Tory loyalist WestBromBlogger accuses delegates to the Labour Party Spring Conference in Birmingham of being tight towards the homeless because they didn't buy a copy of the Big Issue on their way in.

Now, I'm sure he is not being entirely serious, and the lad is obviously too new to politics to remember the infamous quote by Sir George Young, the Tory housing Minister who said about rough sleepers... "Aren't they the people you step over when you are coming out of the opera?" Of course, Young was supposedly being ironic too, but his words did serve to emphasise how remote the Tories actually were.

Homelessness, though, as perhaps WestBromBlogger and Young should realise, isn't a joking matter. One of the most impressive pieces of legislation over the last decade has been the Homelessness Act 2002 which places a responsibility on local authorities not only to try to rehouse people when they become homeless, but also to implement early interventions such as family mediation, debt counselling, landlord liaison and other measures designed to try to avoid people becoming homeless in the first instance.

So whilst the Tories keep making fun of homelessness, we'll just get on with dealing with the issue.