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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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Real elation that every living Israeli hostage is now free. Even one still held would have continued the nightmare. It carries on for many Palestinians Israel has abducted. I wrote about Dr Husam Abu Safiya in February . Why is he still in captivity?
Last week, our chair @richardburden27 published on his own website some personal reflections about what Remembering Srebrenica has meant for him this year.

Israeli forces are said to have dropped more explosives on Gaza than fell on London, Dresden and Hamburg combined in the Second World War. The level of destruction is hard to fathom as is the humanitarian suffering.
Our Foreign Affairs Correspondent @SecKermani looks at the…
Some personal reflections on what Remembering Srebrenica means in 2025 – for Bosnia and Herzegovina, for the wider world and here in the UK..

A new Pool and Leisure Centre for Northfield. Local consultation meeting with underlines the Choice: Investment by Labour or more dither as Tories refuse to face up to their legacy of eight years of neglect. Read the 10 messages I have taken from this week's meeting.
This morning I went along to the scene of last night’s fire at Northfield Manor. It was so sad to see the former family home of the Cadburys charred and smouldering. Fire crews were still on site, dousing down the remaining hotspots and working with engineers from the City Council to identify what urgent work needed to be done to make the site safe. Outside, and on nearby roads, police officers …
Just three years ago David Cameron praised the SWEET Project for their work in protecting children and families in South West Birmingham, and providing students with practical experience needed for social work. The organisation has helped train over 400 students from 26 universities from across the UK. But now the Government's rushed cuts to social work education are putting that at risk.
On 17 July 2014 there was a backbench debate on the current situation in the Middle East in the House of Commons. Given the number of constituents who have written to me about what is is going on in Gaza I wanted to share the speech I gave that afternoon.
Northfield deserves a quality leisure centre in which local people, young and old can swim, take part in sports and keep fit. People have been telling me this for years. The issue has always been where such a leisure centre should be, how accessible it is and how it can be funded. Unfortunately the story for the past decade has been of short term thinking by Birmingham Council, following by no …
Yesterday Bloor Homes held a consultation exhibition at the Hollymoor Centre yesterday to get residents’ views on their proposed redevelopment of North Worcestershire Golf Course The consultation was more focused on finding out what kinds of things residents would like to see on the site, if it is redeveloped, rather than on whether or not it should be redeveloped at all. So far, though …
Today’s announcement of an £8m+ package to improve transport links in and around Longbridge is great news for the entire South Birmingham area. Longbridge rail station will be upgraded. There will be better passenger information, an improved interchange for bus passengers, and a better environment for cyclists and pedestrians too. The existing park and ride facility is also due for extension and …
I am delighted that the Mahfil Restaurant in Kings Norton has been chosen as one of the 13 national finalists in the prestigious Tiffin Cup competition. I nominated Mahfil after visiting the restaurant earlier in the year, so it is brilliant that they have now made it into the final. The Tiffin Cup is awarded every year by the Tiffin Club of MPs, formed in 2006. The aim is not only to recognise …
Over the past few weeks prolonged works to repair water mains in Northfield has been severely disrupting the high street, and trade for local businesses on it. Severn Trent Water opened up a hole at the junction of Bell Lane and Bristol Road South on the 14th June, after it was found that four leaks in the trunk main supplying water to Birmingham have slowly been eroding the ground underneath …
Today was Birmingham Day in the Houses of Parliament, showcasing creativity in our city with many guests from Birmingham's arts and creative industries.
Even though more than 12 months have now passed since the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) was rolled out by the Government to replace the Disability Living Allowance (DLA), many people are still waiting for a decision on their claim to receive it. Given the importance of this payment, and the positive impact it can have on the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in society, I can only …
It will not be revealing too many trade secrets for me to say that I am not a big fan of the Government’s “free schools” programme. I put that in quotes because I think that a lot of what Michael Gove is doing to education in this country has very little to do with freedom. In many cases, the reverse is the reality. However, one less well known approach to free schools comes from “Alternative …
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.
