Young people again

Okay, so a few weeks ago I said to Jamie that I'd be happy to meet up with him if he wanted to raise some of the issues about homelessness with me. Well, that's not happened, although I see from his blog that he's been putting candidates on the spot all over the country, so instead I went to visit young people living in the foyer in Abingdon. The Foyer Federation say that foyers help over 10,000 young people every year to escape the "no home, no job, no home" cycle. They provide accommodation with learning and development opportunities for young people. The one in Abingdon is about six months old, and has helped over 20 young people so far, providing accommodation and support plans, and helping them get back into education or employment or training.

Had a long chat with the manager, John, about his worries about Supporting People funding and about links with other local services, then spent an hour or so chatting with young people about their concerns - anti-social behaviour, which they were victims of quite frequently, money and benefits, Connexions and their aspirations for the future. It wouldn't have been right to be party-political, but was quite happy to sit and discuss the issues and listen to the residents, no matter whether there are votes in it or not. Probably the best-spent two hours of the campaign, and I hope that I can live up to the expectations of the young people I met to be an advocate for disavantaged and disenfranchised young people in the future. Is there a more important issue in this campaign than making sure people have somewhere to live, especially in an area as expensive as Oxfordshire?

Last night

Any regular readers of this blog will know my views on the war in Iraq - I, alongside 139 Labour MPs and thousands of members, was implacably opposed. Anyway, last night I went along to speak to members of the Oxford Stop the War Coalition with the other candidates for OxWAb. You would think that members of Ox STWC would welcome the chance to vote for a left-wing anti-war Labour candidate, wouldn't you, especially as Respect and the SA aren't standing in this area? But then I guess you'd be mistaken.

It really was a most curious event. Probably wisely, the Tories didn't turn up. I find the spectacle of the Greens and Liberals attempting to outdo one another in terms of "I'm more anti-war than you!" quite funny, especially as all the Liberals get quite flustered under the onslaught of facts and figures Tom Lines keeps under that grey head. Evan couldn't be there, so they'd sent their wishy-washy mustard-jumpered candidate for Oxford East in his place.

I emphasised from the beginning that I was no Blairite apparatchik, and I was doing okay, I thought, although was slightly surprised by the Greens' position on Israel - one state, with full right of return, soemthing i thought all thinking political parties had abandoned years ago.

Then someone had the sheer cheek to attack the Greens for standing in Bethnal Green and Bow, and potentially splitting the anti-war vote. I hold no candle for the enviro-Luddites (meant affectionately, of course!) but they are consistently democratic, unlike the swoppers and their mates in the religion-as-the-new-politics brigade of MAB, and why should they stand down for permatanned Mr "Sir I salute your indefatigability" Galloway? I said all this, and then for good measure told them I looked forward to seeing Oona King kick his arse... So that was a good start.

The evening deteriorated as an old friend, George of the regular Saturday morning SWP street stall, decided to have a go about whether I supported troops remaining in Iraq. It wasn't so much a question, as a lengthy statement in support of the resistance and for immediate withdrawal, which I can't and don't support, peppered with patronising asides to me - "well, Antonia may not know but...". Given that the SWP's position is incredible, not credible, not consistent and not socialist, and I told him so my usual robust fashion, he wasn't pleased by my answer, particularly as he had lied about why gorgeous George was thrown out of the Labour party, and that wasn't going to getapst me. The event descended into chaos, with the swoppers on their feet yelling, and me giving back just as good as I was getting. They really didn't like me asking them to condemn the murder of students in Basra and the murder of Hadi Saleh and to condemn the Islamo-fascist resistance - and they wouldn't do it. What sort of socialism is that, that supports fundamentalism against secular feminists, students and trade unionists?

I'm surprised I made it out of there in one piece! Definitely the most fun I've had all campaign.

Sex it up, baby!

Forget the sexing up of official documents - last night I had a phone call from a very embarassed Giles at the Oxford Mail wanting to know if I had "sexed up" the photograph of me that appears on all my leaflets, business cards, and all my other election materials. It turns out that they had received an anonymous letter claiming that I was a dab hand with photoshop and had deliberately altered the photo! Oh, the joys of being a candidate...

And the answer is no, by the way - the photo in question was taken by the lovely Jane Tomlinson - one of the only people apart from Jo who takes photos of me I actually like.

Though it does make me laugh that while the rest of the country is concerned about education, health, the economy, jobs, the environment, housing, public transport, international development, my photo is the biggest issue for A.N. Onymous.

Only in Oxford...

I'm fairly certain that the anecdote I'm about to repeat is one I should never have told to my nearest and dearest, let alone put up on the internet, but if there is a time for discretion, then there is also a time making people smile. So here goes.

There is a certain local councillor who, for the purposes of this blog, I shall call "Sam".

When he's not busy working hard for residents in his ward, "Sam" is also a referee for local football matches. Last Saturday, "Sam" ended up refereeing a match in which the team in his own ward were playing. Unfortunately, the game wasn't played with the best spirits, and "Sam" ended up booking 6 players from his ward's team.

Being a loyal and dedicated local councillor, he then spent the afternoon canvassing. And this is where it all went wrong.

