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.
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Click on ‘Contact’ below to get in touch with me.
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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
Last week saw an end to the long and sad saga of the MG Rover trust fund.
It is now more than seven and a half years since the Phoenix Four made their promise to set up a trust fund for former MG Rover workers, when the company closed in 2005.
After seven and a half years of waiting, the money – initially anticipated to be in the millions – has never appeared.
This week the United Nations General Assembly is expected to vote on upgrading the recognition of Palestine at the UN. Today I have written an article for the Huffington Post calling on the UK government to support Palestine at the UN without preconditions. “Proper recognition of Palestine by the UN General Assembly is not the same as peace in the Middle East, but it is a step on the road …
The International Community must press for an immediate ceasefire, not only “restraint”. My article in the Huffington Post today is online here. You can also help the people of Gaza in a practical way by donating to Medical Aid For Palestinians’ emergency appeal online here. See more about MAP’s work online here. Gaza: Leaders play to the Gallery, the innocent suffer but will the …
There have now been hundreds of delays and cancellations of London Midland services in the West Midlands because of driver shortages in the last few weeks. Last week, on Tuesday alone more than 60 scheduled train services were cancelled or altered. Why has London Midland suddenly found themselves in the position of not having enough drivers? All companies experience turnover of staff but …
Today’s announcement by Ford is a real blow for Southampton and is a sad end to more than 100 years of Ford vehicle assembly in Britain.
Ford have been in Southampton since they acquired a factory in 1953, first used to assemble Spitfires in World War II, and it has been the home of the Transit van for the last 40 years.
Elections for Police and Crime Commissioners will be taking place in three weeks time on Thursday 15th November.
Today Ed Miliband launched Labour’s campaign for the elections at Deepdale Stadium in Preston.
Read Ed’s speech online here
There have now been countless delays and cancellations of London Midland services in the West Midlands because of driver shortages. Today alone more than 60 scheduled train services have been cancelled or altered.
Why has London Midland suddenly found themselves in the position of not having enough drivers? All companies experience turnover of staff but presumably that should be planned for.
I was delighted to join Councillor Peter Griffiths to open the new sauna at Northfield Leisure Centre earlier today.
You can find out more about using the centre online here.
At the Labour Party Conference this week Ed Miliband talked about how the economy is not working for ordinary people, about increasing costs and the squeeze on people’s living standards. About how we need to build a One Nation economy that works for all of us, not divide the country between the richest and the rest. The reality of parents unable to feed their children is one of the starkest …
A quick video from the Labour Party Conference in Manchester, where there has been a great reaction to Ed Miliband’s speech.
Will you be a Labour +1 to help make Britiain a fairer place and change things for the better?
Many primary schools in Birmingham have been facing pressure from the Department for Education to become academies, whether or not they wish to do so. I have written about this online before here and here. One of those schools was West Heath Primary School in my constituency. This week the school found out that the Department for Education has decided not to continue the forced academy process …
Over 60 British MPs from across seven political parties have signed a parliamentary motion supporting UN recognition of Palestine.
The MPs signed the motion after the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared his intention to ask the UN General Assembly to recognise Palestine as a non-member state when the General Assembly meets between 24 September and 1 October.
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.
