THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK...

Thought for the week archive

About Gloucester

NEXT SURGERY:

Wednesday 1st September 1800-2000:

Venue: Conservative Club, behind Brunswick Road

RING JENNIE ON 371630

30th AUGUST

I joined Ken (Vice Chair of Friends of the Waterways Museum, below) who stokes up the scottish engine of our 1925 dutch dredger for the 2pm Duck Races. I start things with a fantastic toot - and then, who's closest the bulls eye? A good fund raiser for a good cause:

My wife Anthea's uncle, still alive, spent most of the 2nd War behind the lines in Burma - emerging somehow alive with a DSO and MC. So I was proud to represent all residents of our city at the Burma Star Association commemoration of VJ Day:

The Nelson Trust, based at Brimscombe, is one of the country's best centres for drug rehabilitation. I'm delighted they've now established a centre in the heart of Gloucester (above right). Rehab cab be better than prison for getting many drug addicts back on track.

We climbed the 'scramble' route up Mt Snowden recently - with rain and low cloud at times, slightly hazardous but great fun (left):

On the last hundred yards or so on the way down my elder son (in Gloucester City Winget CC cap) decided to give Twiglet a lift. Her little legs were very tired..

Big picture - growth jobs

Second quarter GDP growth and July's unemployment figures continue to be better than expected both nationally and for our county: and better for our city than other parts of Glos. So far so good. Will it last? Not in a straight line, no. Are there patches that are not so encouraging? Yes: the NEET (not earning or learning) category for 16-24 year olds - which is why apprenticeships are so important. I am organising a lunch for new employers to hear the what, how and why of apprentices and why they can make your business better on Sep 28th, with generous sponsorship from EDF. Send me an e mail me through this website if you'd like to come.

Community positives..

A terrific Three Choirs Festival is followed by an amazing day on Gloucester's history (Sat 29th August), with duck racing for the Waterways Trust on our dredger on the canal and the incredible sculpture exhibition at Gloucester Cathedral today. Meanwhile the Rowing Club has ambitious plans - and quite right. We want more life on the water here, the canal is an obviously good place for rowing and we need ambition if we're going to become a powerhouse on water. Our city has gots lots going for it and the sculpture exhibition shows there's no reason why we can't be in the Premier League for many things. Talking of which, I think this could be Gloucester Rugby's best year for a while..

..and not so positives

We've also got out problems. The mess at the old Jet and Whittle has been rightly highlighted by my colleague Jenny Dallimore. I will be approaching the owner to ask them to demolish before a detailed planning application is submitted. It's unusual, but it can be done and there are places in Gloucester where it needs to be done. 'Come friendly bombs and fall on..' wrote Betjeman: and regeneration needs a few friendly bombs to fall. I'm keen to see the hideous old Gloscat Tower demolished asap.

The Glos Cadets

I spent a fantastic day with 300 of our 800 odd cadets in the middle of Romney Marsh (furthest corner of England from Gloucester) and saw how the Eastern Avenue, Podsmead and Glos Coll companies performed at first hand - living away from home mostly outdoors and learning masses of new skills like first aid, shooting, canoeing, wall climbing, drilling and map reading. I can only congratulate the volunteer officers and staff who make it all happen, the Lord Lieutenant who has given them so much support and Mike Bennett (now a well deserved DL) who expanded the organisation. I would love to see more and more cadets: and will encourage the government to consider including cadets in the National Citizenship Scheme.

Government or social enterprises?

Much debate about who should deliver certain services. Can government outsource certain things to charities or social enterprises and does it work? Yes - look at the Brandon Trust and the work it does in the field of mental health: and ask those who work there if it works.

What about local government - can outsourcing work? Just look at the very successful Gloucester City Homes (GCH), preparing for an audit that could give them the coveted extra star and allow them to develop more housing. I passionately want to see them get that star and come up with suggestions for developing ceratin city council space with more and better housing and change the look and feel of eg 1940s Matson and Podsmead social housing.

Social enterprises can do things local government can't and shouldn't do - look at The House of the Tailor of Gloucester and the Civic Trust. I've been telling charities for three years to recognise that the days of being funded by taxpayers through council tax are limited, and to think creatively of new forms of funding. Some have adapted: some haven't.

MSA

This sounds like a disease but is the proposed new service station on the M5. As many hate the idea as love it - and many more don't really care. The whole issue has become polarised: exaggerated claims of landscape destruction v exaggerated claims of new jobs; impossible to quantify claims of future local produce sales against equally hard to quantify claims of local environment damage. Both sides want me to take their side, and I won't - because both arguments are flawed.

Those in favour need to explain why the Glos Gateway Trust originally applied to the Charities Commission to run the MSA and then resubmitted as a partner with Westmoreland to run the MSA: and why the application (being treated as a complex submission by the Commission, which has already spent a year looking at it) can't be made public? Why does the MSA website not state that the Glos Gateway Trust has not yet received approval as a registered charity?

Those against need to explain why the MSA will have such a big impact on the environment of Gloucester when only about three houses in the city will be able to see it. They need to say what they really fear: is it an increase in lorries going through Matson while the MSA is built (a short term problem)? They doubt 300 jobs in Matson will be created, but how would they feel if the project definitely creates 150 jobs? Or even 50? Where do they draw the line: or are they against any development in a field beside a motorway and not interested in jobs at all?

And behind this is a bigger question: what takes priority when a love of the environment clashes with economic development? Are you an ideologue, a pragmatist or not sure? Ask yourself these questions -

• Is the cold store beside Walls Ice Cream plant in Barnwood an eye sore that should never have been allowed and which makes life worse for residents near by: or is it a necessary part of being the home to one of the biggest ice cream factories in Europe that has chosen our city as its base, and employs a large number of people?

