Ellee Seymour

When I asked readers last month to estimate how many MPs wrote a blog, those key people at the forefront of our democracy, the answers revealed a total lack of awareness.

There were estimates as high as 300, when the truth is closer to 40.

I would now appreciate it if you could answer five speedy questions on my survey  about MPs and blogging. The responses will be used for my research project about MPs and political blogging. I believe it is the first project of its kind which focuses on their two-way communication and I would like to thank MPs who participated in my SurveyMonkey questionnaire. I have had a 25% cross-party response and the answers are most illuminating.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR PARTICIPATING.

I will share my findings with you in due course.

P.S. Many thanks to social media supremo Neville Hobson and Ross Ferguson,  Director of the Hansard Society’s e-Democracy Programme, for their advice on my methodology. It worked!

If only that was all it took for a happy marriage - choosing a date with a triple row of magical 7s to tie the knot.

When covering numerous golden weddings as a cub reporter, I always asked the secret of their wedded bliss and the answer was invariably the same - you have to give and take.

Of course, most women knows this means that we do the giving and the men do the taking!!!

Anyway, let’s wish Desperate Housewife star Eva Longoria and hubby to be Tony Parker all the very best when they tie the knot tomorrow, along with thousands of other superstitious couples desperate for wedded bliss. I suppose starring in such a show has made her desperate not to leave anything to chance.

At the end of the day, there are never any guarantees, it’s not luck that counts, or a row of of triple-7s, but commitment, mutual respect and kindness to each other - plus the ability to throw in a few surprises to thrill and exhilarate.

Long live love, long live marriage.

It’s all very well for the government to say today they will give thousands of students more grants from September 2008 - and yes please - but my concern is whether David will be offered a place of his choice at university.

After visiting two unis in the last week, we were told both days that applicants far exceed the places available - by as much as 10-1 on the economics course at Nottingham.

At Leicester, the tutor making the business studies presentation had a very cavalier attitude and kept stressing that they have 500 applicants for 100 places - and then he shocked me by saying only 20% of those places would be offered to UK students - the remainder went to overseas students.

And I hope David will be eligible for some of those grants too because he is totally self-financing himself and presently has two part-time to save up for it.

So lets see how we get on today when we visit the University of East Anglia in Norwich. David is keen on it and it comes highly recommended by my my sister’s boyfriend’s daughter who studied there recently and loved it.

She told us not to be put off by the concrete buildings, to wander down by the river to see it at its best. The uni is putting a salsa band on and some of David’s friends are joining us for the campus trawl, so we should have some fun, as well as being able to bounce ideas off each other.

Good luck to James Tumbridge at Monday’s open primary where hopes to be selected as Conservative parliamentary candidate for Waveney, which has a Labour majority of less than 6,000. There are three other finalists contesting the nomination.

You may remember that last October, James made a dramatic transatlantic dash back to the UK after flying to Canada to take part in the finals for Mid-Norfolk, but was unsuccessful. It was all the more incredible because he was originally standing against 18-A listers, which he was not included on. It seemed like a David and Goliath battle - and James more than excelled himself.

Barrister James has East Anglian roots and says:

“I’ve been very fortunate to work all over the world, but my heart always draws me back to East Anglia. Growing up on the Norfolk/Suffolk border I have always had a love of our region and that is why I’m so pleased that Waveney Conservatives have given me the honour of asking the local people to choose me as their candidate for the next election. “

I worked with James during the last general election campaign when he stood as a candidate in Norwich North, I know how committed and dedicated he is, that he is a thoroughly decent person and would be a great asset for Conservatives - and Waveney.

Katrice Lee vanished in 1981, on her second birthday, during a visit to the Naafi shop on an army base at Paderborn, near Hanover.

Her parents, Richard and Sharon, still cling to the belief that she may be alive. The computer-modified picture, showing Katrice as she might have looked in the year 2000 as a 21-year-old. She is now 28. Her mother said:

“As a family, all we want is an answer. We believe she may have been abducted and brought up by another family as their own. When she sees this picture she may realise it is her.”

Her parents believe that was abducted and could have been brought up in Germany or Britain without knowing her true identity. A £10,000 reward was offered for her safe return. Thousands of posters with her computer image were distributed across Britain and Europe, but provided little new information

Her sister also renewed the appeal saying:

“PLEASE CONTINUE TO REMEMBER HER, HELP ME TO KEEP HER CASE HIGHLIGHTED IN THE MEDIA, SHE HAS BEEN THE FORGOTTEN GIRL FOR NEARLY 26 YEARS! THANK YOU.”

In memory of those who are still missing.