Romsey Advertiser - 9 May 2008

Written by Sandra Gidley on Fri 9th May 2008

The end of last week was dominated by local elections in many parts of the country. Test Valley escaped but there were elections in Southampton and suffice to say that I was not overjoyed to see the Conservatives take control of Southampton City Council. However, above all I am a democrat so it would be churlish of me not to accept the result. I will be doing all I can to make sure that the rule is short lived. On a slightly separate note I was disappointed to see that their new councillors are predominately white and male. Clearly, they haven't heard of David Cameron's diversity agenda.

Friday disappeared in a blur of meetings and surgery appointments and have to admit that I was not on top form because of the late night election duty. The weekend, and some time off from knocking on doors, looked very promising.

On Saturday evening I had been invited to a private view of some art work in the Abbey. The exhibition is by Tim Patrick who is extremely talented as well as being a neighbour. Do go along and see his work if you can. As well as enjoying the art it was a good excuse to catch up on neighbourly chit chat - something which all too easily goes by the wayside.

On Monday I attended the Nursling fête and presented some Sainsbury vouchers to the local Scouts. I had received these as a result of taking part in an initiative called Skip2BFit. Some people were very scathing about the initiative but I say that anything that encourages physical activity in the young can only be a good thing and if a local organisation can benefit then that is an added bonus.

On Tuesday we all had to be back in Westminster bright and early because of the Counter Terrorism Bill. The House of Lords made over 300 amendments to the Bill and I really don't think we did them justice in the six hours that we spent on the matter. I have generally supported the principle of time tabling the amount of discussion we have on a particular matter and these things are often negotiated with all parties but on this occasion it would appear that the Government were hell bent on pushing their agenda through in the shortest possible time. Sometimes this place does not deserve to be referred to as the centre of democracy.

The first Prime Ministers Question Time after the local elections was a predictable and pedestrian event. The noisiest reception was for Boris Johnson when he entered the Chamber to loud cheers from his colleagues. It amused me to see that he has suddenly started flattening his hair down and I sincerely hope that he is not doing this because some image consultant has told him that it will make him appear more authoritative. He will be judged by his actions. There is no doubt that Boris has many talents but it remains to be seen whether running our capital city is one of them.