I attended a police surgery last night.  I prefer not to mention where it was because the specific issues raised could be subject to future court proceedings.  It's depressing to hear of decent hard working people and their elderly retired neighbours having to barricade themselves in at night in fear.

Among the highlights of that meeting and others I have recently attended in the constituency:

- A couple who had dog's mess smeared across their front door

- Drug dealing on the green opposite family homes

- Uprooting of plants and trees from communal and family gardens

- Used needles dumped in people's gardens and in children's play areas

- Scooters driven across parks terrorising dog walkers and families with children

The police round here do the best they can with very limited resources.  Wouldn't it make a difference if we had more visible policing, greater numbers of local police officers, less paperwork when they catch criminals and better discipline in schools?  I have met many local police and they seem totally dedicated but possibly weary with the complexities of the Human Rights Act, bureaucracy and budget cuts.  Give them the tools and I bet they'd have this area cleaned up.

Thanks to Guido for this fantastic proof of just how manipulated our police are these days.  This is how a peaceful political protest was erased not by the thought police of Burma, but by Bournemouth police during Labour Party conference.  Still believe Gordon Brown wants a big tent approach to government?

I am delighted that the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London, is Boris Johnson, the man I backed from the start.  He won with an almighty 79% of the vote and I believe he will be an outstanding Mayor of London.

Boris has visited all 32 London boroughs in recent weeks including Greenwich, and has pledged to represent and support all parts of the capital, not just the areas where he feels comfortable or where his pet causes are most welcome.  What a change that would be from the current Mayor!

As Boris has said himself:

"The job of the Mayor is simple - to get people to work on time, to ensure people feel safe on the streets, to help people find a place to call home, to celebrate our diversity and to champion our success".  I'd go along with that.

The Justice Secretary will announce today that it will no longer automatically be an offence to strike out in self-defence.  And about time too after the many cases of people being put through a trial for safeguarding their property and loved ones. But what happened to change their minds?  As Home Secretary Charles Clarke conducted a review 3 years ago and decided nothing need be done.

Of course the timing is entirely cynical, designed to catch the end of Labour conference media coverage, and it has taken a decade for the Government to come to its senses on this - after all, people have campaigned for a change in the law to be told repeatedly it could not be done.

So subject to the detail I welcome the announcement but suspect that as so often in the past, yet more legislation will actually complicate matters even more and lead to even greater uncertainty.