Mary Reid

Last week I attended my first academic conference, the European Conference on Information Systems in Regensburg. I was slightly overawed by the presence of so many eminent people, but had a great time, and networked at all hours. My contribution was as a practitioner on a panel on 'eGovernment, the Citizen and Equity', alongside speakers from Italy, Sweden and the UK.

The conference was held in the 1970s-built technical university, which interestingly has a department of theology and philosophy. The new pope lectured there, and rose to become Vice President of the university.

Outside the conference sessions, I learnt quite a lot about the impact of the Research Assessment Exercise on British universities. Departments need to get high ratings to survive and these depend on regular publication in the leading academic journals. This, perversely, makes it more difficult than ever for research to influence practice.

We were given a civic reception by the Mayor in the old Imperial Diet Chamber. He spoke endlessly about the industrial growth of the town, then invited us to visit the torture chamber. I stayed with the champagne instead.

Back in the town, one restaurant offered an asparagus-with-everything menu, to celebrate the local produce. It turned out to be six thick, tasteless, textureless white sticks, with fish or pork or whatever. But that was the low spot of the trip. The weather was very hot; the mediaeval town is a marvel and thankfully left intact by the Allies during the war; the shopping was superb.

Thursday was Corpus Christi, and a public holiday. The cathedral and the streets around it were decorated with birch saplings. Does anyone know why?

It was only today that I learnt of the ball lightning in Hook.

(This is a rare photo of ball lightning taken in Japan in 1987)

At 9am on Sunday 1st May I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound of an almighty explosion. Like everyone else in the area I immediately thought it was a major incident, even more serious than the one we had experienced in March.

After a few moments I decided it was the loudest thunderclap I had ever heard, which was odd as there was no lightning or rain. I've only just found out that the event was even more extraordinary.

At the time a friend was walking her dog in Oakcroft Road, about a mile from my home, when the dog became terrified and she felt compelled to turn round. She was looking straight at a ball of light, about six foot across and hovering ten feet above the road. She said she felt suspended in time watching it but it was only a second or two before it disappeared and the explosion erupted.

She is lucky to be alive. I've been searching the web about ball lightning (also known as St Elmo's Fire) and all the descriptions suggest that the ball is usually up to about a foot across. Such balls have killed bystanders in the open air, although they are apparently harmless when contained inside a frame such as a building or plane.

There have been many attempts to explain the phenomenon, ranging from genuine scientific studies, through all kinds of quack theories, to downright scepticism that it is anything more than an optical illusion. The problem is that that researchers have until recently been dependent on first hand accounts and few photos.

Researchers in New Zealand now think they understand ball lightning, and can recreate it in the lab. It can be triggered by a flash of lightning hitting soil, which contains silicon oxide and carbon. These fuse to form silicon vapour which gathers in the tunnels dug by the lightning. The vapour is then puffed out of the tunnel, and forms the ball. Often solid tubes of glass are left behind in the ground.

But I do think the scientific community needs to know about the Hook event, if only because of its size.

The developers, R Durtnell & Son Ltd, are now working on site, and have put up their company board. They are using the CAB building as their site office. I'll post more pictures when there is something substantial to see.

The Library service is planning another meeting about the project with residents before the summer holidays.

You can see my earlier postings, with photos:
2nd April 2005
4th March 2005

You can keep up to date on the Hook Project through the council website.

The library has been moved to the Kings Centre in Coppard Gardens while the work is being done. Opening hours remain the same:

Monday: 10am - 8pm
Tuesday: 1pm-5pm
Wednesday: Closed
Thursday: 10am - 5pm
Friday: 10am - 5pm
Saturday: 10am - 5pm
Sunday: Closed

The Clayton Road bridge - closed since an accident in March - has been opened to traffic again.

Repairs to the bridge will start, so we are told, in about six weeks time. For a week or so, during the repairs, there will be one-way traffic during the day and no traffic at all at night.

While the bridge has been closed the width restrictor has had to be removed to allow people to get in and out of the equestrian centre. And it can't go back in until after the repairs are completed.

So for the next few weeks we have the worst possible scenario - full traffic but no way of slowing it down as it rushes down the slope towards the houses. And there will be nothing to stop lorries from violating the lorry ban.

One of the difficulties is that the bridge lies in Surrey and is managed by the Highways Agency, but the impact is felt on this side of the boundary. We've asked our local traffic engineers to put in some kind of temporary width restriction to try to keep things safe until the repair is done.

Tessa Jowell speaking about the eviction notice served on the London Eye:

"Both sides need to settle this matter responsibly, and do so on the basis of facts, not spin. "

The new licensing laws are fairly complicated and I don't fully understand them. But I do know that the responsibility for issuing alcohol and entertainment licences has switched from the Magistrates' Courts to the Council. All premises have to reapply in the near future even if they don't want to change their hours. But at the same time, premises can apply for an extension of their opening hours, for up to 24 hours.

So what can you do if you object to an extension in drinking hours in a neighbouring pub? Under the law you will probably never even know about it. The pub has to display the details of the application in their window, which is not much use if you don't usually go to it.

In Kingston we have decided - very unusually it turns out - to notify residents living within 50 metres of premises that have applied for changed hours. This is not a consultation because we are, bizarrely, not allowed to consult on licence applications. But anyone living or working nearby can register their views.

This is important because the Council's licensing committee MUST approve an application if there are no objections - even if it may seem to the members to be quite unsuitable.

But even if there are objections, the only criteria that the members are allowed to take into consideration are:
- the prevention of crime and disorder
- public safety
- the prevention of public nuisance
- the protection of children from harm

Which makes it very difficult to prevent pubs remaining open until the early hours, even in quiet residential roads like mine.

