DAVID CAMERON VISITS LUTON

David Cameron, Leader of the Conservative Party, visited Luton today soon after making a brilliant speech attacking Gordon Brown's Policy Relaunch "without a price tag" as there will be no Government spending review before the next Election. Cameron lambasted the Prime Minster for his Policy's "lack of honesty on spending" and lack of real reform of our public services".

Today he British-North American Committee, a group of academics and businessmen, published a paper stating that the true cost of pensions for all public sector workers is £1.2 trillion, equal to 85% of Britain's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) ie £20,000 for every man, woman and child in Britain for only 25% of the population. Gordon Brown lives in cloud cuckoo land and expects us to believe that the Government can carry on borrowing and spending vast amounts of public money without it having any effect on the British public. He seems to think that the electorate are stupid, which we are not. As Ken Clarke, Shadow Business Secretary said today:
"Britain has a dying Government, past its sell-by date and needing to be replaced"

Cameron rightly attacked Gordon Brown for his proposals which were 'rehashed' or amounted to "timid and bureacratic top-down tinkering" rather than real reform and stressed: "The truth about today's statement is it only serves to highlight the decline of this Government. Their money has run out. Their political capital has run out. And now their time is running out".Later David addressed a group of 80 Conservatives in Luton from across Bedfordshire, answering several questions clearly and honestly. He then went on to address members of the general public at one of his popular Cameron Direct meetings in Luton.

This was my first meeting with David Cameron and I find him an inspirational leader and an open, honest and empathetic speaker. David will be an excellent Prime Minister in 2011 when Gordon Brown is finally forced to call a General Election and loses.

NORMANDY D DAY INVASION 65TH ANNIVERSARY

President Barack Obama & Prince Charles at the D Day Ceremony


Normandy D Day Invasion 65th Anniversary events in Portsmouth and Normandy, France

Today marks the first day of my new life after nearly 20 years public service as a Councillor in Bedfordshire and North Hertfordshire.

This morning I went to Elstow Abbey Church, read the Epistle and the Gospel and listened to the beautiful singing of the Amity Singers from Jersey. They are part of the Bedford-Jersey Arts Festival, celebrating a 60 year link between Bedford and Jersey children who were evacuated to Bedford during the Second World War.

Yesterday marked the 65th Anniversary of the Normandy D Day Invasion by the British, American and Canadian fleets, which led to the Allies winning and ending the Second World War in 1945. Ceremonies were attended by the Heads of State of France, USA and Canada, plus Prince Charles and Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister. The Queen should have been invited but was not due to errors by both the French and British Governments, and Prince Charles was only invited at the last minute after protests.

Britain was Germany's chief opponent at the beginning of the War, and thousands of Britons died during the Normandy Invasion to save France from the Nazis. This was a gross discourtesy and yet another example of the incompetence of Gordon Brown and his tired Labour Government. It 's time for a General Election and change!

President Sarkozy. the French President is only interested in hitching his waning star to the glamorous President Obama, the most poopular world leader, which is perhaps unsurprising as he hopes that some of the stardust will rub off on him.

My late father was decorated by the French Government with the Croix de Guerre for his role in the 1944 Normandy Invasion. He was a navigator in HMS Frobisher, the leading frigate in the British fleet, one of the first ships to arrive in Normandy.

The photographs above are a sample of the various events taking place in Portsmouth, where I grew up as the child of a naval family, and Normandy, including the beach at Arromanches. All the remaining veterans are in their 80's and 90's and very frail.

CAMERON BITES THE BULLET OVER MP EXPENSES FIASCO

After days of embarrassing revelations about greedy MPs manipulating their expenses, David Cameron showed real leadership qualities, and seized the initiative from the Prime Minister by ordering some senior Conservative MPs to repay expenses claimed for spurious items like garden improvements and housekeeping. Cameron is now campaigning for the whole system to be overhauled as soon as possible.

