Labour Peer Steve Bassam kicks off his Conference diary, as the Party arrives in Brighton

Things didn't get off to the best of starts - staring at the television screen yesterday morning, shaking my head in disbelief as Caroline Lucas was given an easy ride by the BBC to peddle her nonsense about the Green Party being the real opposition in the country. Try telling this to the people of our city, suffering daily from the local Greens  willing embrace of Coalition cuts, their (literally) rubbish policies and their generally amateurish approach to running the council.

Anyhow, onto more grown up politics - Labour Conference is back in Brighton. And we were off to a flying start before the first debate, as Ed Miliband announced our intentions to ditch the hated - and hateful - Bedroom Tax, something that has laden so many of our fellow citizens with debts and related worries. This cruel and unusual scheme, designed by the Tories and helped into law by their LibDem allies at Westminster is now a dead tax walking.

My first few speaking events at this year's Labour Conference have been spent at the Youth Zone - a fringe event on Sunday evening and a breakfast session this morning. Throughout, I've had fascinating conversations with young people - not just on the obvious issues of their education and getting a job, but also broader themes, such as transport. All politicians, risk ignoring how our youth see the world in practical terms - they don't just want to get on in life, they also want to get between places easily as well.

Conference is also a great chance to catch up socially with friends - old and new. So on Sunday evening, we had a little gathering at Chez Bassam, with some tasty chilli on offer - including, of course, red peppers rather than green. The latter were past their sell by date.

Steve Bassam, Lord Bassam of Brighton