Former
Welcome to my website and blog.
I created it when I was Labour MP for Birmingham Northfield between 1992 and 2019, and most of the posts on here date from that period. A summary of my Parliamentary career can be found here. You can also read a bit more about who I am and what makes me tick here.
I have continued to blog from time to time since leaving Parliament. My posts below also contain links to articles I have written and which have been published elsewhere, together with posts imported from my own Facebook page.
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Palestinian emergency crews say they’re uncovering several mass graves – this, inside the Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza’s Khan Younis on top of several at Al Shifa hospital
If this is true, it would be the most disgraceful example yet of world leaders apparently believing that Palestinian lives don’t count as much as those of other humans..
Israeli military and settler violence is soaring in the West Bank.
This weekend, two Palestinians were killed and 45+ injured.
Settlers set fire to homes and vehicles, and attacked ambulances.
We’ve released pre-positioned emergency supplies to help treat the injured. (1/4)
The Emergency Department at Shifa Hospital had recently been refurbished when I visited last summer – although Israel’s blockade was still depriving it of essential equipment. Now look at it. Utter devastation and a war crime. #CeasefireNOW
Healthwatch Birmingham and Healthwatch Solihull statement on the Culture Review of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) Healthwatch Birmingham and Healthwatch Solihull have for some time been hearing disturbing stories of the toxic staff culture at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB), which we have been raising directly with the Trust and Care Quality...
Visiting the occupied West Bank & Gaza last week, Medical Aid for Palestinians Vice Chair, Shireen Jayyusi and I were at Rafidia hospital in Nablus on Thursday. We arrived just hours after an Israeli military raid on the town in which soldiers had surrounded the hospital overnight. We heard testimony from doctors that tear gas canisters had been thrown through hospital windows by Israeli...
Statement on downgraded Care Quality Commission (CQC) ratings for maternity services at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) In its decision to downgrade maternity services provided by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) at Good Hope and Heartlands hospitals, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has highlighted serious issues which require urgent...
Statement on the Care Quality Commission report into Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust The picture of mental health services under increased pressure in the latest Care Quality Commission (CQC) report into Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (BSMHFT) is reflected in the feedback Healthwatch Birmingham and Healthwatch Solihull receive. Like many...
Healthwatch Birmingham and Healthwatch Solihull are concerned by the findings of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections of Good Hope Hospital and Heartlands Hospital, following reports of patient safety concerns. That the CQC has issued a notice requiring University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) to make significant and immediate improvements to staffing levels at Good...
Statement on the Bewick review into patient safety and concerns at University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) Professor Bewick’s report paints a disturbing picture of serious failings at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) and shows that the allegations made by whistleblowers were not isolated incidents, but the result of a deep-seated toxic culture which contributed to Dr...
Great evening last night at the Guildhall in York where the University of York was hosting a dinner for current and former students union officers as part of the university’s 60th anniversary celebrations. Having been President of the Students Union 1976–77, I was one of the “oldies” there. Lovely to catch up with my immediate successor, Phil Harris (President 1977–78), in person for the first...
It’s 20 years since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. I was one of 139 Labour MPs who opposed the invasion in the key vote which took place in the House of Commons. Six months earlier, I had written directly to Tony Blair expressing my concerns about the course he was taking. The letter is here:
Healthwatch Birmingham and Healthwatch Solihull are extremely concerned to hear reports that the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has been excluded from contributing evidence to the reviews into University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB). If the PHSO has been rebuffed from giving evidence, patients and the public need an immediate explanation as to why and by whom. In relation to the...
Today I am announcing that I will not seek nomination for election again as MP for Birmingham Northfield. As a Labour member living locally, I am also backing Cllr Alex Aitken. My statement is here: I was humbled by the kind words I received from residents when knocking on doors in the recent local elections. Lots of people told me how much they want Northfield to have a Labour MP again, and they...
I’m struggling to take in the heartbreaking news that my good friend, Jack Dromey, has died. I knew Jack for the best part of half a century. I first came across him back in the 1970s when I was a student activist. He was leading action in support of women striking for trade union recognition at the Grunwick film processing company in London. It summed up Jack’s outlook and work ever since...
Celebrity, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. As a lifelong motorsport fan, I have been lucky enough to get to know some of the key figures in F1 over the past twenty years or so and to be at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix most years. Even so, I still get a bit star-struck when I am in the F1 paddock. Part of me still feels like the 13 year old me who was at a Grand Prix for the...
I was Labour Member of Parliament for Birmingham Northfield between 1992 and 2019 and a former Shadow Transport Minister. I now chair Healthwatch in Birmingham and Solihull, and the West Midlands Board of Remembering Srebrenica. I also work as a public affairs consultant. I am an effective community advocate and stakeholder alliance builder with a passion for human rights. I am a trustee of the Balfour Project charity and of Citizens Advice Birmingham, and a former Chair of Medical Aid for Palestinians.