The Prime Minister Gordon Brown continued to dither, showing poor leadership skills, while Speaker Michael Martin behaved outrageously in the House of Commons by verbally attacking Kate Hoey, a brave Labour rebel MP who challenged him for calling in the police to 'find the mole' instead of criticising greedy Labour colleagues. In 2000 the Labour Party broke the convention of alternating the Speaker between the two main political parties when Betty Boothroyd retired, and Michael Martin became the 2nd consecutive Labour Speaker. Martin has exploited his expenses in the past,
eg by allowing his wife to lavish money on taxis for personal shopping and spending a fortune on refurbishing his accommodation in a grand manner at public expense. He was once a shop steward, and behaved like one in the House of Commons, supporting MP's misdemeanours and attacking the source of the leaks to the Daily Telegraph.

A clear example of Labour greed is one of the Luton MPs Margaret Moran, pictured above, who represents Luton South and lives in the same road as Kelvin Hopkins, the highly respected Luton North Labour MP. Kelvin has one home and commutes to London daily, while Margaret Moran has 4 homes in Luton, London, Southampton and Spain. She claimed £22k for dry rot work at her partner's home in Southampton. When challenged on why she needs a 2nd home 100 miles from Luton, she wittered about her need for family life and her partner working in Southampton. So why is he is on the Electoral Roll in Luton? Moran has now been shamed into offering to repay this money.

Hazel Blears has agreed to pay £13,000 to the taxman for Capital gains tax she should have paid before on selling her second property and the Corby MP is repaying £42,000! None of this would have happened but for the Daily Telegraph informant.

The general public now think that all MPs are corrupt and I know that Nadine Dorries and Alistair Burt have not indulged in these dishonest allowance claims. Alistair was on the TV tonight stating that he rents a small London flat, simply claiming an allowance to cover the cost of his rent and utilities, which seems quite fair.

As a local Councillor even I have come under fire while tramping round 1,000 houses canvassing, but we local Councillors receive very small allowances, and have to do all our own administration work - it is often a thankless 24/7 task dealing with issues raised by local residents. Yesterday I overdid it and strained a muscle, so I have had to stay at home today, catching up with paperwork. I still have to get round 1,250 more houses in the next 2 weeks - a thankless task indeed!

JOANNA LUMLEY'S STUNNING VICTORY OVER GORDON BROWN

Joanna Lumley celebrates her historic victory with Gurkha veterans brandishing a kukri Gurkha knife




Yesterday Joanna Lumley scored a stunning victory over Gordon Brown, when he lost an Opposition motion in the House of Commons to allow retired Gurkha soldiers to settle in Britain. The denial of residency to 36,000 former Gurkhas who served in the British Army before 1997 made Britain look meanspirited and Brown misread the mood of the nation - again! Joanna Lumley has led the Gurkha Justice Campaign because her father served with the 6th Gurkha Rifles fighting the Japanese in Burma in the 2nd World War and his life was saved by a Gurkha.

The Liberal Democrat motion was supported by David Cameron and MPs of all parties, including 27 Labour MPs and the result was totally unexpected. To quote Ann Treneman in the Times:

"For a split second Opposition MPs could not believe their eyes. They stared, goggled eyed, as the tellers for the Gurkha vote lined up before the glittering mace at 4.15pm. It had been a hell of a debate, the highlight being a blatant Labour bid to buy votes, all watched over by a luminescent Joanna Lumley.

But now everyone could see, from the order the tellers stood in, that Labour's jiggery pokery hadn't worked. ... As the vote of 267 to 246 was read out, Nick Clegg's back was slapped so much he began to list.

The government front bench looked ill. Phil Woolas, the Immigration Minister, had the stunned look of a rabbit with myxomatosis. He was speechless, possibly for the first time in his life."

