Invisible Labour!

Debating at Glasgow University Student Debating Society tonight was a real fun experience.

The SNP, Lib Dems and event the SSP sent along Party representatives to put forward their own and their parties views on issues ranging from President Elect Obama to whether Scotland would be better off being independent while ceding power to the EU than it is part of the Union with power ceded to Westminster.

The one thing missing from tonight was , you may have noticed, the Labour Party. Despite being contacted time and again by organisers to arrange for them to be represented not one reply, even of acknowledgement, was forthcoming from a Party that is clearly no longer in touch with public concern.

I thoroughly enjoyed pitting my wits against some decent people prepared to be held to account by the public who they hope will elect them. It's only a pity the UK's governing Party don't believe they should be subjected to the same sort of interrogation so they can be held accountable for their actions!

Cameron speaks Direct to East Renfrewshire

Watching David Cameron speak to 187 East Renfrewshire residents at the Carmichael Hall yesterday was a truly uplifting experience.

Without notes, David fielded questions from an audience made up largely of people who returned my recent constituency survey and who identified themselves as undecided voters, (oh and my Mum and Dad). Our audience included school children from across the constituency as well as a number of pensioners who had put the cost of living and fuel poverty as their top priority in their survey returns.

With questions including those best described as hostile, I am sure no one left able to accuse David of ducking a question or lacking substance. I am not sure that everyone got the answers they were necessarily looking for but I am sure they got the truth.

One moment of fun came in the form of a request rather than a question with a young man who came along with his father asked David to call his mother and wish her a "happy birthday", although he refused to divulge which birthday. As it happens I was with David later in the evening at dinner and he took time out between the starter and main course to call this lady and to wish her a happy birthday. I hope that made her day!

Bringing politics back to ordinary people is something I am sure would be welcomed by most local residents if they genuinely believed it was sincere. Yesterday I watched a man who believes in democracy and who is not scared to let people test his principles or his resolve. Cameron Direct is a blueprint for politics of the people in the 21st century and I am delighted David brought it to East Renfrewshire and proved its worth!