Please vote for me....

What can I say? My thoughts many issues have been set out at length throughout the campaign on this blog, and links to the reasons I’m standing and my priorities are to the right…

Why me? I’m as frustrated as you are that the Council has done so little for our area over the last few years.

I am new to the game. And that’s a good thing. This is a new council; let’s make a fresh start and vote for change – I’m someone who really cares about making things work better.

Am I committed? Yes. I’m semi-retired, so have the time to take on the job of councillor. I’m a common sense accountant and one of my main priorities will be to make sure the new council provides value for money.

Now it gets unpredictable

The election is on Thursday. It seems to have been ages since I was selected. I half wonder if we should have ignored it until this week – as most voters probably have.

Anyway, this is the exciting bit. So far, everything in the campaign has been in my control. Now it’s up to the voters.

And after that, there’s the count. I’ve never been to one before – certain TV images, like the Portillo defeat in Enfield Southgate, come to mind – I’m really looking forward to it, although I suspect it won’t be quite as memorable. And there’ll be fewer cameras.

Doorstep Musings

I’ve been wandering round visiting voters at home. I remain amazed at – and grateful for – the tolerance of most of them in accepting the intrusion.

Most people don’t want to talk. Those that do have concerns – or interests – in the following areas:

- Local Government: a lot mention they didn’t want a regional authority or one unitary council, but now have both.
- National issues: Labour is not popular: they are seen to have failed, particularly on the economy.
- Local spending priorities, specifically the state of the roads and cutbacks in social care.
- Local day to day issues, mainly a lack of responsiveness to people’s concerns. Unless things fit a pre-set format, help won’t be given. Examples were an elderly parent out of area needing housing within it; paying for school transport to Alnwick OR Berwick rather than just one and perhaps most worryingly a lack of a human ear and focus for parents of special needs children. These issues really impact people’s lives. They confirm one of my prejudices: the Council has forgotten why it exists. It exists to serve us. Not the other way around. Changing such a mindset takes time, but it will not happen without a drive from Councillors.

Leaflets (lī•flèts) revisited

Leaflets are obviously a major part of the electoral process. We try to encompass our ideas in them, and something of our style. The Oxford English Dictionary describes leaflets as being chiefly for gratuitous delivery, the first known use of the word being in the 1860s as “very young tracts” (ie freshly printed material)*. Gratuitous can of course mean unnecessary as well as free. Our leaflets are free, very young but surely not unnecessary.

My first leaflet was the Conservative manifesto; the second has a brief letter from me, my picture (taken by a neighbour: I sent two photos to the party for them to choose, calling them happy and serene: they picked happy), some relevant parts of the manifesto and a big extract of a voting slip with an “X” by my name. Just to remind people what to do.

We have hundreds of them to be delivered, as many as possible by me. Hopefully they help; hopefully they are necessary. We look at leaflets from the other candidates to assess what they are saying, how good they are; I am sure they do the same to ours. So at least some people read them. And most will be recycled.

My brief letter:

This election is critical to the future direction of the County: we have to break the Labour majority and build Conservative seats to ensure the Council takes notice of local needs. Needs like guaranteeing the future of our schools, fighting for our Post Offices, providing affordable housing and caring for our elderly.

I have not been involved in politics before. I now work part time and have the energy and enthusiasm to help residents. I want to ensure the new Council is soundly managed and my career as an accountant and a senior manager means I can add real value to the Council. I believe that Conservative principles of value for money, less red tape and common sense results are needed.
This new council provides a great opportunity for a fresh start for Northumberland. Lets not waste it. We have got the ideas and commitment to make a difference. On May 1, vote Woodman, vote Conservative.

* Extract from a novel Cometh up as a Flower, by Rhoda Broughton: “Providence makes use of humble instruments sometimes to fulfil its behests, to prove which many good little books and leaflets (as Spurgeon and Co. have christened very young tracts) are written and printed.” The first known use of “leaflet”.

Hello. I've got a leaflet. Would you like one?

I despaired in February about the number of houses with no name.

As I now distribute leaflets setting out our manifesto, I discover an even worse situation: the number of houses with no letter or post box. At one house I wandered aimlessly between gate, front and back doors (a long walk as it was a farmhouse with buildings attached) until the owner came out. She had obviously lived there for a long time. I apologised, said I was looking for the letter box to post my leaflet. She looked around. “Oh; I don’t think we’ve got one” she said in a slightly surprised way. She took the leaflet but said she would vote for me anyway.

Something similar happened near Belford: this time the owner was much more matter of fact, as though having no letter or post box was a deliberate plan. It must certainly make life much easier. Rather like having no phone.

Did I mention that it was pouring with rain as I walked around the house? I decided that while teams of volunteers (well, a few people) dropped off leaflets in the main centres I would traverse the countryside to try to cover everywhere else. A friend joined me for some of this; this was good as I could share my frustration about no letter boxes but bad as she always stopped by the muddy puddles.

I wonder why they have elections in May so all the work is done in the middle of April “showers?”

Rain, no house names, no letter boxes. And will anyone read the leaflets anyway? It’s no wonder sensible people don’t go into local government.

