I was a member of the Winchester and District Community Health Council (CHC) for eight years from 1991. We had a regular system of visits to all NHS facilities catering for Winchester and District residents including hospitals, GP surgeries, mental health providers and others. Each member was allocated a department at the hospital in Winchester. I was responsible for Florence Portal House, the gynaecology and obstetric department, and also the children’s ward. I was able to visit unexpectedly as well as the more formal 6 monthly visits. We talked to patients, inspected the cleanliness of the wards, lavatories and washing facilities as well as food. We then wrote detailed reports which became public documents. I once discovered that there were not enough trained children’s nurses and that caused big headlines in the local press and subsequently the trust employed more children’s nurses. CHC’s had a lot of power and influence – ‘people power’.

We also had the role of looking at any changes in policy which affected health care and the chief executives of the hospital or health care trust had to attend our public meetings and answer questions. Members of the public were invited to the public meetings which were held around the district including Andover to make comments and listen to the health chiefs informing us of latest developments.

We were all volunteers with one paid member of staff to coordinate what we were doing and also to follow up patient complaints. Many of us had worked in the health service before and all had some expertise or experience to offer.

What a shame the Labour Government got rid of them, a cost effective method of maintaining high standards in our local NHS providers which were accountable to the local population. I am sure that were CHC’s still around, our NHS wards would not be in such as dismal state.

You would think that since results day happens every year, UCAS would be prepared. Not this year. I understand that there were many more applicants because of the rise in tuition fees in 2012 but we all knew that well in advance.

It took 4 hours yesterday to find out whether my daughter had a place to study architecture at university or not. Not quite getting the grades for her first choice although her results were good, A* in Art, A in Maths but a D in Physics, she had been offered 2 A’s and a B at her first choice. At 8am the UCAS website was already failing and we were unable to access any information.

We rang the first choice university and managed to get through by 9am, no place for her there. We then spent the next four anxious hours when 3 of us continually rang the second choice university (3 B’s required) and tried to access UCAS. Just after 12pm we managed to get through via a circuitous route to the admissions department at the second choice and finally heard that she had a place. We were finally able to access UCAS at about 12.30pm.

However, if this had not been the case we were already 4 hours too late to start finding a place through clearing. I rushed out to get the Telegraph Clearing Vacancy Listing at 9.30am and daughter marked all the ones that she might look at but we were unable to ring any departments because we still did not know whether she had a place already. No doubt, we were already too late for a clearing place and I am sure many other families were in the same position.

There has to be a better system. Perhaps Clearing could start the next day if UCAS are unable to provide information in a timely fashion. I am sure there will be far fewer applicants next year but I do hope that UCAS provides a better service next year.

Are A level exams getting easier?

This is my fourth child and they have taken a wide variety of academic subjects from science to the arts. I don’t believe that the exams have got any easier. I have looked at the papers and am amazed how difficult they are. I do think that teaching and learning has got more interesting. There are many different ways of providing information now, not just handing out sheets or paper or text books which is the way that I was taught. I also think most young people doing A Levels are very motivated and work hard and a lot of the ‘studies’ courses are very interesting and keep less academic students in colleges. There is an issue with the marking of papers though and we have often had papers re-marked with a change in grades – there seems to be no uniformity between the exam boards and it would be fairer to have the one exam board and careful moderation.

Not everyone needs to go to university though. There are plenty of other options and I expect that many businesses will start recruiting some of our brightest young people next year when the huge hike in tuition fees puts people off going to university. Education should be a lifelong ambition but it doesn’t necessarily have to be when you are 18. Working your way up through a company is just as rewarding and educational than spending 3 years at university learning a subject which may be of no use to a future career. Accountancy firms are one of a number of businesses that are starting to recruit from school and companies are often encouraging employees to take up part-time courses either degrees or professional qualifications.

Gap years

My youngest is the only one of my 4 children who is not taking a gap year because of the tuition fees rise. Gap years should be paid for by the student not parents and we have found that our children have grown up hugely during their gap years when they have worked extremely hard for 6 months to earn money to go travelling and do charity work. They have come back with a big appreciation of going to university and the ability to survive difficult scenarios. They have also managed to use their employment during their gap year to continue through university holidays which has helped fund their studies. My youngest daughter had great plans for her gap year but sadly she has to miss out.

The rise in tuition fees should have been gradual and it will be interesting to find out the effect on universities and how they handle the more demanding consumer and whether the numbers of applicants stays the same.

A big Congratulations to all A Level students whatever your grades, you have completed two years of demanding study and should be very proud of your achievements.

We have 1390 signatures on our petition which has been collected over just 5 days and I know that there are plenty more people who feel the same way as we do. I hope that all those intending to participate listen to the many people of Portsmouth who do not want naked people cycling around our city. We welcome cyclists and perhaps they could wear fancy dress or bright clothes as the British Heart Foundation cyclists did at the weekend. We have a nudist beach in Eastney where they are very welcome to strip off once they have finished cycling. The organisers are pointing out that there is free car parking in Eastney which rather defeats the object of protesting against fuel dependency, but it is near the nudist beach if that is the major factor of the day.

Lastly, I would also remind the naked cyclists that it is Friday, the Moslem holy day, and we have a large community of Moslems happily living in Portsmouth who will find it very offensive.

The one person one vote means that every person has an equal vote regardless of wealth, gender, race or creed. AV breaks that by giving one person’s casting vote greater weight than another – one citizen’s vote might be worth 6 times that of another as it is counted repeatedly if one candidate has not got over 50% of the vote. It may mean that an MP might be elected even if they do not win the majority of the constituents’ first preference votes.

