Oldham East and Saddleworth - a foot soldiers viewpoint

On Monday, three cars, each full of Scottish Liberal Democrats set off from various parts of Edinburgh heading South to Oldham East & Saddleworth to assist Elwyn Watkins to become the next MP for the good people down there.

This is the first Parliamentary by-election for a while where I haven't been part of the core team, ovbiously because of our key elections in May and it has felt odd.

I don't feel guilty though, I've done my fair share including Glasgow East, Glenrothes and Glasgow North East in the last two and a half years since being in Scotland.

However, once dawn had broken and Tebay had provided us with our nourishment we were eager to get on and the one thing that was noticeable as we drove into Oldham, sorry, not noticeable, very bloody obvious was that the Liberal Democrats were winning (hands down) the garden stakeboard battle.

In fact we had counted over twenty before seing any for Labour - which I was somewhat surprised at - UKIP have a few, mainly on pubs but it was definitely the Lib Dems winning overall.

We did spot a couple of random Tory ones during the day and one green, but hundreds of Lib Dem diamonds, all over the place.

So, that was a great motivation and we hadn't yet got to the HQ.  When we arrived there I left colleagues signing in as I went to say hello to my colleagues from the Campaigns Department and activists I know from here, there and everywhere.

WOW, that place was rocking and buzzing, Monday morning and already over 100 keen activists through the doors and more importantly, back out the doors and delivering, no time for tea or coffee!

The rest of the group had a photo while I was quickly catching up with people, then a quick word with my boss and a handshake and hello with Elywn before heading back out onto the streets armed with thousands of leaflets and letters to deliver.

We had been sent out to Shaw, and once again it was the Lib Dems winning the garden stakeboard battle, but also the window poster battle - more evidence of Labour here, but not much more and no sign at all of any other parties.

Once again, like May the people were supporting the Lib Dems, it appears the journalists who have become obsessed with this constant barage of criticism against our party have not made their anger known here.

It's funny though, because the media have become obsessed now with saying if we lose on Thursday then that's a bad day for Nick Clegg - why? 

We don't hold this seat, it is a Labour constituency, so if we don't win then what does it prove?

But, let me ask those journalists this, if we do win, and from what I saw we have an incredibly good chance of doing so, what does that say about the Labour Leader, the choice of the Unions, Ed Milliband?

Again, if we do win it, what does that say about Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrats and coalition government (the media down South don't get coalitions)?

Anyway, back to the actual campaigning, I spoke with a few people as we were out delivering, no one refused the leaflets although I did have a couple of people check I wasn't from Labour before accepting them and everyone seemed to know or know of Elwyn, a great omen for Thursday.

The leaflet we were delivering was fantastic, I especially enjoyed the bit reminding people what the Labour Party, which Ed Milliband has been part of before leading, he does seem to forget everything that happened pre-May 6th 2010 for some reason.

1997 - Gordon Brown sold off Britain's gold at a twenty year low price
1999 - Labour offer a miserly and insulting 75p increase in pensions
2001 - Labour incompetence leads to a £10 million tax credit bungle
2003 - Labour takes Britian into an illegal war with Iraq
2007 - Labour announce they will double the basic rate of tax from 10p to 20p
2007 - Labour let bankers run riot - we are all paying the price
2008 - £3 billion benefits overpaid

We rally have forgotten some of this stuff and before all the Labourites jump on my back, yes they did introduce some good things over the thirteen years but your own leader seems to have a selective memory at the current time so I'm entitled to select the things I want to select.

Also, let us remember why this by-election is happening, it was called after disgraced former MP Phil Woolas was found guilty by two High Court judges of knowingly lying to voters in a last-ditch bid to hold his seat at the General Election.
And as Liberal Democrat councillor Jackie Stanton said, "It is disappointing that neither Ed Miliband nor the new candidate have apologised for their disgraceful campaign in May."

Very disappointing - same old Labour.

Good luck to Elwyn Watkins on Thursday and to all of my friends and colleagues that are there as well, your hard work and dedication deserves nothing more than a victory, and the people of Oldham East & Saddleworth deserve nothing less than an honest, hard working MP, let us hope for their sake it is Elwyn Watkins.

As I sit and type this at 5am in the morning I am tweeting with a couple of friends who are working on the night shift in Oldham - that is the side of elections the public don't see or realise even.  We are paid, like everyone else for a 37.5 hour week, but not only do we always end up doing way more than that, we work some exceptionally unsocial hours at election time - but we do love our jobs.

Edinburgh Capitals ice hockey team on the turn?

Finally after a period of a few weeks of top players turning their backs on the Edinburgh Capitals and seeking new pastures, news of a new signing reaches the fans this morning.

"Edinburgh Capitals today announced that Ex Capital Scott McKenzie will be signed on a two way contract from English Premier League team Telford Tigers, Scott has been signed as the temporary cover to allow us time to look at other options."

Scott McKenzie will ice tonight when the Capitals face the Newcastle Vipers at Whitley Bay.

