Small respite for the taxpayers of Greenwich as last night's Council meeting voted to freeze Council tax bills. My Conservative colleagues supported the Labour budget on the grounds that it's a welcome change for Comrade Roberts and his mob not to be putting bills up. Not before we'd had a go at going one better, though.

Our Group first tabled amendments that would have actually cut tax whilst funding more police by reallocating money from a couple of Labour's half-baked schemes . These were voted down by Labour, so we were left with the zero increase as the least worse alternative. In the debate we were treated to Councillors on the ruling group at their partisan worst, blaming Boris Johnson for all the world's ills and saying only he had responsibility for police. Odd then, that the Dear Leader was posing on the front of last week's Greenwich Time propaganda sheet with the Borough Police Commander claiming credit for the new violent crime unit. One Labour Councillor even said our proposal for more police was right, but 'now is not the time for this Council to pay for it'. Funny they didn't think that way when they funded extra police teams a few years ago when Ken was in City Hall.

It's increasingly clear their strategy is to pursue a political campaign against Boris Johnson's Maxoralty regardless of the effect on the people of Greenwich. Appalling. Boris is of course also freezing his portion of Council tax whilst safeguarding police numbers.

Political unity through personal tragedy

I was extremely saddened by the news this morning of the death of David and Samantha Cameron's young son Ivan. There is little anyone can say to ease the pain of such a loss, but the outpouring of sympathy from all quarters will, one hopes, be of some comfort to the family.

The decision to cancel Prime Minister's Questions and replace it with short statements of condolence fitted the mood of the House, and Gordon Brown deserves great credit for suggesting it to the Speaker. Mr Brown's tribute was very moving, coming from someone who has himself known the tragedy of losing a child. He and his wife Sarah lost their newborn baby daughter in 2002, and he clearly spoke from the heart when he said: 'The death of a child is a loss no parent should have to bear'.

David and Samantha have nominated Mencap as one of the suggested charities for donations in memory of Ivan. I've just donated online, and you can do so here.

Is our children learnin'?*

During last night's Children and Young People's Scrutiny Panel, we were given a presentation on Greenwich's school results. The picture remains dismal, with far too many young people still being failed by our system. But as ever, we were shown the 'good news' of steady improvement.

Well, it's true there has been some improvement, but even a dead cat bounces. One stat, which I'm sure the Council's propaganda machine will be churning out repeatedly in the coming months, is that in 2007 there were four schools which fell below the dreadful standard of fewer than 30 per cent of pupils getting 5 good GCSE passes, whereas last year there was just one such school.

But I was a little suspicious. Last year my colleagues and I attacked a Council initiative called the "X Factor" which targetted resources on pupils on the borderline of getting the key standard of five good passes. The objective was clear - to boost Greenwich's standing in the league tables. The problem with the approach is that it is at best misleading, and at worst hugely dishonest and unfair. By pushing a few pupils over the borderline, the results are inflated, whilst not changing the basic fact that nearly three quarters of pupils in those schools are being failed. What about this majority? The real danger is that the falsely contrived 'improvement' dilutes the focus and leads to dangerous complacency, whilst leaving the underlying problems unchanged.

So I asked - was this seeming improvement likely to be linked to the targetted focus on borderline pupils? Oh yes, came the proud reply, initiatives like the "X Factor" have worked a treat (I paraphrase, but not much). Dear oh dear. Until we focus on the radical change needed to improve standards, rather than masaging the figures, more and more Greenwich children will be failed.

*With apologies to ex-President Bush

My limited sympathy for Jacqui Smith

The Home Secretary has rightly faced a barrage of criticism for her decision to claim over 100,000 pounds for her large 'second home' in her constituency whilst contending that her sister's spare room is her main residence (the above is from the Guardian, so it must be bad). I have a tiny drop of sympathy for her, but not much. I also have a second home: My partner works in Portsmouth, and we have a flat together there. Meanwhile, I rent a small place in London. If you asked me which is my main residence, I would say London, which is where I work, study, and where I am a Councillor. I spend most of my time there, only going to Portsmouth for a few days at a time. But if you looked at my poky little room here and compared it with the comfortable sea-side flat, you might think it's the other way around. So appearances can be deceptive. The difference of course, is that I am not claiming public money for my second home (or my first for that matter). It's a personal decision because of our respective working commitments. The argument for MPs receiving help with the added cost is that they have to have a constituency home and a London pad. Fine, but the rules should be consistent. Instead of asking MPs to make a subjective judgement- which is open to abuse- the rules should fix a sum as the maximum contribution towards a London home, and if Ms Smith wants to continue living with her sister, she would save the taxpayer money.