So why should we vote no on May 5th. Here are 3 clear reasons from the No2AV campaign:

AV makes elections unfair – at the moment we all have one vote and the person who gets the most votes wins. Under AV, supporters of fringe parties can have their vote counted several times and the candidate who comes third can steal the election.

AV is a politicians’ fix – leading to more hung parliaments and more broken promises, like the Lib Dems tuition fees U-turn. Instead of the voters choosing the government, the politicians will decide who governs in shady backroom deals.

AV is complicated and expensive – it requires councils to dump our traditional ballot boxes in favour of costly electronic voting machines – in the last General election the voting in Portsmouth finished at 6am, with endless sorting under the AV system we could be there for days. That is why it is used by just three countries in the world – Australia, Fiji and Papua New Guinea. Australia has compulsory voting to make sure people turn up.

You can find out more at www.no2av.org

I am delighted that the NSPCC have asked me to put this on my website, I am a big supporter of any charity that looks after children.  This is a great idea and check out their website for other gifts too!

Soon, excited children up and down the country will be waiting anxiously by their letterboxes; eagerly awaiting their Letters from Santa, courtesy of the NSPCC

The NSPCC has worked very closely with their representatives in the North Pole over the last few months, and Santa has decided to send personalised letters to every child on the ‘Letters from Santa’ list!

For a suggested donation of £5, a letter will be personalised and placed upon Santa’s sleigh for delivery over the Christmas period to a child (or big kid!) that’s special to you. Every pound is warmly received as it will help the NSPCC continue to provide help and support to vulnerable children.

Each Letter from Santa will make a significant difference to the lives of children – for example £20 donated could enable the NSPCC to answer another five calls to ChildLine.

All of the personalised Letters from Santa will be posted in time for Christmas. Letters can be ordered through the NSPCC Wishes website ,http://www.nspccwishes.org.uk/ where you can find Christmas eCards, Corporate eCards and Letters from Santa. You can even make a donation to Charity!

Letters from Santa with the NSPCC are easy to order, so it couldn’t be simpler to support the NSPCC this Christmas

So, please help to put smiles on the faces of the nation’s children this festive season, starting with a magical Letter from Santa himself!

 Age Concern Portsmouth works incredibly hard for our older residents, helping them with benefits, providing a place where they can get advice, and has computer classes and other courses which help prevent isolation and loneliness. They are dependent on what money they can find locally to run this fantastic organisation and I know they will be very grateful for any donations.

I run extremely slowly but am hoping to beat my last time of 2 hours.

A big congratulations to Cllr Luke Stubbs for being re-elected, he is an excellent ward councillor and works hard for Eastney and Craneswater. In fact, he is my councillor too so I will be keeping him busy.

This is a great time to get involved with the Conservatives so please contact us if you want to help.

The team leaving the office to meet others to canvass in Fratton

I have really enjoyed canvassing over the last two and half years and have met over 15,000 people on the doorstep with my ever increasing team of helpers. Many of you have been out but I think it is really important to actually knock on doors and listen to people and we have been in many streets 2-3 times. Endless leaflets mean nothing if you can’t see the candidate. 20 of my fantastic team finally finished canvassing with me this evening in Fratton and we are looking forward to making sure everyone gets out to vote tomorrow.

Portsmouth South is an incredibly important seat, we are 70 out of 117 seats that the Conservatives have to win to get rid of Gordon Brown and his failing government. While I hate negative campaigning, the thought of him being still there on Friday with a mandate to carry on fills me with horror.

So why vote for me and the Conservative team of councillors here.

I have now lived here for just over 2 years. I could have commuted from Winchester which had been my home since 1988, but I feel very strongly that to be committed to an area you have to live here, pay council tax and put up with the same problems and issues that every other constituent has to. As you can imagine, that has been a huge financial commitment but we love living in Southsea and have made many friends.

I want to be a full time MP, Portsmouth needs a lot of investment and I see that as one of my main roles. Fighting for more investment from government and bringing more businesses to our great city. I am very interested in high tech industry which suits our employment needs and am pleased that we are centre of excellence in the defence industry. We are completely committed to the dockyard and keeping the Royal Navy in Portsmouth and I am looking forward to working with them.

Our education is improving but we need to work further to make sure that it continues along that path and I am looking forward to Building Schools for the Future being a success here and schools receiving more power under a Conservative Government.

Immigration has been a big issue on the doorstep and I think we have the best policy which combines a point system with a cap on the numbers. The cap will be flexible depending on what we need but we won’t be having immigration in the hundreds of thousands again.

There are many other issues and lots of individual and group ones which, if elected, I will work hard to solve. We have some very able people standing as local councillors and I look forward to working with them when we get elected and I hope we will have a Conservative run council on Friday. It is important to work with everyone in the interest of Portsmouth and I will work with any party or individual that has good ideas and can make a difference to our city.

Please get out and vote tomorrow, this is one of the most exciting elections for some time and your vote could make a huge difference.

David Willetts

We are very lucky to have David Willetts as a local MP in Havant and we were grateful to have him canvassing today in Old Portsmouth. He then spent the whole day in various target seats around Hampshire to give us support. Issues on the doorstep were immigration and the economy and it is always useful to have a member of the shadow cabinet to answer questions.

Some of the team continued with delivering letters while others accompanied me to St Mary’s Fair which was huge and very well attended. It must have raised loads of money. We had a hot dog lunch listening to the Portsmouth City Band which is exceptional and spent money on tombolas and biscuits for the hardworking team in the office. On the way back, we stopped at the British Legion’s fete near the station, you could hear the music from our offices in Fratton.

The campaign has been going very well and I am incredibly grateful for the ever growing team of volunteers, most of which have given up a lovely Bank holiday to work on getting rid of Mr Brown.