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An odd thing happened to the Conservative Party conference this year - it changed.

I have been to many conferences, although to be honest it is only in the past five or so years that I have endured the entirety of the event. What was odd was the atmosphere of virtual disdain for the process of conference - not just from the party faithful but from those outside the hall.

I arrived on the Sunday afternoon and was walking to the venue from the hotel. I ran in to the remnants of the anti-cuts demonstration that had taken place. I would add at this point that by calling this 'anti-cuts' I do not intend to give succour to the idea that there are cuts, for the reality lies somewhere closer to the 'slower growth' school of thought than it does to cuts. I leave it to the economists of our time to debate the preference of real terms growth against cash growth!

I chose not to wear my conference badge as I had surmised that with 35,000 people on the streets of Manchester there was no telling whether this would tip over in to something more than a gathering of like-minded souls. As I walked past the scattered and somewhat drilgy looking protestors staggering back to their lairs I heard them mutter 'Tory tosser', or some such other insult which they considered would upset me. This led me to wonder later about the position of political discourse and whether the nature of politics is now reverting to that happy place where those who govern best are governing and those who do opposition best are in opposition. Demonstrations and insults are clearly the preserve of the Left whilst reform and change is the preserve of the Right. As for the Lib Dems they like neither.

Putting aside the Lib Dems, something which both main parties could obligingly agree we should, then the simple fact is that the history of the past 150 years of Parliament indicates that the Conservatives are those who sort out the economy, legal and social system whilst the Left are those who come in and destroy it again with their noisy sophistry. Thus, the circle begins again.

The left are not great reformers. Even with the NHS, something which the left whine on about interminably, it was the case that the work for its introduction had been done two years before the Government of Atlee came to power in 1945. In fact there had been debate within the cross-party War cabinet as to whether they should even publish what was seen to be an ambitious proposition laid out in the Beveridge report. Despite Labour rhetoric today their party actually opposed the idea of the NHS and Beveridge showed a great deal of frustration at the stance of Ernest Bevin who called it a 'social ambulance scheme' and wanted it delayed.

I digress, but the point is that the Labour party are not radicals and they are certainly not innovators. It is now difficult to know where they stand in this current crisis. If they believe in slower cuts then surely all they are suggesting is that this crisis would drag on for considerably longer - twice as long by their reasoning. This is also precisely the same thing they said in the early 80's when they ranged against the Lawson budgets that reduced expenditure and they were proved at best wrong and at worst dangerous.

The recent changes to the shadow cabinet seem to bring only youth into their front-bench but does little to assuage to commentariat that they understand the need for rationality in a crisis. Labour seem to not have grasped that this is a serious crisis that could easily topple into the need for a Government of national unity if the implosions forecast in the EU were to even partly materialise. This would leave them not only bereft of policy but also naked in the eyes of the public.

Back to the Conservative conference? well it lacked everything that you could imagine it might lack. There was no debate and there was no place for activists at what has become a somewhat media dominated enterprise where the media hacks discuss late in to the night who is in and who is out and those MPs who can be bothered to attend greet each other as long-lost friends. The Parliamentary party is clearly not connected in a way which ordinary members and voters would imagine but then I suppose there are 300 of them and organising that many people in the tunnels and vestibules of Parliament is a job worthy of only the finest shepherd.

I think the Conservative party needs to be radicals with their conference. Let us change the conference so that they do not waste the time and money of the membership and are open to the greater public. The party needs to stop treating members and activists like fools.

• move conference to a bi-annual event
• in the off-year hold regional conferences where MPs can meet the public and there is no closed shop
• open up a youth camp on the Glastonbury scale - there were many more young people at conference then I can remember
• make the secure zone a real secure zone where party members can engage with politicians and ban journalists and lobbyists - to be fair the party did try something like this in Manchester but it needs to be expanded
• stop making announcements to the press before they are announced in the conference hall.
• hold them in places that have cheap accommodation and don't seem to ramp up the costs because the 'Tories are in town'.

Like many things in life the best time to change them are when the economic circumstances force change, maybe this is just another example.

The changing face of the UK economy seems not to have dampened the spirits of those who went shopping after Christmas. There was, apparently, a 12% increase in  retail footfall in the last week of December and on the few occasions I ventured out you could see this was the case. But what now?

The press predict doom and gloom and yet people I speak to have taken the attitude that they will continue pretty much as normal and keep their heads down. One of the most interesting aspects of the recession will be how our economy and employment is affected in comparison with previous recessions. Our economy has changed beyond recognition since the 20’s as we have moved from a manufacturing based economy to on e that operates in services and one cannot but wonder whether this might have an affect upon the way this recession is played out. The recession has come faster than other recessions and will it, as the Government hopes, recover faster?  How will real peoples spending habits be affected – who knows!

Still, my new year is going to restart on Monday when I return to work. When I last looked I had 400 emails to deal with – an little junk!

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I have just listened to the most concerning financial statment from a Chancellor I think this country has ever faced.

We are being told that Labour are going to borrow so much money to try and get the economy out of the mud that they cannot repay any of it until after the election after next. This is the biggest sum of money this country has ever borrowed and there is absolutely no history that demonstrates that this will ever work.

What do we get in return?

