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| Every week I have a column in the excellent Gravesend Messenger newspaper. You can read them in full by scrolling down the page or by selecting a date from below.. |
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07/04/2009 |
Police on the beat
In the early years of the 19 th century our streets had become so lawless that the then Home Secretary, Sir Robert Peel, came up with the novel idea of a police force patrolling the streets. (more)....
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26/03/2009 |
Harriet’s Law or Ignoring the Law?
Harriet Harman on Fred the Shred’s pension entitlement: “it may be the law but not in the court of public opinion” it reminded me of a passage Bolt's play "Man for All Seasons" (more)....
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19/03/2009 |
28 languages spoken at primary schools
I visited one of our primary school's in Gravesend. My friend who runs it and a very experienced member of staff had entered a House of Commons competition to design a Christmas card to mark the 150th anniversary of Big Ben. (more)....
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12/03/2009 |
Fair Trade at Emmanuel Baptist Church
I cannot believe it is a year ago since I last visited the Fair Trade lunch stop at the Emmanuel Baptist Church on Windmill Street. (more)....
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26/02/2009 |
Rare Diseases
The other day the estimable Karen Harris, who's pilates class I join most Thursday evenings in the Red Cross hall in the Avenue, told me about an event in the House of Commons, to raise awareness of rare diseases. So I took a little time to find out more. (more)....
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18/02/2009 |
Mental Health 2
Last week I touched on the recession and the effects on mental health.
People with mental health problems can be isolated and feel that their views do not count. (more)....
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05/02/2009 |
School Absences
In the autumn, a local primary school got in touch with me to express concerns about children taking term-time family holidays. While family holidays can introduce children to a variety of experiences, (more)....
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28/01/2009 |
Real jobs in the private sector please
Colleagues of mine have asked Parliamentary questions regarding surplus jobs in Whitehall. It turns out that taxpayers are footing a bill of more than £100million for the salaries of nearly 5,000 bureaucrats with no job to do.(more)....
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22/01/2009 |
Royal Mail
Over the Christmas period various people told me that the Royal Mail had asked for extra payment from Christmas card recipients due to underpayment by the sender on larger cards. (more)....
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08/01/2009 |
Depression
Over the next year or so a large number of families in Gravesham are going to get into serious financial difficulties – redundancy, lack of jobs, repossession, eviction. (more)....
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31/12/2008 |
Closure of Woolworths
A couple of week ago I met the management and staff of Woolworths in the town centre to ask whether I could help in any way following the company's impending closure. (more)....
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25/12/2008 |
Xmas/New Year
This year my office is supporting two institutions, the Gravesend Messenger’s Christmas appeal and our local Citizens Advice Bureau. (more)....
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18/12/2008 |
Gravesham could see an expansion of travellers’ sites
Under new targets being imposed by Government, Gravesham Borough Council must provide 15 pitches for travellers with rubbish collection, (more)....
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04/12/2008 |
The professionals are the problem not the solution
Last month saw the tragic death of little Baby P, let’s reflect on who might be to blame. Here in Gravesham family breakdown, (more)....
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27/11/2008 |
2 year olds receiving an ‘education’
Following the government’s announcement that there will be nursery places for all 2-year-olds, I am interested in what my constituents think about education for toddlers. (more)....
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20/11/2008 |
Europe uses world economic crisis to “bury” constitution betrayal
A couple of week ago, ITV’s Tonight programme, where I worked as a reporter for a bit , held a referendum on the EU Treaty in the fair town of Luton. (more)....
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13/11/2008 |
Unintelligible quangocracy speak
You have been kind enough to tolerate me as your MP for over three years now . In that time I have met many lovely people in local government, the NHS, schools and others employed by the state . But sometimes I don ’t understand what they are saying. (more)....
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06/11/2008 |
Planning
I am impressed the council leader has announced a lot more time for consultation over "The Tower" (Gravesend Messenger, Oct 16). (more)....
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30/10/2008 |
The state is set to owe a total of £2,354 billion
My friend, Brooks Newmark the MP for Braintree , has spent considerable time over the past three years researching public debt. He says that the bank bail-out plan could drive the true level of Government debt to nearly £100,000 for every household in Gravesham. (more)....
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23/10/2008 |
Credit crunch
For some time a few people have been saying that the level of consumer debt has become totally out of proportion to the ratio of earnings and this was unsustainable. (more)....
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09/10/2008 |
Kent Air Ambulance tribute
Occasionally, I like to pay tribute to the charities and organisations that make Kent a safer place and one of those is The Kent Air Ambulance Trust. (more)....
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02/10/2008 |
Supporting our fire service.
Our fire crews in Gravesham have threatened to strike in protest over plans to axe emergency control rooms which will see the closure of 46 control rooms to leave just 9 for the whole of the UK. Many of us will be very disappointed if they do. (more)....
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25/09/2008 |
Rights to Justice
Yes, it could happen under new EU laws where Britons tried abroad in their absence will be deported from the UK to serve their sentence. (more)....
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