Adeela Shafi - an awkward moment for the Tory blogosphere

The news that Adeela Shafi, the Conservative candidate for Bristol East, is experiencing some fairly serious financial problems, has been the source of some schadenfreude for Conservative activists in Bristol no doubt. It is certainly the case that Labour activists, riled by Conservative attempts to unseat Kerry McCarthy via #KerryOut, have taken great delight in noting her problems.

So, let's see where we are. The blue team decided that raising money for their candidate via the internet was a good idea, and I was certainly intrigued by what they were up to. So far, they've raised £1,881, 94% of the target set. Unfortunately, a month later, news broke that Adeela was in financial trouble, courtesy of the less than entirely supportive Daily Mirror. It was suggested that she was in default on her mortgage to the tune of £325,000, a lot of money by anyone's standards.

Naturally, Conservatives such as Tory Bear (yes, the guy able to spot a paedophile simply by looking at them) rushed to defend their girl - always unwise if you don't know the facts. The absence of a denial should have been of mild concern, but the temptation to counterattack was too much.

Nearly a week later, with no denial yet to arrive, the Daily Mail, no great friend of people 'not like us', joined the fray, noting that her home had been repossessed, and that it had been sold for £250,000, leaving £74,000 outstanding, plus whatever costs had been sustained by the lender in selling the property plus interest. Not good. And still, no denial.

Now, I get no satisfaction from this. I don't know Adeela at all, but her biography makes her seem like a decent human being. The implication, and it is only based on the information that I've read, is that she may have been caught up in this due to her husband's prior bankruptcy. After all, lenders are unlikely to look favourably upon someone whose financial track record has such a blemish, and potential business partners likewise.

However, in the same way that Tessa Jowell took so much flak (from me included) for her husband's financial wheeler-dealing, when she signed off on large mortgages without seemingly asking too many questions, Adeela accepted responsibility for the situation when she signed up to a business deal and a mortgage. To buy a new, more expensive property based on projected profits from a property development that hadn't even been started yet strikes me as somewhat misguided. Anyone who has had building work done will tell you that 'stuff happens' that will alter your costs as you go. And if Environment Agency approval was required, it was equally unwise to enter into such a commitment.

In the absence of clarity, Adeela is something of a lame duck, too wounded to be credible, too easy a target for those with ill intent (which would include Labour activists across the city, no doubt). It might be easier if she stood down, got her finances in order, and came back for another contest at the next election. Otherwise, she'll be spending more time defending her personal affairs and not enough time attacking her Labour opponent.

Perhaps a few Tory bloggers might want to make that point? Or perhaps a whipround to pay off some of the alleged debts might be a nice gesture?...

Old(er) people call for tax breaks for the videogames industry

A few weeks ago, my fellow East Anglian, Nich Starling, got quite aerated about a recommendation made by the House of Lords Select Committee on Communications. I did suggest that he was being a bit hasty at the time, and that the proposal (that BBC Worldwide sell off a stake in itself to raise money for expansion) wasn't necessarily a bad one. As it turned out, it wasn't a recommendation, merely a welcoming of Government intentions to do exactly that. Not quite the same thing, but there you go.

However, I did feel that I should take an interest, especially as Nich was, probably inadvertently, attacking my wife, who sits on said Select Committee. So, reading the copy of the report that was lying around the house (who needs 'Hello!' magazine when such reading matter is available), I wondered what other pearls of wisdom were to be found.

And, in paragraphs 84 to 88, I discovered that they had considered the videogames industry. Apparently, there were, in 2008, 155 British companies specialising in developing games, 30 companies publishing and producing games, and 35 providing games support. Employment in these companies amounted to nearly 9,000 jobs and a turnover of £625 million. Not exactly chicken feed, I would suggest.

Evidently, other countries want to encourage an indigenous videogames industry. The French offer a 20% tax break for games production, whilst Quebec bolsters a Canadian tax break of 37% for going into production with a provincial scheme whereby they pay 37.5% of the wage costs of game developers. Serious stuff, and certainly attractive to the comparatively young and footloose.

So, the Select Committee have stated,

"We recognise the claims of the videogames industry for support in the face of foreign government-subsidised competition, and recommend that the Government consider providing tax incentives for videogames production."

