Once again to the community centre on the estate for an hour. About 70% of the ward has been leafletted. I’ve agreed to write a leaflet specifically for this estate. Dog mess, water pressure and graffitti are the big issues. There are supposed to be problems with drugs and prostitution about 30 yards from my front door but no one ever invites me to the fun stuff so I don’t know how much is exaggeration and wishful thinking.

The mad people were well represented. An older man turned up dressed to the nines convinced that comrade Galloway was going to be there. To kill the time he started listing random political figures but seemed to have a particular thing about Anthony Eden and Hugh Gaitskell. We think he’s planning to vote Respect having tried the Tories and Lib Dems. The way he kept asking when George would arrive was like a teenage boy expecting the Sugarbabes to walk in . For some reason the three ward candidates don’t have the same star quality for him. Still I know who I prefer. There was another mad person who did a more convincing impersonation of sensible but didn’t quite pull it off.

A local iman turned up and spoke about traffic, youth provision and the absence of local Muslim prayer facilities. We agreed to support this demand. To follow up on it I spoke to the woman who runs the community centre who gave a very unconvincing explanation of why it could not be used for Friday prayers which included everyone from the Baptists to the BNP. The real reason may be that this had a reputation as a “rights for whites” area. In fact the chair of the residents’ association has had a St George’s Cross flag flying in his garden for as long as I’ve lived here.

It seems Labour have been out and about and are sounding cocky. I think we’ll have to do some door knocking this weekend.