Welcome to my latest Animal Welfare Round-Up. I send these out every two months so I can update you on the action I’ve been taking on animal welfare issues that many of you get in touch with me about.You can find my previous AWRUs on my website. __________________________________________________________ Animal Welfare Codes U-Turn Since my last AWRU, the government has announced and then u …
Whilst debate about the EU often focuses on the economic and political advantages, I wanted to put the spotlight on the EU’s largely overlooked role in improving the lives of animals. Over the past 25 years the EU has been responsible for improving the quality of animals’ lives and preventing cruelty. The bar has been raised not only in Britain but across all member states.
Today I put questions to the government about the BBC alongside fellow Birmingham MP, Steve McCabe. This is ahead of the government publishing a ‘white paper’ tomorrow on the BBC’s future. I urged the Secretary of State to address the issue of the BBC not providing fair shares of investment and operation to the midlands. I also suggested that moving the Channel 4 headquarters to Birmingham would …
Some years ago I was approached to become a “Guardian of the Memory”. Established by Yad Vashem, the world centre for Holocaust research, the idea is both simple and powerful. There were 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. 1.5 million of them were children. The Guardian of the Memory project recognises that each one one of those who died has a right to be remembered by …
So the trial is now over. Kandyce Downer has be convicted of the brutal murder of toddler Shi-Anne “Keegan” Downer and sentenced to life with a minimum term of 18 years. It is now vital that the Serious Case Review set up by the Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board gets to the bottom of what happened in the months leading up to Shi-Anne’s tragic death. Were any warning signs …
Leave campaigners have been trying to tell us for months that if we leave the EU, everything will carry on as normal and there will be nothing but sunshine. When visiting the UK last week, US President Barack Obama told us it isn’t as simple as that. No surprise then that the same Leave campaigners went into overdrive about the US bullying us and that this was an unreasonable intervention …
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.