In a way, that's quite impressive, and if the Government acts, maybe there will be some free games for the Bishop of Manchester, one of the Select Committee's members. I don't see him as a keen player of Grand Theft Auto V though...

Now I know what a World War I battlefield must have looked like

Work has finally started on the new office/utility room, and our builder and his team have dug the trench required for the foundation.

The trench is 1400mm deep for the most part, but following the interesting discovery that part of the site was once occupied by the village pond, the remainder is 2100mm deep (about 7 feet). As a result, a large amount of Suffolk clay has been removed from the site, and we have a rectangular hole in the garden with an island in the middle. Perhaps we should build a very small castle in the middle...

The garden, once somewhat uneven grass, is now a sea of mud with duckboards across it to protect the unwary. All in all, it does resemble Ypres 1916, with the reassuring difference that there is an absence of barbed wire, shellholes and dead bodies. I half expect Tony Robinson to turn up with the 'Time Team' crew.

Excavation has also thrown up an interesting collection of Victorian glassware, some of which we will probably clean up and put on display as a reminder of the work that has gone into the building project.

Today, vast amounts of concrete arrive, to be poured into the trench. And so, by the time I get home on Wednesday evening, we should be well underway.

Goodbye Jenny, don't let the door hit you on your way out...

To be honest, given Jenny Tonge's form on the Israel/Palestine issue, it was only a matter of time before she got herself into trouble again.

Whilst I'm firmly in the two state, negotiated resolution camp, and not exactly renown for being an apologist for Israel, I am astonished that the currently ignoble Baroness does not appear to have understood how she got into trouble in the first place.

Yes, accusations have been made, and yes, one should carry out some investigations. However, those investigations should be to establish whether the accusations are based on any credible evidence. Only if there is genuine cause for doubt do you then start calling for an inquiry by the Israeli authorities.

In fact, you don't even call upon the Israeli authorities to carry out an inquiry. If they are by some chance guilty as charged, they'll cover it up, just as any Government charged with such a heinous crime would. If they are innocent, those making the charges will... accuse them of covering it up. A bit of a Catch 22, that one.

Even if this is too much of a test, one should really consider the weight of the charge too, especially one as serious as that of organ harvesting at the scene of a major tragedy. There can be few more emotive charges, and if I was one of those Israeli Army personnel who had given themselves unsparingly in pursuit of those buried in the rubble, I would be mortified and angry to be on the receiving end of such an accusation.

Worst of all, this is not a first offence. Having lost one job through making a tactless, if understandable comment, she should surely have realised that this latest comment would make her position as a frontbench spokesperson untenable. Indeed, I would suspect my noble Lords McNally and Shutt, our Leader and Chief Whip in the Lords, would have been in touch with her* even before the Leader's Office had placed a call.

It should be remembered, after all, that the Party Leader has no direct say in appointments to positions in the Lords...

* And no, I don't actually know what happened. I have a pretty good idea how it would have done though...

Adventures by bus in South London: lost and confused on the P5

I'm in London today, at least for the time being, as Ros is off to Bangladesh on a Parliamentary delegation. So, rather than go back to the building site that is the cottage, we thought that it might be nice to go to Borough Market. Curiously, although I lived in South London for sixteen years, I never actually ventured in.

That's a pity, really, as it is a quite marvellous place to buy cheese, beer and pork (the three food groups of the Gods). We browsed the market, before buying something for lunch and, most important of all, sustenance for the weekend for me. That meant a proper Melton Mowbray pork pie, plus a game pie, sold to me by a splendid man in an even more splendid pork pie hat.

But it was soon time to leave, and we eventually found ourselves on a P5 bus leaving Elephant & Castle. In theory, travelling in a straightish line, the bus journey should take about twenty minutes. Unfortunately, the P5 travels via Walworth, Myatts Fields, Brixton and Clapham North, which is anything but direct. It's an interesting journey, as long as you're not in a hurry, and offers an unusual view of inner South London housing estates.

Just don't expect to get anywhere in a hurry...

