Wayward umbrellas and poor hand-writing - the election trail continues

My promised second part of a council, Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliamentary election-focused blog has morphed into its own feature. But there's still room for the sideways glance - riddled with exposed hypocrisy and campaign blundering - that follows.

A war of words has flared up in the Liverpool ward of Kensington and Fairfield. Labour councillor Louise Baldcock accused the Lib Dems of gutter politics, wasting money and poor hand-writing. She later goads an anonymous poster over the content of the Lib Dems leaflets.

More leafletting troubles in Bristol where Guido Fawkes believes he has exposed a Labour candidate's photoshopped attempt at claiming he was on an anti-Iraq demo to boost his anti-war credentials.

For anyone interested in the minutiae of a council candidate’s campaign trail look no further than Richard Baum, Lib Dem candidate for St Mary's Ward, Bury. Hear how Richard confronts rain and must borrow a wayward umbrella from a councillor. Gasp as he tells of his opinions on luxury flats. And bite your lip along with Richard as he recounts his tale of frustration with Orange customer services.

Over in Wales, I found the true identity of one of Welsh politics' top bloggers is someone I regularly play football with. When I found out I told Blamerbell Briefs it was like discovering the true identity of Superman, while he compared it to discovering your father plays battle games in the attic.

He discovered Education Secretary Alan Johnson had sent a message of good luck to Plaid candidate Carolyn Evans. While it may be put down to an email blunder, it has been suggested a Lab-Plaid coalition may be more certain than political commentators have hitherto revealed.

North of the border, Richard Havers offers a witty overview of the "torrent, flood, surge, and veritable plethora of pamphlets from the political parties" he was confronted with when returning from a couple of days away.

The SNP rounded up 100 business types to agree an independent Scotland would be a more financially stable Scotland. In response, an advert appeared in The Scotsman with a trumping 151 signatures warning against Scottish independence which some have traced back to Gordon Brown.

There is nothing new in political parties seeking endorsement from celebrities and prominent members of society. But sometimes, as Kerron Cross discusses, parties go that extra mile: what would Jesus do?

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

Local elections for local people

While Greg Dyke flirts with Labour’s enemies and commentators debate whether David Milliband’s last denial he would stand in the Labour leadership contest really was last, you could be forgiven for forgetting there are local, Welsh Assembly and Scottish parliamentary elections within two weeks.

As these are the first UK elections in which blogs will have a significant influence, this blog review will take a break from Westminster politics for the next two weeks and concentrate on the grassroots.

Thousands of blogs will be preaching party manifestoes. No doubt interested parties can locate them. But here we show what blogs do best: expose incompetence and/or negligence.

Bad news this week for Lib Dems in Darlington as Labour councilor Nick Wallis reports: “For reasons not yet explained, Cllr. Jones signed the nomination papers of BNP candidate Daniel Brown, who is also standing in the town's North Road ward. As Cllr. Jones also signed the nomination papers of fellow LibDem candidates Mike Barker and Fred Lawton, he was effectively placing his own candidacy in a very curious position!”

Meanwhile, in West Aberdeenshire, A Big Stick and a Small Carrot has done a bit of research and found holes in a local Labour candidate’s campaign.

It was reported the ‘green’ Conservatives scored 0/10 in a Scottish Friends of the Earth green test. Kerron Cross offers his view on the matter: “A cynic would be forgiven for thinking that the Tories' words about caring for the environment are just another cheap gimmick, but I am prepared to be more charitable. But that is probably because I, like everyone else, know the Tories will get very few votes in Scotland whatever they say to us!”

Not only will Shrewsbury be hosting the Shrewsbury cartoon festival this weekend, but as Dizzy discusses, it will also be trialing a new way of increasing voter turnout: “Have just heard that the first electronic console polling station in this year’s local elections will be open on Saturday in a shopping centre in Shrewsbury. Let's hope the system is neither overloaded or loses data.

“Apparently Shrewsbury will also be having text message voting and Internet voting as well. Wonder how long it will take for someone to make allegations of electoral fraud after the results?”

Finally, a chance to see how another of a blog’s best qualities can be used in these elections. Welsh blogger Blambell Briefs has invited questions that he will pass on to four Welsh politicians in a feature he is calling Honest John.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.