News, sport and information for Hendon, Finchley, Barnet, Potters Bar, Edgware and Mill Hill
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Matthew Offord »
Lucky Matthew...never bitten by a dog... yet
Posted on 12:53pm Wednesday 21st April 2010
Instead of doing the same things in this election, I am keen to get out and meet as many people as possible in different places. As such, today we speak with shoppers in Edgware and hand out leaflets as they buy bread for dinner. The weather is sunny and that means one side of the road on Edgwarebury Lane is in warm sunshine while the other is in a cold shadow. We swap the warmth of the sunny side against the fantastic smell coming from Grodinski’s on the shaded side. When it is time for us to leave we head straight into the bakery to buy some of the bagels and also an almond croissant for breakfast.
Matthew Offord »
The marmite eater, Matthew and the Facebook
Posted on 12:31am Monday 19th April 2010
After early morning delivery, we have breakfast in a café in Mill Hill Broadway. By coincidence we meet someone who we met canvassing the night before and he is glad to see us out and about. After 8 years of working on the council it is now good to be campaigning full time and demonstrating to people that we are action and not talk. Another man at a table next to us asks about the election and we chat. He is eating Marmite and we talk about the Facebook site where people can vote on whether they love or hate Marmite – I am in the love camp. Just like politicians at this election, the Love Marmite Campaign has a manifesto and pledges: 1. To accord ministerial powers to everyday Marmite lovers so they can help spread the message.
Matthew Offord »
Nomination papers
Posted on 12:27am Monday 19th April 2010
To be nominated for Parliament, and the council, a candidate has to submit a completed nomination form. This means two local electors have to propose a candidate and then gain another 8 people to agree to the nomination.
Matthew Offord »
Hendon residents desperately want change from the tired Labour Government
Posted on 10:32pm Friday 16th April 2010
Our delivery teams were out in force as we started delivering the next leaflet in our campaign. Running on the themes of Labour’s job tax and the Conservative councilors 0% Council Tax increase we delivered large areas of the constituency. Local people are enthusiastic to help as they desperately want change from the tired Labour Government. Claire and I meet with the deliverers but rush off to St Mary’s Church in Hendon to hear our banns being read for the second time for our wedding in June. Our names are called during the prayers and again when Rev Clement announces the banns officially – so far no one has come up with any lawful cause for impediment to our getting married.
Matthew Offord »
You are on Labour patch...What are you doing here?
Posted on 10:24pm Friday 16th April 2010
Standing in the bright sunshine on Watling Avenue in Burnt Oak many people came to talk with us as we campaigned to get more money into drugs for cancer patients.
Matthew Offord »
Conservative posters and boards in demand in Hendon
Posted on 10:18pm Friday 16th April 2010
Demand for the posters is still coming. After the first request in one Mill Hill road our office received a call asking if a second resident could have a poster “the same as the one down the road”. So after being out for a couple of hours I called at the lady’s house and put up her poster. Once again it is a hot day and canvassing with Cllr John Hart and Brian Sharma we meet a group of ladies who are concerned abut the number of foreign prisoners in our prisons who are not deported upon their release. In the last year almost 1,200 overseas criminals were kept in immigration detention centres because they had finished their jail term but had not yet been returned home. This costs us, as taxpayers, around £47,500 a year to house each one - some £10,000 more a year than it costs in a jail.
Matthew Offord »
Carry on canvassing
Posted on 9:58pm Friday 16th April 2010
After the early morning session, we grabbed a quick coffee at one of our regular stops in Colindale. Whilst drinking the first caffeine of the day a council worker from Brent came over and sat with us. He said that he had Dawn Butler as his MP and “that Liberal girl” (Sarah Teather). We reminded him that his Conservative candidate was the excellent and very personable Sachin Rajput, who is on the council with me in Barnet. I have known Sach for many years and he has worked very hard in his professional life to become a barrister and has also been appointed to a position within the Cabinet on Barnet Council. We need more people like Sach.
Matthew Offord »
From Mill Hill to Burnt Oak election fever is on
Posted on 11:23am Friday 16th April 2010
Even though the weather looked as if it was going to rain, we had a very good session meeting the early morning commuters in Burnt Oak. Standing outside the Tube station (without any of the other political parties in attendance) we spoke with hundreds of people. Even though commuters hopping off buses were running to catch their trains, most people took a leaflet and several shop keepers invited us in and ask if they could put up a poster.
Matthew Offord »
Candidates hit the campaign trail
Posted on 1:02pm Tuesday 13th April 2010
This campaign will be different from others, with the Leaders’ debates, the scandal of MPs expenses firmly in the minds’ of the electorate and the knowledge that change really is in the air.
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