It's been an odd time for the Official Opposition recently, increasingly having to compete for airtime with the unofficial critics of the government on their own benches. Charles Clarke's attack on Tony Blair and John Reid has been particularly fascinating to watch. We now have the spectacle of the current Home Secretary trashing the leadership of his predecessor, who then attacks him back, before being told to shut up by his predecessor. With three Home Secretaries scrapping with each other in public, they must surely be at risk of being issued with ASBOs.

But in case you think Mssrs Blunkett, Clarke and Reid are not enough to be getting on with, you can now add Michael Howard to the mix. In a very interesting double-act, the last Conservative Home Secretary joined his successor David Blunkett in giving evidence to the Public Accounts committee on the relationship between ministers and civil servants. Some good anecdotes from both about their experiences in the most difficult department of state.

If you have a spare couple of hours (!) I recommend a look. You can watch the session by visiting here and selecting "this week" then 29th June and "committees".

As my intro above says, when I'm not actively engaged in opposition in Greenwich or Westminster, I continue to wallow in the inadequacies of being out of power by researching a PhD on Parliamentary Opposition. One of the fascinating (well, fascinating to a geek like me) themes I've found is the constant battles over office space for Ministers-in-Waiting. As far back as Hugh Gaitskell's time, there were complaints that the Leader of the Opposition's staff were crammed into a tiny space adjoining his office, whilst Gaitskell's own room was barely big enough to hold meetings of the Shadow Cabinet.

The unsatisfactory situation continued until in 1976 Mrs Thatcher (who else?) succeeded in taking over a larger suite of rooms behind the Speaker's Chair, which had previously been the Serjeant-at-Arms' residence. These included a new Shadow Cabinet Room in what used to be the Serjeant's dining room, which is still in use today. And the previous cramped office? It now houses the Home Secretary, John Reid.

My efforts to draw attention to the problems being faced by the Firepower museum (see previous post) have been picked up by both local newspapers this week.

The Greenwich News Shopper carries the story here, and the Mercury covers it here. Hopefully the publicity will encourage more people to seek out the museum and help boost its visitor numbers.

As I have mentioned before on this blog, I am a great supporter of the 'constructive opposition' approach, and in the last week I have been pleased to offer cross-party support on an important issue under my culture portfolio. Shortly before the Council meeting last week I discovered the Council had agreed to an emergency cash grant to the 'Firepower' museum in Woolwich, which is experiencing financial difficulties at the moment. Firepower is the national museum of the Royal Artillery regiment, who have been based in Woolwich for nearly 300 years, but are moving out next year. I was therefore rather alarmed to see that the museum seemed to be under threat.

At Council I asked the Deputy Leader for an assurance that the Council would do all it could to ensure the future of this important part of the Borough's heritage, and was pleased that he willingly agreed to do so. All too often Greenwich Council seems to disregard our rich history and heritage, so this was a welcome change. I have also spoken to the management of the museum, who are equally encouraged by the Council's stance so far.

With the regeneration of Woolwich and increased development in the old Woolwich Arsenal buildings around the museum, it should be possible for Firepower to attact enough visitors to support itself in the years ahead, but in the meantime it is right that we should offer them a helping hand. I appeared on our local radio station Time FM at the weekend to discuss the issue, and used the opportunity to urge local people to vote with their feet and visit. Have a look at the museum's website here.

A personal note for a change - Just back from my brother's wedding in Devon at the weekend (and only just recovering from it!). A lovely time, with great weather, and everyone really enjoyed it. Given that it coincided with the first England match of the World Cup, it must have seemed quite a sacrifice for any football-obsessed guests attending.

Luckily for them, the groom shared their dilemma, and had already grovelled to his bride for permission to slink off from the reception for the requisite 90 minutes. Being the lovely lady that she is, his new wife saw the funny side and consented. It made a nice story for the local paper, who were covering the wedding. See the story here.