Why John Denham has cost Suffolk residents £131 million

Whilst Iain Dale has been concentrating on the alleged breakdown of the relationship between the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, John Denham, and his Permanent Secretary, I'm rather more exercised by an excerpt of the letter from Peter Housden to John Denham, in which he writes;

"However, you currently share the Boundary Committee's view that a single unitary Suffolk meets all the criteria, and if you were to implement it, over the same period (to 2014/15) there would be estimated net savings of some £26m, involving transitional costs of £42m and gross savings of £68m; annual on-going savings thereafter are estimated at £21m."

If this is true, and it is of course debatable, the decision to throw the matter back to the current bodies and county MPs will cost Suffolk residents £131 million over the next ten years, or £187 for every man, woman and child. At a time when the economic recovery is extremely brittle, that isn't going to be welcome.

Frankly, I am appalled, and I suspect that most Suffolk voters will be too. Given that a Labour minister is responsible for this decision, and that local Tories will be responsible for ensuring that the 'constitutional convention' will go precisely nowhere, it leaves very few options open to voters who want change.

I think that we need to take a good hard look at the best structure for local government in Suffolk. Mind you, given that the Boundary Committee already have, it is clear that key political figures across the county, mostly Conservatives, just want power, and don't care about the cost to the rest of us. They've obviously learned from the centre...

Riding the Javelin

I mentioned that we had used the high speed train to Ashford from St Pancras International, and very impressive it is too.

The first impressions are not good though. The service is operated by Southeastern, and because it is fairly recent, signposting is not great. Indeed, on arrival, I headed instinctively for the East Midlands Trains platforms, signposted 'National Rail services', only to discover at the top of the escalator that there was now a sign for Southeastern pointing me back down.

So, if you're looking for the Southeastern services, head to platforms 11-13. To find them, head along the lower level until you see the National Rail ticket office, turn right, passing the Starbucks on your left, and you'll find a set of escalators heading up. Climb these, and the platforms will appear behind you.

The trains themselves are a bit spartan. Airline-style seating with the odd bank of four seats clustered around a table and a rather muted colour scheme give no real sense that, as commuter trains go, this one is rather special. That is, until the train pulls out.

It doesn't feel particularly quick, especially at night, until you can find something to compare it with. Luckily, the journey does parallel a main road, so you suddenly realise that you are leaving even fast-moving cars for dead, as the train reaches 140 mph with nonchalent ease. And suddenly, you're in Ashford, just thirty-eight minutes after leaving St Pancras. Very impressive.

Curiously, our train was pretty empty which, given that it was in prime commuting time (the 18.10 to Dover Priory and Margate) was unexpected. Yes, the journey does cost a bit more, but the time saving is huge, approximately one-and-a-half hours per day, and in terms of quality of life, it would be a factor. I do wonder whether the time taken to get from St Pancras International to the workplace is a factor though.

So, East Kent is very much more accessable than it was previously, and we're getting better value from High Speed One. That's almost certainly a good thing...

A warm welcome in the frozen south-east

Last night's adventure took me to St Pancras International for the journey to Ashford, Kent, using the new high speed service introduced last December.

On arrival in Ashford, we were met by Chris Took, our enthusiastic yet realistic PPC for the constituency, and several inches of snow. Despite the almost total absence of white stuff in London, East Kent had been hit hard, with train delays, treacherous road conditions, and pavements like sheet ice.

Luckily, it wasn't far to the venue, so we were quickly warmed up and ready to meet local members for dinner. Ashford is not exactly fertile territory for Liberal Democrats, but there were enough councillors present to demonstrate that local Conservatives don't have it all their own way.

The meal was slightly unexpected, in that I got to eat a traditional Christmas dinner, turkey, pigs in blankets, cranberry sauce, brussel sprouts and all. No complaints on my part, I must admit.

Ros spoke to the gathering before answering questions, and we were whisked off to the station, just in time to catch our train back.

All in all, a very pleasant evening out, and it was nice to see so many people enjoying themselves before the campaign really heats up. Hopefully, Ashford will too...

Expenses - the final act in a Whitehall farce

The news that the set-up costs for the new Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) will amount to £6.6 million in the first year, and that eighty staff are being recruited to run it, is possibly the final act in the farce that has been MP expenses.

