I'M A COUNCILLOR ...GET ME OUT OF HERE! Day 1

Day 1 of "I'm A Councillor .... Get Me Out of Here!" has arrived and already I have answered 5 questions on anti social behaviour, social activities for young people, education and local politics.

Pictured above are young people using their computers at school - perhaps to ask me more questions? - and students at John Bunyan Upper School which many of the young people who live in Elstow and Wilstead attend, and where I hope to visit next Monday on the 'Take Your Councillor to School' Day.

See you all tomorrow..............

FAULKNER JOURNAL WINS 2 MORE UK BLOGGING AWARDS

GOOD NEWS!


The Faulkner Journal has won two more awards in the Total Politics 2008-9 Guide to UK Political Blogs. I am 37th in the Top 100 Conservative Blogs, one place higher than David Cameron's Web Cameron. Also I was voted 7th in the Top 30 UK Councillor Blogs. These two listings are additional to two other UK Blogging Awards - Top 200 Political Blogs and Top 100 Right Wing Blogs.

Thank you again for your votes and for your much appreciated compliments on my new Blog. Most readers have enjoyed my Olympic Games posts, so I am now doing some on the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, where today Britain is leading the world!

Only one person struck a sour note, accusing me of cutting and pasting from the BBC website. This is ridiculous - I hardly never look the website and the BBC knows absolutely nothing about Elstow and Wilstead villages!

My thanks go to Dylan Carrol for defending my honour today:

"Morris Steinbeck must be a Labour stooge, either that or he can't tell the difference between the BBC website and the Faulkner Journal. The content is completely different!!!

I for one find Lynne's postings on the Olympic Games to be extremely informative, insightful, but with a human angle. Only Lynne told us the human story behind the medal. Something you could not get from the BBC website.

Lynne, don't let people like Morris put you down, as I for one continue to enjoy reading your Olympic blogs, including the latest one on the Paralympics. Thanks for your time and congratulations on your blog award (I was one of your votes)

Finally a point on Press coverage of the Paralympics. On Monday the Times published a large front page picture of Andy Murray who reached the US Open Tennis Finals - predictably he lost to Roger Federer but today the Times had 4 pages on Murray.

Where was the large photograph of 13 year old Eleanor Simmonds' historic Olympic success in becoming the youngest British Paralympic Gold Medallist? What about Dave Roberts' success in achieving a Gold Medal for swimming in 3 consecutive Paralympics and a total of 8 gold medals? The coverage was derisory - a small single column on Page 77 with a thumb sized photo of Eleanor and none of Dave.

It is shameful that the British Press cannot give better coverage for our brave disabled Paralympians who have overcome huge hurdles to achieve sporting success. Like the British Cycling Team, we should celebrate our successes not our failures.

NATIONAL BLOGGING AWARDS FOR THE FAULKNER JOURNAL

GOOD NEWS!

The Faulkner Journal has been voted one of Total Politics Top 200 Political Blogs AND in the Top 100 Centre Right Political Blogs in the UK after a poll which was conducted in Total Politics Magazine and on 75 different Political Blogs. My Blog features in Iain Dale's new 2008/9 Guide to Political Blogging.

My success is remarkable as this Blog is new and started only 3 weeks before this UK Blog Poll was conducted. I am thrilled and honoured to be listed with famous global Political Bloggers like Iain Dale, John Redwood MP and Conservative Home.

Bedfordshire political bloggers in the Top 100 Right Wing Blogs include Nadine Dorries MP for Mid Beds (20th) who topped the 2007 Poll and Andrew McConnell's Blogging for Bedford (49th). My position was 69th so we Bedford Bloggers have performed extremely well against nearly 600 competitors across the UK.

Thank you to all those who voted for me and for your many compliments. Your feedback is always welcome to stimulate debate so please keep sending in your comments.