Having attended both the Labour and Conservative gatherings that autumn, and listened to dozens of interminably dull contributions, Cameron's speech stood out from all others.

The reason was the powerful nature of Cameron's argument that strong communities stem from the provision of high-quality local services where parents can have every confidence that the neighbourhood school will meet their aspirations – and that
the nearest hospital is of a sufficient standard to allay the concerns
of patients.

He was right. Individuals are far more likely to become involved in their neighbourhood if they can take pride in their local services.

But what is disappointing, however, is Cameron's dogged desire to over-complicate this approach by introducing the concept of "choice" to the policy-making process.

"Just as Thatcher said own your council house, so we should be saying have more choice over the school your kids go to or the hospital you get treated at," he argues.

This is all very well. But providing a "choice" of schools – or hospitals – costs money, money that this country can ill-afford to spend.

And, frankly, it wouldn't be necessary if politicians – like David Cameron – concentrated on the basics, namely, improving the quality of existing services to a sufficient standard that the word "choice" can be banned from the political lexicon.



GORDON Brown's dithering has reached a new low with suggestions that he will delay his long-awaited Cabinet reshuffle until after next month's party conference.

This indecisiveness offers the prospect of Ministers giving policy speeches, with the supposed purpose of relaunching this Government, knowing that they could be sacked – or shifted sideways – a few days later.

I can only assume that Foreign Secretary David Miliband's call for change has left Brown so weakened that the PM might not survive his
own reshuffle.



I'VE nothing against the Government launching another campaign, as it did this week, to ensure senior citizens are claiming the Pension Credit to which they may be entitled.

With many OAPs unable to afford their heating costs, every penny will count this winter. But what does it say about the convoluted nature of policy-making that Pension Credits are so complicated that at least 250,000 people are not claiming money which is due to them?



NICK Clegg showed refreshing candour, for a politician, when he spoke about the difficulties with his own household finances that stem from the credit crunch – and the remortgaging of his London home.

The Liberal Democrat leader provided evidence that MPs' expenses can only go so far when he admitted: "Without going into the gory details of our family finances, we are mortgaged up to the gills."

But the Sheffield Hallam MP needs to be careful in highlighting his own financial difficulties. For, if he is struggling to balance the books at Clegg Towers, how can the Lib Dems be trusted with the nation's finances?



IT WILL be pointless relying upon the BBC for impartiality during its coverage of the US Presidential election – and the prospect of Barack Obama becoming America's first black president.

With no deference to the millions of voters who go to the polls on November 4, the BBC simply referred to Joe Biden as "the next vice-president" when named as Senator Obama's "running mate".

I venture to suggest that the increasingly impressive war hero, John McCain, will have something to say about this presumptuousness.



THE Yorkshire MP, Jon Trickett, was too modest to mention his own role in transforming the fortunes of Britain's all-conquering Olympic cyclists when he wrote in this newspaper, on Wednesday, about the importance of sport in society.

But, credit where credit is due, it was the Hemsworth MP who had the foresight, in November 1996, to highlight, in Parliament, the British Cycling Federation's failings and call for radical action to overhaul
the sport.

The result was far-reaching changes in the sport's management that culminated in British cyclists winning an unprecedented eight gold medals in Beijing – and talismanic individuals like Chris Hoy becoming such great role models.

And, after watching Hoy use his triumphant homecoming to call for even more steps to be taken to provide young people with facilities – he is already campaigning to stop the closure of the Edinburgh velodrome where he learned to race ride – I'm sure that he will be one of the first people to thank the Labour MP for his crucial input in transforming cycling's fortunes.



THE Tories have been curiously quiet on the issue of sport, apart
from an endorsement of former prime minister Sir John Major's call for more Lottery money for potential OIympians.

Could it be that David Cameron is not sufficiently interested in sport to appreciate its potential benefits to society, a character flaw of so many former PMs?

Or is it because the Tory leader has absolutely no idea of how he will curtail the cost of the 2012 Games if the Olympics becomes his responsibility after the election?



WHEN Boris Johnson was doing his best to scupper Anglo-Sino relations at the Olympic handover ceremony in Beijing by declaring that table tennis, China's national sport, was originally called "whiff whaff" in Victorian England, and that "ping pong is coming home", the look of incredulity on Gordon Brown's face spoke volumes.

Was the Prime Minister – like me – thinking: "How on earth did this man become Mayor of London?"