Whilst a few MPs have behaved fraudulently (allegedly), most of the 'offences' highlighted by the Legg Inquiry were retrospective in nature, approved by the Fees Office at the time, and only subsequently decided to be unreasonable. Whilst there is no doubt that the expenses regime in the House of Commons was poorly run, poorly audited and poorly defined, the amounts of money repaid amounted to just over £200,000 each year.

The IPSA will cost at least £3 million per year to run, adding significantly to the costs of running Parliament and providing no tangible benefit other than give us, the public, the warm glow of knowing that such abuses will not occur in future. Well, probably. Actually, make that possibly.

If our current batch of MPs are unusually venal - and I don't accept that they are - spending £15 to save £1 would seem like the economics of the madhouse, and I was looking forward to the Taxpayers' Alliance launching their obligatory attack on waste in government. Except that they didn't...

Mark Wallace does make the entirely fair point that the cost of the Fees Office needs to be factored in to any calculation of value for money, and that this is a piece of information that we don't have at present. The work of the now to be abolished Fees Office will be taken on by IPSA, so that will clearly improve the cost/benefit ratio. I also accept that auditing doesn't come cheap.

It is, however, hard to believe that there are eighty people working in the Fees Office at present, and the £700 per day being paid to the new IPSA Chair, Sir Ian Kennedy, is doubtless more than the most highly paid staffer in the Fees Office. So, I remain convinced that the cure is more expensive than the disease merits in this case.

There is one more factor to be considered. Will the IPSA convince the public that their representatives are behaving in an honest and ethical manner? If it does, that has a value in itself, and would be a good investment if the public felt more willing and motivated to engage in the political process. Unfortunately, the atmosphere is so toxic, and the default position of the media and commentariat so hostile, that it will take more than proper financial risk management to change public perception.

There will be much scrutiny of IPSA in the coming months, and the suspicions of MPs and the public will need to be overcome. But I wouldn't be too surprised if we end up back where we were a year ago, five years from now...

All that pain, and for what? Local Government Review for Suffolk runs into the sand...

Just when you think that this Government's ineptitude peaks, they manage to find new heights. After more than three years of consultation, debate and operational paralysis, an announcement has finally been made on the future of local government in Suffolk.

The report from the Boundary Commission offered three options;

1. A unitary authority covering the entire county (the preferred option)
2. A unitary authority covering Ipswich, Felixstowe and the surrounding area, with a second authority 'Rural Suffolk', covering the rest of the county.
3. Accepting the bid for unitary status from Ipswich Borough Council.

What nobody had considered was a fourth option, "we don't know, it's all too difficult, why don't you work it out amongst yourselves?". And yea, it is the latter that has come to pass. Rosie Winterton MP, the Minister for Local Government, said;

"After careful consideration of the Boundary Committee's recommendations and representations from local councils, MPs, stakeholders and the public Ministers found that there were divergent views across Suffolk local councils as to what would be the best unitary solution for the county. No single proposal emerged that Ministers believed that local councils would unite behind.

"We are therefore inviting the all the Suffolk councils and MPs through a countywide constitutional convention to reach a consensus on a unitary solution for that area."

Given that local Conservatives are split on the issue, and that Chris Grayling made it pretty clear that they would scrap the whole plan if they form the next Government, I don't see this going anywhere.

Of course, we were promised significant financial savings on forming a unitary structure, and these are seemingly lost for the time being, putting further pressure on council budgets and leaving things rather up in the air. Worse still, I fear that at least one of Suffolk's district councils is in rather a fragile state.

Personally, it does have one major effect...

Lib Dems react to Local Government Review Decision

Courtesy of Kathy Pollard, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group on Suffolk County Council...

Liberal Democrats have reacted to the news that the government have delayed the decision to reorganise local government in Suffolk.

Commenting on the proposal to set up a constitutional convention Lib Dem Group Leader Kathy Pollard said “I would welcome the opportunity to sit on a cross party convention to discuss the future of local government in Suffolk. However, I must say that the process so far has been very unsatisfactory and a complete waste of council taxpayers’ money.”

“It is clear that the Boundary Committee have not listened to local authorities, the majority of whom wanted 3 councils in Suffolk rather than one or two. In my opinion this will now be a dead duck. I’m sure it will not be a priority for a new administration after the General Election.”

Another unhelpful answer from Lord Adonis...

