Punch and Judy dies

Sadly, Guy Higgins has died. He was the Punch and Judy 'professor' on Weymouth beach for years (about 30), was loved by decades of children and parents and will be missed.

Irish General Election

The Irish General Election is coming up soon - it's on Thursday 24 May 2007.

Last time round it sort of passed by my sister, who lives between Carlow and Kilkenny. Except, that is, for one event.

She was out shopping with her five children and husband when they stopped for a coffee break. As the children were racing round, shopping bags spilt over and general mayhem was erupting, a smartly dressed man walked up to Penny and shook her hand. He then talked to Dom for a few minutes and shared a joke with the children. As he walked away Penny turned to her husband and asked who that was. The reply: "Don't know. Never seen him before!"

Later at home, a cry went up from the children as the evening news came on, for the lead item was Bertie Ahern chatting to my sister, her husband and the kids!

My sister still wasn't sure who the bloke in the suit was ...

Media relations (2) - meeting Gordon

I met Gordon Brown at GMTV yesterday. Not exactly a water cooler moment. More of a QE2 style handshake line-up.

He was there to be interviewed, after Daisy and her mother Nadine Angus, and before the fourteen year old girl who wants a boob job. Now, that has to be a comment on the state of politics in modern Britain.

We had been at GMTV since 6.30am and were sitting in the Green Room chatting to the nice lady from Coronation Street (pictured here with Daisy and Nadine), when suddenly the place was invaded by blokes with short haircuts and rubber soled shoes. For GB had entered the building.

He seemed rather nice, with a broad smile. He kindly wished Daisy good luck, which I thought was generous considering he is the one standing for election for one of the toughest jobs in the world.

The art of media relations (1)

After Daisy Angus was released from prison late on Sunday 8 April, I fielded over 250 media calls in two days. This is what Heather was up to ... !!!

Daisy returns - a quick update

Finally Daisy Angus is back the UK, having suffered a terrible miscarriage of justice in India. Her story has made me understand better the inadequacies of the Indian justice system, where the result of a case is based on bribes, including those given via international aid. But more shocking is that her case clearly demonstrates the lack of support given by Britain to its citizens held in prisons abroad, on which (no doubt) I will blog on later ...

Her story in the Sunday Mirror today http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/sunday/tm_headline=free-after-5-years-%26method=full%26objectid=19094361%26siteid=98487-name_page.html and she is on the BBC's Today programme and on GMTV, on Monday morning.

Well done Mike

My wonderful father shocked the local Tories in West Dorset. Having contested one of the safest Tory wards, Mike McGuinness gained 540 votes. It is a great result, particularly as he had no help apart from my mother, myself and one local farmer.

Across West Dorset, the Lib Dems built on all the hard work of the General Election campaign and, despite a rather low key campaign, gained four seats at the District Council.

I was delighted to see hard working, Lyme bay man, Daryl Turner elected with an impressive 769 votes, in Lyme Regis, and the very able Stephen Friar, re-elected in Cam Valley.

But one of the closest and most exciting results was in Blue Bradford Abbas, where the turnout was at about the same level as most Parliamentary seats see at a General Election (it was 59.84%). Our candidate Trevor Rogers missed ousting the Tory by only 13 votes! The result: Gill Black (Green) - 52, Wendy Mellish (Con) - 432 - Elected, Trevor Rogers (Lib Dem) - 419. Congratulations to Sherborne Lib Dems for a good campaign.

Sadly there were a few Lib Dems who lost their seats, such as Martin Ray in Bridport. Martin was a rock during the General Election, so it is sad that he was not re-elected. However, I have no doubt he'll take this in his stride and try again next time.

The overall result for West Dorset was: Conservative - 26, Liberal Democrat - 16, Independent - 6.

This is a great sign for anyone serious about fighting this seat at the next General Election. Whoever does become the PPC will inherit a health local party, very different to the depressed and declining local party I found in December 2003.

Amused at number two

I was amused to see this, particularly as nobody posted! Thanks Stephen.

Best of the blogs
Top of the Blogs: the Golden Dozen #10
Stephen Tall April 30, 2007
And into double figures… Here is the tenth of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (22nd-28th April), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed.
Let the fun commence:
1. ‘Newsnight predict Labour meltdown’ on Paul Walter’s Liberal Burblings blog.Let’s just hope that this year their prediction is accurate.
2. ‘Which PPC?’ on Justine McGuinness’s blog.For 24 hours the blogosphere buzzed - order was soon restored.