable for their needs.

Rick