At the end of last year Alex Kim, Chris St. Jacques and David Lomas all moved on, and then just this week Adam Taylor and Jacques Perreault both asked to leave the Edinburgh club.

The Edinburgh ice hockey club is potentially looking at other players who can be utilised on two way contracts and according to the website, they may be able to announce further news on this later today.

I am also interested in signings for off ice positions because Scott Neil cannot do all of the jobs that need doing and until the Club and Scott realise that, we will remain in the current chicken and egg situation.

I will continue to attend the home games, and the away games I can afford but Scott Neil cannot continue to criticise fans and supporters for not attending the home games when there are no players on the ice and no professional organisation off the ice.
 
I really hope 2011 is the year it turns around for the Club and Scott.

Adam Levine gets naked

Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine appears naked in the February 2011 issue of UK’s Cosmopolitan magazine.

You can see a photo below, but while enjoying the eye candy, please remember the important side of why he has done this.


The pictures are part of a major campaign to raise awareness of testicular cancer and encourage men to regularly check themselves.

You can read all about testicular cancer and the importance of regular checks on the Macmillan Cancer Support website.

 
I'm very jealous of the woman in the photo!  Rugby player and strictly star Gavin Henson has previously stripped off for this same cause.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love said to me...

...make sure you recycle your Christmas cards and Christmas tree.

Recycle your Christmas cards this January in special bins in TK Maxx, Marks & Spencer and HomeSense stores (click on the store name to find your nearest store) and those stores will donate money to the Woodland Trust which we will use for planting trees through our More Trees, More Good campaign.

Once you have recycled them at one of your local stores, then visit the Woodland Trust website, enter your name, address, email address (you can opt in for updates) postcode and vote for more trees to be planted near to where you live.
ASDA also have Christmas card recycling bins in their stores, they are collecting on behalf of Trees for Cities.  Unfortunately I cannot tell you more about the scheme as I can't find any information on either website.
Finally, do you remember a month ago struggling when you went to buy that real tree?
 
Well, please ensure you make the same amount of effort ensuring it gets recycled, most councils do a tree recycling scheme, check their website or just give them a call, don't just dump it and hope someone else will sort it out.

Fraser Nelson's Daily Telegraph column: Reeves responds

I was on my way home from Murrayfield ice rink where my team, the Edinburgh Capitals had just been on the receiving end of an eight - nil thrashing when I read Fraser Nelson's tweet;

"Is the coalition becoming a merger? My take in tomorrow's Daily Telegraph"

So, given Chelsea FC could only manage a three - three draw against Aston Villa, then the Edinburgh Capitals got thrashed eight - nil, I was in a foul mood and responded as below to Fraser Nelson;

"No it bloody well isn't, they are two different registered political parties, why oh why are journalists obsessed with this?"

Now, I have eaten and sat down and read Fraser's piece in full again, I will now respond to the main points of his article to be seen in tomorrow's today's Daily Telegraph.

The first part I object to is this line about Nick Clegg's New Year Message;

It was directed not at the country but at his remaining party activists.

How patronising, "remaining party activists", to be perfectly honest the Liberal Democrats have seen a massive surge in our membership figures (16.4% in Scotland alone) and the numbers of people coming forward to help our MPs, MEPs, MSPs and candidates still continues to grow, each and every day.

Well Fraser, the reason it was not directed at the country but at the tens of thousands of Liberal Democrat Members, is because it was intended that way - you can read Nick Clegg's New Year Message yourself.

Nelson then goes on to list just a few of the achievements that the Liberal Democrats secured within the Coalition Government - obviously he is not pleased that 800,000 have been lifted out of paying any income tax at all or that the pupil premium guarantees children from disadvantaged backgrounds will receive more funding through their school years?

The article then goes on to say;

"At least a third of their supporters have defected and they expect to be routed in the May elections. Losing the referendum on changing the voting system to AV would compound the misery."

"No matter how hard he tries to portray his party as the good guys in a two-party coalition, voters are not buying it. This looks, talks and walks like a merger."

Sorry Fraser, a third of our supporters have not defected, on what evidence do you base this particular comment on?

He then goes on to say;

"When the Lib Dems were in coalition with Labour in the Scottish Parliament, they kept their own identity and party structures. In Westminster, though, Cameron seems to have led the two parties into a political blender and flicked the "on" switch. The spin teams are integrated, nearly every department is run jointly, and virtually all the Lib Dem MPs have a government job."

The Party structure has not changed for the Liberal Democrats and nor are there any plans for it to do so - sorry Fraser, another part of your article that is wrong.

When you say virtually all the Lib Dems have a government job, you mean virtually all apart from Mike Crockart MP, Jenny Willott MP, etc etc in fact only 18 of the 57 are on the government payroll - that really is not virtually all have a government job - let us have some honesty here.

I accept there are some PPS roles etc that I have missed, but those jobs are not government paid jobs.

Fraser also says the spin teams are integrated, yes the government aspects do work together such as the Special Advisers but the Liberal Democrats have an independent press team based in Cowley Street, who are not managed by the government - so once again not entirely correct.