They say that problems come in threes and this is the third recent disaster for Gordon Brown and his second unintentionally comic moment in a week. The first was a short video on You Tube in which he announced his ridiculous solution to the problem of MPs expenses - a £150 daily attendance allowance. The rest of the working population turns up for work in return for a salary, and we all know that our MPs receive a generous salary package including expenses for second homes etc etc.

This half baked scheme has had to be dropped due to lack of support from David Cameron and Nick Clegg, and only minor measures remain, eg scrapping 2nd home allowances for Greater London MPs and requiring MPs to submit recepits for all expense claims and declare outside earnings - which they should do anyway!

We have nots forgotten the fiasco surrounding, Damian McBride, one of 84 Labour publicly funded political advisers, most of whom focus on inventing dirty tricks and lies about the Conservatives instead of dealing with our acute economic crisis.

Gordon Brown and his incompetent Labour Government are doomed and 2010 cannot come soon enough for me and millions of British people. I intend to do my bit by standing as a Conservative candidate in the Bedford Unitary Elections on Thursday 4 June. Thank you Joan Sygrave for your kind response to yesterday's Gurkha Blog.

"Here here to you Councillor. Keep up the great work. Good luck with your election - well not that you need good luck - you clearly work very hard.

Best wishes Joan Sygrave - Peterborough"

GORDON BROWN SUFFERS A SHOCK DEFEAT IN HOUSE OF COMMONS GHURKHA MOTION

Joanna Lumley campaigning for the Ghurkha Justice Campaign

Today the Ghurkha Justice Campaign, led by actress Joanna Lumley, has won its battle for citizenship rights to be granted to all the Ghurkhas who have fought in the British Army. Gordon Brown's Labour Government was defeated in a Commons Motion proposed by the Liberal Democrats and supported by David Cameron and MPs of all parties. The voting was 267 votes to 246. Phil Woolas the Immigration Minister then effectively admitted defeat by announcing that new proposals would be published before the Parliamentary summer recess, respecting the will of the House of Commons.

Britain has no greater friends than the Ghurkas who have served across the world in the defence of Britian for 200 years. Over 45,000 died in the two World Wars serving in the British Army and they are still fighting in the British Army today.

Gordon Brown decided on 25 April to discriminate against Ghurkhas with less than 20 years' service in the Army, a target impossible for lower ranks to achieve as they can only serve for 15 years. 36,000 Ghurkas would be denied UK residency because they served in the British Army before 1997 and do not meet new qualifications in respect of service, medals received and injuries - a poor reward for years of loyal service to Britian by these brave soldiers.

Meanwhile Gordon Brown has just returned from yet another overseas jaunt to persuade world leaders of his 'global economic expertise'. His first visit was to Poland. There at a joint press conference the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk extolled the virtues of avoiding debt. Mr Task said that Poland has gained from 12 years of consecutive economic growth, due to efficient supervision of banks and a refusal to live on credit. Last month the Chilean President Michelle Bachelet embarrassed Mr. Brown before the G20 Summit when she said that the Chilean economy had performed so well because they saved during the good times as a cushion for the economic recession.

It is about time Gordon Brown stopped preaching to world leaders, listened to their greater wisdom in managing their own economies and come home to sort out the huge economic mess he has created in the UK over the last 12 years.

SALISBURY CATHEDRAL & ST. GEORGE'S DAY

Hello everyone. On Friday I returned to Elstow from a few days away at a Conference in Salisbury and a flying visit to my widowed brother in Chichester to a mountain of mail and emails, various local crises and an election campaign to plan.

On the morning of St. George's Day, 23 April, before leaving Salisbury I visited its superb Cathedral, with the tallest spire in Britain and the best preserved copy (one of only four)of Magna Carta, signed in 1215, the foundation of our British legal system. The Cathedral also has Europe's oldest working clock and is set in the largest Cathedral close in Britain. A truly amazing building and fine part of quintessential England - a very suitable place for me to visit on St. George's Day. That evening the Cathedral had a concert and a series of poems was lit up on the Cathedral roof as part of the St. George's Day celebrations.