A bit of VAT lowered but I believe nothing near the amount that will be required to make people spend money - would you take a decision to buy a new television for £700 on the basis you will save £14 because of the Chasncellor's generosity?  To pay for it we then get billions of extra taxes after the next election. For a £20 billion tax reduction we will have to pay back £40 billion in extra taxes. As for increased pensions - well, is a £5 per week increase in pensions going to save the economy? Is this it? I this the best they could come up with for their much lauded fiscal stimulus?

This is a tragic state of affairs and we need a general election now to kick them out and try and restore some sense to this madness.

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As many of you will know I am very committed to being a part-time amateur singer and the news this morning that Richard Hickox has died will come as a great shock to many. He was a great man who had a strong comitment to choral music and it is tragic that he should die at such a young age.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | UK conductor Hickox dies, aged 60:

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I recently sent out a press release, and wrote to the BBC Trust Chairman,  asking the BBC not to start up their local video newspaper initiative. You can read the press release here. Whilst I cannot take the credit alone for having changed their minds, that would be foolish, this did get picked up by the local media. I am therefore very pleased that the trust have turned down this proposal saying that "The negative impact would be significant".

I am one of those who believes that in its quest to become a global media player the BBC sometimes forgets the core business under which it taxes UK citizens. My views on the BBC are well known, in that I see a future for a smaller, more UK centric approach to media, instead of the constant striving to maintain a presence in every type of global media activity. News Corporation has a global turnover that is £23billion (accepting that the pound is plummeting so fast it is difficult to keep up) and the BBC has income of £4.5bn. It really should not be trying to compete in a global market.

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Some people argue that politics needs to be more exciting. I tell them that it does have its moments but few really believe me. Well, maybe this new Australian experiment is what is needed here.

It would appear that the problem is that the Aussie Government has decided to put on a blanket ban on internet porn through a sex filter. Funny, I never considered the Aussies to be particularly puritanical.

AFP: Sex party set to heat up Australian politics

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Conservatives call for halt to BBC local TV news plans

Kevin Davis has today pledged to support local newspapers from the threat posed by the BBC's plans to start producing local video on demand news.

The Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Yeovil has written to the BBC Trust Chairman, Sir Michael Lyons, calling on the BBC Trust to reject the BBC's proposal to spend £23 million a year on new local video on-demand services, which could kill off local newspapers desperately trying to cope with a tough advertising climate.

Conservatives have a much bolder vision for local newspapers, one which would enable them to invest in local TV. Local TV is very poor in the UK, especially compared to the USA, and Conservatives want Ofcom to take all the steps it can to encourage the development of a genuinely local TV sector. Local newspaper groups would be ideal partners in any expansion of local TV in their areas and the result would be positive for local communities and local businesses alike.

Kevin Davis argues that the BBC should not be allowed to spend licence fee payers money damaging existing local news services and stamping out fledgling competition in local television.

Kevin Davis said: "In an increasingly difficult advertising market why should local newspapers have to face the additional threat of subsidised competition from the BBC? I don't think they should and I have written to the BBC Trust asking them to take a strong stance on this proposal."

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I came across this very good news story about local newspapers. There are a lot of stories of local papers closing down due to a squeeze on advertising budgets and the threat from the BBC of a localised web presence. This story therefore comes as very welcome news for those in the South West.

A small community newspaper publishing group in the South West is bucking the trend in declining circulation and advertising revenues.

View From Publishing, launched three years ago by veteran West Country journalist Philip Evans, distributes a series of 12 weekly community titles in towns across Devon, Dorset and Somerset.

Advertising revenues for the year ending September 2008 have topped the £1m mark for the first time and represent a 24pc increase on the previous year.

The full story can been by clicking here.

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Let's look in a little detail at the figures:

• GSK announced redundancies yesterday. Yet, GSK have been making redundancies for months. Back last year they were slashing up to £700m employment costs by 2010. Then in June they were announcing 350 job reductions in R&D. Yesterday they were talking of closing a factory in Sussex, the same factory they said they were closing in June 2008. So, are the latest job cuts really recessionary job cuts or are they actually part of the wider programme of job reductions as they restructure?
• BT have today announced they are shedding 10,000 jobs. However, when you look closely at what is being said they already have cut 4,000 of them and the problem is being caused by a division (global services) that has seen falling revenues over a sustained period of time. Their CEO said "This is a reflection of the fact we have to become leaner, we need to do it in good times and bad." Once again, is this the fault of the recession as the media would have us believe?
• Virgin Media - 2,000 jobs to go by 2012 as part of a restructuring. What has this to do with the recession if they intend to have this completed by 2012. I am sure this is part of a necessary Change Management scheme at a company that would have done this during good times. In fact they have said they will not start cutting jobs until the fourth quarter of next year!

I am not trying to belittle the impact of this recession, as it is likely to be deep and hard because of the policies followed by this Government. However, one cannot help but think that some of the major employers are seeing this as an opportunity to "bury bad news" and slim down their work force under the guise of a recession.

I wonder how this scenario might play out in small firms that have been looking for an excuse to get rid of an employee?

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Can I commend to you this important campaign - Help for Heroes. It is vitally important that all our armed forces are aware that we do not remember the sacrifices they make just once a year but every time we hear of the challenges they face in whatever theatre of war they are operating.