It's party time in Mill Hil Broadway !

It's Saturday morning. It's 11am. It's Mill Hill Broadway. It's party time !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woo Hoo I hear you shout. Sadly, I don't mean that it's time to have a party. No, don't all rush down with your bottles of champagne and your shortest mini skirts. I mean that all of the political parties are out in force. Now I have two perspectives on this. One as a blogger documenting the life and times of Mill Hill and one as a Liberal Democrat candidate for Council. So who did we have?

Well first up you had the A Team. The Mill Hill Lib Dems. in the picture are the three candidates for Mill Hill, Jeremy Davies, my good self and Kim Checchetto. Also present is Barnet Lib Dem Leader Jack Cohen and his good lady Ruth Cohen, who is a Lib Dem candidate in Golders Green. As you can see, we got up early and nabbed the best spot. I think it's fair to say we had the best stall, with balloons and pictures of Mill Hill, the Manifesto, a whole selection of leaflets and even "I agree with Nick" badges for sale. For us it felt as near to a carnival atmosphere as you are likely to get on a political party stall in Mill Hill. Even the local Conservatives were grudingly telling us we've had a good campaign and a good election so far.

Next up, outside Jennings Bookies was the Residents Association candidate for Hale. His name is Derek French. I had a chat with my Barnet Blogger hat on with Mr French. I was keen to understand why he was standing. If you click the above link, he's laid it all out pretty well. Now as there are Lib Dem candidates standing in Hale ward, I obviously want them to all get elected, but lets just say I would certainly like Mr French to come fourth in the polls behind our three candidates, if someone has to. I am a great believer in "localisation" and Mr French embodies this. He told me that before he started he had reservations about canvassing and standing on the street handing out leaflets. He tells me he's had a great reception and is warming to the task at hand. Whatever party you belong to, you should see it as a good thing that people believe in democracy enough to stand as an independent.

Finally outside Iceland we had the "B" team. The Conservatives (B is for Blue). There were four of them when I went up and asked if I could take their photo. One of them shrieked "He'll lampoon us and humiliate us, send him away" (or words to that effect). Councillor John Hart, wisely said "He'll take a picture anyway, so we might as well let him". The other two legged it out of shot, leaving candidates Suri Khatri and Councillor Hart to have their picture taken. Councillor Hart was collecting signatures to stop the development of sports facilities at Copthall. I had a peek and four people had signed  at that time (him and his three helpers possibly). I told John that he'd scored an own goal and explained why. He looked rather glum and told me "Well I didn't write it". I promised John I'd only print the picture if it was flattering (I hope he likes it). I must say I was disappointed with their stall. Given all of the lovely wonga that Lord Ashcroft has given the Conservatives and their recent sponsorship deal with a local commercial dog walking service, I fully expected neon lights and a brass band.

Anyway, I made my way back to our stall. One thing I have noticed since the debate is the number of voters under 30 who have taken an interest in politics. It seems to me that all of these are swinging towards the Lib Dems. Our backroom computer guy came down to have a chat and told me something rather technical. I asked for an explanation. He said that thousands of people had registered to vote in Barnet recently. It seems that after a decade or two of declining interest, people are waking up to the fact that if you want to make things better you have to vote. As I drove to drop my son off for Gaelic football, I tuned into LBC to listen to the Ken Livingstone show. Rather oddly David Mellor was presenting it. It seems that Ken was poorly. They had "the UK's leading pollster" in to explain what is happening. His verdict? He hadn't got a clue. He was explaining how Labour could finish with least votes and get the most seats and how the Lib Dems could get the most votes and the least seats. When I'd finished dropping my son off, I went back for the last half hour.

A man asked me how I could possibly think a hung Parliament would be a good thing or how PR could possibly be good for Great Britain. I explained what the guy UK's leading pollster had been saying and said that I thought that Democracy meant that the majority of people supported the Government. Did he really believe that a system which could deliver such a perverse result was fair?

His answer seemed to be "Yes, if it means the Conservatives are elected". If you believe our electoral system is fair and works well, please consider the following.

The majority of voters at the last election voted for parties that have had no say in the running of the country. The Country has been lead for three years by a man who was not elected by the British people. Since this man took over, the country has fallen into the biggest financial crisis the country has ever faced in peacetime.

What about at a local level. Four years ago, Brian Salinger was leading the Conservatives. Immediately after the election, which his party won, they sacked him on ideological grounds. They are on their third leader. The elected one had the shortest tenure. In this time they lost £27.4 million in Iceland, £11 million on Aerodrome Road Bridge overspend. They have had to raid the cash reserves to prevent council tax from skyrocketing in an election year. None of these policies were in the manifesto which Salinger presented to the people of Barnet.

One lady bowled up to me and announced "The Tories said you were looking rather glum". I asked "Oh, do I look rather glum". She said "Actually no, you look quite cheerful". I then asked "How did they look". She replied "Oh, they looked rather glum, now you come to mention it".  I asked her if she would be voting for us on May 6th. She announced proudly "No". I guess I must have started to look glum myself, as she then announced "because I've already sent my postal vote off for you". At this I cheered up considerably. She then asked "Why aren't labour down here today?". A question which we've all been asking ourselves.