"Ooh shiny."

Got up this morning at 6am, which is quite normal for a work day. However, I wasn't going to work. Instead I was going into Liverpool. Which is not somewhere I'd normally choose to go, even though it is only 30 minutes on the train.

I was going there for a training course entitled "Confident Communication Skills for Women". This was being held as part of the LibDem Federal Spring Conference, which started today. The conference is being held at the (not 100% complete yet) Liverpool Arena and Conference Centre. It is going to be a brilliant venue once the finishing touches are applied.

I managed to get up to Hartford station with plenty of time to get a ticket, and found that even though the National Rail website had told me it would be £15.90 return it was only £11.90. The train arrived 4 minutes late, but it did arrive in Liverpool Lime Street 7 minutes early. As I didn't need to be at the Conference Centre until just before 10am, I went and collapsed in a Caffe Nero.

When I got to the CC, I was met by Vicky would had my day badge — not allowed into the building without a valid pass, and as the registration desk wasn't open until 2pm. I'm not going to go into details of the course, as I still haven't got my head round it all, and there is a lot of stuff I want to follow up on, such as "Transactional Analysis". It also gave me some good pointers into defusing the situation between myself and the MFH at work. So for that alone it was worth going.

After the course finished, I pootled off down to the exhibition, and signed up to DELGA, which is the LibDem's LGBTA. I also spent a fair old while chatting to the people on the North-west party stand.

At 17:45, it was the drinks reception, and I had a glass of wine for the first time in over 18 months. I really don't know why I bothered as I now have a stinking headache, and I didn't really like it either. Following the reception, was the party rally. This is a time for a few inspirational speeches, including one from Nick Clegg. He did mention, and make no apologies for the debacle in Westminster the other day. The general theme though was a sustained attack on the performance of Labour controlled councils.

I'm now tempted to go to the autumn conference properly, but there's a long time before that.

Alice.

Over the past few months, or at least the they've been the catalyst, I've become more despondent about the way the country is going to hell in a handbasket. However, the whole thing is reflected in the local area, and at the 'Home Watch' meeting the other night a manager from the local authority's Street Cleansing dept gave the impression "We know there is a problem in some areas, but there is no real problem in yours, with litter, etc, but while we do a bit we really can't get ourselves organised, nor staffed enough to really care". "No real problem"? Was that why there was litter blowing around in the wind outside the hall where the meeting was held? Is it why there is fast food packaging dumped in the streets, and gardens, every night and remains on them for days? Is it why the streets are covered in dog shit, even though dog owners are required to prevent their dogs fouling the streets?

Every time we've had someone from the council at the meeting, it's been the same old "it's not the responsibility of our dept, you'll need to take it up with the right dept", never has any of them said, "it may not be my depts responsibility, but I'll pass on your concerns and ensure you get a response". It all seems to be "don't know, and don't give a shit" (with an implied "and I don't live here").

These are the people that get paid by our council tax. It's time they actually got up and looked at the problems *they* are responsible for and sought the means to if not solve the problems, but at least work with the locals to try to ameliorate them by dealing with problems when they are reported. But they won't unless their political masters give them a good kick up the arse.

Because I've had enough of the crap these people come out with, I've decided to become more active in local politics, in the hope that it is possible to make a difference. It may be a foolish hope, but if we the don't try to make a difference, we will continue to be met with indifference from those that hold the reins of power. The only way I can see of doing this is from inside the system.

Alice.