Publications

The invasion by Israeli of the Gaza Strip made a very unwelcome start to 2009. As the fulcrum of many of the world’s security problems it does make for a very dangerous beginning to this year and beyond. For myself I believe that Israel’s actions were wrong, disproportionate and will be counterproductive. The invasion I believe has been undertaken for political rather than security reasons. Carefully chosen to occur at year end it precedes a very difficult election for the Israeli government and comes at the fag-end of the Bush administration.

One less well known aspect of the Lottery is how many local and voluntary sector good causes the Big Lottery Fund helps. Mainly under the auspices of Awards for All, many local charities, communities and volunteer groups have gained over recent years through the operation of this funding these monies often been the stimulus and seed corn basis for allowing those recipients to go on and undertake a particular project or complete a facility that would otherwise stay unfinished.

One of the dafter ideas a policy wonk came up with a few weeks ago was to suggest that interest might be charged on social fund loans. To those who do not know social fund loans are those offered by the Department of Work and Pensions to those claimants in desperate need of a capital item such as a washing machine, bed or table and chairs realizing that the recipients have no other way of obtaining these vital household items.

At this time of the year, and particularly now we tend to think of what to do with our leisure time but also what the New Year will bring work-wise particularly against the background of the recession.

One of my earliest memories is being separated from my mother when shopping in Woolworths. I can recall being sat down by some very friendly and helpful staff being given a glass of orange and a biscuit with other staff mounting a search of the staff to find erstwhile panicky parent.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee has just launched an enquiry into food security. As a member of the Select Committee I was one of those who opened up discussions on the investigation in the splendid surroundings of Borough Market, just off London Bridge.

The only downside of Christmas in my opinion is that we all create more waste at this time of year. Clearly one of the adverse aspects of modern material living is that everything comes packaged. This approximately doubles the amount of rubbish we put out for collection made all the worse by uncertainty over collection days.

My younger son has just passed his driving test. Apart from the obvious re-arrangement of priorities within the Drew household this does bring new stresses and strains. Thankfully as befits someone who has worked part-time in a local bike shop for the last eighteen months he remains like me a keen cyclist.

So does the news matter to you? I hope that it does and that you will be as annoyed at me at the decision of ITV to strike £40m pounds off its budget for regional news production.

One of the most annoying letters I receive is the one that starts by saying that charity starts at home and it is wrong to help those abroad let alone the 'undeserving' in this country. I'll let you decide what we mean by the term undeserving but a short list of those would seem to include drug and alcohol dependent, teenage pregnant, and those facing relationship breakdown.