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Interesting selection in Newcastle Central on Friday night.

Labour picked as their candidate from an all-women shortlist.

If elected, and thanks to boundary changes the seat is a safer bet than in 2005, she'll be the first black female MP in our region.

She was born in Wallsend and brought up in the Newcastle though has worked away from the area.

Expect some of the losers to resurface in Newcastle North - another all-woman shortlist.

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If you weren't still tramping round Tyneside on the Great North Run, or basking in the unseasonal sunshine, you'd have caught an interesting and lively discussion on the Politics Show about the future of care for the elderly.

It came down to who you believed really.

say there's just not enough money to keep their day care centres open and give older people individual budgets so they can choose what care they want.

Local Labour MP Denis Murphy disputes that and blames the council for cutting back unnecessarily.

The problem is .

The Lib Dems still say they can't afford to keep the centres open, but because they are in a minority in the council chamber, the decision has been blocked by Labour and the Conservatives.

So for the moment, there are day care centres, but no individual budgets.

There'll be plenty of talking to do amongst the parties between now and the next full council meeting.

The question is, can they put political differences aside and come up with a solution.

There does appear to be a real danger that unless they do, more and more decisions in Northumberland will fall victim to politicking between the factions.

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I'm off now to Bournemouth for the Lib Dem conference. Will be blogging daily from there I hope, and you can follow me on .

Sunshine forecast, so might even pack the Speedos* - apologies if I've turned your stomach.

* Other brands of indecently skimpy trunks are available.

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