So day one for the Macmillan Team at Labour Party Conference and it won't surprise you to hear the talk is of one thing - Ed Miliband's election as the new Labour Leader.
As a campaigner for the rights of people affected by cancer the first question you end up asking yourself is whether this is good for the people you represent.
As Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change before the General Election it was Ed's department that pushed through the Mandatory Social Price Support Scheme as part of the Energy Act. The scheme, which is due to come into force in April next year, will make it compulsory for energy companies to support those most likely to end up in fuel poverty.
Given that only 7% of cancer patients are currently being helped by the voluntary scheme we hope it could help more cancer patients in fuel poverty.
However, now there's a new Government in place the scheme may not happen as Ministers look to cut costs through the Comprehensive Spending Review. Here's hoping Ed will back his scheme in Parliament and support the need for particularly vulnerable cancer patients to have access to it.
Ed was also the author of the Labour Party Manifesto which put cancer waiting time targets front and centre as a General Election 'dividing line' with the Conservatives.
Whether this was political calculation or commitment in many ways doesn't matter - Ed knows improving cancer services matters to the electorate. Of course as soon as the coalition Government got in they decided, very sensibly, to keep the cancer waiting time targets as well.
Both political decisions suggest the signs are good that Ed will be a champion for people affected by cancer but, as ever, time will tell...
In other news, I had a very nice chat with Paul Burstow, Lib Dem Minister with responsibility for cancer services, when he visited Cheam Library for Macmillan's World's Biggest Coffee on Friday.
We talked about various things - the Lib Dem party conference he had just been at, his love of his new job, the difference between being in opposition and actually being able to change things in government, the importance of information and support for people going through a cancer experience, and about the need to integrate and coordinate cancer services far more effectively during the very difficult financial times ahead for the NHS and social services.
He was clearly passionate and said some very complimentary things about Macmillan. But what struck me most was that his visit to Cheam Library was the first of three coffee mornings he was attending in his Sutton and Cheam constituency and that he was travelling to each of them on his push bike dressed in a suit and tie.
As he was leaving Cheam Library the heavens opened but he just smiled and stepped out into the pouring rain. That told me as much about his commitment to improving the lives of people affected by cancer and his support for Macmillan as our conversation had done. Sometimes actions speak as loud as words.
Let us know if your MP was equally heroic in his or her dedication to get to a Macmillan coffee morning on Friday.