• Is the redwood tree in the old Glos Cat buildings a priceless specimen of one of the world's oldest trees to be preserved at all costs, including further unknown years of delay to regeneration of that site: or is it a great but single and hidden tree that should be replaced by several new ones in a better place and should not hold up for a day more the already long delayed replacement of the half trashed Glos Cat site: and that we should get a move on and create a decent, new, decent building with people living there ie more city centre residents to stimulate our shops and city centre asap?

• Should the old bandstand have been treated as a priceless part of our historical legacy, with much spent to restore it: or was it an unsafe, not very beautiful 1930s building, and better to pull it down and create a new one (as happened)?

Let me know your views please on richard@richardgraham.org

The Gloucester Academy starts on Sep 7th

As I predicted below (and elsewhere several times), the funding agreements have all been signed and the new Gloucester Academy starts on September 7th. To paraphrase a well known Conservative politician: 'this is not the end, nor even the beginning of the end; but it is the end of the beginning'.

First 100 days of being the MP for Gloucester:

How do you feel?

Tired and that cliched but true thing - what a great privilege this job is.

What's the most important thing about being an MP?The sense that you can achieve things for people and your responsibility not to abuse this: that when you write a letter backing an individual or make a speech backing a cause, then it should be objective, accurate and sincere - that you really believe in giving that person or cause support.

What's the most difficult thing?

Saying I'm sorry, but there is nothing more I can do to help you. Some people nurse real or imagined slights from decades ago, and go on pursuing them even after every check and balance in our system has determined there is no case to answer. An MP does not have a magic wand and it's better to say so.

And the worst thing?

Abusive and inaccurate accusations, sometimes from people who have held public office. You just have to sigh and move on, and hope they will do too, eventually. There is work to be done: some people want to get it done and others want to throw stones - I focus on the first group.

What next?

Lots - starting with my office opening later this week. There is city infrastructure, its regeneration framework, capital funding for new buildings at the Gloucester Academy, supporting apprentices and training for NEETs and in all cases we need to be creative about sources of funding. And then I have a project with a bicycle coming up soon..

12th AUGUST

The Quedgeley Post Office is now sorted: with an application by an experienced sub postmaster (see earlier entry).

We also know that capital funding for the new Gloucester Academy will be available in November, though we don't yet know how much. This has been interpreted by some as a disaster waiting to happen: I prefer to see it as good news delayed. And there are four areas of progress that have happened:

• The budget to improve and change CTC for next term (especially to accommodate new (and female) pupils), has been approved and changes are being made straight away
• A new Head of the Academy has been recruited
• Capital funding for the Academy new build has been approved and the amount will be clarified after the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) in October
• There will be an announcement by Prospect imminently on the funding agreement and I expect an announcement from Gloucestershire College soon after

So things are moving ahead - all of these points represent good progress on the situation only weeks ago.

Last week I spend a day with the Gloucestershire Cadets at Lydd Camp (Romsey Marsh: about as far from Gloucester as you can go). Our force has about 400 motivated young people, including the Glos Coll Company and the Band. Everyone I spoke to said how much they learned from being part of the cadet force - the map reading, medical training, weapon training and the adventure activities on water and assault courses, and the climbing of walls. Above all the cadets have real confidence and practical skills and I'm grateful for the volunteers who lead and encourage them.

Regeneration is about many things: and the Hospitals Trust's newWomens Centre block, which I visited with Fank Harsent and Maggie Arnold of the GRH last week, has got several of the best. There is lots of light and space eg in the maternity wards, the design is environmentally friendly and the equipment is state of the art. I think people will be thrilled when it opens in Jan 2011.

Regeneration is also about selective destruction - and below right is an example of this in Blackfriars on the weekend as old redundant buildings are axed:

On a different note here are two photos of the Quedgeley police, the St John Ambulance team and the judge (below right) gathered for the annual Dimore dog show. The Irish looking wolfhound won!

Here (below) is a proud Bristol based collector of Cotton motorbikes, ready for the Cottons festival in Westgate, on the old factory site:

I go to a lot of community events, but this time I thought I'd show some photos from Aati Patel's fabulous recent wedding at the Crypt:

25th JULY 2010

This month I've spent a lot of time on the Gloucester Academy, and am expecting to make an announcement soon: on the Quedgeley Post Office and on my debate on apprenticeships, with recommendations on how to improve the existing system.

I met with both Royal Mail and Post Offices Ltd (right) and then with Wiltshire Conservative County Councillor Howard Greenman who is applying to be the new sub postmaster.

Left above are the teams for a game at the Yakub Pandor Memorial 6 a side Cricket Day, my Gloucester Cavaliers v AIW. A great day in honour of a lovely man, raising funds for Cancer Research and celebrating community involvement.

Below are two moments in Parliament this month, apart from replying to over 130 letters and 600 e mails: commemortaing the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain and holding the football from the 1966 World Cup Final  - now in our Football Museum.

And this is where I work: to the left and above the statue of Richard the Lionheart, and in my tiny office with my wife Anthea - the first visitor.

We have coach trips coming to Parliament on the 26th and 27th July - the last days before the Summer Recess: if you would like to come on a trip in the autumn please do let Penny know on 371630.

5 July 2010

On the basis that a picture tells a thousand words, these photos will give an idea of what I've been up to in Gloucester recently.

Supporting our own Robinswood Farm: with Derek Brown and volunteer Carole Carpenter on The Cross with rare breeds. Gloucester Old Spot is like Melton Mowbray pork pies now a recognised EU trade mark

With Barnwood campaigner Tarren Randle and her family at the Barnwood Park Summer Day, here making edible hanging cones for squirrels with Play Glos; and then testing out Barnwood Football Club goalie with penalties to raise funds for the team.

Visiting Emma Willis Shirts and choosing the cotton for a shirt they made for my maiden speech in Parliament the next day - wearing something Made in Gloucester. there is a strong tradition of shirt making in the city and Emma is now selling shirts in the US and soon Bombay.