Written Answers - 8 February 2010

Railways: Passenger Compensation

Baroness Scott of Needham Market

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to review the operation of delay/repay compensation to rail passengers with a view to facilitating the use of vouchers issued with internet and machine payments.

The Secretary of State for Transport (Lord Adonis): The operation of delay/repay compensation is a matter for the train operators that use this system.

When train operators introduce the new compensation system they are expected to do so in a way that enables passengers to utilise the vouchers issued using technology where appropriate.

Perhaps I should explain.

As a regular traveller, I am from time to time compensated by National Express East Anglia for their failure to get me to or from Suffolk by means of a voucher. However, I tend to buy my tickets using their internet facility, which does not allow me to use the voucher in part payment. It therefore dawned on me that it would be really useful if I could do so, and that this might be quite popular.

Of course, the advantage of being married to Ros is that she can put a question directly to the relevant Minister should she think it appropriate to do so, and very kindly submitted it as a written question.

Lord Adonis's answer is remarkably free of value, as the voucher I currently have states that I can use it at "any station or rail-appointed Travel Agent". No mention of the internet, or of the websites of the various train operating companies with whom I have an online account. 

Therefore, in order to use the voucher, I need to go to my local station (Stowmarket), where Chris will sell me a ticket. Of course, he's not there when I get home in the evening, and he's busy in the morning when I'm travelling to London. And, as the voucher is for more than the regular cost of my return ticket, I need to buy more than one, or waste part of the value of my voucher, which takes even longer. It gets worse though. Some railway companies offer discounts for purchase via the internet, so I lose the benefit of those too.

Sometimes, I do wonder if the Government want us to use the railways...

R-eel-y good news for a change

For all the talk of the economy, of MP expenses, of defence cuts and Europe, there are other things happening in the world.

It is, for example, the International Year of Diversity, and a new measure has come into effect, whereby the Environment Agency can require eel passes and screens to be installed on all rivers and streams where barriers such as weirs or sluice gates prevent eels from moving upstream to grow or downstream to spawn.

Apparently, these measures are cheap, costing as little as £200, effective, and have already proved their value on the River Parrett in Somerset where, on the first night after installation of two passes, roughly 10,000 eels were seen to be queueing up to use them.

Why is this important? Well, given that the number of baby eels in British rivers has dropped by 95%, mirrored by dramatic falls in numbers across Europe, and that they provide food for otters, anything that improves the biodiversity of our rivers can only be a good thing.

Are the Conservatives signing a pact with the devil?

I am somewhat surprised to see that discussions have taken place between my 'favourite' rail operator, National Express and the Conservative Party, in an attempt by the former to be allowed to bid for new rail franchises following their failure on the East Coast and East Anglian routes.

Whilst Lord Adonis has set his heart against allowing them to bid at all, the Conservatives have taken the view that, after a period in purdah, they see no reason why they shouldn't get the chance to welch on another contract, run down the quality of services, axe catering, cleaning and customer service staff, and generally make train travel less enjoyable for hundreds of thousands of captive victims, sorry, passengers.

Clearly, the Conservatives believe that the debate is not one of private versus public, it's more incompetent friends versus competent enemies. For those who have suffered from National Express in recent years, the warmth shown by the blue team towards them is a sign to beware.

Personally, before National Express get awarded another franchise, I would expect them to compensate the Government for the costs incurred when they handed in the keys to the East Coast franchise, and to agree an extremely punitive break clause should they choose to walk away from another one. Then, and only then, would I be willing to contemplate letting them have another go.

Perhaps the Conservatives need to remember that, no matter how much money they get from private companies, it's the public that actually wield the votes. I suspect that this news won't go down to well with voters in these parts...

Suffolk Coastal - third time unlucky for local Tories

Yes, Suffolk Coastal Conservatives have completed the hat-trick of Suffolk seats where the local candidates have been blown away by the incomers, selecting Therese Coffey from that well known Suffolk town, Andover. At least this time two locals made it to the final six, although as the result was decided on just one ballot, it seems like neither of them got even remotely close.

Given that neither of the locals had a local government record in Suffolk, it does seem that the ranks of Conservative councillors across the county have little prospect of advancement. And, if unitary government becomes a reality, there'll be a lot less of them soon.

