Blog
Government urged to review family law and secret courts
I was invited to attend the a parliamentary meeting regarding family law last week, but was unable to attend. Sam Smith went and has contributed the following report - and concludes that much needs to be done to overcome secrecy regarding family court hearings. Guests...
Why don’t we support young people?
I remain convinced that the tripling of university tuition fees is regarded as an easy option for government to recoup funds towards the deficit, that today's brightest young people are being unfairly targeted. I was also unconvinced by Danny Alexander's defence of...
Disgraced former MP David Chaytor admits expenses fiddle
At least disgraced former MP David Chaytor will be home for Christmas as he faces jail in the New Year after admitting thee charges of falsely accounting his Parliamentary expenses totalling just over £20,000. It carries a sentence of up to seven years, though...
Russia 1, England 0
Russia is desperate to prove to the world that it is a new nation which has shrugged off its past reputation, though there are still no answers about the mysterious deaths of Alexander Litvinenko and Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. Why did FIFA turn a blind eye to...
Abbeyfield’s mission – caring for the whole person
This is a video I produced of Abbeyfield's launch of its future housing strategy for elderly people, driving forward its mission to combat loneliness. Chief Executive Paul Allen explains that their goal is to care for the whole person - "their body and soul" - and the...
Who is Labour’s WikiLeaks “bully and sex pest” ?
Lots of names and embarrassing detail is gloriously published in the Guardian's WikiLeaks exclusive today. Yet the blushes have been spared of a Labour minister who was forced to apologise for sexual harassment and described as a "bully". The newspaper is witholding...
A brief encounter with Michael Crick
My pulse rate increased when I spotted Newsnight's terrier Michael Crick sitting a few inches from me in a Westminster coffee bar. I was passing time there as I was early for an event in the House of Lords to promote Abbeyfield's future care home strategy in the UK,...
Tuition fees and student unrest
My grave concern about tripling university tuition fees is that it is a flawed business plan. A bank would not lend thousands of pounds on the pretext that it might be paid back ONLY IF the students secures a job with a salary of £21,000. With the proposed changes...
David Ruffley’s neighbourhood coalition
We all know you can choose your friends, but not your neighbours. It means that suddenly the Lib Dem and Conservative coalition has a whole new meaning as Tory MP David Ruffley has inadvertently moved next door to his former Lib Dem parliamentary rival David Chappell...