ThorpeWatch- the wanderer returns! Breaking News: As regular readers of this Blog and the local press will know, the people of Shooters Hill ward have been under-represented by a third for the last year, as one of their duly elected Councillors, Danny Thorpe, disappeared off to Australia. Cllr. Thorpe had wanted to resign his seat, but was asked not to by the Council's Dear Leader, Comrade Chris Roberts.

Speculation was rife about his return this month, as the rules say any Councillor who doesn't attend a meeting in six months forfeits their seat. Six months ago Labour contrived a Council meeting in September, when Council is normally in recess, and paid for their absentee colleague to fly back for it. The next deadline is mid-March, so it was expected he would magically appear for Council next week.

I can now exclusively reveal he is indeed back. Earlier this afternoon I spotted him skulking around the Town Hall (I'm surprised he found it). There is a meeting of the Children and Young People's Scrutiny Panel later this evening - will he show his face? Watch this space.

UPDATE, 9.10pm: Well, Cllr. Thorpe was indeed present tonight at the Committee. After one presentation on child protection, he asked "have there been any Serious Case Reviews in the last year?". Well, if you'd been on the same side of the planet as your constituents, Danny, maybe you'd know.

Labour's rubbish policy U-Turn

An interesting meeting tonight at the Town Hall (a sentence you don't often hear). In evidence to a scrutiny panel, it was revealed that the Labour Cabinet last night performed a U-turn on rubbish collection services in the Borough. The controversial system, introduced last year, saw some types of rubbish being collected weekly, whilst others would be allowed to fester for two weeks.

Now it seems the Cabinet have proposed moving back to weekly collection of all rubbish, after 'problems' with a 'significant minority' of residents over the existing system. It always seemed to me that whatever the merits of having a multitude of different-coloured lids on bins, leaving any of them uncollected for a fortnight was never going to go down well. In my mind, most people look to their Council for two main things - schools and bins. We all know Greenwich is a disaster on the first, and messing around with the second looked seriously unwise.

Restoring a weekly collection is a welcome U-turn, but there are still problems. Some houses don't have the right bins, whilst others have three huge ones blocking their pavement and never getting filled. Other Boroughs are having similar issues, with some Councils resorting to fining people who fail to seperate out their waste correctly. I'm glad Greenwich isn't yet contemplating that. But whatever other weighty issues are debated in local government over the coming years, I have a feeling we'll be talking rubbish for some time.

Walking on broken glass...

I don't often read The Sun, I must confess, but having just picked t a copy on the train, this story caught my eye. A bonkers council has been found to have used broken glass to grit its roads during the recent cold snap. What sort of mad, crazy place would... ah, it's our own dear Greenwich. A quick internet search shows the local paper is onto the story too (link to follow) and also has news that our Labour Council leader has been accused of misleading people over whether roads from bus depots had been cleared. I'd actually been quite complimentary about the Council's performance in keeping roads clear of snow, but I should have known better. When we were told road conditions were hazardous, I doubt many drivers would have interpretted that as meaning their taxes were being spent flinging shards of glass under their wheels. In true tabloid style, you couldn't make it up...

Greenwich prepares for Change?

I was interested to see this eye-catching paragraph in the minutes of a recent Council committee, which I received today:

I hope someone has told Cllr. John Fahy, the Labour Cabinet Member for Culture and Olympics, that Council officials have written him out of a job already. Of course, as Shadow Cabinet Member for Culture and Olympics, I very much hope to replace him following next year's Borough Elections, and I must admit to liking this vision of the future, even if it is a typo. But let's not get ahead of ourselves!

That aside, the substance of the minutes was my verbal update to the Committee on the scrunity review I am chairing on raising the profile and making better use of our great heritage in the Borough. I've expressed my strong views on the subject on this blog before, and it's satisfying to be able now to lead a project to look into the issue further. It's a non-partisan issue - or at least it should be - and I'm not looking to score points by criticising the Labour administration for the sake of it. In fact I recently had a very productive discussion with Cllr Fahy about plans to commemorate the 500th Anniversary of Henry VIII's accession, which occurs this year. Last year I was concerned at the administration's seeming lack of enthusiasm for marking this event, but I'm pleased to see they are now running with it. I hope they take a similarly constructive view of my heritage review's report, when it is published. Watch this space.

