DAVID Cameron's dear mother is the latest pensioner to go off the Tories, signing a petition urging Oxfordshire County Council to save 44 threatened children's centres.

The Source wonders what Mary, 81, would make of Worcestershire's situation then - where no fewer than 36 have been placed 'under review' at austerity-squeezed County Hall.

* ROBIN Walker spent many a night in the city's Cap 'N' Gown last spring for its highly successful weekly election hustings - but these pub folk are never far away.

One of the boozer's hustings regulars has now landed a top public affairs job with the NSPCC, where she bumped into Worcester's MP in Westminster on Wednesday.

"She told me 'I was the one asking the UKIP candidate a complicated question on international development', and I said 'good'," says Robin.

* IF the Government does launch a compensation scheme for drivers caught in motorway chaos it will be a cup of tea and Robin Walker to thank for it.

Worcester's MP was trying to find the minister responsible for Highways England this week and promptly bumped into the man himself, Andrew Jones MP, in the Commons' tearoom on Monday.

All hail caffeine!

* GREEN Party leader Natalie Bennett is coming to Worcester this Monday to start her electioneering extra early.

What will she make of just how many trees have been hacked down since her last visit?

* DIVERTING a mini-rebellion, Local Government minister Greg Clark has found an extra £416 million for councils - including £5 million for County Hall.

A victory then, for its new leader Simon Geraghty who travelled to London for talks two weeks back despite sporting a stinking cold all the way down.

"It was probably worth the train ticket, I'd say," he tells us.

* NO fewer than 44 local Tory party chiefs around the UK have written to the Prime Minister urging him to 'show us respect' over the EU, but Worcester's Conservative Association is strangely absent.

Its President Andrew Grant is as died-in-the-wool as they come and isn't afraid to have a pop at the PM - as witnessed in 2013 when he famously accused him of being "arrogant" and "confusing children" over gay marriage.

Are they going soft?