[Tealeaf]

Unfortunatly, my vote rests in the capital, not St Andrew's ward or Church or even Hyndburn. Tonight, however I shall find out whether, like Nigel Evans, MP for Ribble Valley and thousands of others, my vote has been purloined by the Asian postal voting scam in the borough in which I reside .

Or then again I may just go down the pub. Because the simple fact is that local government elections are no more than an opinion poll on the current antics in Westminster. That means that an awful lot of talented people are simply not interested in lining up in party colours to serve their local communities as councillors. I really do not see how loyalty to any political party is the key to ensuring that the streets are swept and the bins are emptied on time. A combination of hard work, imagination and enthusiasm, and an honest acknowledgement of errors seem to me to be the order of the day.

However, those final qualities are the ones that Gayle apppears to pocess, so I will say - Good Luck Gayle! I hope you win!