One unusual feature of the local election campaign in Castle Ward was this: This poster promoted a visit on 11th April by the Greens’ national leader to Castle Ward “to support green candidates in the local elections”, and announced that she would be on the doorsteps “alongside our lead Castle Ward candidate”. It invited everyone […]

Now that the dust has settled since the Colchester Borough elections, I’d like to thank everyone who voted Liberal Democrat in Castle Ward very much for your support. Lib Dem former Cabinet member Nick Barlow has triumphantly returned to the Borough Council, having topped the poll in Castle with 881 votes. Two Tories came second […]

In a week when the Tory MP for Witham, Priti Patel, lashed out at Colchester Borough Council over the Planning Committee’s decision on 18th February to refuse approval for a shopping mall in Stanway, she rode roughshod over Conservative-controlled Braintree District Council’s emerging local plan and her own Government’s planning policy! In an extraordinary outburst […]

This is a letter from me that the local press declined to publish. “Dear Editor, On 27th June I was in Colchester High Street with colleagues to raise public awareness of the new Government’s threat to repeal the Human Rights Act 1998. I was shocked by the hostility and sheer ignorance exposed by some of […]

Over the past few weeks I have done all I can in the time available to communicate with the more than 66,000 electors of this constituency. It has become obvious to me that many of those in the smaller villages and communities never hear from their political representatives from one year’s end to the next. […]

People are asking how it can be that our election system can deliver such unfair results in votes cast compared with MPs actually elected, as is predicted to happen in a few days’ time. We are still in the world of First Past the Post, where the candidate with the largest number of votes wins. […]

My family and I lived for some years in a remote spot above Abberton Reservoir within sight of Bradwell power station a few miles away across the Blackwater Estuary. I had many occasions to reflect on its effects, above all when my father died suddenly and prematurely from leukaemia. I have ever since suspected his […]

For some while I’ve been trying to get a straight answer from Will Quince, Colchester’s Conservative parliamentary candidate, as to whether remarks attributed to him about me in local newspapers last September were accurately reported. Allegedly, Mr Quince contacted a local reporter (with the intention of damaging my reputation, obviously) and claimed that I was […]

I have received many emails asking me to support UNICEF UK’s campaign to end violence against children across the world. We have to acknowledge that we are not going to solve it. But we have to help. It is very important to me that my party is internationalist in outlook. We are committed to maintaining international […]

A number of correspondents have sent standard emails to me via the 38 Degrees organisation, asking me to oppose TTIP. Rather than write dozens of long individual replies to these standard emails I thought it better to set out my views here, on my blog. The European Union and United States are currently negotiating towards […]