I helped raise the sponsorship to make sure the Gloucester t20 cricket matches went ahead at Archdeacon Meadow - a great weekend for the city and the first Glos CCC 20/20 games outside Bristol.

Here selcoming all to the ground: a view of the crowd: Fast bowler Steve Kirby visits my guests and in between innings (bottom right) I biked to the Gloucester Museum to talk at the celebration of its 150th birthday - a great age for a constantly reinvented institution.

(Left) I encouraged First Great Western to make £750,000 of needed improvements at the Railway Station; and (right) celebrated the abolition of HIPs with the city's leading estate agents which has helped tincrease the number of properties being marketed and sold.

This is church fete season, and none more successful than St Catherine's London Road which I opened (left) with curate Maureen and volunteer organiser Jane Peak, with Anthea. Lots of delicious home made food, books, plants - and crossbows - and a cow I milked with Amanda, ex City Farm. The next week I was at St Stephens Fete - and planted an oak and a cherry tree at St Peters School.

Yesterday I helped open the new Chinese Resource Centre at St Oswalds and practise some rusty Cantonese and then led off the RBL organised Pull the Truck from The Cross. Aran Gargett and his family and friends did a great job giving up a Sunday to raise funds for the RBL - a real team spirit - and Bill Bratty organised it all impeccably. What a good cause on Armed Forces Day: everyone recognising the courage of those who give their lives for our country. There we are toiling up Spa Road (right) in the heat and every drop of sweat was worth it.

On Tuesday this week I lead a debate on apprenticeships - so important to the future success of revitalising our economy. See parliament.com on Wednesday for the details of the speeches.

2nd June 2010

Gaza update

Many will be shocked at the Israeli response to the Gaza flotilla. My formal comment is:

"The Israeli response to, and handling of, the Gaza flotilla has been disastrous and I hope very much that William Hague's call for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1860 - to allow immediate access to Gaza - is heard and that Israel does address the serious humanitarian and economic issues that the Palestinians face today."

The immediate issue in Gloucester is the safe return of Ibrahim Musaji, who was part of the flotilla. I have spoken to the Foreign Office and visited his mother. He is alive and currently detained in Tel Aviv with 38 other UK citizens and the British Consul is negotiating the release of them all. We should pray for the speedy return of Ibrahim and all the others, and for peace above all.

1st June 2010

Apologies to all readers: the website is behind: it's come second place to a couple of thousand e mails, hundreds of texts and letters and the business of trying to set up as an MP. Hiring staff is more complicated than it used to be but I hope to have an office in Gloucester before long, and help both here and in London. Meanwhile I do everything, so be patient if service isn't quite as fast as it used to be!

I have already spoken in the Chamber - both an urgent intervention and a business question (all my contributions can be followed through TheyWork ForYou.com website) - BEFORE my maiden speech, which I hope to make next week. However with over 200 maiden speeches to be made this could be delayed.

Meanwhile please note the different ways of contacting me until the Gloucester office is set up:

e mail

richard@richardgraham.org or richard.graham.mp@parliament.uk

letter

Richard Graham MP

House of Commons

London SW1A OAA

telephone messages

0207 21973000 or 01452 371630

Quick thoughts:

Coalition

I strongly supported the setting up of the coalition government, which was the only way forward given the inconclusive overall result of the general election. The coalition agreement required compromises from both parties and in general these were good for Gloucester: strong on the scale of budget deficit reduction, the focus on the economy, against a world of Big Brother (ID cards) and for the pound, robust immigration policies and in favour of a lower income tax for the lowest paid.

Youth unemployment

I am delighted that an additional 50,000 apprenticeships are to be set up and hope that some will be available for Gloucester based unemployed. Gloucester Works is having successes but we need to rejig the way in which the apprenticeship scheme markets to businesses.

Summer Sport

My main summer activity is cricket, and the photo left below shows my elder son Bertie and I with Gloucester City Winget CC Chairman Colin doods, club captain Stuart Wilshaw, Third XI skipper Billy Dawe and groundsman Ian Collinson when we made club history as the first city MP and son to play together for the club.

But there are lots of other sports going on - not least the Dragon Boats races, with some crews featuring ferocious war paint (above right)..

Regeneration

There have been some encouraging developments on empty eyesores in Gloucester like the old B&Q site and the Dunelm building. Also of course some question marks about regional funding as we move to disbanding regional government and government spending is tightened. The Urban Regeneration Company will be prioritising and focusing on what matters most at the macro level. But there is also the micro level: I have created a city wide questionnaire on street regeneration with a prize for the best entry. It is critical to remember that regeneration is for everyone, everywhere. It is not just about government spending money; it is about business confidence and investment: and about council, partnership, residents' associations, individual and family participation. The phrase 'we are all in this together' is the story of cities - from litter to anti social behaviour the solutions are with us.

Visits and meetings

Amongst the many I've had since the election I would highlight three: with Glos College students and teachers, discussing micro regeneration; the Oaklands Park Residents Association (OPRA) first anniversary - a success story other associations can learn from; and with the Elmbridge Neighbourhood Partnership (ENP) to see the opening of the new play area at Elmleaze - another long awaited success story. Three years ago the ENP was just starting (I went to its first meeting) and the OPRA hasn't got started. A lot can be done in three years in a neighbourhood, with much less vulnerability to the planning contortions that bog down some of our larger city projects.

9th May 2010

             THANK YOU GLOUCESTER!

The result of the general election in Gloucester, as dawn rose on Friday morning, was a decisive vote for change. If the nation as a whole had mirrored the leap of faith by our city we would by now have a new government and a new Prime Minister. So a HUGE thank you to all of you who put your trust in me and the Conservatives to help bring unity, purpose and new energy to the mission of improving life in our city. I will do all I can to justify your leap!

