So it's the annual extra hour day tomorrow. Not sure whether to have a lie in or get up and invent a perpetual motion machine. Think the lie in might be better and more achievable.

“Send me those leaflets!”. Yesterday, Nigel Farage shredded their 2024 General Election “Our Contract With You” policy promises. Today, Richard Tice disowned his own party’s local campaign pledges to cut council tax. Simply unbelievable.

Reform councils are raising your council tax. Why? Because they never had a plan in the first place.

One thing to come out of the Council's Local Plan meeting last night: confirmation of plans to build houses on a big chunk of Colchester Station's car park. Is this a good idea with an expanding population and when they are supposedly trying to get people to switch out of cars?

Very well conducted service at Tiptree War Memorial this morning. Attended with Will Calverley to lay wreath on behalf of myself, Will and Rhys as Tiptree's 3 CCC Councillors. Thank you to Wilkins for the whistle to mark the start and finish of the 2 minutes silence.

Colchester Conservatives have submitted a very clear and unambiguous motion to the City Council saying all May 2026 scheduled elections will go ahead. A chance for all parties to put on the record their views on this.

If you're a Colchester business with premises I'd strongly recommend checking your new valuation at gov.uk/find-business-… as some of them are absolutely horrific (3x increase in some cases).

Looking forward to tabling our motion that all 2026 scheduled local elections must go ahead this evening at Colchester City Council. Hope it gets unanimous support and demonstrates that CCC Councillors back the democratic principle.

5 minutes ago in House of Lords: MHCLG Minister: "All May 2026 local elections will go ahead....unless there are exceptional circumstances." Still clear as mud. Just make up your minds and give a clear statement. What are "exceptional circumstances"??

Wise words as ever from Andrew Neil. As the old saying goes, winning the peace is much harder than winning the war.

10th night of Christmas and Day 10 of the never ending sprouts. Tonight sprout pasta bake. Surely there can't be many more left or many more things left to do with them?!

UK and Britain/British are not interchangable terms. There are parts of the UK which are not Britain. It's also what's written on my passport so I'm quite happy with it.

This is economic illiteracy. There is not a penny being given off energy bills. All they are doing is freezing tax bands to take a load more tax from working people and using a small bit of that to subsidise energy bills. It's an insult to everyone's intelligence.

The Reform County Council Expansion Pack is out now. What’s inside? Higher council tax. Broken pledges. Fewer services.

Thurrock's reason for cancelling an election: "elections would require new relationships to be formed, trust to be built, and a new political consensus". Surely that happens in any election especially a GE? Is this going to be the Government's plan in 2029?!

The ignorant idiot doesn't understand the difference between a geographical term and a country name. It's "Great Britain" because that's what the island is called to distinguish it from Brittany (Little Britain).

The speculation about Essex County Council elections is silly. The statement in the Commons specifically lists ECC going ahead. Not TBA. Not TBC. Going ahead. Unless the Minister has lied to the Commons they are happening along with Colchester City Council as I have always said they should.

Reform’s local government campaigns last year said they would cut council tax. Every council they run is putting tax up. When confronted with this fact, Farage said they didn’t make that promise. But they did.

So far.....I am confident the best is yet to come.

Words I never thought I'd say: "I'll have to cancel Saturday, I'm saying in to watch the Curling"