In My View
Every week I write a weekly column for the Western Gazette entitled ‘In my view’. This provides me with a great opportunity to let my constituents know about the latest issues in Westminster and/or locally.
Archive:
IN MY VIEW
The 2010 Green Flag Awards have just been celebrated across the country with The Milldown in Blandford flying the Green Flag for North Dorset.
Tuesday 3 August 2010
IN MY VIEW
When the House of Commons adjourned for last year's summer recess, the cracks were already showing and badly. It had been a trying time for us all. The MPs' expenses saga had shaken people's trust in politicians. Soaring unemployment was hammering home the extent of our economic mess.
Thursday 29 July 2010
IN MY VIEW
Government, naturally, has a responsibility to look after the weak and vulnerable, and protect us all from threats to our security. But it has other obligations too: obligations to uphold the common good and to protect our values and traditions.
Thursday 22 July 2010
IN MY VIEW
When it comes to health-care, patients must be at the heart of everything. Alas too often they are on the side-lines. For years we've watched in dismay as our health service was driven away from patient-led care and dragged into target-led processes.
Thursday 15 July 2010
IN MY VIEW
As Dorset basks in the summer sun, we're more likely to be focusing on cooling down than warming up. What a lovely change that makes. On days like these, who can begin to think about turning up the heat at home when it's sizzling outside?
Thursday 8 July 2010
IN MY VIEW
Change may be afoot to help projects like the proposed new Shaftesbury Skills Centre. The government recently announced measures to give colleges and training organisations greater freedom to deliver the education that employers want and individuals really do need.
Thursday 1 July 2010
IN MY VIEW
I'm not one for dramatic statements. In a world of breaking news, headlines and hyperbole, there is a tendency to spin stories out of proportion. Events aren't important - they're always 'extraordinary'. A crisis isn't serious - it's 'unprecedented'.
Thursday 24 June 2010
IN MY VIEW
Cumbria has been very much on our minds. Last week's tragic shooting in which twelve people were killed and twenty-five injured, by a lone gunman who then took his own life, sent shock waves around the country.
Thursday 10 June 2010
IN MY VIEW
Farming is key to the Dorset economy and under the last government, British farmers were been treated as dispensable. We have become increasingly dependent on imports of meat, dairy produce and vegetables which we could grow ourselves.
Thursday 3 June 2010
IN MY VIEW
The Queen's Speech this week included the phrase "A Bill will be introduced to devolve greater powers to councils and the neighbourhoods and give local communities control over housing and planning decisions".
Tuesday 25 May 2010