After the excitement of the local elections which saw Labour win five of the seven Reading Borough Council wards in my constituency it has been back to normal for myself and my staff.

Here’s a story you won’t read in any national newspaper. Labour won the local elections in Reading last Thursday and once again bucked the national trend.

I ended the coarse fishing season with two outings in the company of members of the All Party Parliamentary Angling Group.

At the risk of sounding slightly tragic I’m one of the few people I know who will admit to actually enjoying canvassing voters at election time.

I would like to begin by congratulating the Conservatives’ spin-doctors on hoodwinking a number of people into thinking that their Commons motion last week could have prevented some of the post office closures in Reading when in fact the precise opposite was the case.

Last month it was my pleasure to organise and host the 6th National Angling Summit in the House of Commons with new Fisheries Minister Jonathan Shaw MP.

At the weekend I agreed to take part on a Radio 5 Live discussion on MP’s allowances and the funding of accommodation in London through the Additional Cost Allowance (A.C.A.).

I see that the local Conservatives are getting themselves in a flap over the news that it is the Tory councils in Berkshire that are forcing up Council Tax bills by the highest amounts.

There has been a lot of nonsense written in some of the angling press suggesting that the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is intrinsically anti-angling.

The last few weeks have seen some important wins in a number of local campaigns with which I have been involved.