I have received numerous calls from parents and teachers complaining about Labour activists campaigning outside schools in the constituency.  Apparently, they give balloons and stickers to children and thrust leaflets into the hands of parents.  It seems that many parents do not approve of this sort of behaviour and I do not blame them.  That is why I chose not to include such activity in my campaign.

At least one school has issued a statement about this, stressing that the school did not endorse the activity and did not wish to be associated with it.  I am not sure Labour has a record to be proud of in terms education in Greenwich, but regardless, I think parents and their children deserve to be left in peace outside the school gate.  If any parents wish to ask me my views on education policy, they tend to do so on the doorstep or via my office.  If you wish to contact me please do so on 020-8850-2880.  As a local school governor and as a candidate, I'll be pleased to chat.

Many residents have commented on the striking poster which has appeared in the centre of Eltham.  As one said to me earlier, "I've never voted Tory before but this time I will" - and that's why this campaign has been launched.  People are switching to us, some because they're sick of Labour, others because they believe we have used our time in opposition to 'get' what needs doing.  People of all backgrounds and all age groups are switching to the Conservatives.  If I become the MP for Eltham I will do my best to repay their trust.

If you read The Sun newspaper, you may already be aware of an extraordinary new book that has been published to help children understand why their fathers sometimes have to be away from home.  Written by an old school friend of mine, who served in Iraq and wrote the first part of it on the plane home, it helps to answer the inevitable questions any youngster would have when seeing their dad disappear for an extended time.  So whether dad is a soldier like Chris, an oil rigger, a sailor, a businessman, a doctor, an actor or a truck driver, hopefully this book can offer some comfort. 

My Daddy's Going Away is illustrated with delightful cartoons and has an introductory message from HRH The Prince of Wales.  The book tells the story through a poem.  All proceeds are going to Combat Stress and the Foundation for Integrated Health, both charities with which the Prince is involved.

If you have children I am sure they would appreciate this book.  If you dont have children, why not buy one for these great causes and donate the book to a local charity shop, so that another child might have the benefit.  Today, I have bought one for each of my four god children.

You can purchase the book here.

Eltham went dotty for Demelza today as everyone from fire fighters to shop keepers (and the Post Office pub) got out the dots to support our local children's hospice.  I wore a dotty tie (I have a lot of dotty ties, so that was easy!) but I was thrilled to see lots of volunteers wearing their red and white outfits up and down the High Street asking for donations in the buckets.  I bought my Christmas cards from their stand in Passey Place and visited their shop - now all I have to do is find time to start writing them...

After the local elections in 2006, when Labour romped home in Greenwich, residents quickly saw the axe fall on essential frontline services across the borough.  Now, a leaked paper prepared for Greenwich Labour leaders has revealed further secret plans for savage cuts to yet more services amounting to £27 million.  The 'caring, sharing' Labour team that makes a big deal of claiming to work for the most vulnerable in society actually plans to attack neighbourhood services, voluntary sector services, social care provision, and to increase leaseholder charges.  No wonder that when asked directly at a recent Council meeting, the Labour Leader was so evasive (even denying previous cuts), and has since refused to even speak to anyone from the Newsshopper.

Everywhere I go in this constituency from Eltham High Street to Middle Park, Shooters Hill to Kidbrooke, people tell me they are feeling squeezed from every direction and now fear they will lose vital services.  In Coldharbour, rumours circulated for ages that the much valued library would be closed until Conservative councillors extracted a promise it would remain open - but for how much longer?  Perhaps it will go the same way as Queen Mary's Hospital and see reduced opening hours?

If Labour retain control of Greenwich Council in 2010, I make this prediction.  The elderly, the young, and those on the lowest incomes will feel the brunt of these plans.  I don't doubt there's waste to be reduced in Greenwich, but first let's look at the million quid spent annually on the self-congratulatory 'newspaper' Greenwich Time.  Not only is it a huge waste of money it also unfairly competes with commercial newspapers and magazines, including SE9 magazine.

 David Gold spoke at the Children with Leukaemia meeting at Conservative Conference in Manchester, alongside Shadow Minister Nick Hurd MP.

It has been the busiest Conference I have ever attended.  Whilst there has been the usual catching up with old friends and sharing ideas with people from across the country, there have been a large number of meetings.  Many of those meetings have been important in my efforts to ensure Eltham is properly represented and its residents heard.

In policy terms, there have been some very significant announcements.  Among them are serious proposals to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, and an end to the policy of putting the rights of criminals ahead of their victims.  Families and children will receive more help and there will be serious efforts to get people back into work.  Our commitment to a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty has been restated and so has our intention to give troops the support - and the equipment - they need and deserve.  Our longer term commitment to cutting taxes have been repeated but only when the country can afford them.  The first priority is to get this country off its knees and back on the road to recovery.  That is a task we all have to work to achieve - and for the first time, a mainstream political party has set out how it plans to do it.  I expect there will be more concrete proposals in David Cameron's speech.  I am now going over to the conference centre to hear what they are.

Just when I thought things couldn't get worse for Labour...remember how they banged on about "Education, Education, Education"?  You may have noticed that this week they have been boasting of all their 'achievements' during 12 years of power...yet in their party political broadcast, it seems someone missed a spelling class.  Take a look - and see whether you can spot the 'deliberate' spelling mistake!

Gordon Brown today identified some of the problems with the Broken Society.  He rightly said that too many children are having children; and that anti-social behaviour is making life difficult for many communities.  Big deal.  It's a bit like putting a plaster over a gaping hole on the bottom of a bucket of water.  What's he been doing since 1997?  Why has society broken down so badly?  Why are so many young people out of work, without hope, reliant on benefits?  How dare he say he'll put post offices at the heart of our communities when thousands have been closed by his own hand?  And what comfort was there for the millions struggling with redundancy, pay freezes, negative equity or financial ruin?  He didn't even address the central issue - that the country can't keep spending as it has under his stewardship.  Yet there he was, spending money he - and we - doesn't have.

If Gordon Brown had even taken 1% of the blame for the state this country is in - socially or economically - I'd have given him some credit.  But a lack of humility and the reliance on throwing insults at his opponents does not become a man in the highest elected office.  Then again, nobody elected him, did they?

The day started well enough.  Dropped off correspondence at the office in Westmount Road for the kind volunteer who has offered to help get me cope with the massive increase in mail I am receiving.  Then we went knocking on doors asking residents for their feedback on a range of issues.  The response was very encouraging - though clearly there remains huge anxiety about crime and road safety in that particular area.

We had lunch at Cafe Dee and then went to the Demelza open day for a tour of the new hospice.  The work that charity does is hugely important and I am delighted to see that such a well equipped facility has been made possible here in Eltham.  Sadly, I was called away urgently by a colleague who had been called - via m neighbour and several other people who didn't know my mobile number - to say there was a strong smell of burning from the flat!  When I got there, feeling as though I'd run a marathon rather than one block, I discovered the washing machine had gone seriously wrong.  It had started a cycle but was just getting hotter and hotter until even the worktop was hot to the touch.  The walls were dripping with the condensation, the smoke alarms were on overdrive! Our neighbours, gathered outside on the landing, must have feared that a major fire was about to break out - they could smell the heat through the letter box and the flat was filled with a cloud.

We don't know what happened, but we have ordered a new washing machine.  And we're just pleased no more serious damage was caused - not least to our neighbours.  I'd like to publicly say a huge thank-you to them all for all their help.  They now have my mobile number - and will soon have keys to the flat, just in case...but I don't think we'll ever go out when the washing machine is on, just in case.