Former
Welcome to my website and blog.
You can read a bit more about who I am and what makes me tick here. A summary of the work I did when I was Labour MP for Birmingham Northfield between 1992 and 2019 can also be found here.
The older posts on here date from my time as an MP but I have continued to blog since leaving Parliament.
The opening paragraphs of my blog posts appear at the bottom of this page in reverse date order. The “Read on” buttons take you to what I have written in full. 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.
To view posts on a specific subject, from both during and after my time in Parliament, please click one of the buttons below.
These are the main subjects on which I’ve written. Click here to view the full list of categories.
Here is the link to my Bluesky account, and here is the link to my Twitter/X account. You can also view my Facebook page and LinkedIn profile.
Click on ‘Contact’ below to get in touch with me.
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Chag Pesach Sameach to all celebrating #Passover
Israel must immediately repeal the discriminatory death penalty law passed today by the Knesset, as it contravenes Israel’s obligations under international law.
The United Nations opposes the death penalty under all circumstances. The implementation of this new law would violate
Israel is brazenly granting itself carte blanche to execute Palestinians while stripping away the most basic fair-trial safeguards.
The new law dismantles fundamental safeguards to prevent the arbitrary deprivation of life and protect the right to a fair trial. It further
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 …
#Toryporkies in Northfield 2016 – have a look at this scare story being peddled in Conservative leaflet going out in Northfield at the moment and then read on for the truth. Anyone in the Northfield area remember Conservative campaign here during the General Election last year? Remember the candidate who spent a fortune claiming to have made Kings Norton her home and how much she loved the …
South Birmingham has the lowest bowel cancer screening uptake in the West Midlands with just a 45.98% uptake rate. In fact, I haven’t taken part in bowel cancer screening yet, something which this campaign has prompted me to do.
Some 50,000 teachers quit the profession last year – a record high. This left half of all schools starting this academic year with unfilled positions. Class sizes are rising with over half a million primary school pupils in classes of over 40 and 50. And with no requirement for opening academies where need is greatest, it will be harder to find sufficient good places everywhere. The schools …
You have less than a week to register to vote in the upcoming local elections. Don’t lost your right to vote, registering takes just minutes using your National Insurance Number here: . Every individual now needs to register themselves rather than being registered by one person in a household. Unless you register, you lose your voice on issues that directly affect you, your family and your …
Welcome to my latest Parliamentary newsletter. This covers some of the most recent developments and initiatives I have been campaigning on, including the government’s new local government rules, the No More #BrumCuts campaign and issues within my role as Shadow Transport Minister. Please also have a look at the end of this newsletter where I’ve highlighted people campaigning …
The government must learn the lessons of the collapse of MG Rover. Car-making at Longbridge and steel at Port Talbot and elsewhere are not simply about the economies of those areas. They are about their heritage; about community identity and the prospects for the next generation. A focus on building community resilience was a vital part of the response to the collapse of MG Rover in Birmingham …
The government must learn the lessons of the collapse of MG Rover. By Richard Burden First published in the New Statesman, March 31, 2016 Today, Lewis Goodall is a successful TV journalist. I first met him when he was a pupil at Turves Green Boys School in my Birmingham Northfield constituency, well over a decade ago. He tweeted this week about how the situation facing steelworkers in Port Talbot …
On Tuesday (15 March) I held a debate in Parliament calling on the Government to speak the truth on new anti-boycott rules which many fear represent an unprecedented attack on democracy. The rules, announced last month, by a Government minister during a visit to Israel – without any parliamentary or public scrutiny – aim to ban public bodies including local councils and universities from refusing …
Residents living near North Worcestershire Golf Course who have seen my previous posts or who were at last week’s Longbridge Ward forum will know that I and others have been asking questions about the security of the site. Although North Worcestershire Golf Club remains in existence as the owner of the golf course, it plans to close the site for golf in the Spring. This will be ahead of any …
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.
