As anticipated, speculation has already started up again (did it ever die down?) about a Labour leadership challenge, and the plotters prepare their coded e-mails and try to cajole a candidate to come forward – a credible candidate, that is, not the likes of Charles Clarke or Hazel Blears.

Those New Labour Blairites, still pining for their fallen hero, who have lectured those of us on the left for 30 years about the need for unity and loyalty, are getting frightened. Some of them may have to look for proper work for the first time.

However, if Charlie Faulkner said anything that had a resonance in the last 48 hours it was that the current Labour Party has a feel of the Michael Foot years about it now. There is the impression that Brown has lost any support it had in the media, has lost credibility in the country, and is losing confidence within the PLP. In 12 months time, if I decide to stand again, and I get the nomination (I doubt there'll be a rush) I too go to the polls, probably on general election day. I do so with no illusions. I am already contemplating a blog redesign and a new title when the word 'councillor' is no longer appropriate. Although I am encouraged by Comrade Political Hack who reports Labour doing well last night in Sandwell. But as Enoch Powell is often misquoted as saying, all political careers end in failure.

But this is not about Gordon Brown, and even less about me or my seat, but about those who do need a Labour Government, and who feel let down or disillusioned with what we have done in the last few years. The first two Blair terms gave us the minimum wage, Surestart, a school rebuilding programme and massive reductions in NHS waiting times. The economic crisis, for which Labour must accept its fair share of the blame, and the shocking scandal over MPs expenses, have undone much of that goodwill, and we have to accept that victory next year is looking extremely unlikely.

But if we are going to go down, let's do it with a bang, not a whimper. There are still radical things we can do. We could scrap the Trident renewal programme. The Germans manage without a so-called ‘independent’ nuclear deterrent. We should commit the billions saved towards providing a decent standard of living to our pensioners, and ending the scourge of pensioner poverty. If the Tories attempted to undo it they would pay a heavy price.

Scrap the ID card scheme. It is not only bonkers, but costly bonkers, and I suspect it hasn’t won us a single vote. I appreciate much of the cost will be necessary for the new generation of passports, but it will also be paid by people paying through the nose for their passports and id cards and through their taxes.

The 50p rate of income tax was welcome, but we also need to raise the entry level at which people start paying tax. The minimum wage was a massive boost to those at the lower end of the ladder, and lifting the lower paid out of income tax can do the same.

A meaningful engagement with the trade unions. Not the weak Warwick 2 promises, but a genuine and open discussion about investment in our infrastructure, increased protection for those in work, and maintaining our public services.

Stimulating the economy with a public sector house building programme. Not relying on the private sector for canal-side apartments for young professionals, but building bungalows with gardens for the elderly, who will release houses for families. And house building on brownfield sites, not fancy eco-towns in the green belt.

And finally, Gordon, if you survive… stop the false smiles for heaven’s sake. Blair could do it, he was a natural, he dripped insincerity from every pore. You can't. Every smile looks like the grimace of a man in agony. Those commentators who draw the comparison with Heath Ledger's Joker have got it spot on. Laugh when you feel like laughing, but drop the bloody false smile. This is friendly advice from one who knows. Look at the picture in the top left... my daughter calls it my 'murderer's smile'. Only to be used in emergencies, weddings or holiday snaps.