So, a new era begins, with a new government, a clean sweep after 18 years of Tory rule.

Somebody wrote in to the Citizen suggesting that if I did not vote then I would not be entitled to comment on matters of a political nature. Utter tosh. However, vote I did, and I watched the General election coverage, complete with the ever so slightly eccentric Peter Snow and his monstrous swingometer creation.

It was interesting to watch the Tory grandees as power slipped from their grasp. Some of the heavyweights who lost their seats and their jobs took the blow in a dignified manner, and so they should have done.

It has been well catalogued since the election that the country was quite simply ready for a change of government, a change of party at the helm. It was needed, it was necessary, and a certain Conservative party spin doctor, appearing on a weekend political programme, acknowledged they had been in power for too long with too many divisions.

As I write this Labour have hit the ground running. There is talk of a half a per cent rise in interest rates for mortgages and lending.

On Bank Holiday Monday the Government's new Minister for Europe, Doug Henderson, promised an end to conflict with Britain's EU partners, and pledged to sign the Social Chapter within weeks, heralding a range of new workplace laws. We will have to wait and see precisely how it all affects us. We all want to see an improved national health service - more intensive care beds would be a start - we want to see more cash for better education, smaller classes, higher standards for the children who are tomorrow's Britain. And we want law and order reforms so that Britain does not tumble into the abyss.

And then there is the news that Blackburn MP Jack Straw is the new Home Secretary. I hope you are reading this Mr Straw. If you have read the Smith column in recent months one theme will have come across loud and clear, the view that there needs to be a crackdown on lawlessness among certain sectors of our society.

There needs to be tougher penalties for those who break the law, and as advocated by yours truly last week, consideration given to measures designed to prevent crime or even the thought of committing a crime.

At the weekend as I went for my weekly shopping trip to the supermarket, I detected an attitude of 'oneness' among the many customers pushing their trolleys. I sensed a mood of contentment about the outcome of the election (it may just have been pure relief that six weeks of 'in yer face' electioneering had ended), but I also sensed a feeling of eager anticipation at what was to come under the Blair administration.

Let's just pray that those hopes of millions of people who voted for a wind of change come to fruition, and that Britain enjoys reforms which make life better, which promise a brighter future.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.