Hello Mr Richmond!

When you first start writing a blog you do wonder if anyone's going to read it. It's one of the reasons why 70% of bloggers give up after a few posts.

So I'm glad to see some people are acutally logging on but I was quite surprised to see that Tom Richmond from the Yorkshire Post was one of them!

You might remember that I responded to his piece about a percieved lack of homegrown Yorkshire MPs. (See my post below.)

Well, someone pointed out his response to me here in his column.



"MY call for political parties to select a greater number of Parliamentary candidates with Yorkshire roots struck a chord with the family of my old foe John Prescott.

It was particularly resonant with the outgoing Hull East MP's son, David, who has made no secret of his desire to follow his father into politics.

But it was the maturity of Prescott junior's response on his blog that was so refreshing.

"Ward meetings can be off-putting as new members tend to feel a bit excluded and baffled by our arcane agendas and party rules. We don't give them a simple introduction about how our party works," he wrote.

"I think we also need to make these meetings more informal and family friendly. They should feel they're part of a social network."

This is the kind of new thinking that Labour requires if it is to curtail the appointment of "social worker" politicians in this region who have no affinity with Yorkshire, and merely jump to the Government's command."



Well Tom, I'm sure you'd be more than welcome down 430 Holderness Road next time you're in town - heck, I'll even take you next door to the Crown afterwards!

Just don't tell Harry!