You need to face your most ardent critics and explain your reasons. Ignoring them, only makes things worse and raises tempers.
There is an unwritten rule that divided parties do not win elections. Over the last 18 months or so, there has been open rebellion within the Conservative Group.
A fresh face can be distinctive, and you can bring qualities that will make you stand out from the crowd. This can be reflected in areas like your social media activities and constituency work.
The Commissioners have restored good order. But they have failed to tackle profligate municipal spending and the high Council Tax burden on residents that results from it.
Some of my ideas have come about and others haven’t, but it’s more than a whimsical simile that local government turns slower than an oil tanker.
The tally of candidate nominations offers some encouragement for the Conservatives, with the low number from Reform UK. But an anti-Conservative electoral pact in Waverley may be a source of anxiety.
Even the software we are given to create leaflets is years out of date, not even allowing collaborative working across toolkit accounts. Would it really hurt CCHQ to make our lives a little easier by giving us up to date systems?
When asked which tier of government they trusted to bring about pride in their area, two-thirds of people opted for their district council.
There could be an appeal to allow the new Embassy. What we do know is that the local community will not give up their fight to protect their local heritage and resist turning an iconic location into a possibly armed compound.
More integration between police forces and elected representatives would help fix the broken community reporting system that leaves victims feeling helpless and isolated.
Rather than a gimmicky new layer of Government it would have been better to adopt a more localist approach of handing powers to existing local authorities.
These plans are hasty, pricey, dishonest about the issue they claim to be tackling – and seem to be mainly about suppressing the non-Tory vote.
Despite living, working and paying taxes in the UK, close to 1.5 million residents are shut out from the local democratic process because they were born abroad in non-EU and non-Commonwealth countries.
Too often the process ends up keeping the incumbents happy, but we risk losing elections due to a lack of rigour.
As a council candidate, I used to keep my head down. But if I stand again I will be loud and clear: we need more homes more than to protect every inch of the green belt.