As for Ms Coffey, it was third time lucky, after her failure to get selected in Spelthorne and South West Norfolk. She'll be moving from Hampshire shortly, I guess, and we'll see just how good she is soon enough. That said, how good do you have to be to defend a 10,000 majority when the swing is towards your Party? 

Stations we have lost... Swansea Victoria

Close to the Conference hotel in Swansea was a old railway embankment which, once upon a time, carried trains to Swansea Victoria station. The picture, courtesy of Swansea Heritage, was taken in 1964, not long before the station was closed, leaving the old High Street station as the only one remaining in use.

Fortunately, this piece of South Walian heritage has not been lost forever, as it is now the National Waterfront Museum, in itself well worth a visit.

"The Power of Creativity" - launching a new Arts policy

I'm not known for a particular interest in policy, nor do I tend to get involved too much in it. Normally, that is. However, last Thursday evening, I had the unusual experience of attending a Liberal Democrat policy launch.

"The Power of Creativity", the Party's new policy publication on the Arts and Creativity, was launched at a star-studded event in the House of Lords, and attended by a surprising large number of creative artists from all fields, key players in arts and culture administration from across the country and a broad cross-section of our Parliamentary teams in both Houses.

I don't intend to name those present, on the grounds that they may not wish to be publicly outed as Liberal Democrats, indeed some of them may not consider themselves to be Liberal Democrats. What was important was that they were, at the very least, interested to hear what we had to say. They certainly filled a large venue.

The paper is the work of our Culture, Media and Sport team, naturally, and includes a foreword by Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury (and yes, she is related to Helena). Jane and her team have worked incredibly hard on this, and I am very impressed by the quality of the end product.

One fact that I learned, and was certainly something that I wouldn't have expected, was that the first chairman of the Arts Council was one John Maynard Keynes. Yes, that John Maynard Keynes who, in 1946, set out the new organisation's vision as being;

"to create an environment, to breed a spirit, to cultivate an opinion, to offer a stimulus to such purpose that the artist and the public can each sustain and live on the other in that union which has occasionally existed in the past at the great ages of a communal civilized life."

To precis, the paper includes proposals to:

• Change the way the National Lottery is taxed to generate more money for arts and heritage as well as for the Treasury

• Provide support for new start-ups in the creative industries and enable more businesses to offer internships and apprenticeships

• Offer all our children a more creative education by freeing up the curriculum and increasing the amount of time trainee primary school teachers spend learning about the arts and creativity

• Make it easier for small venues to host live music events by reducing bureaucracy that restricts small venues

• Make sure the regions and cities outside London do not miss out by reviewing the Arts Council England’s funding structures and creating a new administrative status for national museums that will enable them to be more enterprising and independent

• Open up the Government Art Collection for greater public use

It's an interesting range of choices for inclusion but in a political climate where the primary concerns revolve about how to pay for anything and everything, it is reassuring to know that Liberal Democrat thinking still encompasses quality of life issues.

Sir George Young demonstrates why he didn't become Speaker

I have to admit that I'd always considered Sir George to be one of the better sort of Conservatives. Still a Conservative, but a decent cove nonetheless. This morning, under pressure from Evan Davis on the 'Today Programme', he indicated that he might be struggling with the concept of relative ethics.

He had been rolled out to condemn the Labour Party for its response to the announcement that charges will be laid against Messrs Chaytor, Devine and Morley, especially given the news that the Labour Party's lawyers are providing advice to the three of them. Unfortunately, he ran into some unfriendly fire, with the question of Lord Ashcroft's status tossed back at him.

It is one thing to talk about breaches of Parliamentary privilege, but when your major donor refuses to confirm or deny whether or not he has adhered to the terms and conditions under which his peerage was granted, the charge of hypocrisy is never likely to be far away. Sir George claimed that only 5% of Conservative funding comes from Lord Ashcroft, a 'small proportion' as he put it. If it is so small, why does he have so much influence? Why does he have a team of staff in Conservative Central Office? Why, indeed, does he accompany William Hague on his foreign missions?