He managed to knock on a door belonging to none other than the Club Secretary! Who proceeded to chase "Sam" out of his garden wearing nothing but underpants, yelling "Vote for you? You want me to vote for you lot when you booked 6 of my players? Are you having a laugh?".

You couldn't make this stuff up!

Another day, another hustings...

I've just got back from yet another hustings event - this time, at the Kidlington Baptist Church. As a political activist, I can't tell you how happy I am that so many groups, from the CND to church groups, are organising open hustings events, putting the issues they care about to the candidates asking for their vote - even if it is me on the firing line!

One theme seems to be striking a chord with voters in Oxford West and Abingdon - international development. I don't know what questions are being put to candidates in other constituencies, but when I started out as a PPC, I expected the majority of questions to be about health, education, crime, community development, jobs, the economy, childcare... But perhaps that was an expectation based on my experiences growing up under 18 wasted years of Tory government. I think it's a testament to the new-found strengths and achievements of our public services since 1997 that the majority of questions in 2005 are about climate change, global warming, international relations, world poverty, fair trade.

I would blog a bit more about tonight, but our dinner's on, and while Jo has got many strengths, cooking is not one of them (love you darling!)

Antonia x

Couple of things

You get loads of lobbying material as a PPC - some funnier than others. One best was from the British Toilet Association, asking me to prioritise provision of public facilities as an MP. Another was from the CBI - not likely to be fan of mine, nor I of theirs. I snorted as I read their manifesto for business which called on the next government to "restrain rises in the minimum wage" - after all, a fast-rising minimum wage lifting people out of poverty is something I'd positively support, unlike the Lib Dems who think rises in the minimum wage are "dangerous". But then it occurred to me that maybe we really have achieved something over the last eight years, that enshrining of the progressive consensus in our public life that Mr Blair mentioned the other day, when even the CBI, who said that the minimum wage would cost millions of jobs, can only call for restraint in rises and not outright abolition of it. Food for thought, anyway.

One of the more original lobbying tactics I've seen is Jamie's Big Voice. Jamie is a homeless person who's being supported by Crisis to blog his experiences during the election campaign, to make sure homeless people's concerns are not forgotten. Jamie, if you'd like to come and see me in Oxford, you'd be welcome. Good luck with your campaign.

I also wanted to link to Derek Wyatt's site. Derek's Labour's candidate and former MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey, and his agent is a great friend of mine and Jo's. He's in a tight fight with the Tories, but hopefully his record as a great constituency MP (he's dealt with over 11,000 constituent problems), his anti-war stance and the hard work of his team should see him through.

Finally, one of my friends came up from London to help campaign in Kidlington today. She mentioned that she'd seen a poster lorry driving around London with the cryptic message "no alternative" and a picture of Mr Blair on, and said how clever she thought it was to appeal to people like her who might be wavering in their support for the party over the war. Now she's not unintelligent, but i think she rather missed the point Tim and friends are trying to make!

Green belt

Been getting loads of lobbying material from the green belt preservers - NIMBYs by any other name. Thought this reply from Lye Valley City Councillor Dan Paskins (who's also our candidate for Wootton division) deserved a wider airing. Feel free to delete and replace his name with mine at the end in your head. ;-)

Dear (deleted),

Thank you for your letter on behalf of the Oxford Green Belt Network.

I oppose maintaining the current boundaries of the Green Belt, and I support an urban extension to Oxford.

It is simply untrue to say that the current boundaries of the Green Belt benefit all of us and city dwellers in particular. I would be happy to introduce you to some of the people who come to my advice surgeries, who are forced to live in totally unsuitable housing conditions, with families of six living in two bedroom houses. People are forced to live in temporary accommodation for years because of the shortage of social housing, and people who come to Oxford to work find it very difficult to find anywhere affordable to live.

The only sustainable solution to this, in my view, is to build an urban extension to Oxford, on the land south of Grenoble Road. This is not land, in any case, which is currently kept for the enjoyment of residents of Oxfordshire.

I would be grateful if you could let members of the Oxford Green Belt network who live in the Wootton division know that I am actively opposed to the aims of your network, and that I do not want the votes of people who are involved in a campaign which lobbies in favour of maintaining the current levels of homelessness in Oxfordshire.

Kind regards,
Dan Paskins
Labour candidate for Wootton

Properly a candidate now...

... no backing out. Been adopted as their candidate by the good people of Oxford West and Abingdon Labour party - bit of a formality, chance for a rally and fundraiser at the Town Hall. Chance to remind everyone why we're Labour, why we haul our sorry asses out of bed first thing in the morning to get that leaflet out before we go to work or college.

And a chance to remember why it will be worth it when we win the county council elections and expel that shameful coalition of Tories and Liberals who have run it badly for four years.

