Co-operative Party Conference 2008 takes place in Westminster Central Hall in London next week. Thursday 11 September has a ‘co-operative marketplace’ with stalls and demonstrations from organisations like the Co-op College, Divine Chocolate, Pants to Poverty, CAFOD, Supporters Direct, SERA, Banana Link, CDS Co-operative Housing and the Phone Co-op.

There’s a big line-up of speakers with Ed Miliband, Ed Balls, Dianne Hayter, Andy Burnham, Hilary Benn and Douglas Alexander. Helen Eadie MSP, Huw Lewis AM and Val Shawcross AM will give reports from the devolved authorities and we’ll have fraternal greetings from Michael Leahy of Community and Cath Speight of Labour’s NEC. On Friday and Saturday it’s the turn of delegates to have their say on motions from round the country. On top of all that, we’re having policy seminars towards our next manifesto and a screening of ‘The Great Africa Scandal’ followed by a Q&A with the Co-op and Christian Aid.

The Conference is open to the public. However, on Friday and Saturday, only accredited delegates can take part in debates and vote upon motions. If you are not a delegate representing one of the local Co-operative Parties, access is free but you are requested to register at conference@party.coop, or by telephone on 020 7367 4150.

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Of course the problem now is trying to convince everyone of that.

Of course the easy thing to do is blame the media and tell them to stop making every crime a headline. The reality is that in a market-based economy, reporting news - or at least what they/we think is news - is a business, reporting domestic crime is so much easier and thus cheaper than reporting…well…anything else.

So for as long as newspapers are about profit, can we ever expect a balanced account of what is going on?

Hat-tip: Recess Monkey

For all of you that weren’t just watching Dr. Who: WHAT ON EARTH WAS WRONG WITH YOU! You may think that what you were doing was more important, but believe me, it wasn’t.

The episode had all the marks of a normal excellent Dr. Who story; the death of ALL the last Daleks (like we believe that!), the saving of the WHOLE world (and some others), a seriously cool power for the Doctor’s pal, and (most importantly) we learn something new about the Doctor that he wouldn’t want us to know. We laughed, we cried, we shrieked, we roared and we died a little inside as we watch the Doctor’s despair as he losses another companion (the best ever companion, infact).

So what next for Dr. Who? Well, in the short term, we have a Cyberman episode to look forward to at Christmas and few other one offs. Then a New Exec Producer

So, the question is: Can I wait until 2010 for a full series of Dr. Who?…Well, I’ll have too.

I must thank Mr Davies for bring Dr. Who to life for a new generation - including myself.

Manic knows me so well…

Yes, that’s right Barackas! Two sets for £4!

On a more serious note, I hope for the life of me that Obama doesn’t choose Clinton. His whole campaign has be built on the premise that she isn’t good enough, to basically endorse her for the job next time would be very regrettable.

Worth watching a couple of times.

Oh so the Crewe by-election, well if a 17.6% swing to the Tories from us doesn’t deserve a re-shuffle - what will?

Brown and his staff need to decide whether they want to stand for something and then stand for it. We are all waiting for a whole bunch of juicy policy announcements, please, please, please give them to us!