The figures are in this story:

http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/news/Gloucester-election-result-Richard-Graham-wins-Conservatives/article-2129235-detail/article.html

Here's roughly what I said to journalists when asked about my priorities for Gloucester by journalists, seconds after the result was announced:

http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/gloucester/Gloucester-MP-Richard-Graham-pledges-action-regeneration-education-hospital-bed-cuts/article-2133545-detail/article.html

It followed a long wait, but then what's an hour or two when it's been a three and a half year long job apprenticeship - and for some of my amazing and diverse campaign team many long years of hard work..

There are many people and voters without whom we could not have won: but first amongst them is my wife Anthea, who did NOT marry a politician 21 years ago: and who, despite many concerns about politics and politicians, kept me going. Childhood in Africa, her parents' farm burned down in Zimbabwe, the family left with very little, has given her great resilience. Anthea knows what it's like to be a penniless immigrant - you just never give up.

The day started early with my daughter Kitty and I going round every ward in the city, meeting friends on their way to the polling stations and tellers:

And it ended emotionally for Kitty and many others almost 24 hours later on Friday morning when the results were announced..and the gods smiled on us. I remembered that Napoleon liked his generals to be lucky. I was so pleased not to have let down all who sent good luck messages and waved at the battle bus.

Here's Mark Cummings of BBC Radio Glos putting me on the spot immediately afterwards:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/gloucestershire/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8667000/8667224.stm

On Saturday I was to have played cricket for Gloucester City Winget with my elder son but rain stopped play. Today - Sunday - I was back at our church with friends and in the evening went to help raise funds for a young girl, Chantelle Davies, with terminal cancer to go to Disneyland. The family are amazing, because Chantelle's grandfather died of cancer too. Anyone who wants to contribute to this great last dream of Chantelle's please e mail me on richard@richardgraham.org

Tomorrow I go to Parliament as a new boy - at a time of great uncertainty, huge problems, global fears of political instability in the UK; and an overwhelming desire in Britain for a new leader and a new government. I am an optimist: I believed that Gloucester would vote for change and I believe Britain will now get it.

Let's now all pull together and WORK to make things better in Gloucester. It is easy to be an armchair critic, and harder to be the change alone, so let's find the ways in which we can ALL contribute to our city as much as possible!

4th May 2010

Two days to go before the election!

Quote from 85 year old former trade unionist to Richard:

"I've voted Labour all my life. I have no idea whether you'll be good or bad. But I do know that you cannot be as bad as this lot. I'm going to give you a go."

National situation
All the economic date for March confirm to me how fragile our economy is. Record national unemployment since 1994. Largest ever monthly public deficit. Still record ever youth unemployment in Gloucester. Just continuing with the same old policies is a disaster. Everyone can see change is critical. We have to get business moving to get the growth we want, the jobs our young need and the tax to pay for our services - especially health, education, police and our Armed Forces.

My campaign - regeneration
I've focused on regeneration across the city not just in The Docks: bringing Shadow Ministers to highlight our new housing policy to speed up brownfield site development, to stop building on floodplains to get rid of regional planning - and to see how nothing has happened in The Railway Triangle for 13 years of Labour MPs in Gloucester.

Jobs
My second goal is to highlight the need for jobs for our young. Ken Clarke came to meet some of the over 100 Gloucester businesses who've signed our NO TO THE JOBS TAX petition. And I took the Party Chairman to an important Gloucester manufacturer to highlight our support for apprenticeships.

Health
And my third aim is to ensure good frontline health services, by working for a surgery in Kingsway and a replacement one in Tuffley/Podsmead: and to review after the election the GRH plans so that these are good for patients as well as their accountants.

Immigration
When I brought the Shadow Immigration Minister here to meet residents of Caribbean and Indian Muslim descent, they all gave him the same message: there are too many imigrants coming too fast - and its putting a real strain on services and community integration. It is time for action before we have BNP candidates in Gloucester, which would be a disaster for us all.

Labour smears
I regret the number of these. Winter fuel allowances, Sure Start Centres, free TV licences for the old and free bus passes will all continue under a Conservative government. Pretending they will be cut is desparate and negative campaigning from a Labour government which has run out of ideas as well as money.

Change
What will change nationally is benefit fraud and benefits claimants who could work but won't, unnecessary admin in the public sector and white elephant projects - whether ID cards or regional Fire Control Centres. The NHS has 80 per cent more managers than it had 10 years ago: is that really necessary?

A Contract
It's the first election with party leaders debating in public: and the first election where a party has given you a contract and said - 'this is what we'll do: sack us if we don't'. Here's the link to the Conservative contract in detail: http://www.conservatives.com/Splash.aspx

The choice
I was inspired to stand because I believed this government was making the wrong decisions for Britain on so many fronts. I could not face five more years of it. Nor - although I like many of their people and share some of their values - could I vote for the Lib Dem policies: they want us to have the euro, more European controls and no control of immigration or illegal immigrants. That is not what Gloucester, or Britain, wants.

Vote on Thursday!
Thank you to all those who've given me practical help, advice and moral support for the three and a half years I've been your candidate. I've hugely appreciated this long apprenticeship and what I've learnt from many people.

If elected I will be a non tribal, one nation Tory MP working to help build pride in our communities and our city and to bring change nationally

So do all come with me and vote Conservative for change both in Gloucester and across Britain!

Best regards

Richard

The Tredworth Annual Run was on Easter Monday - the day before the election was called..

An election campaign is full of words. But short films catch the imagination more. And seeing people having to answer hard questions, without advance warning, is a good test of candidates. This link takes you to an interviews with me (and my opponent Parmjit Dhanda) on the economy, on religion, on Afghanistan and Iraq, and our strengths and weaknesses:

http://www.youtube.com/user/likal23

Here is the Telegraph film of David Cameron's visit to the Docks on Saturday morning: over 400 people gathered at very short notice to hear David Cameron's call for a Conservative victory:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraphtv/7600999/Cameron-fights-back-after-Lib-Dems-leap-in-polls.html

Also here are some still photos below of the campaign so far:

The general election is on May 6th. At last we can decide who will provide the political leadership of the country for the next five years.