25 Random things about me

This seems to be an irresistable trend amongst bloggers at the moment - a mixture of trivia and quirky claims to fame which are amusing, if not wholly enlightening. So for once I'm going to join the crowd and tell you 25 random things about me:

1. My first job was phone canvassing for a double glazing company when I was 16. I'm pleased to say I was very bad at it.
2. My university nickname was "Norman".
3. I once went ice-skating with Boris Johnson and David Willetts. It was as surreal as it sounds.
4. Despite passing my driving test first time, I have never owned a car, and haven't driven one for over 10 years.
5. John Profumo was at my university graduation - he was receiving an honorary fellowship for his charity work.
6. My favourite German word is Schwarzwälderkirschtorte.
7. As a child I won two Blue Peter badges (which isn't supposed to happen).
8. I love ships, and am very proud of my collection of memorabilia from the Royal Yacht Britannia.
9. I'm not good at celebrity parties - I once spilt red wine over Tracey Emin's shoes, whilst on another occasion Boy George knocked a drink over me.
10. In 2000 I inadvertently became a prototype blogger, writing a weekly political gossip column for a website run by a certain Iain Dale...
11. I was mugged at knifepoint three times in a year when I was a student.
12. I have never been able to click my fingers.
13. My best friend is 16 hours 20 minutes older than me, and was born in the same hospital.
14. I told Bill Clinton he was my second favourite President, after Jed Bartlett.
15. My Grandmother had a large railway carriage in her garden, which my grandfather used as his workshop.
16. My office when I was a student union officer was the inspiration for 'The Office' - Ricky Gervais had been Entertainment manager a few years before, and the pilot episode was recorded there.
17. I played the violin - badly - until the age of 12.
18. When I lived in Wood Green, a flat above the chemist at the end of my street was raided by Anti-terrorism police claiming to have found evidence of a plot to manufacture deadly Ricin poison there and kill thousands of Londoners. The other neighbours were charming, though.
19. I once appeared on stage in blue eyeshadow and a Kaftan as 'Oberon, King of the Fairies', in a youth theatre's hippy version of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
20. At least five of my friends have published books, and I'm very envious. I did however write a chapter in A Blue Tommorrow in 2001, alongside ones by Michael Gove and Steve Hilton.
21. I am afraid of heights and hate flying.
22. The first word I learnt to say was "teddy".
23. I spent the Queen's Golden Jubilee at a street party with Joanna Lumley.
24. I once rode around London in a stretch limo dressed as a Vice-Chancellor, drinking champagne and throwing peanuts at striking lecturers. It was a publicity stunt for the university lecturer's union the AUT.
25. If my tea isn't stirred clockwise I can't drink it until it is.

Decisions are made by those who show up

A report this week has suggested the Communities Secretary Hazel Blears is considering proposals to allow Councillors to vote from the pub instead of attending Council meetings.

The suggestion is apparently being made "to help overcome the barriers of time, circumstance and distance that might discourage members from participating in meetings".

A laudable enough aim, perhaps, but the idea is misguided. As councillors, we are elected to represent our constituents on the Council. That means, amongst other things, attending Council meetings and committees - a time commitment for which we are paid an allowance. If we can't make the necessary commitment, we should not stand for office.

This of course has a particular resonance in Greenwich, where Labour Councillor Danny Thorpe remains a Councillor for Shooters Hill ward, despite living on the other side of the world. He has been in Australia for the last year, and has attended just one meeting - a cynically organised Council meeting in September contrived to allow him to fly back and avoid disqualification. Council Leader Chris Roberts has angrily defended his protege, saying that his ward colleagues are covering his work, and that as Thorpe is not claiming his allowance, there is no case to answer.

What arrogant rubbish. It's not about the money - it's about whether a Councillor can do their duty of representing their electors. Self-evidently, you can't do that from a different hemisphere of the planet. The danger of the Blears plan is that it would legitimise such behaviour.

For backbenchers like me, it is accepted that our role is part-time, so balancing work commitments can be an issue. In particular, it is frustrating when Council events or meetings are scheduled in the daytime or early evening, which makes it difficult or impossible for those with full-time jobs to attend. But most meetings are held in the evenings, which also helps members of the public who want to attend.

As Danny Thorpe's example has illustrated, the only firm attendance requirement is that a Councillor who fails to attend meetings for six months is disqualified. Beyond that, it is down to Councillors' own conscience (and the pressure of their Whips) how many meetings they attend. Some are dilligent and never miss a single one, whilst others rarely show their faces. Most are somewhere in between.

That is as it should be. Of course there are times when you have to stay late at work or have family commitments. And representing your ward doesn't begin and end at the Town Hall - many members will often prioritise a residents' meeting or community function over a routine committee at the Town Hall. It is a balancing act, but however you manage it, at some point you have to represent the views of your community within the Council, and that means meetings. I have personally made it a rule that whatever other meetings I may miss (and I'm certainly not perfect), I prioritise the monthly Full Council meetings, and have not missed a single one since I was elected in 2005.

Of course it would be easier if I could stay at home or vote from the pub, but that is not what I was elected to do. I was elected to speak up for my constituents, and give them a voice in the Council Chamber. If that duty becomes too much, the only honourable thing to do is to resign. That is what Cllr. Thorpe should have done (despite Chris Roberts instructing him not to). Inconvenient or not, decisions are made by those who show up.