Publications

The 12th – 21st of March is National Science and Engineering Week. Now I know I have written before that we have weeks for everything, but this is an important one and is worthy of more than passing interest. Co-ordinated by the British Science Association and funded by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills the week provides opportunities for hundreds of organisations and thousands of individuals to participate in science, engineering and technology events and activities across the country.

The week before the half-term recess there was a debate entitled professional football (regulation). Now despite the unpromising title this debate in the parallel chamber of Westminster Hall was of some importance. As the mover of the debate said that that very week three of the country’s clubs were facing winding up orders in the courts, namely Portsmouth, Cardiff and Southend, because of their failure to make the necessary tax payments to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

My father-in-law is a coeliac. Now this is not some religious cult that prophesises the return of an ancient messiah but some one who suffers from an eating disorder brought on by allergy to gluten found in wheat, barley and rye. In his case he is also troubled by oats

This month is scams awareness month. Now I get constituents who come to me regularly who have been victims of scams. They are not alone as it is estimated that nearly half of the UK’s population have been targeted by a scam and every year 3.2m adults fall victim to this deception. The average amount lost per scam is £850, accounting for some £3.5b per annum.

The week before last’s vote on whether there should be a referendum upon electoral reform was both historic and long overdue. Whilst I could be and will be critical over the way in which this debate has been handled and progressed – a referendum was promised in the Labour Manifesto of 1997 and the Jenkins Report is now nearly a decade old.

One of the more horrifying aspects of being an MP is that you come into contact with issues that tend to be out of the public eye but are still of real concern. One that I would mention immediately in this regard is people trafficking

I once studied the philosophy of Michel Foucault the 20th century French writer. Foucault was renowned for his lateral thinking re-evaluating the way in which issues were explored. For instance he remarkably argued that the only sane people were those who actually suffered from mental illness as they had come to terms with their own fallibilities and could therefore rationalise their condition.

There is so much to commend the internet for. As a device for giving quick information, a range of differentiated sources, and immediacy for debate it cannot be beaten. Wikipedia has now become the established means by which you can pick up a biography of individuals that you need to find something out about rapidly. The fact that this is contributed to on a voluntary basis is all the more impressive.

Now for dealing with one of the hot political topics of the moment – the number of pot holes currently afflicting our roads. Clearly the recent bad weather has exacerbated this situation but as both a cyclist and motorist I have learned to travel carefully.

Recently we had an excellent Lobby of Parliament by over 200 RMT members on the subject of Network Rail’s scandalous plans to axe 1,500 jobs in key areas of maintenance.