We all want new energy, new ideas, less spin and a great deal more integrity from our government and MPs. Britain desperately needs change, need to be lifted back onto our feet. In thirteen years we have gone from a pledge to 'abolish boom and bust' to the biggest bust of 70 years, and become the poor man of Europe, with the highest % of budget deficit of all developed nations. The gap between rhetoric and reality has rarely been so vast.

And if that all seems far away, the implications are all around us. This month in Gloucester the Hospitals Trust closed that haven for those with MS and other neurological disorders, Ermin House, where my wife has been a volunteer. It threatens to close up to 300 beds, mostly in the GRH. There are staff implications and inevitable uncertainty. There are few easy answers if you face a 9% cut in budget. Labour cuts are with us now. The regional coffers are empty, local government funding is squeezed, higher education is in real trouble and we've already got one of the lowest education grants in the country.

It will get much worse if this government carries on because they don't know how to help business grow (the only way to generate more tax revenue for public services), or how to cut costs and focus on front line services. Government advertising costs are STILL growing!

Three and a half years ago I was inspired by a feeling that millions of working voters had been let down by Labour. I thought my experience in the armed services, public service, business and charities could help make things better. I wanted to stand in my home county, Gloucestershire, and was delighted to be chosen to be your candidate in our city, where we live within earshot of the Cathedral bells.

After serving a long voluntary apprenticeship here, you will now decide whether you want to employ me as your local MP.

This is a lot I want to help Gloucester achieve - some of which can be seen on this u tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fs504JhZSY&feature=youtube_gdata

• Regeneration across all the city, as well as in the Docks. Let's turn that eyesore at our city's entrance, the Railway Triangle, into something we can be proud of. Let's build on brown field sites to bring life into our city, rather than destroy the green fields around us. We'll get rid of regional government and bring back planning controls to Gloucester

• Jobs for our children, through a much greater focus on vocational education, getting rid of the target to have 50% of students go to university, far more real (ie three year min) apprenticeships and support for business growth by cutting taxes and paperwork

• Good front line health services, especially the new womens development at the GRH, but also two new surgeries in the city. I will encourage more dementia training for carers and our mental health charity to develop new ideas on dealing with dementia.

• More first class sport in the city, like the county cricket 20/20s I have helped to bring to Gloucester this summer. We have a chance to to bring back Gloucester City Football Club to Meadow Park, to build a new athletics track, and to make more of our great tennis facilities. These, together with our great rugby club, can make the city a wonderful sporting venue - and inspire our young.

• Put Gloucester First and help us pull together: I will not pose for one thing here and do the opposite in parliament. I am absolutely against the regionalisation of our police force, attacks on our grammar schools or the closure of the city council. I will fight to keep our Fire Control Centre here. I will never vote for legislation that tries to hide parliamentary expenses and I will endeavour never to be tribal. I will work in the knowledge that Gloucester does best when its leaders can unite the city, not when politics brings divisions.

As we enter this election, I know that my opponents will continue fictional scare stories about Conservative policies. They will say we will cut winter fuel allowances, free bus passes, free tv licences, NHS spending, police funding, build giant incinerators in the city...you name it. Do not believe these untruths. E mail me on richard@richardgraham.org if you have any doubts about a scare story.

And I also know that my opponents will attack me personally. I will only criticise them for their policies and their political decisions, and show where mine would be different. That is what you deserve to hear and what this election should be about

Here's our team for this year's city council elections (plus Twiglet, team mascot) with me. It's a great team with experience from residents' associations, neighbourhood partnerships, business, public service and the voluntary sector - and all of us want to make things better in Gloucester. That's what it's all about.

Easter Sunday update

Today is my birthday and Easter Day. Father Bernard, in the Cathedral on Good Friday, told us that the message of Easter above all is - LOVE. There are a dozen of us in the family together today and I hope that you all do too.

Happy Easter!

Since the last update I've visited many schools, manufacturing companies and charities - been inspired and been confirmed in some of the things I want to achieve for Gloucester:

I met apprentices in five companies trained at the Gloucestershire Training Group (see below left). This city has a great engineering history from Wheatstone to Whittle and we must not ignore it. I worked in aviation and am especially interested in what GE Aviation and Messier-Dowty (see landing gear below right) and their sub contractors are doing, and have ideas on how we can make more of this.

The Crypt School has established a link with the Suzhou Foreign Languages Institute in China, which encourages pupils to learn Chinese. In a world where much of the growth will come from the east, this is a really useful initiative. Sam Griggs (below left) and I chatted in Chinese: he already speaks really well and is now going on to university to study Chinese and Tibetan. The future Languages Immersion centre should provide more of these opportunities and I will support them strongly.

The closure of Ermin House is sad, and especially the carers of, for example, MS sufferers who benefited from it. Anthea was a volunteer art therapist there (above right with Mark) and the farewell party was moving. The issue is that the government looks after those with nothing, but if you have a little, then you have to pay up to £1,000 for a week's care.  It's like dementia: and the message is - don't save anything, you'll be better off. Is this the message we want to give our children?

In Matson there is always great work done by the Neighbourhood Partnership and at the Redwell Centre. Vanessa Worrall (left below) and Bob Allen are tireless. And as you can see she loves green..Terry (below right) likes a different sort of green a few yards down the road: creating new allotments at Robinswood Primary. Also great inspiration for the young. The new pea shoots are just coming out too. the Spring is a time of change..

