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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..

Thanks to @mybcu School of Engineering, Design & Manufacturing for hosting me today. Innovation in @ideabirmingham twitter.com/RichardBurdenM…
— Richard Burden MP (@RichardBurdenMP) April 26, 2013
I am pleased to share with you the work that Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children have been doing in partnership with HSBC. A total of £91,000 has been raised which has directly benefitted 92 disabled and terminally ill Midlands children, including my own constituent Stephen. The project has funded a specialist panda chair for Stephen, helping him to sit upright. The family can see a real …
Today I went along to a local care home in the constituency as part of Good Care Week; a UK-wide annual awareness campaign which sees local initiatives come together to create a national presence with which to celebrate and promote excellence in social care and influence Government. It was great to meet residents and find out how important their carers are in enabling and supporting them in …
Met with @ofcom on proposed changes to @itvcentral region. To maximise local impact & reach, must link withbirminghamculture.org/news agenda
— Richard Burden MP (@RichardBurdenMP) April 23, 2013
Last Tuesday (16 April) I attended the launch event for Holocaust Memorial Day 2014. Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) is commemorated each year on 27 January, marking the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death and concentration camp. HMD provides an opportunity for everyone to learn lessons from the Holocaust, Nazi persecution and subsequent genocides (in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and …
Last Friday (12th April) I met with senior representatives of Birmingham City Council to discuss how the City can take up the challenge issued by the Birmingham Commission on Youth Unemployment in January to create at least 1,000 jobs for young people in Long Term Unemployment. The Commission called for a Birmingham Jobs Budget to be set up. Not long after its report was published, people were …
I was delighted to attend the Pride of Longbridge on Saturday. By respecting our community’s heritage, we can help build our community’s future.
I was also fortunate enough to present the prizes with Simon Bennett from Longbridge’s MG Sales Centre for the very first MG CD Racer Competition.
This week is the tenth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war. It may always be remembered as the defining chapter of Tony Blair’s era as Prime Minister. Having been an MP throughout those years I know that the 1997-2010 Labour governments were about so much more. The new hospitals, refurbished schools and National Minimum Wage all bear witness to this. So too does Britain’s leadership in the …
Today – 22nd March – is World Water Day. The day provides the opportunity to highlight the global water crisis and the wider impact it has on education, health, gender equality and peace. During my recent visit to Ethiopia with the International Development Committee I was reminded why clean water and sanitation need to be at the heart of development. They are not just essential needs – they also …
One bit of good news in today’s Budget (read my main response here) was that the government said they are backing Lord Heseltine’s report for a new pilot which will allow the Birmingham area to decide local priorities when it comes to investment in jobs and infrastructure.
Again, though, this will not work properly without the resources to make it happen.
Two hours ago the Chancellor George Osborne finished delivering his Budget Statement in the House of Commons.
However much George Osborne may try to duck or dive to shirk his own responsibility, the facts won’t go away. He is borrowing nearly £100bn more than he planned but the economy is still flat lining three years after he took over.
Last week was National Apprenticeship Week. I was delighted to celebrate the start of the week by attending an event on apprenticeships in the motor industry organised by the Society of Motoring Manufacturers and Traders and Semta. In particular it was great to meet Carolyn Lee and James Doughty, two new Jaguar Land Rover apprentices from the West Midlands. If anybody ever doubted the value of …
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.