The Liberal Democrats have announced their Shadow Cabinet and Edward Davey is the new Shadow Education and Skills Secretary.

I'm delighted - we'll have plenty to talk about.

So Prescott has joined the fashion police!.

The fact that some anti-social groups wear hoodies or baseball caps is not sufficient reason for regulating everyone else's choice of clothes. Even I have a hooded sweatshirt...

Stephen Twigg, the London Schools Minister in the last Government, was booked to visit us in Kingston in a couple of week's time. We've just heard that Andrew Adonis, who has taken over from him, is not honouring the engagement. I am left wondering why the civil servant bothered to fix a date after the election.

Which brings me to the new appointment. Adonis was Blair's advisor on Education at No 10. It was he who 'invented' Academies and top-up fees. It is said that Estelle Morris resigned at Secretary of State for Education because of the way Adonis was undermining her from No 10. He did not gain his ministerial post by the usual way - getting elected to Parliament then demonstrating his competence. Instead he was made a peer last week and catapulted in.

I am deeply fearful about what this might mean for education - more privatisation of schools and the services they use, and the serious diminution of councils. And all at a time when local authorities have been charged with bringing about the major integration of services for children - more responsibility but less power, and no control over funding.

Would you like to explain to the world why you voted the way you did?

Go to I Voted for You Because ...

... and this will be my last posting about it, I promise.

Edward Davey kept his seat in Kingston and Surbiton. In 2001 there was a huge protest vote from both Labour and Conservative supporters against the Conservative candidate, resulting in a Liberal Democrat majority of over 15,000. This time, the Conservative candidate was of a different calibre altogether, and well known locally, so the Liberal Democrat majority settled down at a more realistic (but still very high) figure of just under 9,000.

Susan Kramer took over the Richmond Park seat (which includes the northern part of the Borough) from Dr Jenny Tonge. The majority here was just under 4000.

It's Friday afternoon and I am recovering from a 23 hour stint yesterday. This is what election days are like for those of us who get involved in our local political parties........

6am: Wake up. Some of us have been out delivering 'Good Morning' leaflets since 5am, but I'm afraid I don't have the stamina to do that as well as everything else.

7am: At one of the polling stations for a two hour telling stint. The atmosphere is friendly and even a little festive.

Tellers are members of all the parties who collect the polling numbers from the voters as they come out of the polling station. We are not asking the voters to tell us how they voted - just to know who has voted. Voters are often surprised that the tellers of the different parties share the numbers with each other, but today is the day that we all celebrate our commitment to democracy. The numbers are then sent back to our respective local headquarters - known for some historic reason as Committee Rooms.

I am the Polling Agent for the ward so I deal with any problems that arise and discuss them with the Polling Officer. The officers I've come across have always been very helpful and even-handed. We have to sort out some congestion in the small entrance to the Methodist church hall which is absorbing voters for two polling districts, a 'meeter and greeter' who is directing people to the right polling station, tellers from several parties, plus visitors to the coffee shop that is open during the day.

9am: Giving lifts to the polling station for people who have asked for them. Then out knocking on literally hundreds of doors, reminder our supporters to vote and leaving leaflets for those who are out. In between I snatch rolls, fruit and tea throughout the day at the Committee Room. It's non-stop apart from a brief visit back to my home to tend to my blisters.

8pm: A curry arrives at the Committee Room just as I'm asked to go over to Guildford to help. Drive hungrily down the A3 and spend another hour or so knocking on doors in totally unfamiliar streets with almost non-existent street lights.

10pm: Back home. Shove a meal in the microwave while I have a quick shower and change.

10.30pm: Off to the count for Kingston and Surbiton at Kingston Guildhall. Still have to work, watching the people who are counting the votes to make sure they put them in the right piles and count them accurately in bundles of 50. Everyone, of all parties, is very friendly. In quieter moments I pop into the room next door for tea and coffee and to catch the results coming in on TV.

2.30am: The result is announced to cheers. After the speeches, the Lib Dems line the long broad staircase from the Council chamber and cheer Ed as he walks down. Makes a great photo for the press.

3am: Many people head off for the party. We're feeling very tired - and Ian has to work the next day - so we go home.

Watch the results for while. Very pleased with the Liberal Democrat seats, especially where I know the candidate, such as Susan Kramer in Richmond Park, of course. Also Lynne Featherstone in Hornsey and Wood Green and Julia Goldsworthy in Falmouth and Cambourne.

Delighted James Hemming has won in Birmingham Yardley - he has been leading the campaign against the postal vote fraud in the local elections in Birmingham last year.

Very sorry to hear we lost Guildford by a small margin.

I then update Edward Davey's website with the result. Eventually off to bed, but can't sleep. Wake up at 1pm today. Can't remember doing that since my student days.

The election has been taking up quite a bit of my time recently, but Council work carries on as usual.

On Tuesday I have another meeting to plan the new day centre that will be sharing the premises of Hook Youth Club in Devon Way. We have been campaigning for a day centre for the elderly down in the southern end of the borough for some years, and at last this opportunity came along. It will not be the traditional type of day centre, but will be aimed at the active retired and will offer classes, activities and social events throughout the year. The premises will be adapted so the Youth Club will have greatly improved facilities as well.

So if Hook Youth Club is your polling station, have a good look at it on Thursday as it will look very different next year. (Sorry - couldn't resist a mention of the event of the week)

If you missed the consultation, I would welcome your comments on what could be offered.

... another great election cartoon from Spinon, in which Howard is defeated by baby Donald (possibly).