by Dave Roberts

It had been nicknamed the Old & Sad by-election, but the truth is that the campaign in Oldham East and Saddleworth was neither.

Like many Labour activists, I spent time last week on the streets of Oldham, knocking on doors, delivering leaflets and supporting our candidate. The weather was truly appalling, with relentless rain and persistent fog. During two hours at a rain sodden Moorside Cricket Club polling station early on Thursday morning, I was unable to see the cricket square for even a minute. I looked like a cold drowned rat.

But Oldham wasn’t just fog and rain. I experienced a meat “dinky” for lunch, enjoyed an incredible mega breakfast muffin from the Butty Box and had a fine shepherd’s pie by the fire in a pub shrouded in the ever present fog somewhere on the moors. (more…)