#Lab09

Only two weeks to go till Labour conference (#Lab09 to the Twitterers out there).

I'm speaking at a few events and doing a fair bit of media, and the diary is getting fuller by the day. As is usual at this time of year lots of requests are coming in from campaign groups and lobbyists for MPs to meet up with them at conference. Normally this is quite a useful way to spend Conference, when there isn't actually much of a role for the common or garden MP (the bogstandard MP?) So I'd usually say yes to at least half a dozen, but this year I'm telling them I'll meet up in Westminster after recess instead.

I'll post full details of what I'm up to at Conference a bit closer to the time, but here are details of the Smith Institute programme - I'm speaking on 'How Can we Fix Broken Families?' - and the Channel 4/ Fishburn Hedges 'twinge', both on the Monday night. (And after that I'm speaking at a Dods event for parliamentary candidates, so the tweet-up I'm "organising" might have to start rather late!) I say "organising" - this will involve sending out a tweet saying "we're all in the bar of the Metropole/ Grand now, and mine's a soda water with a tiny splash of lime".

Rather a stellar line-up on the Labour side for the Channel 4 twinge, but where are all the Tory frontbenchers at their conference? Are they too frit to twit?