David MacLean

Remember when city councillor Manish Sood stuck the knife into Gordon Brown back in April? With just 45 hours to go until the polls opened, Sood slammed the leader of his own party. As every media outlet in the country picked up the story, Peter...

City cabinet member Sarah Russell has started a blog. In her first post she says that trying to fit blogging into her hectic day might prove tough, as a mother of two who juggles work and politics. I struggle to update this blog every day and all I do...

He's never short of something to say, but this week John Thomas came out with a line with summed up the crisis facing the city if no new burial ground is created: "If you want to be buried in Leicester, you'd better hurry up and...

Rory Palmer's a charmer isn't he? I turned up to last night's Castle by-election count in my finest overcoat, a new shirt and pair of jeans, and took a seat. "Have you come straight from the boozer David?" he asked. Presumably he was more flattering...

A very naughty councillor, who is clearly a fan of Channel 4's Countdown, got in touch last night. He'd spotted that the name of the Lib Dem candidate in tonight's Castle by-election is (almost) a coalition-themed anagram. Troy Lavers becomes Tory...

A list of Lord Mayor Colin Hall's weekly engagements has just arrived on my desk. Thursday 22nd July: 10:00  -  Lord Mayor & Guests  -  Buckingham Palace Garden Party Stay away from Prince Philip, he'll only be a bad...

On Sunday Lord Mayor Colin Hall used his Twitter account to warn the Mercury to expect a "fiery week". If I was Coun Hall, I'd put a lottery ticket on this weekend, because he clearly has the power to see into the future: On Monday his attack post...

One of my contacts tipped me off yesterday about a development in the pants-down controversy of Lord Mayor Colin Hall. A brief text said simply: "The Lord Mayor ignored advice from civic staff to wear belt. They had even bought him one." I...

It doesn't just happen to international superstars, it happened to our very own Lord Mayor...

Whenever Mohammed Dawood is quizzed at full council he lumbers to his feet with the swagger of a stand-up comic. I often get the feeling that he's one of those cabinet members who has slightly lost sight of the fact that questions at full council are...

I called the press office this morning asking for a copy of the guidelines that councillors operate under when posting to their council blogs. The link to his controversial post now leads to a 404 page. A council spokesman said: "We have...

This week Lord Mayor Colin Hall decided that a motion, put forward by a fellow Labour councillor, was so urgent that it simply had to be added on to the agenda. Adding an urgent item incurs the extra expense of printing and distributing details of...