With the election looming, I thought you might be interested in a little history.

Eight years ago, Durham City had been ruled by Labour for as long as anyone could remember. It is no longer - and some of the fatal undermining of that regime was achieved by a disgruntled cobbler. The story is worth reading at http://www.newstatesman.com/200011060014

His self-appointed “apprentice” has revived the tradition at http://cobblers2dcc.blogspot.com/ 

As with anything which is anonymous it needs to be read with a healthy scepticism, and it is not clear who is behind the site. Discerning readers of this blog, however, can no doubt be trusted with such explosive material.

You may be surprised to know that these words refer to MPs. Actually, they are also the name of a website which contains a wealth of information about what your MP has been doing and saying - or not doing and saying - as the case may be. You can find the website at http://www.theyworkforyou.com/ or click the link to go straight there.

One beauty of the site is that they forward emails to your MP from you, and then check with you later to see if you’ve had a response. In this way they can get a record of how good your MP is at replying to contacts.

Why not give it a try by urging your MP to back the private member’s Public Sector Buildings (Energy Performance) Bill. You can read my earlier post for basic information, but remember - the second reading is on Friday so your MP needs to hear from you pronto.

It’s been encouraging. A steady increase in the number of hits on the site, and then last night when I logged on to administer the site there were four comments waiting to be moderated.

I was suprised if the loose railing outside Lloyds TSB had roused so much interest, but perhaps someone was going to tell me what was causing the phenomenon.

Sadly, all four comments were offers of some dubious pharmaceuticals, probably considered suitable for a man of my age. But they did remind me to ask any readers, “who are you?”

I’d really be interested in the answer to that, and in the idea of this website being open to two way conversation. Just drop me a comment, and say if you want it to be anonymous. Let me know what has interested you, what has bored you. Let me know if yours is a one-off visit or you drop in regularly.

At the moment I don’t know if this website is any more use than the councillor’s surgery I have run each month for six months, with just one visitor in that time. So that’s why I’d really like to hear from you.

Happy New Year to all readers. I hope it is a prosperous and happy one for you.  As your councillor I have made a number of resolutions. Apart from the usual one of getting a grip on my weight (which always fails) I have made a number of political ones which I will try very hard to keep. You can help me to keep them by a mixture of encouragement and nagging, criticism and praise.

1. Put at least one new item per week on this website so that voters know more of what’s going on
2. Put out at least four Focus leaflets a year for the same reason
3. Respond quickly to any comments, queries or issues raised with me
4. Regularly demonstrate that as a Liberal Democrat I will put myself where my mouth is; fighting for hard-won freedoms and helping people to have control over their own lives
5. Treat everyone in the ward equally, regardless of political, social or religious opinions, age, sex, nationality, wealth and all the other things which can get in the way of that aim

Please help me to keep these resolutions. And please use me and this website to help the free-flow of information locally. If you think you know something that others should be made aware of let me know - though obviously you will accept that I have to exercise editorial judgement over what goes onto this site. Owen Temple