I forgot to mention that Grant Shapps did indeed win in Welwyn Hatfield, and from what I can tell so far he seems to be a far better (less worse) MP than Melanie Johnson.
The Free Party (All Style, No Substance) are being represented in two seats at this election - by Gene Dobbs in Kemptown, Brighton and by Bob Dobbs in Hove and Portslade.
Only three days to go until the election. I have been asked by someone from the Lib Dems to help out at a polling station on Thursday. I think Grant Shapps (Conervative) will probably win in my constituency which would be good in that I want to see our current Blairite MP Melanie Johnson ousted. It would also be good if it helped reduce or eliminate Labour's majority. But it would be very bad if it helped give the Tories a majority. Anyway, I could not bring myself to vote Tory even if it made sense tactically. If there was decent independent candidate I would vote for them but as it is my only real choice seems to be to vote Lib Dem or (taking the advice of the Edible Ballot Society) not at all.
Meanwhile, the wife of the latest British soldier to be killed in Iraq has blamed Tony Blair for his death.
The attorney general cast doubt on the legality of the war against Iraq without a second UN resolution, a leaked document says.
Every Labour and Conservative candidate should be held to account by voters over the Iraq war, Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy has argued.
This election, vote for an MP who thinks like you do. One who doesn't think they should organise the world using bombs, tanks, depleted uranium, nerve gas, cluster bombs, torture, corporate plunder, murder and mayhem in other people's countries. Find out more at www.voteagainstwar.org.uk.
The Blair Ditch Project is up and running - check out my Sedgefield page.
A group of suspected Islamists have attacked a meeting of George Galloway's Respect party in Bethnal Green and Bow. On a personal note, I was at a birthday party in a bar off Old Street at the time with a load of lawyers, and a guy I know came running in with the news. He was in the tricky position of being a Galloway campaigner but also feeling obliged to sort out legal representation for those arrested.
Tony Blair has been trying to defend his decision to support Bush's Invasion of Iraq.
Someone just told me about Who Should You Vote For? The aim of the site is to provide voters with a simple tool to see how the main parties represent their views. I took the test and it seems I should vote Liberal Democrat. My full results were Liberal Democrat (36), Green (31), UKIP (2), Labour (-13), Conservative (-21).
Martin Bell - the country's best known Independent politician - makes fighting the traditional three-party system on your own sound easy.
Here is a link to the BBC's election coverage.
I was away when the election was formally announced.
Former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, is standing against Jack Straw. Craig was forced out of office after warning the Foreign Secretary about systematic torture going on there.
Tony Blair is preparing to announce the date of the general election. The Labour government officially has until June 2006 but in recent years governments have favoured four-year terms, and it is widely anticipated that the election will be on 2005-05-05.
The only thing I am sure about is that there is no way in hell I am going to vote for anyone who supported the invasion of Iraq (such as my current MP Melanie Johnson, who is a toadying Blairite of the worst kind).
I will try to keep this page updated with general notes about the election but at the moment I am mainly interested in the Sedgefield Campaign.
I have just found out about what looks like an excellent Internet resource called The Public Whip where you can find out how any MP votes, search for votes in parliament on your subject, discover your "Dream MP"(?!) and generally find out about the murky world of Westminster. I have not had time to make use of it yet but it certainly looks useful.
The BBC has in depth coverage of Gordon Brown's pre-election budget.
The Liberal Democrats are gathering in for what is likely to be their final conference before a general election. Meanwhile, voters are being urged to back the Green Party if they want to see a "radical alternative" to Westminster politics.
Students can decide the fate of MPs in some seats at the next election, Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy has claimed.
www.zenatode.org.uk Ian Gregory 2010