Paul Johnston

It would appear that David Willetts has stirred up a hornet's nest by suggesting in a speech this morning that the Conservative Party has fallen out of love with grammar schools. To read the speeck go to www.conservatives.com .

I think David Willetts could achieve a great deal by taking into his confidence the leaders of the many Conservative Council groups who have steadfastly supported their local grammar schools over decades of sustained attack on them from the Left. This would include our Leader in Kingston. He should not be making speeches which are open to cries from the Left of 'told you so. We were right all along.' He might have realised what deep dismay this would cause and how much it would reinforce the view that our present leadership likes nothing so much as causing needless dismay to the party's long term supporters.

There is no necessary contradiction between supporting Academies - which are after all Thatcher's GM schools/ City academies by another name - and allowing local authorities to reintroduce or maintain selection on academic grounds. What we can all join forces on is the fight against the central tenet of the 60s and 70s Comprehensive era, that one size can be made to fit all in the field of secondary education.

As Tony Blair announced the beginning of the end (kind of) of his era today I can't help remembering the Sequence from the Mass for the Dead I chanted often as a teenager. It talks about the end of the world and final judgement. The papers are rushing to make final judgements on Tony Blair. As the man is only 54 I can't help feeling that this may be premature. I can't help feeling that, like Fu Manchu, 'the world will hear from (him) again.'

Meanwhile will his ending be accompanied with 'tuba mirum spargens sonum' - or will it be more like T. S. Eliot's idea, 'this is the way the world ends/ not with a bang but a whimper'? 

We had no elections in Greater London. The next lot for us are next year when the Mayor and the GLA come up for election. However the Conservatives did very well by gaining 875 seats and 38 new Councils in England. The Lib Dems ended up with a net loss on the night of around 250 councillors and are definitely and in every way the fourth party in Wales - and also in the Scottish Parliament! Labour is now suffering as we suffered 10 to 13 years ago and has ceased to exist as a political force in much of England.

I had the great satisfaction of seeing all my friends in other areas either hold their seats or achieve substantial swings to gain them from the Lib Dems. This applies in Bath & NE Somerset, Tewkesbury, Ashford and Mole Valley. Former Berrylands councillor Leslie Dale gained a seat from the Lib Dems in South Norfolk with a 9.5% swing. Congratulations too to my Liberal Democrat friend Alan Lawrance on being returned in South Gloucestershire - unfortunately he still has 23 colleagues and the Conservatives just failed to get an overall majority on the Council there.

Earlier entries on this site have spelt out the view the Kingston Conservative Group takes on the current Berrylands trial, using multiple recycling containers and collecting general household waste fortnightly.

This was a major issue nationwide at last week's local elections. I note that Edward Davey now seems rather nervous about it and is trying to get the thoughts of Berrylands trialists so as to gauge which side to come down on.