While away I received some panic emails on my Blackberry pc about my new upright wooden bench, donated to the Abbeyfields estate from my Community Leader Fund. I paid £750 to Bedford Borough Council to buy and instal it securely on Abbeyfields parkland. They installed it without telling me, and it was not secured strongly enough so my residents told me it was wrenched out of the ground on the day it arrived. Fortunately I got Council officers to remove it before it disappeared. Now they have to ensure that it is more securely concreted into the ground - a sad indictment on the dishonesty of some people in today's world! Once upon a time people respected the property of others but no longer.

The Budget was a damp squib which failed to address the huge economic crisis facing this country. Gordon Brown continues to spend money like water and refuses to cut back on public sector spending, eg huge sums for the new NHS computer system and the new ID system. Every proposed budget change is delayed until after the 2010 Election. However, the British people have seen through Gordon Brown and his incompetent government who have ruined the sound economy they inherited in 1997 - eg destroying our pensions industry and selling off the gold reserves at a low price.

Every Labour Government in the 20th Century departed leaving the British Economy in a mess and this one is no exception. David Cameron will be left a 'poisoned chalice' to cope with the huge public debts Gordon Brown has amassed in 12 years.

GORDON BROWN REFUSES TO APOLOGISE

Cabinet Office Minister Tom Watson

Yesterday I was told that Gordon Brown had apologised personally to David Cameron, George Osborne and Nadine Dorries for slanderous lies emailed by Damian McBride, a Civil Servant in Brown's personal office at No. 10 Downing Street. Now I understand that he merely expressed 'regret'. I should have known better.

Gordon Brown never apologises for anything but boy does he have a lot to answer for! He sold off our gold reserves, sabotaged the pensions industry and squandered the Conservative legacy of a strong economy over the past 12 years - and is now the self appointed 'saviour of the global economy'/ Naturally this is challenged by Nicholas Sarkozy, President of France, and the frugal Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany.

Now the Prime Minister is trying to protect Tom Watson MP, Cabinet Office Miister and his close personal advisers who sat in the same office as Damian McBride and should have known about McBride's slanderous emails. Watson writes a left wing Blog which tried to blacken the names of leading Conservatives and Paul Staines, the Guido Fawkes Blogger, who exposed the left wing bias of the Smith Institute. Not surprisingly Tom Watson is now trying to distance himself from McBride and Derek Draper to save his own skin, to say nothing of Gordon Brown who is in charge.

Benjamin Snow sent me this comment in response to yesterday's blog;
"Lynne, the sooner this government is thrown out the better. They are lower than low. They are an insult to our country and deserve to be unreservedly rejected from office at the next General Election. Our Country needs a new Government desperately!"

Hear, hear! June 2010 cannot come soon enough for me, and I can only do my little bit in June 2009 by winning my modest Unitary Council Election.

Today Frank Field, one of the most highly respected and upright Labout MPs in the House of Commons broke ranks to attack Gordon Brown's style of government and the email scandal which is damaging the Labour Party. Gordon Brown could easily have defused the situation with a simple heartfelt apology but 'sorry' is not in his vocabulary. By contrast David Cameron was dignified and impressive on TV News and looks more and more like a future Prime Minister.

LABOUR GOVERNMENT SINKS INTO THE GUTTER

Damian McBride and Gordon Brown


If anyone doubts that Gordon Brown and his sleazy Labour Government are doomed, the scandal over Damian McBride's scurrilous activities in spinning poisonous lies about leading Conservative politicians, including my local MP Nadine Dorries, pictured right, has exposed its corrosive political culture.

Damian McBride was a senior civil servant, paid for by the taxpayer as Gordon Brown's Head of Policy and Strategy. In the middle of a serious economic crisis when the Labour Government was lending £10 Billion to banks and fighting two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, McBride had time to draft emails which aimed to assassinate the reputations of leading Conservative politicians including David Cameron and George Osborne. He invented a story about the mental state of George Osbone's wife Frances and told a pack of lies about Nadine Dorries who now plans to sue him for libel.

