Spotted!
Spotted in a disabled parking bay. Well, it is the one nearest the road, so all the passers-by will get to admire his posters.
View ArticleOne week down, three to go
Little time for updating this blog: there's an election on, you know: thousands of leaflets to deliver and doors to knock on, over 200 emails, and growing hourly, from voters and pressure groups to...
View ArticleStreet Scene and North Park
When we come to prepare our manifesto for next year's local elections in Darlington, I shall be pressing for that document to include a promise of radical changes to Street Scene for major improvements...
View ArticleOh dear...blushing Tories
Living in Darlington and wondering why you haven't had a leaflet from the Conservatives since the election was called? Wonder no more. Following so soon after Darlington's Conservative candidate...
View ArticleIt's not just on the doorstep...
Peter Barron, the highly respected editor of the Northern Echo has tweeted this evening:"Lost count of the number of people who've said to me that they're going to vote Lib Dem in the past couple of...
View ArticleLabour resorting to "vote yellow get blue" scare in Darlington
Labour in Darlington are panicking. I've just had a phone call from a life-long Labour voter saying three Labour canvassers, including someone called "Jennifer, I think", and she thought one of the...
View ArticleToday's Echo full of Lib Dems
Today's edition of the Northern Echo is full of stories about or including the Lib Dems, including the results of a regional poll conducted largely before last week's Leaders' Debate which, even then,...
View ArticleGP surgery full
I understand from a phone call from the daughter of an elderly couple, that their local GP practice in town cannot take them as new patients, even though they only live a couple of minutes walk away,...
View ArticleSupport from ex-Labour Party member
I have been sent a copy of a resignation letter to the Labour Party by one of its long-term members in Darlington. In his letter, this gentleman remembers the vibrant, exciting times when he campaigned...
View ArticleThe Darlington Debate
A couple of clips from last night's Darlington Parliamentary Candidates' hustings are now on the Echo's website: including my put down of the Conservative candidate, who seemed to be saying that the...
View Article£57m BSF money frozen
One of the themes of my General Election campaign here in Darlington - a campaign, by the way, which produced an increase in our vote from 7,000 to 10,000 (23.4%), against the general trend elsewhere -...
View ArticleRegional offices to be downgraded
Next week I expect the Government to announce a major reorganisation of One North East, Government Office North East and the Homes and Communities Agency. I understand that significant numbers of staff...
View ArticleAnnual Council and Mayor Making
Last night was Darlington's Mayor Making ceremony in the Town Hall. Definitely one of the high points of the year with abundant good will and civic pride.The outgoing Mayor, liberal-minded Conservative...
View ArticleBlink and you'll miss them
Two small sentences caught my eye in the new Coalition Programme for Government which will be of interest in Darlington.In amongst all the grand plans we see this:"We will allow councils to return to...
View ArticleOK to wear England Football shirts
Following a typically baseless story in The Sun a couple of weeks ago that a local authority in London was advising pubs to ban football supporters wearing England shirts during the World Cup, reports...
View ArticleMerrick + Headline = Scare
The Northern Echo's front page headline and story today about reductions in local police budgets is journalism at its most sensational. Despite "Durham Police Authority promising that its front-line...
View ArticleBy-election called
Following the election of Cllr Jenny Chapman to be the new Labour MP for Darlington, a by-election has been called to fill the vacancy caused by her resignation as councillor for Cockerton West ward....
View ArticleStrong line up for Cockerton West announced
The contest to replace Jenny Chapman MP as councillor for Cockerton West ward on Darlington Borough Council will be a four-way fight with the BNP putting up against the three main parties.The Lib Dem...
View ArticleAppropriate use of Council money?
Yesterday, two glossy magazines landed on my doormat, possibly delivered together. One was the Council's Town Crier magazine, the other was an independent advertising glossy called "darlington TODAY"...
View ArticleI can support this.
Yesterday’s budget was necessary, tough but fair. I didn’t join the SDP/Alliance/Lib Dems to cut the benefits of people who need them, or to increase regressive taxation. I didn’t get into politics to...
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