Policies not personalities

The message for this week at conference is that we are not interested in the personality politics of who the next leader is going to be, but in the policies which will help to take Britain forward and meet the challenges of years to come. Thanks to my implant, I can believe this even despite reading the opposite in every daily newspaper.

Some people do more than just try to persuade sceptical journalists of this message. Anneliese was speaking to a woman last week whose son had been attacked because he had a learning disability. If someone is attacked because of their race or sexuality, it is treated as a more serious offence, but the same does not apply for disability, and there is a wide variation in terms of how different police forces react to what is in fact a hate crime. The best police force is in Kirklees, and it would make a real difference to people's lives if every police force was as good at helping disabled people who are the victims of crime as this force is.

Anneliese promised this woman that she would try to raise this issue, and used the opportunity of a fringe meeting to mention it to ministers and charitable campaigning groups - the people with the power to get things changed. They've now taken this up and are looking at what can be done to improve this situation.

I reckon this conference probably won't resolve who is going to be Labour leader. But it might well lead to a change in the law and how police forces work to help disabled people who are victims of crime. It's that sort of thing that Labour conference really should be all about.