Interesting, although not surprising to see Brown and Cameron pick state schools for their children. Although Cameron did reportedly turn down many nearer to his home than the one chosen, and probably couldn’t have gotten away with going private whether he had wanted to or not.

The base rate state pension is almost double the base rate student loan.

Wish I had that much money

It’s not an easy time to be in the Labour Party right now.

I spent yesterday afternoon sticking leaflets through Selly Oak’s letter boxes. I was on my own, but it was nice to have a break from revision and I love helping in my local area.

I spent the early afternoon at a women’s event in Birmingham, aimed at inspiring women, particuarly from BME backgrounds, to get involved in politics. Well done to those who put it together; it was full of women who have achieved and women who want to achieve, with a sprinkling of men who would like to help women achieve, and will hopefully be the first step on a road to a better future for the women chronically under represented in the host ward.

I spent the late afternoon in Bartley Green, sticking leaflets through letter boxes. Despite it not being the nicest of days there were six of us on the streets, and we got through a good lot of walks; the candidate there, BULS’s own Tom Guise, has been working tirelessly there all week, and my friends brought tales of their campaigning exploits at home and in Quinton too.

So then we go to the pub afterwards, and the conversation turns to the ten pence tax row. A friend says she was canvassing that morning, and it was all people could talk about. Usual die-hard Labour supporters,  telling her they had been let down; Labour-certain and Labour-maybes, now Labour-nos. The blogs are full of similar stories. The papers tell of mass discontent. Alaistair Darling was (char) grilled by Andrew Marr this morning, and couldn’t explain how low earning single people were getting a fair deal. I can’t understand why my Labour party is doing this- I am baffled, and so, so disappointed.

This goes deeper than past disagreements; the Iraq war and top up fees had their detractors, but this goes right into the core of the Labour ideology (James Purnell could not be more wrong, he might be so but true members are not “ideologically neutral”). As another friend commented, older voters vote for us because they were brought up on our values and know what they’re meant to be; young voters just don’t see us as having those core principals. And no wonder, if this is all we have to show them.

The rally I went to today, the campaigning I’ve done this week, the enthusiasm of the real members, the people on the ground, is being blown away by what’s going on at the centre of the party; policies that are impossible to have any real input into, that betray our principles, are being churned out at an accelerating pace. The central coure is out of step with almost every member I have come across. A year ago I was excited at the prospect of Brown taking over, but now more often than not when I see him on the news the question rings in my mind- what the hell is he doing? 

The press keep talking about the party being in trouble. Here on the ground, where the real campaigners and real members are, we’re doing alright. We still work hard, we still believe in the same core values. It’s the centre where things are kicking off. In my mind there are two parties, the small elite centre who come up with the policy and get all the attention and the outer rim, the real people. The two right now feel almost entirely disconnected. We are like a ring around their Saturn. It’s like we’re two different Labour parties, existing simultaneously but almost entirely separately.

My only consolation in this is that as I live on less than five grand a year, I won’t be financially affected by the new tax band. What I wish voters would do is put that central Saturn out of their minds on May 1st. Right now, they don’t speak for us; they have so little to do with local government. Vote for the real members, the real candidates, the real people who have put in so much hard work all across the country just to try to make every day living in our home communities that bit better. Vote for the campaigners who go out in the sleet and the snow and the rain (yes BULS have been out in all three this year), vote for the members who sit in their branch meetings and scrutinise planning applications and take action on graffiti and litter, vote for the people on the ground who can make a real difference to your local area. Don’t let shit central government policies let us down- the two Labour parties have a lot to do to reconnect, to sort themselves out. The thick smog of discontent across the divide suggests it won’t be like this for long… until then, don’t punish one for the other’s mistakes.

The BBC reports that in future mediums and psychics may have to “prove they are genuine” in order to comply with new consumer protection laws.

Wow. Is this the beginning of an atheists utopia or are they being unfairly discriminated against?

Taken from this morning’s e-version of the Birmingham Post. Oops.

 I was in year five at the time of the 1997 election, and our class were asked to put up hands to show who’d they’d vote for if they could. All the class, save myself and two others, picked the Conservatives. When asked why, one true blue baby (who incidentally is still a Tory) replied that Tony Blair was ugly.

The frenzy over Carla Sarkozy’s dazzling beauty and elegance and the absence of coverage of Nicolas and Gordon’s discussions and agreements is evidence to me that the tabloid press maintains the political maturity of a ten-year-old.

This story caught my eye, for three reasons.

 1) Gisela Stewart

 2) The use of the term “uncomradely behaviour”- awesome!! I love the way we members are all vague “colleagues” or “friends” (when Tom Geese is not around), and the moment anyone does anything wrong suddenly we are supposed to be close knit ”comrades” again.

 3) Their giant inflatable ballot box kinda dwarfs the Guild’s big green vote sign.

 A few news stories interested me today and I’m bored of revision, so here they are.

 Firstly, the Commons motion calling for an end to automatic male succession to the throne- I don’t know whether to like it from a feminist point of view or rubbish it as a republican.

 Next, the government promising lots and lots of money for more cycling proficiency lessons. I can’t remember anything I learnt when I took the course, but it’s a cheery initiative all the same.

 Returning briefly to the no-platform debate, someone from the University of Birmingham comments on it in this BBC article…

 And finally, because I am a geek at heart, I was happy to see some good news about physics for a change.

(Oh and something really bad happened with the money markets, but because I don’t actually have any money I didn’t take much notice. I’m sure someone smarter than me will patiently explain it to me some time.)