From a Conservative perspective, they really need to lance this boil. By squirming on this hook, they look weak on ethics, give the impression that Lord Ashcroft is running the show, and provide ammunition to their opponents whenever the issue of Parliamentary sleaze is mentioned. And by giving so much influence to him, without appearing to know whether or not he has honoured his commitments, they send out a message that they don't care, regardless of whether they do or not.

What that does is make the likes of Sir George Young look as though he is applying differing standards to his side as to that of his opponents. And the problem is that, if he doesn't really understand why that is a problem, he is hardly likely to inspire confidence should he become Speaker at some point.

What can you spell with four L's, eight D's and five Y's?

The rugby over, I deemed it safe to venture out of the hotel room, but only as far as the promised wine reception. You never know who you're going to run into, but I was delighted to meet Chris and Janet Thomas. Janet is a councillor in Swansea (Peter May's fellow ward councillor, to be precise) but of more personal relevance, they are Richard's parents.

In 2006, East Dulwich elected its first Liberal Democrat councillors, Richard being one of them, and Chris and Janet spent, I would guess, six weeks in the area, delivering leaflets, and generally being fantastic. The 650 vote majority was testimony to their hard work, and Richard, who gave up a safe seat to fight East Dulwich, has done them (and us) proud. As the then Local Party Chair, my job was to keep out of their way, deliver leaflets and generally do what I could to help them win.

We chatted away for a while, but it was soon time for the Conference Dinner. I got to sit at the top table, which was in the middle of the room (it probably makes sense as a concept), with Leader, President(s), sponsor and guest speaker.

It was a lovely dinner, with lamb for the main course (Welsh politicians probably get to eat a lot of lamb, I guess), pleasant conversation but all was set up nicely for the guest speaker, Evan (I'm not a geek, no, really I'm not) Harris. Evan was on fabulous form, with a string of gags, some cheap, some self-effacing, but all delivered with wit, warmth and a touch of irony. He also got in some serious points about science, attacking the Government and the Conservatives for their 'pick and choose' approach to evidence-based studies.

There was a raffle (and I know that this will have come as a surprise to you), and I made up for my notable lack of success the previous night, as Lembit graciously drew one of my tickets out first up. I'm looking forward to my bottle of Devolution Brew, poured with care into my special glass tankard commemorating ten years of the Welsh Assembly. My good fortune didn't end there though, as another ticket came out, allowing me to add a bottle of wine to the 'cellar'.

Oh yes, the answer to the question? Llywydd Federal y Democratiaid Rhyddfrydol or, in English, Federal President of the Liberal Democrats. Just don't ask me to pronounce it, that's all...

At the end of the line, get off of the train...

Weekends tend to fall into two categories. The first is those where I'm at home, in the cottage, pottering around, drinking the occasional beer, catching up on my e-mail, eating hearty meals, that sort of thing. The second is those where I'm on the road with Ros, riding on trains, drinking the occasional beer, catching up on my e-mails, eating hearty meals, that sort of thing. This weekend has had railways in it.

Leaving Newbury, we were off to Swansea for the Spring Conference of the Welsh Liberal Democrats or, as I discover, the Democratiaid Rhyddfrydol Cymru. It's a pretty long haul down to Swansea, fairly quick as far as Cardiff, rather slower beyond that as the train weaves its way through Bridgend and Port Talbot before reaching the terminus at the old Swansea High Street station.

With the business end of the trip scheduled for the following day, my only 'tasks' were to watch the rugby with the locals (given the circumstances, my decision not to was probably a tactful one...), attend a wine reception hosted by Optometry Wales and then the Conference Dinner, where the guest speaker was Evan Harris, the MP for that heartland Welsh constituency of Oxford West and Abingdon.

First, leaving Ros to relax, it was time to go shopping. I'm a moody shopper, in that either I'm in the mood, or I'm not. Yesterday, I was, and set off for the retail experience that is Swansea. It was a pleasant enough walk from the hotel, along the side of the marina, under the old railway embankment and past the site of the new bus station (it doesn't look like much now but just you wait!). I picked up what I needed (a shirt) and headed back via Debenhams where, oddly enough, the last days of the sale were on with some serious discounts. I did pretty well...

Heading back to the hotel to discover that England were leading by 20 points to 3, I decided to stay put in the room. In any event, it was going to be a long evening...