It has been said many times that life often imitates art. With the current Presidential election between Barack Obama and John McCain many commentators are highlighting the similarities between the current election and that in the extremely popular American TV show The West Wing. In The West Wing the election was fought between Matt Santos, a young Democratic outsider from an ethnic minority and Arnold Vinnick an older Republican who was known for going against his own party.

In real life the Democratic candidate Barack Obama is also a relatively young politician with only a few years in national politics, and John McCain is similarily a Republican with many years in the Senate and who is known as being a maverick. It remains to be seen whether the West Wing’s election result, of a Democratic win, and the first ever Latino President will be mirrored in real life with the first ever Black President. This week I will be hosting an event in Parliament with one of the West Wing actors (Ron Silver) who will talk to politicians about the similarities between the two elections and the relationship between the UK and the USA. It promises to be a fascinating discussion.

Readers will be aware of my very long-standing commitment to minimising domestic violence. This has led to me to give enormous support to the Walsall Domestic Violence Forum. I recently said through the columns of this newspaper that the organisation had suffered a reduction of £50,000 (in fact £53,000) in its funding in the 2007-08 financial year.

Councillor Garry Perry, the responsible Cabinet member strongly dissented from those figures. I repeat and stand by what I said. Cllr Perry stated that the original sum of £188,000 (originally all funding was cut) was cut to £165,000 due to what the Council called “a period of reduced activity” by the Forum. I have since found out that during this so-called period of “reduced activity” the Forum received 588 referrals to its three support services (Stepping Stones, SAYA and Crisis Intervention Service), worked with over 160 children and trained over 470 people. I don’t know about you, but this does not sound like “reduced activity” to me.

To maintain the quality of their excellent services many of the dedicated staff had to make personal financial sacrifices. Their finances were further impeded when they were not allowed to claim £14,000 of their allocated budget because of the rigidity of the Council’s budgetary process. Combating domestic violence is a major government priority. Unfortunately the money is not ring-fenced as it should be, leaving too much discretion in the hands of the local authority. With adequate government funding the Council should redouble its efforts to substantially reduce this growing curse.

I would also like to raise the issue of Darlaston Community Science College and the proposed Academy. Over the last week there have been just two opportunities for parents and the local community to take part in the consultation, where they have vocally expressed their grave concerns about the proposed academy, partly due to a lack of clarity and meaningful consultation. I think there should now be an independent vote of the parents to determine what they want to see happen to the school. It is my belief that there are preferable options to academy status, but if the parents choose to move forward with an academy then they should be given all the options including the choice of sponsors and their suitability to meet the needs of the local community.