The article then drifts towards the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election which has been called after disgraced former Labour MP Phil Woolas was found guilty by two High Court judges of knowingly lying to voters in a last-ditch bid to hold his seat at the General Election.


The article states;

The by-election is dangerous for the Lib Dems because it asks two horribly awkward questions: if you support Cameron's Government, why vote Lib Dem? And if you oppose it, why vote Lib Dem?

I assume from this weirdly worded line that Fraser Nelson has yet to visit the constituency? 

The reason I say this is when I was doing some telephone canvassing there, not one person mentioned either of those points, they mentioned the fact that Labour had lied to them last time round, they are worried about the debts Labour have left behind and also the fact that Labour have gone back on their promise of new health centres for Saddleworth and Shaw & Crompton.

Fraser, I'm sorry but the priorities you have for the voters of Oldham East & Saddleworth seem to be worlds away to those that actually live and work there and I think what they say on January 13th will be more important than what you write.

The article then goes on;

If today's opinion polls were tomorrow's election result, the 57-strong group of Lib Dem MPs would be reduced to a rump of just 13 members

As everyone knows, opinion polls are never perfect indicators of what actually happens in an election.  Since my arrival in Scotland as the Deputy Director of Campaigns the opinion polls and journalists predicted that we would lose the Lib Dem MEP in 2008 and that we would go from 12 to 5 MPS in the general election.
 
George Lyon is an excellent hard working MEP, fighting Scotland's corner in Europe because we didn't lose our MEP and our eleven MPs continue to work hard on behalf of their constituents and three of them are now part of the coalition government - because we lost just one seat at the election, a seat we had held for a few years since the by-election.
 
My point is that opinion polls and journalists predictions must be taken with a pinch of salt.
 
Fraser Nelson summates with this point;

A merger with the Tories is emerging as the best chance most Lib Dem MPs have to keep their seats.

I have never read such nonsense in all my life, I used to respect what Fraser wrote but this silly tripe is as far from reality as flying cars.
 
The two parties are registered with the Electoral Commission as two separate parties for a reason, because that is exactly what they are.  We have separate HQ's because we are separate organisations and Fraser for what it's worth we will continue to remain separate and different forever more.
 
It doesn't matter how many times journalists make up nonsense of splits and mergers and opposition politicians try and woo our members all they do is show Nick Clegg, me and the Lib Dem activists the length and breadth of the UK that they do not understand how the Liberal Democrats work and operate and that they are no nearer to understanding that now than they were when the party was formed.

The December and final for 2010 stat porn for my little blog

Continuing my regular monthly stat porn figures for anyone who is remotely interested in who reads my little blog, what stories they read and from where they read it, the monthly summary of my visitor stats according to google analytics is as below for December 2010.

The busiest day on my blog last month was Saturday 18th December, the day I was suspended from Twitter and this was down to the story about the tweet from ITV slagging Nigella Lawson off.

Last month I had 2,351 absolute unique visitors, a great increase on last month. They made 2,980 visits and 3,814 page views.

22.08% of the visitors were through direct traffic, 46.31% from referring sites and 31.61% via search engines.

So, my top 10 referring sites for the last month were;
1. Twitter (2)
2. Facebook (1)
3. Lib Dem Blogs (3)
4. Lib Dem Voice (4)
5. Blogger (5)
6. Google.co.uk (6)
7. Google.com (8)
8. Munguins Republic (11)
9. Caron's Musings (7)
10. SNP Tactical Voting.com (10)

During December I wrote 26 blog posts, one more than the previous month but still a long way behind where I have been in the past.

The top 10 stories by direct page views that you've read most were;
1. ITV News tweets Nigella Lawson not as attactive as she thinks she is
2. Mike Crockart MP, no really he is
3. Andrew Reeves is still suspended on Twitter - but the support is awesome
4. Labour MSP John Park stands down as Dunfermline candidate?
5. X-Factor's Gamu Nhengu and Aberlour Choir for the Christmas No.1
6. Angela Constance MSP is new Scottish Minister for Skills & Lifelong Learning
7. Jack Frew - murdered in cold blood for being gay?
8. Daily Telegraph expose MP Michael Moore, for being, erm, well, honest
9. Keith Brown MSP is new Scottish Transport Minister
10. My response to Ed Miliband's request to join him and Labour - their lies, hypocrisy and arrogance

A mixed bag once again this month ranging from my suspension from twitter because of a rogue tweet from ITV News, the impersonation of Mike Crockart MP, the Daily Telegraph undercover journalist sting of many MPs including Michael Moore and once again the extremely sad case of Jack Frew's murder back in May, he is obviously missed by friends and family alike.
The visitors to my little blog came from 56 countries this month, up 1 on last month, the top ten were as follows;
1. United Kingdom (1)
2. United States (2)
3. Canada (3)
4. Ireland (4)
5. Australia (12)
6. Spain (6)
7. India (9)
8. France (7)
9. Netherlands (=11)
10. Brazil (=11)

That's all folks.