We are now another crime statistic in Southsea following a burglary during the night. The police have been very helpful but since it was electronic equipment that was taken, it will be very difficult to recover although I gave the serial number of my new computer to them. It is really sad that we now have to become Fort Knox in our own home and I am very disappointed that my first laptop which I had saved for has been taken after only two months of use. I am now writing on my 6 year old desk top as I can’t afford to go out and buy another one.

There have been a spate of burglaries in this area and I hope the police are able to catch these people soon before they violate other people’s lives.

I was not invited to speak at this meeting but went along as a member of the audience as I was curious to find out what our two MP’s who were speaking were going to do about the appearance of the BNP in Portsmouth and also what UAF had planned. It was well attended and we had to move to a bigger room to accommodate everyone. After hearing the speakers during which the Labour MP for Portsmouth North stated that we should not be sharing a platform with the BNP at the forthcoming debates, I was able to state that I thought that however distasteful the policies of the BNP are and ones which would bankrupt this country very quickly, we need to be able to expose them in the debates rather than running away from them.

Interestingly, the Labour MP stated that the last time that the BNP were in Portsmouth was in the 1970’s, which was when the last Labour government was in power. The person next to me in the audience stated that if the government had got the right policies in place particularly the economy, there would be no need for extremist parties in this country. When people are fearful of their jobs and future, they will look for scapegoats and protest votes. We have got the right policies to put the country back in its feet again and we need to articulate them so there will be no need to vote for fringe parties.

We were very fortunate to have Nicholas Soames MP to open our office and then attend a lunch of 70 people to explain why it is important to win Portsmouth South. It was also a good opportunity to quiz him on defence as he was a former defence minister and still interested in defence matters. He stated that our policy on the navy is very clear and has recently been articulated by Dr Liam Fox MP, Shadow defence minister, “we must also remember that we are a maritime nation dependent on the sea lanes for 92% of our trade. A time when the threat of disruption on the high seas is increasing is no time for Britain to become sea blind.”

The last Strategic Defence Review made a powerful case for naval aviation and maritime power projection and it is difficult to see what changes in the strategic environment have occurred that would change this particular element of our defence capabilities. We have repeatedly made our own position clear on the value of aircraft carriers. However, it would be wrong to restrict the scope of, or pre-empt, the Strategic Defence Review process itself which is exactly the same as the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrat Party who make no commitment to the aircraft carriers in their defence manifesto.

Another reason why it is really important to have a Conservative MP in Portsmouth South in a Conservative Government to fight for the home of the Royal Navy and its equipment.

This was a really good idea with the head of history and politics at PGS inviting all the local schools to participate in a democracy day ending with a question time debate with local parliamentary candidates. We were all invited to address the audience for exactly 4 minutes, I had timed my talk to make sure that it was less than 4 minutes but it seems the egg timer was not working properly and I was cut off early! The questions were wide and varied ranging from should the voting age be lowered to 16 to should we lock up paedophiles for longer. Sadly, many schools had to leave during the debate to catch their buses back to school so there were not many people left at the end to vote. I hope this event inspires people to get involved during the election and later in life although the questions asked were not going to show the real divisions between the parties.

The Shadow Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley MP, visited QA hospital to see the new wing and find out about the issues concerning the health service in Portsmouth. We are totally committed to the National Health Service and have ring fenced the NHS budget as we believe that it is a service that everyone uses at various points in their lives and we must make sure that we have a first rate health service

The new wing and all the equipment is first rate at QA but we need to ensure that there is the budget to fund a first class service too.