All about Karen

After getting to the end of Labour News, I was running low on patience with Karen Jennings and Labour, but the second item I've received from them is less irritating.

This one focuses on Karen herself, and, would you believe it, the content is mainly positive. Dull, yes, but positive.

She kicks off talking about Labour's handling of the recession, about how she's supported "job-boosting measures and extra help for families, businesses and home owners". It's all very vague, of course, and she's appealing to people's trust in Labour as competent administrators rather than people who might have any kind of vision or principles. But she doesn't get bogged down in taking pops at The Other Guy, which is what I'm judging her on.

The next page, headlined "My priorities for Hornsey", puts her in the lead so far. My doormat and I currently don't know what the other parties' priorities for Hornsey are because they haven't got round to telling us. Again, it's very vague, but at least Karen's trying. She tries to pin it down using the word  "guarantees" four times (of jobs for the young, police response times, education standards and NHS treatment standards), although to me this sounds like the centralised targets that New Labour have become so notorious for.

Then she lists "local achievements", and again it's positive in an innocuous sort of a way - campaigning for education funding, supporting voluntary organisations, yadda yadda. The only example that could really be described as taking a stand is that she opposed lap-dancing clubs in Woodside and Crouch End. There - now we know something about her.

Verdict

Well done Karen, you barely mentioned the other guys once. But next time let's have more specifics.