Guacamoleville is the best place to check out the latest on the Hartlepool by-election. What fact that it hasn't picked up on yet is the Leeds connection of two of the current contenders for Labour's candidate. David Bowe lives in Guiseley (a far flung part of Leeds) and was previously the Yorkshire Labour MEP responsible for Leeds, while Patrick Diamond originally comes from Leeds and his parents still live in north west Leeds.

Over at the VoxPolitics blog the question is "Can we blog Labour Conference?". I'll be at conference and keen to take part and can also think of a Brighton resident who could be up for doing a local's perspective.

Tom Murphy at PR Opinions has an interesting opinion on confrence blogging and its relationship to journalism.

The lack of blogs recently is simply a reflection of the fact that not so much happens in August, and also that I've been very busy with a new business venture. So this is a multi-purpose blog to bring you up to speed on what I've been up to recently as a councillor:

Today I had a half day meeting to discuss some of the priorities for the new inner south area management committee. No great surprises as members were united in agreeing that young people and community safety were our number one priorities, swiftly followed by what is know as 'Streetscene' which is how filthy the streets are (I wish I could say how clean, but we haven't got there yet!)

Last week I had a ward meeting with my Geoff Driver and Judith Blake, the other two councillors in Middleton Park. It was good and we've now worked out a rota to ensure that at least one of the three of us attends anything relevant in the ward. If we didn't do this you would end up with some events/meetings attended by all three of us and some with none at all. Note that this is only things we know about. We are all keen to attend even more but YOU NEED TO TELL US WHAT IS HAPPENING. If you haven't seen any of the councillors at one of your meetings recently it is almost certainly because you haven't invited us - because we do want to attend.

On 10 August we had a very good meeting of the Middleton/Belle Isle Forum to make recommendations on SRB5 grants (Single Regeneration Budget, a pot of money from central government to help deprived areas like Middleton Park ward). I'll be posting more about where we've decided to invest but most of it's in community safety and young people related areas.

I've also had a couple of good meetings with members of the Westwood Community Association and we are now progressing several ideas.

Apart from that it's just been the usual round of case work which after a massive peak earlier this year has started to reduce again to more manageable levels.

And coming up I've got a meeting of the Friends of Middleton Park tomorrow night. Also we currently have the inspectors in at Leeds South Homes (where I'm a board director). I know I'm scheduled to meet them next week but I'm sure that other things could come up in the meantime.

My parents moved house recently which means that I've suddenly had to make room for all my student memories that I've kept in their attic for the last 15 years. Amongst them was a bag of papers from NUS Conference in Blackpool 1988 (I think, could have been '87). And I came across Lembit Opik's first bid to be the President - in this case of the NUS, rather than the Liberal Democrats. So here for your amusement are the campaign papers Lembit probably wishes never reappeared. 

To see larger versions click here for the front page and here for the back page.

We had a good meeting of the Friends of Middleton Park last night. We met at the ranger centre in the park (probably the last time we'll be able to do that this year as the darker nights begin to draw in).

We had lively discussions about the cottages, the proposed skatepark and the need to have more events in the park. We've set up a group specifically to look at organising a range of events for next summer. I'll blog more about the cottages soon, but don't want to do it yet as I know some local journalists read this blog and I need time to work on some ideas before I want it to hit the press.

As an aside the park was again troubled by motorbikes, although I'm very pleased to report that the Parkswatch ranger turned up with about 15 to 20 minutes of me reporting the problem. Those guys do a fantastic job.

Anyone who reads the Yorkshire Evening Post will know that historic Leeds pub Whitelocks is under threat from a brutal corporate pub group. One of the best things about going out in Leeds is the variety. I love going to the latest modern bars such as The Wardrobe and The Living Room. But I also love Whitelocks, one of the oldest and most traditional pubs in England. It's a Leeds landmark and one of the first places I want to show visitors to the city.

Now the mean-spirited Spirit Group want to change Whitelocks to appeal to two imaginary customers.. Whitelocks has been serving traditional Yorkshire grub since 1715 and now they want to dump the steak and kidney pies, roast beef and Yorkshire puddings in favour of nachos and pasta. I like nachos and pasta, but not in Whitelocks. That's where I go for my Yorkshire pudding and onion gravy. Read more about it here.

Please sign the online petition against the changes.

Some of those who have already signed include YEP journalist Peter Lazonby, award-winning beer writer Barrie Pepper, city centre night club owner Ed Mason and 80s kids TV favourite Sir Jimmy Saville (assuming it's genuine!):

"Now then, now then. The Duchess and I spent many a splendid evening in the place, and I for one would be most unhappy to see it change. There are blessed few things in Leeds for us older people as it is. And yes, it's really me." Sir James Saville.