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nick you must have" tragedy" on your mind.no surprise in this outcome,however what is clear is the public are again voting on policy and aint that better than the humdrum pattern of new labour in new suits

I think its all very Et tu Brute' with a smug smile !!

Norwich has been telling 10 Downing Street what it needs to do for some time, if he'd listen and lead!.

1) Invest in MBT+AD, Plasma Gasifiers, Autoclaving and Zero Waste projects rather than waste billions on unsustainable and inefficient waste EfW incinerators.

2) Climate Change is going to have servere reprecursion and carbon reduction is vital; more than the government can commit to.

3) We need to invest more in science, earth sciences, technology and engineering.

4) We need more Eco Towns, but the government is blocking ex RAF Cottishall proposed Eco Town development with a Cat C prison proposal, C/O J Straw, too far from London anyhow.

5) We need to use solar and wind microgeneration with a bottom up approach rather than a Brown top down thinking. Unit prices need to be pushed down via mass production and competition, VAT removed at EU level, planning made easier, grants made more and more easily accessable.

6) If new eco and affordable homes are proposed in a growth point areas; lets have the parrallel investment in infrastructure - schools, libraries, post offices, hospitals, improved rail capacity and speed, sustainable high quality jobs, GP surguries, community centres, recycling facilities

Unlike most other council face-offs involving the 2 main parties, the Green/Labour coalition in Norwich seems to lack a lot of the petty rivalry that politics usually focuses on, instead of bothering to do the job that the taxpayers are paying them to do.

And it shows. Over the last few years I've seen huge amounts of visible infrastructure and road improvements across the city, turning traffic-cramped grey pavement nightmares into large open public spaces with plenty of trees planted. The city centre environment is much nicer to walk through and live in now that new carparks and park-and-ride schemes have taken the weight off previously traffic snarled streets.

Oh, and we've also got city-wide wi-fi access. :) As a local, I'm probably biased, but I really do see the place as a model futuristic city, and am shocked at how neglected and filthy some other cities are in comparison.

Personally, I'd like to see Charles Clarke as PM, but from what I've heard, westminster sickens him somewhat. I can't blame him, it certainly looks like people like him are the ones doing all the real work while their superiors (in all parties) play punch and judy in parliament.

I think Charles might be looking at this defeat as a way of setting things back on track. Labour has good fundamentals and the grassroots of the party are still doing a lot of good work, but the nepotism and petty rivalry in westminster has ruined it's credibility.