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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.
This feed refreshes intermittently. Please log in to X (Twitter) to view my newest tweets in full.
Disgusting desecration and destruction of Commonwealth War Graves in Gaza .
Having visited the cemeteries in Gaza myself and met the Palestinians who care for them, the enormity of this feels personal for me https://richardburden.com/2024/11/gazas-commonwealth-war-graves-remembering-the-past-and-facing-the-present/
Israel has killed at least 71,662 Palestinians and injured at least 171,428 since the beginning of its genocide in Gaza.
Our Chair, @RichardBurden27 , was proud to represent @RemSrebWestMids at the @HMD_UK Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration in Birmingham yesterday #RememberYesterdayActToday
This week's figures showed a small fall in unemployment in both in my Northfield Constituency and across Birmingham are welcome. But behind the figures we see the chronic levels of long term youth unemployment in the area continuing to rise. More and more people under the age of 24 have been out of work for over a year. That's where my Climb Project comes in - both to help address some of the …
I’m delighted to have been appointed by Ed Miliband to Labour’s Shadow Transport Team with responsibility for, amongst other issues, roads and road safety, motor agenices, cycling and future transport. Former Shadow Ministers Jim Fitzpatrick and Yvonne Fovargue did a fantastic job in raising automotive and local transport issues up the agenda, and I am excited to be building on these campaigns. I …
I have recently submitted evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee inquiry into the "educational underachievement of white working class children." Four years after I first raised this issue there remains a severe gap in educational achievement between poor and better off white children – and not enough action taken on the problem. I’m therefore very please the Select Committee have …
Despite the fact that 1 in 4 British adults experience at least one mental health problem every year, there remains a huge reluctance to talk about mental illness. A recent report by the charity Rethink Mental Illness revealed that over a third of the annual 100,000 ‘avoidable deaths’ in the UK are amongst people with mental health problems. This highlights the urgent need to tackle this stigma …
It’s been quite a September for MP's - and locally in Birmingham Northfield. At the Party Conference in Brighton, Labour set out how we will build a new future for Britain in 2015. Locally, you may have also heard that Deloitte were fined £14 million for failing to act in the public interest in the advice they gave to MG Rover and the Phoenix Four. I’m calling for part of this record fine to be …
I am very pleased to announce the publication of my mid-term constituency report. Over half way through the 2010-2015 Parliament I’m delighted to share what I have been doing to fight for a fair deal for Northfiel - my pledge for the 2010 General Election - and to let the people of Northfield know about my campaign for the area’s Climb to the Future.
This week I received a great welcome at Birmingham’s newest ambulance hub at Hollymoor Way in Northfield, which has been operational since July. During my visit, I saw the training facilities and the fleet garage where mechanics carry out servicing and repairs to front line ambulance vehicles – as well as the new management offices and rest rooms for staff – first hand.
Amongst the meetings and speeches I attended at last week’s Labour Party Conference, I got to see the fun side of things by playing some mini golf!! This was for a good cause of course – to raise awareness of the Guide Dogs’ Streets Ahead campaign which aims to help keep our streets free from clutter.
The Government’s announcement that Royal Mail will be floated on the Stock Exchange in the next few weeks will come as a disappointment to the many local people who have written to me recently opposing this sell-off. Ministers are pressing ahead with a politically-motivated sale of a cherished 372-year old institution to fill holes in the Treasury’s coffers which have been aggravated by the …
I was recently asked by the Fabian Society to answer a simple question – why does it matter? What difference would a Labour Government make?
Over recent years I’ve spoken to many local people in Northfield who are struggling to find work, and many more who are struggling on low pay or feeling increasing insecure and in their jobs. Nothing is more symbolic of this in-work vulnerability than the rise of “zero-hours” contracts.
I have recently received lots of signatures to a petition opposing the Revised EU Directive on Tobacco Products, set to be adopted in 2014. I think it’s important – given the amount of time and money spent by tobacco company's to oppose this policy – that some concerns surrounding the Directive are clarified so people can have a balanced debate about the issue.
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.