McBride's activities in briefing the media and starting a Labour Blog Red Rag to spread vicious lies about the Conservatives was exposed by Paul Staines in his popular Blog Guido Fawkes, which receives 100,000 unique visitors a month.

As a local Conservative Councillor I am now planning my campaign to be elected as a Conservative Bedford Unitary Councillor for Elstow and Wilstead on Thursday 4 June 2009.

Roll on 2010 when a Conservative Government will be elected and we can be rid of Gordon Brown and his incompetent and dishonest political colleagues and repair the economic damage caused by Gordon Brown and Tony Blair for the last 12 years.

GORDON BROWN'S PUBLIC MAULING ON THE INTERNET BY DANIEL HANNAN

Gordon Brown Prime Minister and Daniel Hannan MEP





Gordon Brown has been publicly exposed on U Tube for his hypocrisy and incompetencer by a young Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan after Brown's appalling speech in the European Parliament this week. The left wing biased BBC and ITV only reported Brown's speech on TV news bulletins but a video of Daniel Hannan's devastating critique of Brown was posted on U Tube and has been seen by 1 million people so far - striking a chord with the British public who are getting increasingly fed up with Brown's meaningless cliches on the global recession.

Daniel Hannan accused Brown of behaving like a "Brezhnev-era apparatchik". Even the Governor of the Bank of England has warned Brown to stop borrowing money. In his speech Brown warned against protectionism but is guilty of hypocrisy, having nationalised banks and parts of the car industry, to say nothing of his proud boast of wanting "British jobs for British workers". As Hannan said:

"Perhaps you would have more authority in this House if your actions matched your words? You would have more legitimacy.. in the world if the UK were not going into this recession in the worst condition of any G20 country. The truth is Prime Minister that you have run out of our money. The country as a whole is now in negative equity. Every British child is born owing around £20,000. Servicing that debt is going to cost more than educating the child.

Now once again today you try to spread the blame around; you spoke about an international recession. Well it is true that we are all sailing together into the squalls. But not every vessel in the convoy is in the same dilapidated condition. Other ships use the good years to caulk their hulls and clear their rigging; in other words to pay off debt. But you used the good years to raise borrowing yet further. As a consequence, under your captaincy, our hull is pressed deep into the water line under the accumulated weight of your debt.

We are now running a deficit that touches 10% of GDP, an almost unbelievable figure. More than Pakistan and Hungary, countries where the International Monetary Fund have been called in.. You're pathologically incapable of accepting responsibility... You're carrying on wilfully worsening our situation, wantonly spending what little we have left...In the last year 100,000 private sector jobs have been lost and yet you created 30,000 public sector jobs....You cannot spend your way out of recession or borrow your way out of debt.

And when you repeat in that wooden and perfunctory way, that our situation is better than others, that we're "well placed to weather the storm .... you sound like a Brezhnev-era apparatchik giving the party line. You know and we know..that it's nonsense! Everyone knows that Britain is worse off than any other country as we go into these hard times. The IMF has said so; the European Commission has said so; the markets have said so - which is why our currency has devalued by 30%. ..soon the voters will get their chance to say so. They can see what the markets have already seen; .. you are a devalued Prime Minister of a devalued Government"

Gordon Brown has been flying round the world, trying to drum up support for his dtrategy of "saving the world" in countries like Chile and Brazil, while the British economy falls apart at home. In Chile he was embarrassed by their President who said that Chile "had saved in the good times" echoing David Cameron's comment that Brown should have "fixed the roof while the sun was shining".

Roll on the 2010 General Election when we can elect David Cameron as Prime Minister and get rid of this unelected Prime Minister.

