And you thought the Wimbledon final went on a bit...

I previously blogged about the quite ridiculously convoluted US Senate elections in the State of Minnesota, and finally, some eight months after the election was actually held, the State Governor has now certified Al Franken as the winner.

A late spring clean

Apologies for the lack of posts last week, I was on holiday in Yorkshire having a lovely time eating lots of Wensleydale cheese and watching the tennis.

Anyway, Now I'm back and thinking it's about time I had a clear-out, which will at some point involve a bag full of clothes I no longer use. The first registered charity to email me a request for the said bag will scoop the lot.

Friday Film #33: Anyone for tennis?

If there's a more perfect sporting event in the World than Wimbledon, then I've yet to hear about it. There's none of the agressive sponsors hoardings, no fancy-shmancy brightly coloured outfits, no nonsense whatsoever. Just a grass court, a net, a few immaculately turned out officials, players dressed in white and a passionate crowd. Perfection.

What can I do for you?

There seems to be something forgotten in all the talk about reforming politics and politicians to bring them closer to the people they serve - people need to remember that democratic representation works two ways, and we politicians have no special powers of telepathy.

So if you want me to do something for you, the first and most vital thing is to tell me about it. If I don't know, I can't help.

So... What can I do for you?

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

Testing, testing...

So with a new role comes new complications - my life seemed hectic enough with three email accounts and a mobile phone to keep track of, now I have another email account, and another phone...

The phone though I'm finding to be a pretty good tool all in all. Before, if I wanted to get in touch with an officer urgently I either had to ring and hope they were at their desk or get my laptop out in a place that I could connect to the internet. Now I can just slide my phone open.and start typing - meaning I can now send emails direct to the relevant department direct from wherever I happen to be, particularly useful when dealing with constituents' issues.

So now my email situation is as follows:
mark.heenan@staffordshire.gov.uk - County Council business
mmheenan@staffordbc.gov.uk - Borough Council business
cllrmmheenan@gmail.com - any other (mainly Party) business
....and also an additional personal email account.

Now if I press Send this should end up on my blog. Fingers crossed...

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

UPDATE: Bugger - it comes through OK, but with a whole pile of disclaimer bits and bobs that the County Council put on all their emails, which I've now deleted...

All change at County Hall

Thursday was my first County Council meeting since myself and 61 other Councillors were elected to the County Council a fortnight ago. Many of us are new faces, and certainly it was strange to sit in the Chamber with Conservatives taking up four of the five banks of benches.

The photo above was rather fortuitous - I just happened to be passing today as this guy was carving the name of Rex Roberts, the new Chairman of the Council, into the side of the staircase leading up to the Council Chamber. On the other side, he had already engraved Philip Atkins' name beneath that of the former Labour leader.

So there's lots of things for me to learn. The scale of the Council is in itself something I've got to get my head around. On the Borough Council we're dealing with an annual budget of about £16 million. On the County, it's something like £1.2 billion that the Council is responsable for spending each year.

So far, my impressions of the County Council have been very good. The staff have been very helpful and welcoming, and I've already made myself at home in the members' library, which is a really beautiful room - perfect for a coffee and a sit down to think about stuff. I've already been round to the Highways Department twice to be briefed and ask questions on a few matters, the first being the Castletown residents parking scheme.

So anyway... What of the actual County Council meeting then? The first thing to note is that I was rather surprised to be thrust onto the front bench. It's not that I've had a rapid promotion - simply that the Leader has decided to have the more important figures sat at the back, and the "naughty boys", as I call us, at the front. So it's a bit strange for me to sit in the place usually used by the Leader during Borough Council meetings, while my usual seat is now occupied by the leader of the County Council. I can easily foresee the hilarity that may ensue the first time I get my meetings mixed up...

The agenda was fairly straightforward - first to appoint a new Chairman, then a new Leader, then he told us his cabinet, each of whom spoke for a short time about their portfolio. Then the committee memberships were agreed, with my own appointments being the Community Scrutiny Committee and the Assets & Budgets Scrutiny Committee. Both will I am sure throw up some weighty matters for me to get stuck into. Then there were a few other bits to be discussed, such as a motion from the Leader in support of certain provisions within the Sustainable Communities Act which aim to give local authorities a leading role in locally co-ordinating certain Government schemes.

Then, once it was over, we arranged ourselves on the stairs for a photo of the whole of the new County Council. I wonder what the next four years will bring...

Friday Film #32: Great Scot

Since it's the British Grand Prix weekend, I thought I'd feature something from Sir Jackie Stewart, a three-time winner of the race and in my view the greatest living British racing driver:

Friday Film #31: How to save gas

If I was a Labour MP...

Over at Coffee House, Matthew D'Ancona poses the question of what you would do if you were a member of the Parliamentary Labour Party right now:

Imagine a sort of nightmarish game of Fantasy Premier. What would you do, the country’s future in your trembling hands? Would you leave Gordon where he is? Would you try to prevail upon Alan Johnson or one of the Milibands to throw his hat in the ring? Would you ask Tony Blair to stand in the Norwich North by-election which will follow Ian Gibson’s resignation? Count yourselves fortunate that you don’t have to choose in real life. But imagine that you did. What would you actually do? Go on, force yourselves.

For me, the answer is quite simple. The Prime Minister has to go. He has led the Labour Party to unprecedented depths of crapness. Many people compare Brown's situation to Major's, but at least the final years of Major's Government still had a legislative programe and managed to achieve a few unsung but important things. Brown doesn't have that. Government is grinding to a halt in every key respect except spending, where Brown is taking the country deeper and deeper into debt on a scale that it will take several decades for the taxpayer to pay off, for which the electorate may never forgive Labour.

The answer for me is a simple one - the Leo Amery attack. I'd stand up in the PLP meeting, look Brown straight in the eye, and reiterate Amery's famous words from the Norway debate of 1940:

You have sat here too long for any good you have been doing. Depart I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God - GO!

Election results for Stafford Central division