Campaign Sickness

Someone at the golf club said last week as I was talking to a friend: “it’s no good talking to him, he doesn’t live in your constituency”.

I’ve certainly become much more aware of voters. I look at people. I can’t help but assess them. Do they live in Bamburgh Division? No? Oh well, let’s move on. They can wait till May 2nd. Do they look Lib Dem? Tory? Labour? Independent even? Or probably the largest group, indifferent? (That’s not indifferent to events and problems, its indifferent to the politicians they see as making at best no difference).

Do people look like their party? Many do: it can be spotted. Try it.

Let me answer what you meant to ask…

A voter looked at the Conservative manifesto for the Council. It’s got some nice pictures, and not too many words. What do you mean, “Cut Red Tape?”, she said.

People ask the trickiest questions. The trouble is that people won’t read anything that’s too long. I said that I had written a piece for my next leaflet, and was asked to cut it down to 150 words. But if it’s too short the words are just soundbites.

I talked about our wish to reduce the layers of Government planned by the new authority – the County, the area committees, the belonging communities and parish councils – and our desire to have local one stop shops for people to easily access Council services, to use the voluntary sector and to increase the proportion of front line staff. And I think she accepted what we meant by the three words.

I haven’t worked out in my mind the best approach to get a message across; I’m not sure it’s right to impose on people’s time with lengthy comment; most, with an instinctive distrust of politicians won’t want that anyway. And you can’t speak to 4,000+ people.

Perhaps that’s one of the reasons politicians speak a different language. You do have to use the soundbites, hope people sense the philosophy underlying them and be ready to explain if challenged – by word, email or comment.

Beadnell Plan

The Beadnell Parish Plan has been distributed. The main point, as earlier forecast, is the need for more affordable housing in the village, followed by the need to support businesses and balance the needs of residents and visitors.

Some of the good points are the recognition of:
- the need to involve the community in selecting affordable housing sites;
- the need to explore a variety of funding sources
- the need to work with others.

But as with all parish plans, there’s a risk that the higher levels of Government will ignore them. One of the reasons for the lack of affordable housing in the area is the restriction on new homes forced on the planners by regional Government. There has to be an acceptance by the County Council and the Regional Authority that they should have to explain why local plans should be disregarded rather than having the automatic right to override them. As I’ve noted before, bottom up planning is usually most effective.

Better the Devil you Know?

Labour had the right idea early on. 7 of the 8 members of the Council’s executive committee were not selected by their party for these elections, including the Leader. I’d like to think this was largely in protest at foisting one unitary Council on a Northumberland that wanted two (if there had to be any change at all). Concern has been expressed about the loss of experience. But I think it’s better to have good people than experienced people.
Plus, I think there’s a danger of too much experience of the wrong sort. People inevitably get drawn into the web of Government. It’s easier to worry about internal games than making residents lives better by offering better services or lower costs. Or both
To quote Ken Livingstone “…it is hard to believe that a mayor who has served two terms will have the freshness of approach that is required to stay abreast of such a dynamic city. I therefore recommend no mayor should serve more than two terms”. He said that before he had served two terms; he now wants four. My point precisely. He isn’t fresh: he’s trapped in the web where power matters more than principle.
The four candidates for Bamburgh Division have now been announced: Conservative (me) , Independent (someone who wanted to be the Conservative), Labour, and Lib Dem. Three have been councillors for many years. I’m rather pleased to be the one offering a fresh start by not having been involved before: I know local Government is restricted in what it can do by Central Government but I don’t sense those years of experience have coincided with a big improvement in local government services.
I think there’s a big argument for restricting the length of term of politicians. I can see the need for some exceptions to benefit from experience, although how you would define that is not easy. But there should be a restriction on the number of terms a Councillor can serve. I don’t know if I will be elected. If I am, I think I would only stand for one more term.

The Old Course Backwards

While my first leaflet was being distributed, I sneaked off to St Andrews. I belong to a charity which uses golf as a way to raise money. We play using replica clubs from the 1900s, and this time we played the Old Course backwards – which apparently was how it was originally played.
It was great fun: the course played just as well the wrong way round – in fact the bunkers were even more suitable that way. And I found many of them.
So I came back to distribute more leaflets, a poorer but possibly better golfer.

Bright Lights, Big City

Sorry for the recent silence. I've been delivering leaflets. And I had to go down to London for three days. I always find it difficult to slip back into London life, particularly on the tube. I knew it all once: exactly which spot to stand in to be in the most convenient spot to exit. But now I’m the bloody tourist who is too slow and gets in the way. The one who doesn’t know that when the announcement says the train is approaching Bank there’s still 90 seconds to go and it’s too soon to stand up.
I had to do some work in the City. I also went to a gallery opening. (The owner always appeals to me: she was once the Australian cultural attaché, in complete contrast to Barry Humphries’ most outrageous character, Sir Les Patterson, self-designated Australian cultural attaché.) Both places were buzzy, gossipy, lively. But it all seemed a bit fin de siècle, a final dance before the end.
The relevance? I think there’s a big financial chill to come. One that will put big pressure on public finances, and which will increase the need for effective management of the Council’s budget.