Sunday 28 February

Statistics of the week:

• Since 1997 the UK has 580 fewer hospitals and clinics, 2,380 fewer schools, 7,500 fewer Post Offices, 196 fewer libraries, 150 fewer public pools - but 1270 more bookmakers and 1,060 more supermarkets
• Since 1997 the gap between rich and poor has increased sharply
• Britain now has the worst fuel poverty in Europe
• In January 2010 alone, government debts increased by £4.3 billion - a billion pounds of taxpayer debt added every week.
• In 2009 the nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland, which we taxpayers bailed out, made over £4billion of losses in 2009 and the government approved over £1billion of bonuses

If anyone wants to know why I feel so strongly about politics today, why I gave up my job to stand for election, and why I absolutely know that this government is not just bad, but catastrophic, for the working man - just read these figures again, slowly.

The GRH: what's going on?

Our Hospital Trust out of the blue suddenly announced £30m of cuts and 200 beds to be taken out (mostly in Gloucester, some in Cheltenham). I was in the Hospital the night before and heard the news from hospital staff and consultants, who were all shocked. I immediately called for the county council Overview & Scrutiny Committee to investigate, and the Hospital has now agreed for a proper consultation before going ahead with anything. I will be asking plenty of questions - and the main one is this: what has the government, via the NHS, asked our Hospitals to do which requires such cuts?

Our university is close to bankruptcy, Glos Coll is having its budget cut by a couple of million, the regional money for Gloucestershire has been halved, the council settlements have been slashed and now the Hospital says it has to cut 8% of its budget. We are in dire trouble, make no mistake. Why wasn't our MP on top of the NHS situation in Gloucester?

NO incinerator in the Railway Triangle

Over the last year residents in the city have been alarmed by political leaflets suggesting an incinerator was about to be built in the Railway Triangle by Allstone, in cahoots with the Conservative County Council. neither the Labour MP or the Lib Dem candidate bothered to go and talk to Allstone about this. So I did. And the result is that MD Simon Ford has confirmed that he will NOT apply for an incinerator. Residents of Kingsholm & Wotton, Elmbridge and Wotton should welcome this news.

Meanwhile I note that the Secretary of State for the Environment told our Labour MP in Parliament that the county council plan for residual waste was a good one and a huge improvement on the current landfill situation. Curiously we haven't heard anything from our MP on the subject since then...

Good news for the disabled!

I'm delighted for disabled campaigner Sandra Pember and all who want to travel by wheel chair that Stagecoach WILL be putting low floor buses on the 97/98 route (ie past special school Milstone) later this year. I had a meeting with Stagecoach's director on this some while back, but it was Sandra's letter to David Cameron which seems to have triggered the changes, and I am grateful to Stagecoach. This is my photograph of Josh Mitchell's class at Stagecoach who are thrilled that he'll be able to travel with them by bus soon.

Apprenticeships are VITAL

This is Danny at Poeton's, in his second year of a three year apprenticeship. He knows how lucky he is to have this chance and is making the most of it. Over a thousand of his contemporaries here don't have a job, or training or any education. That is bad news for the city; and we need the Conservative commitment to have many more REAL apprenticeships, not 6 month apprenticeships, which take people off the NEET statistics but are too short for most businesses.

A critical role for the Gloucestershire Training Group (GTG)

Here's GTG tutor Trevor showing me some of student Richard's engineering work, which should play a critical role in firming up support for the engineering and related industries in Gloucester and the county. GTG has not been given the support it should have been, and its discipline and quality of work is under appreciated. That will change if I become MP.

Sunday parking charges on hold

The abrupt introduction of on street parking charges on Sundays by the county council was, as I told them, out of order. Officers had acted without a proper consultation. Churches were dismayed. The county cabinet members agreed with Pam Tracy and I that new charges would be suspended until further notice and a full consultation would take place in the summer. The church wardens at Christ Church and Pam and I (above) will all have our say in due course. This was achieved, again, by talking: not by angry press releases. One way to be a politician is to focus on the press release and the photo: the other is to focus on getting the result.

Javid and the strength of volunteering

I visited the Food Bank the other day, yet another great Gloucester story of volunteers doing their bit to make life in our city slightly easier for those going through hard times. One of the volunteers is Javid (above), who has been helped in hard times himself by Emmaeus. Now, in turn, he helps those less fortunate, with great enthhusiasm. We must never forget the power, and value, of volunteering and helping people back into normal life after some great set back. Javid has been there, done that and is doing his bit, setting a great example.

End Polio Now

I put volunteering into practice with Rotary colleagues by rattling buckets for our End Polio Now campaign on a freezing day in Kings Walk. People were generous and several who gave had parents who suffered from polio. It's extinct now in the UK, but not in India - and this is a good cause: imagine wiping this disease out completely.

Shadow Chief Secretary visits Tommy Rich's

As the son and brother of teachers, education is 'always on my mind'. I brought David Cameron to Barnwood Park to launch his campaign at the beginning of this year: Michael Gove has taken a close interest in the proposed new Academy - and last week I took Philip Hammond to Tommy's, where 44 A Level economics pupils first discussed with me Gloucestershire's economic issues and then listened to the Shadow Chief Secretary (effectively Deputy Chancellor) outline what he sees as our key national economic issues, and what we would do to solve them. The students then asked questions. This was a good session and Philip left impressed by the level of questioning and understanding (which also reflects the quality of teaching). I believe that a decent basic grasp of economics is critical for any MP, and sadly today there are too many MPs without that. These A level students on the other hand look set for another round of good results.

Lent courses in the Cathedral

The Cathedral Lent course of guest speakers has started, brilliantly, with Jonathon Porritt before a packed audience. There are three other good speakers coming up. 7.30 on Thursdays in the Chapter House. Do come..

This photo tho is of Eileen Griffiths, daughter of Will (FW) Harvey, the best Gloucesershire poet of the First World War other than his friend Ivor Gurney, after a superb evening talk by Will Harvey's biographer Anthony Boden at the lovely St Peter's Minsterworth. Look Harvey up, read 'In time of trouble I turn to ducks...' and you won't forget him. He has a poem in Shire Hall reception too, if you know where to look.

