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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.
Yes – West Midlands Police have serious questions to answer about their behaviour. But it is not the whole story. You wouldn’t know it from most of the commentary today, but this @TimesofIsrael piece provides important context around the Maccabi issue
Chair @SarahChampionMP has written with concern to Foreign Secretary @YvetteCooperMP over the Israeli Government’s treatment of @UNRWA and other INGOs, which run a range of services for Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Read more: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/98/international-development-committee/news/211214/international-development-committee-chair-urges-foreign-secretary-to-act-over-unrwa-restrictions/
Trump’s coup in Venezuela didn’t just break the rules – it showed there aren’t any. We’ll all regret that | Nesrine Malik
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 …
As we approach the 10 year anniversary of the war in Iraq there is inevitably a great deal of interest, once again, in the issue. I was one of the 139 Labour MPs who opposed the war and voted against the government in the House of Commons on 18th March 2003. The issue had dominated much of the debate – both inside Parliament and across the country – for the months leading up to that …
Over the last year I have been raising the issue of local primary schools being forced – and often bullied – by Michael Gove’s Department for Education into becoming academies. One of the main problems has been a complete lack of transparency, with schools unable to get dispassionate guidance from government officials or even to get them to put information in writing, and …
In recent months I have been contacted by numerous constituents who share concerns over the upcoming welfare reform changes that are being introduced by the government, and how these changes will impact them.
Many Birmingham residents will be affected by the changes. Birmingham City Council have published a guide to the changes, which can be found online here.
Delighted to join Jaguar Land Rover apprentices from the West Mids at @smmt event celebrating #NAW2013 twitter.com/RichardBurdenM…
— Richard Burden MP (@RichardBurdenMP) March 11, 2013
Over 13,000 households in Birmingham will be hit by the government’s new Bedroom Tax.
New figures released by the National Housing Federation this week estimate that 13,315 households in Birmingham – including 1,375 here in the Birmingham Northfield constituency – will be affected when the tax starts in April.
Choosing a care home can often be a complex and stressful process. The Alzheimer’s Society has just produced a useful guide to help those who are in the process of choosing a suitable care home.
You can download a copy of the guide from their website.
Parking has been an issue facing both passengers and residents near Northfield Railway Station for some time. The overspill of vehicles, unable to use the often full station car park, is having a knock on effect on those living in the vicinity of the station who wish to park near to their homes.
As a frequent passenger using Northfield and Longbridge stations, I too share these frustrations.
Pupils of Kings Norton Primary School took part in a sponsored tree planting in Kings Norton Park last week.
The pupils, joined by staff from Deutsche Bank in Birmingham, helped to plant 10 standard trees and several hundred small trees. Local Labour Councillor and Birmingham’s Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, Steve Bedser, was also there to lend a hand.
I have today launched this new website.
I hope you like the new look. If you have any comments please feel to drop me a message.
We are still in the process of switching over to the new site – so please bear with us if there any technical problems in the next few days.
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.
