I am back from canvassing in Walverden ward in Nelson. We have a big team out and cover a lot of ground in no time.

The reception isn't bad. As we are finishing, a man calls me over to his garden gate.

He is upset that so many criminals are being released from jail early. We should be sending more people to prison. And what about crime? It is completely out of control!

I listen attentively and take each point in turn.

I gently tell him why he is wrong on all counts but he is not listening.

I tell him the judges sentence the convicted, not the Government. I tell him the prisons have never been more full (unfortunately) and that each prisoner costs the State over £40,000 a year to keep them warm and well fed and out of our hair.

Then I point him to the Lancashire Police Authority website which tells us that crime in East Lancashire is 15% down on last year. And that some categories of crime are down to the level last seen in the 1970s.

He says the figures are all phoney and he doesn't believe any of them.

I tell him to look at the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary site.

No. Phoney too.

Well, if that's the case, you are not going to believe anything I say either so continuing this conversation is, for both of us, totally pointless.

Good afternoon.