Just to remind you, in case you'd forgotten - our Tory county council, propped up by the Liberals:

• "lost" millions of pounds in a "forgotten" bank account in the year that the county announced the closure of vital public services
• overspent £2.5 million on the Cornmarket repaving. The independent Knight report slammed the county council for making basic mistakes in managing such a major development.
• increased council tax by a stupendous 38% over 5 years
• have £11 million "unaccounted for" in their health and social care budget , leading the district auditor to refuse to sign off the books
• has presided over below national average attainment in our schools, meaning that Oxfordshire children do worse than those in many big cities
• has run social services rated as amongst the worst in the country. Inspectors doubt whether they will improve.
• has financial management arrangements that are rated as "seriously below" standard and where there is a risk of "misappropriation of funds or assets".

Knowing all this, it's clear that a vote for the Liberals in Oxfordshire is a vote to continue this record of incompetence. How can the Liberals, who claim to be a party of the centre and sometimes even of the left, possibly justify this alliance with the Tories? It's clear that only a vote for Labour is a vote for change and delivery on our county council.

My day yesterday

Well, I guess yesterday was the first day that I really felt like a candidate with that crazy West Wing-style scheduling... Thankfully had the day off work, but in case anyone thinks being a candidate is an easy life, take a look at this... Thanks to the lovely Jo who drove, bag-carried and generally dogsbodied for me all day.

8am - 10am - getting out a leaflet to greeny voters
10am - 11am - preparing for BBC TV interview, well-deserved cup of coffee
11am - BBC South Today interviewed me about anti-social behaviour and crime on the Peachcroft estate in Abingdon. Went very well although some sticky moments when the camera man had to judiously move me left or right to ensure the "fruity" graffiti on the youth shelter behind didn't appear on telly above my head!
11.45am - more cheeky coffee
12.15pm - interview at Fox FM. Enjoyed this one, just the type of conversational piece I enjoy, although had to repeat my answers on top-up fees and the war twice as the tape wasn't on and I was apparently unable to be concise.
1pm - the lovely Print Shop in Rose Hill had finished my posters, so had the ego-boost of picking up thousands of posters with my name in huge letters - picks you up when you're down everytime!
1.30pm - over to pick up materials from my agent near the university
2pm - lunch with Andrew's agent Val, catching up on the campaign in Oxford East and giving my apologies for Andrew's adoption meeting that evening
3pm - Mailing my posters to Labour members, miserably failing to mail merge efficiently, having to get Pete to do it for me
6pm - preparing for debate at CND
7.15pm - interview with Passion FM - this one was great too, emailed questions from listeners about housing, maternity services, traffic and speed cameras.
7.30pm - husting at Oxford Town Hall for the Oxfordshire Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Needless to say, despite me being anti-war, anti-nuclear weapons and a declared socialist and trade unionist, the mere fact that I was Labour meant that they weren't prepared to listen to anything I said. Oh well.
9.30pm - dinner at Aziz with the boys, catching up on the day's hard work, well-deserved bottle of red wine, which meant I slept soundly enough.

Only twenty days to go!

Lib Dem spending plans don't add up

So tell us something we didn't know - and now we have independent proof! One of Tom's mates has been doing some work, and look what he found out - the Liberals couldn't pay for their promises!

New tax and spend figures published by the civil service and House of Commons library threaten to throw the Liberal Democrats keynote tax plans into disarray after showing that the party has got its numbers wrong by at least £9.4 billion.

...

The figures challenge the centre-piece of the Liberals' economic plans to raise top rate tax for high earners and use the proceeds to subsidise a local income tax, introduce free personal care for the elderly and scrap university top-up fees. The Lib Dems published their plans which they claimed to be fully costed on their website last year.

...

This is very serious news for the Liberal Democrats. The 50p tax rate is critical to their appeal to the retired, students and their parents. They claimed their figures add up – and now we have independent proof they don’t.

Replying to Cynic

Hello Cynic,

Firstly, thanks for visiting the site. I think I've been pretty clear that this is a political blog, albeit with personal touches.

You asked below "Will the next election be full of undeliverable promises and lies from all parties, or will the voting adults of this country be treated like adults?"

I strongly hope that we can have a good debate that really tests the policies of all the main parties, and that the voters - people like you - take the chance to keep asking those tough questions about what Labour has achieved, and what the Tories and Liberals promise.

As for political parties lying and not delivering on their promises - well, that may well be the case for the others, but I don't think you can accuse Labour of that.

In 1997, we promised the British people 5 key changes - on class sizes, young offenders, waiting times, youth unemployemnt and a strong economy - and we kept them.

In 2001, we did it again - more teachers, more nurses, more police, a strong economy, help for pensioners and a rising minimum wage - and again we kept our promises.

(Thanks for Ross Cranston for the details my memory couldn't supply!)

This time, what are we promising? Well, just a few things... I think our record says we'll deliver.

Your family better off: low inflation, and mortgages as low as possible, more people off benefit and into work, a rising minimum wage and more help for first time buyers.
Your child achieving more: modern schools for all, strong discipline, and a guaranteed place in training, sixth-form or an apprenticeship.
Your children with the best start: more choice over parental leave for mums and dads, more childcare for under-5s, and after school care for over-5s.
Your family treated better and faster: no-one waiting more than 18 weeks, guaranteed, for hospital treatment - with choice over where and when - in an NHS free at the point of need.
Your community safer: local policing teams, cracking down on graffiti, gangs and drug-dealers.