I’m just from a weeks bucket and spade holiday with my family. We thought rather than Dorset, our regular haunt for such holidays, we’d try Broadstaris on the Isle of Thanet. Great place. Lots to do with yound kids. WHAT AMAZING AMOUNTS OF GRAFFITI AND LITTER. Being a councillor in Southwark I regularly report graffiti. Southwark Council removes it within one working day with the property owners permission. In Broadstairs the graffiti just doesn’t shift. All week the same graffiti stayed – and a lot more than we’re used to these days in Southwark. They also have a litter problem. Again Southwark Council is the 3rd cleanest borough in London and it really showed in comparison with this seaside holiday towns litter problem.

So I relaxed but not as much as I wanted to.

East Dulwich station is a rather charming if very run down station. It is amazingly busy and the nearly all ramped access has proved a god send when my young children travelled by prams everywhere. Over two years ago I met the rail operating company to ask about the five remaining steps being ramped over but such a ramp would have a slope greater than 1 in 20 – which I was told generally isn’t allowed due to the Disability Discrimination Act. I also wanted fences changed to make the prolific littering easier to manage.

A fortnight ago I met Network Rail and the TOC to see if they could consider a new ramp or lift and stairs to make the station fully accessible. They explained that various retaining walls have been moving signigicantly. That the very nice large tree has had to be lopped as it was causing the retaining wall problems.

The outcome. Network Rail are going to consider some options of what may or may not be possible. Lifts are expensive to maintain. A ramp would need to be very very long indeed. 

The governments elimination of the starting 10% tax level has made over five million people in the UK poorer. Many of them pensioners who spent a lifetime toiling in public services towards occupational pension schemes that accrued at the rate of 1/80 per annum.

Contrast this with the super rich and non doms paying little or no tax. The OECD has stated that the UK is now a tax haven for such people.

The gap between the richest and poorest has never been bigger in our history. With increasing competition for global resources prices are accelerating. The poorest comparative poverty will worsen with growing fuel poverty, etc.

How has a Labour government created such an obscene pickle?

While striding around East Dulwich canvassing and delivering London election leaflets I was told that Ken Livingstone had written a letter to some residents casting doubt on whether Boris Johnson could be trusted with the Cross London rail link and how Boris is bound to overspend.

This happened just at the right time when I was flagging and needed a good laugh.

Now I’m no fan of Boris. But do you remember when London was awarded the London 2012 olpympics. Ken and Tessa Jowell were clearly seen telling everyone it would ‘only’ cost £1.6bn. to put this Olympic jamboree on. Since then the costs have escalated to over £9bn. A parliatenemntary committee has lambasted how poorly run the bid was in terms of costs. They forgot it would costs money for security, VAT, etc. The chairperson of the Olympic Delivery body resigned at the lack of control he had compared to politicians second guessing him and has said he thinks it will cost £20bn.

So for Ken to suggest Boris is incompetent at keeping to budgets is quite preposterous.

Fortunately for me, as a Lib Dem, our candidate Brian Paddick is clearly the best candidate.