JohnBM:Liberal

ICM Poll
CON 40(+1) LAB 22(-6) LD 25 (+5)

Whoa!!!

The first time this has happened since 1987.

Are we entering a new political epoch? Only time will tell.

Received my Euro election leaflet from the BNP today.

Apart from being jingoistic and thinly veiled racism, I would like to point out that:

“I LIVE IN YORKSHIRE

I DO NOT LIVE IN THE WEST MIDLANDS!!!”

Apologies for shouting but the idiocy of sending hundreds of thousands of leaflets with the wrong constituency on them cannot be overlooked.

Coupled with the stupidity of using stockphotos to fake-up supporters and a Polish spitfire in it’s anti-immigration campaign, I think the BNP have outdone themselves this time.

Apologies for linking to The Sun and Daily Mail without appropriate warnings.

<rant>

The biggest and most annoying fallout of the MPs expenses saga is the continuous assault by the media on all politicians at all levels.

In the last ten days, not a day has gone by when I haven’t heard somebody, either in passing or in the media, saying: “politicians are just in it for themselves” or similar comments.

Being a town councillor on Hebden Royd Town Council, this attitude annoys me.

HR Town Councillors do not get any allowances or expenses and all travel/childcare etc. has to come out of our own pockets. The only exception is the mayor who has an allowance to cover the cost of being in ten places at the same time.

I spend many hours a week doing voluntary work either as a charity trustee, school governor,  general volunteer or as a town councillor.

It is only for being a councillor that I have my motives questioned.

Every MP who has fiddled the expenses system needs to think long and hard about the damage that they have done to UK politics as a whole.

The only cure to the current parliamentary malaise is to call a general election and let the electorate purge those MPs who they think have been fiddling the books.

</rant>

Bumped into Labour PPC for Calder Valley, Steph Booth, last night at the Todmorden Scouts and Guides Gangshow.

Considering I’ve reported and commented on some of the recent furore in the PPC selection and not always in a flattering terms, I must say both she and Tony were genuinely polite and friendly towards me.

Credit where credit’s due.

That’s not to say I won’t be watching the press for more news on Labour’s Calder Valley woes.