The Third Man, Hexham Forum Cinema, April 29th @ 7.30pm

Just a quick plug for "The Third Man", my film choice at the Hexham Forum. Come along and hear why I chose this bona fide classic.

Court of Appeal: Part II

A few blog entries ago, I mentioned that I recently argued my first case before the Court of Appeal in my day job as a barrister. Unfortunately I lost the appeal (an occupational hazard), but the Court of Appeal were kind enough to say that I had impressed them "... with the excellence of [my] advocacy." So if you're wondering whether I would make a good advocate in Parliament for local residents, don't just take my word for it, take that of the Court of Appeal!

Hustings at St. Mary Magdale Church, Prudhoe

Tuesday evening: a well-attended church hustings in Prudhoe, with more than a few local residents standing at the back. The questions covered all the issues voters in the constituency are talking about - our views on nuclear power (I'm for as part of a balanced, mixed energy supply policy), the role of the third sector, churches, charities and other voluntary organisations (I'm for an increased role, but see them as working best alongside the state, not as a substitute), and proportional representation (I'm for the Alternative Vote system and against PR, but accept my views may have to change depending on next Thursday's election results). Thanks to the Rev. Charles Hope for organising this event.

Labour CAN win here, and hopefully will

I see that the LibDems in their election literature are up to the same tricks in Hexham as they are in every other constituency in the UK - choosing a convenient set of electoral results to claim that only they can challenge the incumbent MP, be they Tory or Labour.

The facts are simple: in the general elections of 1992, 1997, 2001 and 2005, the Conservative candidate in Hexham came first, the Labour candidate came second, and the LibDem candidate came third. Since the LibDem candidate in Hexham this time around was the third-placed candidate in 2005, you'd think he might know this!

To avoid the inevitable conclusion that Labour are the main challengers here, the Liberals point to the most recent set of local election results where Labour candidates admittedly did poorly. But there's two essential points to bear in mind.

First, people split their votes between local elections and general elections, and realise that the choice at this election is between a Conservative or a Labour government, not a Conservative or a Liberal government.

Second, many of the votes which Labour lost at the last set of local elections went to Independent candidates, many of whom were former Labour councillors who lost out when Tynedale Council was merged into the unitary authority and all-women shortlists were imposed.

At the debate at Haydon Bridge High School, the LibDem candidate described Hexham as a "three-way marginal". If that's correct, that means any of the three major parties can win here, including Labour. Since the LibDem candidate's a nice enough local guy doing no more than typical LibDem 'spin', I forgive him.

Now for the tricky part - making sure Labour actually does win here ...

North East will top the list of Tory cuts

It's not just the Labour Party saying the Tories will specifically target the North East for cuts - now even the Tories are saying it! In an interview last Friday with Jeremy Paxman, David Cameron confirmed that in his view, the public sector in the North East is too big. Realising his gaffe, Tory spin-meisters were quickly at work to suggest that this meant growing the private sector here, not shrinking the public sector. The problem with that interpretation of his remarks is, however, that while the Government controls the public sector, no-one controls the private sector, hence the only way the Tories can seek to 're-balance' the North East's economy is by targeting the public sector for job cuts.

Hexham, Prudhoe, Newburn

Virtually every waking hour today was spent campaigning in one form or another. We started off in Hexham, though the drizzle literally rained on our parade, swiftly substituted by phone canvassing, followed by door-knocking in Prudhoe, finished off by helping our excellent candidate in Newcastle North, Catherine McKinnell, by delivering direct mail in Newburn. The picture above was taken at a spot roughly marking the end of Newcastle's outer suburbs looking west into the Hexham constituency. In Prudhoe, I bumped into someone on the doors who has worked with my aunt, a nurse at the RVI, for the last 13 years - small world!

St. George's Day, Hexham

I took a break from campaigning to join my wife and kids at the St. George's Day festival in Hexham. The bouncy castle was popular with the young 'uns, and I was particularly taken by the alpacas - amazing animals.