Jane Tomlinson is a remarkable lady. I've teamed up with Colin Challen MP to go on a sponsored diet in aid of Jane's Appeal.

Our challenge is a lot less daunting but will hopefully help Jane to reach her target of £1 million. My wife Karen Marshall and several other members of Morley, Middleton and Rothwell Labour Party are also taking part. We started with a public weigh-in and the White Rose Shopping Centre.

The evidence is below. I weigh 83.4kg at the moment and I want to get down to 70kg by 29 October. Please help me to support Jane by making your pledge in the guestbook (link at left). You can then make your donation on-line at Jane's Appeal or by sending your donation to Councillor Stuart Bruce, 36 Town Street, Carlton, Wakefield, WF3 3QU. Cheques made payable to Jane's Appeal. But please don't forget to record your pledge in the guestbook, so I can track how much you've helped me to raise.

Have you noticed how certain elements of the hard left can spin the facts to suit whatever manipulation they want to promote. They want us to believe that Labour only beat the Lib Dems in Hodge Hill because George Galloway's Respect split the anti-war vote. That particular myth is given another airing on the letters page of today's Tribune. The reality was that Labour fought a good campaign (thanks to Tom Watson) and had a good candidate in Liam Byrne.

You could just as easily put forward the alternative scenario that Labour only lost in Leicester South because Respect took 3,724 votes which easily dwarfs the Lib Dem majority of 1,654.

But that's the hard left for you, never let the facts get in the way of a good argument.

Cll Andrew Brown discusses the thorny issue of full-time councillors. I'm with Andrew and probably not in favour of it. I think there is a lot to be said for having councillors who come from a whole variety of walks of life. Some who work, retired, students, full-time mothers or fathers, self-employed, male, female, black white etc. But there's the rub. It's not like that. The average councillor is still a white 57 year old male.

We need to do more to tackle this. One of the biggest problems is the need to attend meetings. Those that work don't want them during the day. Parents don't want them during the evening. The retired like mid to late morning or afternoon meetings as it gives them something to do. But they can't start too early, or too late, and of course they'll need lots of breaks for lunch and tea/coffee.

Until we crack this problem we aren't going to have more representative councils.

My own authority, Leeds, is very bad and holds nearly all of its meetings during the day, which makes it extremely difficult for the growing number of councillors who work. My personal favourite option would be either early morning or early evening with proper provision for childcare support. This would partially suit both those that work and parents with young children. I also think we need to take account of the difference between not liking a meeting time (because it is inconvenient or different to normal) and finding it difficult (because of work or childcare).