Mud bath

Gloucester v Sale: what a game! It is now over three years since I last saw Gloucester lose at Kingsholm. By happy chance I've been at the games where they've done well. Yesterday they were quite brilliant even in what loooked like a giant mud wrestling contest. Gloucester is on the up..

Sunday 14 February

I wrote an article on my first week working full time on my campaign, after giving up my day job, and here's a link to it:

http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/gloucestershireheadlines/Tory-hopeful-enters-political-arena-time/article-1813851-detail/article.html

It covers a day with the CAB, two days in Quedgeley including a walk with the police around Kingsway and an evening with St John Ambulance Cadets, an evening with the about to come NATO Army Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC).

Later I had a discussion with FSB committee members to see their enthusiasm for my call for a Gloucester Day at the Imjin Barracks - and the enthusiastic support from them, Marketing Gloucester, hotels, several churches and charities is encouraging. The 500 families arriving this autumn is a real opportunity for both the city and the new residents at the ARRC.

Meeting with the Quedgeley Parish Council     Repaired bike at Mitchells in Barton St

18 months after I bought a new bike from Mitchells, I had to take it for some TLC and a replacement ball bearing. Of course there are plenty of big shops who can sell you bikes. But not many who will repair it for you later. Andy, who owns and runs the shop, now has two young assistants who have learnt a lot since I first met them. They both know their stuff and are great with customers. There aren't many small businesses which offer real on the job apprenticeships - this one does. Good news.

Less good news during the last ten days:

• No-one in the Chilcott enquiry even tries to defend the claim in the dodgy war on Iraq dossier that Saddam Hussein had 'beyond all doubt' got weapons of mass destruction.
• Evidence to suggest we were committed to war for regime change long before the Cabinet discussed WMD anyway
• Evidence from former Labour ministers that it was Gordon Brown who in 2004 cancelled the £1.2 billion helicopter order that might well have prevented some of the casualties in Afghanistan from IEDs
• Statistics have come out that show the gap between poor and rich in Britain hasn't been so great for at least 3 generations
• National debt as a % of GDP is double what it was when Dennis Healey had to go to the IMF for help in the 70s
• Our budget deficit is the worst in the developed world, and if our bond rating is lowered as a result we would have to pay even more to service our debt (and so reduce the amount for spending on services)
• Local Labour MPs continue to believe that their government can carry on stacking up debts of £300 million a day and it's no problem. Residents ask me if they have any idea of economic reality. Somehow it's not a surprise that the Labour rep in Gloucester has difficulties with 'accounting adjustments' (ie he was the only MP in the county who was ordered to pay back money)
• Hilary Benn, Labour Secretary of State for the Environment, told the Gloucester Labour MP that the county council was doing the right thing on residual waste and that waste to energy plants (ie incineration) was a lot better than land refill. I've been asking Parmjit Dhanda for two years to tell us his solution for residual waste: he never answers because he hasn't got one. Gloucester has been treated as if we were a bunch of idiots by this MP on the issue of residual waste, and now his own boss has confirmed that all his huffing and puffing is just (sorry about the pun) pure hot air..

On the doorstep I hear time and time again that this government has deserted the working man. You save a bit, but your neighbour who saved nothing is better off on pensions credit. You work, but your neighbour on benefits is better off. You live together, but the couple who pretend they're separate get more benefits. And so on. Everything I was brought up to believe in - work hard, save for retirement, take responsibility for your life and don't whinge: benefits are there only for the very weak or genuinely disabled - all that has been undermined by this interfering government that encourages you to do less (even clear the ice from your own pavement) and just live on the state payroll. Well we've seen the result of that and it's a disaster because sooner or later - as someone once said - they run out of our money.

But it doesn't have to be like this. Britain doen't have to slide down every league table. We can rise again and play well: look at how Gloucester yesterday demolished the Harlequins. But we won't get anywhere with the same squad and the same tactics under Gordon Brown's leadership.

And while the government and its reps boast about their 'investment' (of our money), we know locally about the wasted thousands that disappeared in the Matson Neighbourhood Project and other spending mishaps. We can see Ermin House closing, know the pressures on the University of Gloucestershire even to survive, have seen the RDA cuts and the squeeze on funding for councils.

I always try to be positive. So let me finish by saying how inspiring the St John Ambulance cadets were. They win county prizes, they get to Buckingham Palace - and never forget they're trained to save lives (and much more besides). One is going to an army scholarship and another is trying for an apprenticeship with the Ambulance Service. All of them will do well - because they get good training and encouragement (from a voluntary organisation with no government funding), work hard and have fun. And for me that's what life should be all about.

I will keep spreading that message, and if elected will work for a new government to do everything possible to support it.

Sunday 7 February

Sorry for the slight gap since the last posting!

For the first time in thirty years I no longer have a paid job. I gave up running a business that manages investments for pensions and charities in order to campaign full time in Gloucester. I'd been 17 years with a very good employer, together through good and bad times. On the last day when my colleagues gave me some wonderful farewell presents it was rather emotional. There is no plan B and an ancestor's lines explain why:

He either fears his fate

Or his deserts are small

Who dares not put unto the touch

To win or lose it all

Helping to look after the investments of many thousands of pensioners was a good cause. But I leave for an even better one - to play a small part in turning Britain round, and to help Gloucester get through the recession and a record number of young unemployed.

Since then I've been rushing around and will write some of this up soon.

Sunday 24 January

He may not look the happiest man in this photo, but Brian Jones is this year's very deserving Gloucester's Citizen of the Year. Honoured last week with a civic dinner, Brian has worked to improve things for the homeless for a long, long time. I met him in the Vaughan Centre three years ago and it is quite true that anyone aspiring for public office should spend time there or at the night hostel. You can read about the world of the homeless in Dennis Apperly's Wasteland (available in The Citizen's shop). It's tough and it's not far off the mark. A caring society does and should care: keep at it Brian.

