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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This, from Will Hutton in the Observer today, is well worth reading
Privileged to be at very moving @RemSrebWestMids Memorial Breakfast at @YMCANS in Stoke-on-Trent on Wednesday. Probably my last time speaking as WM Chair. Thanks to all for your support over past three years #YMCANS
“A reset of UK policy towards Israel and Palestine by Andy Burnham will demonstrate his values and help earn him public trust.”
Birmingham City Council have invited me to submit my thoughts to the Connectivity & Sustainability Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Inquiry into the Green Waste Collection Service. I have been raising concerns about the changes to the green waste collection service with the City Council since early this year. I have therefore been grateful for the opportunity to submit my comments …
Alongside the Labour MP for BirminghamEdgbaston, Gisela Stuart, I'm inviting local mums to join a discussion group at ASDA in Barnes Hill between 1pm and 2.30pm on Friday 5th September.
The discussion is part of Asda’s ‘Mumdex’ project, which allows mums talk about an issue that is having an increasingly significant impact on family life – the rising costs of living.
This alleyway in Longbridge became a dumping ground for old fridges and a lot of other things and was a safety hazard, particularly for local children. I was pleased to work with local Labour Councillor, Andy Cartwright to get it cleared this week. You can see some “before and after” photos here. Fly-tipping of rubbish, whether of old fridges, household rubbish or garden waste is …
Nobody can fail to have been affected by the TV images that we have seen of Yazidis stranded without shelter on Mount Sinjar in Northern Iraq. The brutal persecution of Yezidis, Christians, Shia Turkmen and other minorities by The Islamic State Group (formerly known as ISIS) is nothing short of horrific. So too is the totalitarian rule they are imposing on the areas they currently control. A …
Responding to the expiry of the ceasefire on the 8 August 2014 Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Britain-Palestine Richard Burden MP said: “The expiry of the latest ceasefire means that civilians will once again be those who will suffer most. Those in Israel will again take to shelters from rockets, and those in Gaza will again have nowhere to go which is safe from missiles and …
Richard Burden MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Britain-Palestine sets out what the international community must to do to stop carnage continuing in Gaza.
This week marks 100 years since the outbreak of the First World War. On the 4 August 1914 Britain declared war on Germany and entered a conflict that changed our country forever. The centenary anniversary is a unique opportunity for us to think about the profound impact the war had on our society, to commemorate those who served and sacrificed for us on the frontline and the home front, and to …
As Parliament breaks for summer recess it’s certainly not been a quite couple of months. This month's update contains updates on the recent fire at Northfield Manor, the sad passing of former Police and Crime Commissioner Bob Jones and the election for his successor, and the choice over the future of Northfield's leisure facilities. In towns and cities across the world – including here in …
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.
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.
