I know we have our moments (last week's Barking & Dagenham story being a case in point) but the Local Government Chronicle is today highlighting something more ingrained among Tory councillors...

Last Friday I was invited to spend the morning with a group of Labour councillors discussing what ideas they should include in their party's next manifesto. Whilst they weren't exactly reaching for the party poppers to celebrate Gordon Brown's anniversary in office, they were surprisingly less depressed than many Labour Party members I bump into in Westminster.

I am thinking of putting my name forward to become a councillor and thinking through the practicalities. Could anyone advise me what the likely workload is going to be?

I don't think there has been enough attention on the political impact for Labour of the reorganisation of local government in many rural areas.  In many areas we've seen the abolition of district and county councils without the consent of voters. This appears to be well-off the radar of the London media but it's causing ripples locally and in other parts of the country too that will hurt us in May. 

Will Parbury discusses the benefits of decentralised energy

Highly-rated Local Government Minister John Healey is set to publish at Labour Conference a pamphlet with the LGA Labour Group calling for town halls of "all the talents".
In what seems a natural extension of Gordon Brown's Cabinet strategy, Healey seems to be calling for Local Authorities to be less partisan in their power sharing - "Confident politicians can reach beyond the narrow circles of their own power".
While this may mean co-opting opposition politicians into positions of power, the main thrust seems to be to press devolution down to a local level.
I for one am looking forward to reading the detail.

I served for four years as a Redbridge Councillor until standing down in 2006. Despite being active in politics, I found the budget process a real eye opener, firstly in the procedural sense, and secondly in how you can be so right, make the best speech of your life and still see a Tory majority council vote for cuts that hurt the most vulnerable people in our communities without a flicker of shame.

I have attached below a speech by my former colleague Cllr Filly Maravala, opposing Social Services cuts in the current Redbridge Council budget round.

You might find it interesting to see how a budget speech is conducted or you might like to read it as an example of the depths of evil embraced by David Cameron's Conservative Party.

According to reports on Conservative Home, Birmingham's (Tory-administered) Council has bunged the Tory Pary £2million to host their 2007 Conference in the City.

The Liberal Democrats have once again announced their support for a form of local income tax, despite significant evidence that it could be a more regressive tax than council tax. But Labour should not deceive itself into thinking that solving the council tax conundrum alone will restore power, influence and relevance to local government. What is required is far more fundamental.
Writes Dick Sorabji, Head of Policy and Research at the New Local Government Network

I've greatly enjoyed reading these pages since the website launched and have longed to write an entry addressing my own thoughts on the Labour Party's current direction. Perhaps it is my youthful naivete, but I can't understand all the doom and gloom that currently surrounds the Party's prospects.