'BABY P' REPORT PUBLISHED

Today the OFSTED 'Baby P' Report was published, highlighting a 'catalogue of failings' by Haringey Children's Services Department and its senior management. Action has finally been taken to dismiss 3 senior Haringey Managers, including Sharon Shoesmith, the Director who claimed that her Department was 'effective' - but totally failed to protect a tiny child from being tortured to death in spite of 60 official visits by health visitors, social workers and the Police.

As Vice Chairman of Bedfordshire Children's Services Committee, I questioned our Director of Children's Services at a recent meeting about our Bedfordshire child protection procedures. He issued a detailed statement which reassured Councillors that the Bedfordshire child protection system now operates to a very high standard, having been radically reformed during the past 3 years.

The Labour Government imposes endless performance targets and central controls on local Councils so strategies, box ticking and management speak dominate. Whatever happened to simple common sense? Also in today's world top politicians and highly paid public sector managers happily take high salaries but refuse to take the blame when their flawed systems go badly wrong.

ARE WE NOW LIVING IN A POLICE STATE?

Now in an even more sinister turn of events the Government has lost control over the flow of information, in spite of its own constant information leaks to press, eg information on the Pre Budget Report realsed before Alistair Darling's Speech.

Damian Green MP, a Shadow Conservative Miister, was treated like a terrorist and dragged off to a police station at dawn by an army of police officers for 9 hours' questioning, simply for receiving information from a disillusioned civil servant, in exactly the same way that Gordon Brown did as a young politician!

Whatever happened to civil liberties? The Government's hypocrisy and Metropolitan Police 'overkill' are mind boggling and the Home Secretary, Jackie Smith denies all knowledge of what is going on in her own Home Office! If this is true, who is really in control?

Arresting Opposition MPs for spurious reasons is a tactic used by police states across the world, especially by Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, but until now I believed that England was a civilised and democratic country accountable to its people.

WHAT DO COUNCILLORS ACTUALLY DO?

D Jones has criticised me for attending concerts and asks if I do anything as a Councillor. If he read ALL my Blogs he would see that I am a very active Councillor but my daily routine makes dull reading.

Today I met with my local Police Team, replied to dozens of emails and telephone calls from residents and am organising some small grants for village organisations. Tonight I will chair a Borough Corporate & Resource Committee and attend another meeting.

Contrary to popular belief local Councillors do not receive a salary, but an expense allowance and their role is only part time. As a County and Borough Councillor I work 30+ hours a week on Council duties and related activities, daytime and evenings.

I attend many Elstow and Wilstead village social functions including concerts, so that I am free to talk to residents. I hold regular surgeries, attend evening parish council meetings and reading endless Council documents. Also I am involved in other voluntary activities - I am a school governor at Elstow Lower School and chair the Trustees of the Friends of Elstow Abbey Church, raising funds for church repairs.

At present I am one of only 2 Councillors out of 220 across Bedfordshire who bothers to write a Blog which I use as another form of communication with local residents.

My main income comes from pensions and a 3rd part time job as an Employment Tribunal Member. In truth I am far more active than many other Councillors and the majority of people of my age and hardly ever sit at home and watch TV in the evening.

GORDON BROWN'S BIG IDEA

Today we learned from Alistair Darling the details of Gordon Brown's 'Grand Plan' to solve the UK's financial crisis by borrowing £116 Billion! VAT will be reduced to 15%, so Brown is encouraging people who are already in debt, many now unemployed with mortgage arrears to spend more money and get deeper into debt.

The current UK financial crisis was mainly caused by Gordon Brown's heavy public borrowing over 11 years and failure to build up financial reserves during the good years. Brown encouraged the whole nation to live beyond its means, destroyed the pensions industry in 1997 and sold off our gold reserves at a low price.

Many people are being driven to despair by unemployment and debt. Today's Pre Budget announcement will discourage you from drowning your sorrows with a drink, a cigarette or a car drive because tax on alcohol, petrol and cigarettes goes up by 8% on 1 December! The VAT reduction only benefits those who spend money on goods and services - it will not put any money in your pocket or pay your bills.

