Happy New Year all from the blogosphere, and an intriguing one it looks sure to be in Dudley, writes our Dudley Man Mark Mudie.

Auld Lang Syne was still fresh in the mind as Dudley Council took the wraps off its election year budget ( http://www.expressandstar.com/2010/01/06/jobs-to-go-as-council-cuts-30m-spending/ ), setting up a momentous few months building towards the ballot boxes.

While proposals have been unveiled amid something of a hush in the past two years, with near five per cent rate rises, there was an air of excitement around the latest announcement. It was discernible from the moment deputy leader Les Jones hinted at a less severe settlement for taxpayers  and again when the full detail was revealed.

A couple of factors give Dudley’s spreadsheet added significance. First, it looks like a budget which would win favour with David Cameron and Tory high command. The size of government in Dudley will shrink, with an ambitious programme of cuts saving £30million over three years.

However frontline services are safeguarded. It is a budget straight from the Cameron election mantra, ‘I’ll cut the deficit, not the NHS’ (for NHS here, read bin collections, care for the elderly or roads spending). So, how this budget is received will give an important insight into how Cameron’s message might resonate with a wider audience.

Second, Dudley is an election melting pot, with speculation rife that all four Labour MPs could be swept aside by their Conservative rivals (http://www.expressandstar.com/2010/01/09/tories-look-a-good-bet-in-black-country/ ).

The victims – Gordon Brown ally Ian Austin, minister Ian Pearson, deputy speaker Sylvia Heal and Stourbridge MP Lynda Waltho – would be high-profile scalps and the sea-change from red to blue an indication the Tories were on their way to Number 10.

It is surely no surprise, then, that hot on the heels of a Cameron Direct session in Halesowen the Tory leader has scheduled a visit to Brierley Hill next month. We can expect Dudley to be a focal point for the political jousting of the coming months after the cabinet rubber-stamped the Cameron-style budget. It will now go forward to full council on March 1 where it is certain to attract enemy fire from the Labour benches.

The cynical interpretation of Cameron’s sudden interest in Dudley holds much weight, but it is a position from which some advantage might be gained. For the next few weeks, when Dudley speaks people in high places will listen. So let’s make some noise.

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Against this backdrop Dudley Man has noted a marked increase in correspondence from our Westminster representatives in the past month or so. A flurry of emails, phone calls and even text messages have been coming in from MPs who, if the bookies are to be believed (see above) are fighting for their political lives. Dudley North MP Ian Austin wants his constituents to know he is ‘working hard for you, all year round’. (But particularly at election time, it would appear…)

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Occasionally an event from outside the borough borders will touch this blog such as to merit comment. This month featured such an event, with the death of Sunday Mirror journalist Rupert Hamer in Afghanistan aged 39. His death touches all of us who work in the profession. Serving on the frontline to get to the truth, Mr Hamer died pursuing the highest standards of our trade. We mourn his passing.