Check out this for an example of a neat, dirty tricks (and distinctly unethical) PR technique.

(X-posted from my PR Guru blog.)

With a flourish of pre-Christmas cheer the Labour government has made several national policy announcements that herald good tidings for the people of Middleton and Belle Isle.

First of all is Gordon Brown's pledge to spend more money on childcare. The lack of affordable childcare provision is one of the biggest factors in preventing some of my most deserving constituents from lifting themselves out of poverty.

Then there is the news that teams of loan shark hunters are to stalk the loan sharks that prey on the poorest families on our large council estates. Sadly it's only a £2m trial in Birmingham and Glasgow, but hopefully it will prove successful enough to roll out to Leeds.

David Aaronovitch has a good analysis of the top-up fee debate.

Personally I'm a very unwilling supporter of the idea as I can't see another realistic way of increasing the number of student places and giving working class kids an opportunity to benefit from a university education.

But I think the devil is in the detail and it is right to have a debate about exactly what we mean by top-up fees. It also needs to be 'sold' in a much better way. The whole idea of talking about loans is wrong and will act as a major disincentive for many working class young people worried about the idea of such a large debt. Instead we should be talking about encouraging people to invest in their future careers. People are quite happy to take on debts of £40,000 to £100,000+ that take 25 years to pay off. But these are called mortgages and are for investing in a home. We should be thinking of career mortgages that provide long-term payback in terms of more satisfying careers and/or higher future earnings.

Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Apologies for the lack of blogging recently. It's simply that I've been rather busy with council work, my business and Christmas preparations to contend with.

Yesterday I attended an extremely long Neighbourhoods and Housing scrutiny board meeting. Two very interesting topics up for scrutiny.

The first was problems with how quickly (or not) applications to buy council houses are processed. At the moment in Leeds it's taking on average about a year, when the legal guideline should be 20 weeks.  Now what ever your position is on 'right to buy' (the divisions are by no means party political anymore - there are Tories who are opposed and Labour members who are advocates) it is unacceptable that tenants are messed around for this length of time.

The second was neighbourhood wardens and specifically proposals to change some of the wardens into Police Community Support Officers. Two issues here. First of all council officers have handled the whole proposal very clumsily. Once again we've been shot in the foot through failure to communicate professionally. This is something I am pursuing as the Lead Member for Communications. Secondly the opposition (especially the Lib Dems) are deliberately causing mischief and stirring up trouble for party political gain. Instead of focussing on the troubled communities that this will help they are using it as an excuse for pointless political ping pong.

Hunslet and Middleton Community Involvement Team has backed plans which will see New Deal trainees working to improve the local environment and assist the elderly and disabled over the next 16 months.

The CIT has agreed to give £5,000 funding to the project, which will see the trainees becoming part of an Environment Task Team which will clean rubbish from targeted communal areas in Middleton, Belle Isle and parts of Hunslet.

The team will also tidy gardens of elderly and disabled residents, as well as clearing gardens and pathways of empty properties. They will take part in monthly community clean-ups, as well as carrying out basic improvements to properties such as painting and decorating.

Managed by Leeds South Homes, the project will see the unemployed New Deal trainees recruited and given training to also promote ideas to residents to improve the environment within the area.

Board director of Leeds South Homes Councillor Stuart Bruce (Labour, Middleton) said: “This is a great idea which will be of major benefit to the whole community. Not only will the environment look better, it also will help the New Deal trainees to learn new skills at the same time which could lead to them finding long-term jobs and careers.

“Helping the more vulnerable members of the community is also a wonderful idea, and by promoting the importance of the environment to residents and especially youngsters it will hopefully make a major difference in these areas for the future.”