First Past the Post causes a lot of distortion. For all the noise a few things to remember;
Reform only got 31% of the vote.
Conservatives wouldn't need a vast swing back from Reform to be back as a major player at a county level
Greens, Lib Dems and fascist GYF have very concentrated power bases but less popular than tories at county level.
We need electoral reform
Someone needs to fill out the same table for the city election - please don't make me pass to the dark side and become a wikipedia contributor.
So, I have been landed with the task of finding a traditional norfolk cake recipe.
I am struggling with this, most of the foodstuffs Norfolk is known for seem to be on the savory side, less on the sweet side. Odd given how much sugar is produced here.
Recipes on various websites seem to lean into wartime rationing such as vinegar cake - using vinegar to react bicarb to allow you to have a fluffy cake with no eggs.
Anyone know where to direct me?
Thanks
As we keep getting questions about the election, here is a list of relevant links and information for the election.
General Information
Elections 2026 | Norwich City Council
This page has the list of candidates for your ward, the key dates for the election and instructions on where and when to vote.
How to vote in person at an election | Norwich City Council
The detailed instructions for in person voting, including how to find your polling station.
The details above cover both the City Council elections and the County Council elections. The City Council elections cover 1/3rd of the seats on the City Council. All County Council seats are up for election.
Your City Council Ward is represented by 3 councillors, in most cases only 1 is up for election at the moment. There are a couple of special elections with more than 1 up for election such as Wensum Ward.
Your County Council Division has the same boundary as your City Council Ward, as is represented by a single councillor. In some cases the same candidate is put up for both (For instance in Bowthorpe the Greens Amber Smith is standing for both city and county), in other cases the candidates are split (For instance in Bowthorpe Reform are standing Joe Skipper for County and Nick Taylor for city).
What each council does
County Council - Adult Social Care, Children's Services inc. those schools that are not academies, highways, transport, museums, flooding, environment, waste disposal.
City Council - Planning (including the Local Plan that acts as our wider urban development plan), Housing & homelessness support, Waste collection, manages public parks and spaces such as the market, and for historical reasons is a Port Authority and obliged to hold a cattle market.
Future
The current plan is for both Councils to be abolished by around 2028, and a new Unitary authority covering Greater Norwich will take over all of these responsibilities
What neither council does
Decides where to house refugees, manages borders, determines if Keir Starmer will be Prime Minister.
Party Manifestos
There are 5 main parties standing in Norwich. I have not looked into any independents in some seats. These Parties are Conservative, Green, Labour, Liberal Democrat, Reform.
Conservative County Manifesto -> Conservative Document_compressed.pdf
Conservative City Manifesto -> Can't find one - anyone does I will add Link
Green County Manifesto -> Norwich Green Party: Our County Council Manifesto 2026 - Norwich Green Party
Green City Manifesto - Norwich Green Party City Council Manifesto 2026 - Norwich Green Party
Labour County/City Manifesto - I am struggling to find an actual document, but they have published this facebook post that covers both elections - 🌹 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗶𝗰𝗵: 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹... - Norwich Labour Party | Facebook
Liberal Democrat County Manifesto - Norfolk_Liberal_Democrat_Manifesto_2026.pdf
Liberal Democrat City Manifesto - Best I can find is this list of Norwich Candidates - Local Elections 2026: Lib Dem Candidates - Norwich Liberal Democrats
Reform Manifesto - Reform, like their spiritual predecessor UKIP, have explicitly not published a local manifesto. They claim this is down to needing a financial review. This is a questionable claim - the accounts are public and the budget setting process is public.
If your kid is 2 lessons in and can only manage the famous bit from ode to joy then that is good - have at it - let them play badly -all good.
Just smacking the keys? Teach them they are not centre of the world please.