On Sunday I went Christmas shopping for my 4 small grandchildren and there were few people in the shops. The Credit Crunch is starting to bite so let's hope that the VAT reduction does help to revive the economy. Make the most of it now because in 2009 you will have to pay more tax and National Insurance to pay for it all.

Eric Devan has asked me if I will attend Bedfordshire County Council's Farewell Legacy Concert in February. The answer is yes, because the musicians will be schoolchildren performing free from Bedfordshire Music, the County Music Service, one of the best in the UK. I am Vice Chairman of Bedfordshire Music, which has several orchestras and chamber groups and as Bedford's Youth Champion I will continue to support all talented young musicians who play high quality music.

The local media misreported Bedfordshire County Council's plans to mark its demise after 120 years. The legacy concert will not cost much and the County Civic Church Service is an annual event similar to Bedford Borough Council's Carol Service. Most of the £250k budget will be spent on planting trees in the Forest of Marston Vale, a major scheme to provide 'green lungs' across a barren part of Bedfordshire which was formerly a wasteland of quarries and landfill dumps. This tree planting will improve the quality of life and environment for Bedfordshire residents.

On Saturday I enjoyed a superb performance of Edward Elgar's King Olaf by the Bedford Choral Society and the Bedfordshire Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ian Smith. As ever Bedford showed off its wealth of talented singers and musicians.

A6 Elstow Roundabout No Right Turn Campaign

The planned Wixams Development of 4,500 new houses led to the A6 being diverted, and the new dual carriageway reopened recently. In my first blog you see a photograph of me with Tom Wotton, County Council Cabinet Member for Highways, who officially opened the new A6 road.

When the new A6 Elstow roundabout was planned the previous 'No Right Turn' sign would have disappeared. Villagers were very concerned that A6 commuters would use Elstow as a short cut to Bedford and it became a major campaign issue in the May 2007 local elections.

My political opponents created a lot of hot air and local media coverage, with no result.

I am a Councillor who prefers to seek solutions to problems rather than just scaremongering.

Therefore I persuaded the County Council to instal four large 'Access Only' signs so that the only traffic turning right at the new roundabout should now be vehicles heading for Elstow village.

These new signs have been so successful that some Elstow residents have contacted me to ask why they cannot now turn right at the roundabout - they had not read the sign properly.

Above is a photograph of me on the day of the official opening with Tom Wootton, Basil Jackson, Assistant Director of Highways, and Sam Clark, Elstow Parish Council Chairman, celebrating the successful conclusion to this project and the opening of the new A6 road.

Festival of Older People

Bedfordshire County Council aims to provide support for an increasingly large population of older people. Come and join us for the Festival of Older People on Wednesday 2 July from 10am to 3.30pm at the Corn Exchange, Bedford. Activities include music, dance, prize draws, free refreshments and informations on everything from health to welfare benefits.

Bedford Borough Council, Age Concern and the Bedford Guild House are also involved in the event. What are you waiting for?

Henley by Election

Turning to National issues - what a fantastic victory for Conservatives in Henley last Thursday! Gordon Brown must have been very unhappy when he learned that his Labour candidate came 5th and lost his deposit. Not only that - he polled 1066 votes. 1066 is a highly significant date as it was the last time we were invaded and defeated by William the Conqueror - enough said?

Zimbabwe

The traged of Zimbabwe goes on. Today I was very upset to see a horrifying photograph in the Sunday Times of a small baby whose legs were broken by Robert Mugabe's ZANUPF thugs simply because they could not track down his MDC Councillor father.

Zimbabwe is a lovely country with the friendliest of people. My uncle lived there for 33 years and I visited the country as a child. It is terrible to watch the Zimbabweans being starved and intimidated by their own Leader. Whatever problems we have in this country, at least we all enjoy freedom of speech and can express our political views free of intimidation. We also enjoy a genuine democracy and a free choice of candidates at every election.

Have a good week.