Wednesday 20th January

Thought I had to show you this photo of meeting Mini the Jack Russell on her doorstep. She is rather sweet, but too young to vote...

On the right hand side I'm congratulating my Man of the Match v Biarritz, Nicky Robinson. He was here, there and everywhere in an inspired Gloucester performance. Some people know that I haven't seen us lose at Kinghsolm since the winter of 2006 - and not just because I haven't seen all the games! Long may it last, and anyone who missed this game - well, sorry, you missed a great day.

The weather forecasters have come in for a bit of flack. But I think they have a great role: it's just not quite the one they're supposed to have. In many investment offices you have a 'reverse indicator' ie someone who always gets his calls on markets wrong.They're incredibly helpful: you just do the opposite. When they say it's time to buy gold, you know the market has peaked and you should start selling. It's the same with the weather forecasters: barbeque summer? Get out the waterproofs and head for the hills. The problem only comes when they start getting it right occasionally. Consistency is what we're looking for guys, just get it all wrong please...

Don't start me on consistency in politics. Is Labour after the core vote, the middle class vote, class warfare or just any vote? As for their candidates, I've just come from a meeting with the National Union of Teachers (NUT) in Gloucestershire where a Labour candidate (F of Dean) effectively disowned the Labour policy on education, Balls and Academies in particular. Then the Lib Dem said his party didn't like Academies but it wasn't quite clear whether he did or didn't. Both took refuge in the idea that all Gloucester's education problems were the grammar schools - the same case that the Labour/Lib Dems have taken to the electorate in twice in county council elections, and lost decisively. People don't buy it, guys and here's why.

For thirteen years we've had big government firing out directives on education, and our standards have gone down (just look at the difference between our GCSEs/A levels and Hong Kongs). The gap between rich and poor has widened, the lowest paid are worse off (net of housing costs) than they were in 1997, social mobility has dropped and we continue to drop down the world education results league. This has nothing to do with grammar schools - it's to do with bad primary school achievement nationally because children weren't taught to read using phonetics, and other fundamental mistakes: weak support for teachers facing disruptive pupils, not enough discipline and so on. I know this as the son and brother of teachers. It is time to accept this and do things differently.

I believe we need more education that's better suited to the needs of some of our young, which is vocational. Rather than pretend that we can get great results by mixing eg Tommy Rich's and Bishops College why not get better results and more opportunities for the less academic by getting better equipment and more vocational options at a bigger Academy that can afford them, and with less bureaucracy too.

What the current consultation should then flag up is concern for all the detail that's crucial: how will the boy/girl mix work? Will there be both a Muslim and C of E faith element? Where will the best site be? Will year 10 and 11 students have to physically move campus? Can they stay on two campuses while the new buildings are put up? And so on. Of course the timing was purely political, and the speed of the Balls/Badman thrust all to do with the timing of the elections, but I can see real advantages for Gloucester - if we get it right.

So I'll campaign, as I said this evening, on the key issue of improving education for all and never accepting that the results can never improve or the young can't have more opportunities. A pupil premium for the poorest to help improve their chances, and a real focus on vocational studies as well as academic options. No closures of special schools: and an end to the war on grammar schools and Barnwood Park. Let's get the classroom discipline right, the standards up and the outcomes better  - with less input from Whitehall. There has been a lof of Balls from up there, and on that I do absolutely agree with the Labour candidate.

Meanwhile last week I brought Shadow Cabinet Minister Francis Maude to meet the remarkable Hindu duet Ash Chavda and Babu Odendra, who have restored and re-opened the Picturedrome Theatre for Gloucester. If anyone believes immigrants are all spongers they need to look closely at what happens in Gloucester. Who keeps the GFC going? Eammon McGurk (family from Ireland). And now we have Ash and Babu on the performing arts side. Of course there are Gloucester born philanthropists too - Chris Gabb of Barnwood Construction for one - but I will always stick up for what outsiders have done for us here too. The whole history of Gloucester is about people moving here and making good and giving back to the city. That's what we should encourage and that's what I'm doing above, as Queen Elizabeth prepared her one man show on stage..

Sunday 9th January

It seems a long time since last Monday, when we were door knocking in cold weather but no snow. My elder son is just back from teaching in Africa and found it even more of a shock.

Compared to other parts of the county we haven't got much much snow, but it's enough to make the pavements lethal and broken wrists a real hazard. We must all keep an eye out for elderly neighbours. Meanwhile for those prevented from going back to school there is a Civic Trust photography competition with good prizes (see http://www.gloucestercivictrust.org.uk/downloads/Photography_Competition.pdf ).

We have a new resident in Brunswick Square: here he is, with creators Steve and Guy. Earlier he was more human, but then, alas, lost his head. I rather like the new version.

Others have been losing their heads too, with aggressive articles and letters, and plots to try and remove the Prime Minister. It's all a bit desperate - how you can ask the electorate to vote for a government and a Prime Minister whom only weeks before you were conspiring to get rid of, I do not know.

In weather like this it's worth remembering that 25% of our power is nuclear and much of it is supposed to be closing soon: and about 60% gas, and that we now import more than we produce from the North Sea. Plus we have lower reserves than our European nighbours. So when Gordon Brown says we have enough gas, we do: but if this cold period lasts another two weeks we will have to import at much higher prices. For almost thirteen years this government has failed to think ahead and plan for our energy future. Fiddling while Rome burns - except that it's while Britain freezes. We need to get on and build nuclear, fast. And yes, do more with alternative energy, but that won't contribute enough energy to keep the country warm in times like these..

Lastly it is really good to have received so many messages about David Cameron's visit earlier this week. Something tells me that the Prime Minister will not be visiting the constituency of one who thought he should stand down, but you never know..