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.
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These are the main subjects on which I’ve written. Click here to view the full list of categories.
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Roy Hattersley was a fellow Birmingham MP and a key figure in Labour for decades. We came from different wings of the Party but I always knew he was someone who never lost sight of the bottom-line principles that made him Labour. RIP
Let’s call out what happened in Belfast last night for what it was – a pogrom. What a contrast with the hugely dignified response of Stephen Ogilvie’s family. Total respect for them as they face such an ordeal after the horrific attack on him.
Abolishing patient watchdog leaves NHS ‘marking own homework’, councils warn
In otherwise wide ranging interview with Health Secretary, James Murray, regrettable that @BBCr4today didn’t ask why the new Health Bill, to be debated today will scrap independent patient and public voice in health &social care. Here’s why govt is wrong
I have just returned from a visit to Israel and the West Bank. Here are a few video reports from some of the places I visited. You can click on the menu button to scroll through the videos and also view them on YouTube here.
It’s hard to imagine living without something as simple – and vital – as a toilet. Yet just over 150 years ago this was the daily reality for many people in the UK. Without adequate sanitation or safe water to drink, disease was rife. It was the cause of child mortality levels found in Africa today.
On Monday evening I attended a public meeting in Longbridge about the City Council’s proposed budget for next year. There was a lot of anger at the meeting about the cuts the Conservative-led Council are proposing. It's the Conservatives and Lib Dems running the Council that are making these decisions and they should answer for them. Unfortunately, none of them turned up at Monday’s meeting to do …
The government is planning the biggest re-organisation of the NHS since it began in 1948.
It is unnecessary, unwanted, wasteful and damaging – and threatens to end the NHS as we know it. Only last year, the government promised people they wouldn’t do it. Many thousands of people have already called on the government to stop.
Speaking at the 2011 Labour Party Conference in Liverpool Richard called on the UK government to support the recognition of a Palestinian state at the United Nations.
I have written an article today on the Huffington Post discussing why the prisoner exchange matters and repeating the call for the release of the 164 Palestinian children detained by Israel.
This morning I spoke in the Britain in the World debate at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool.
Last week Palestine applied for full state membership of the United Nations. Speaking to the Conference this morning I called on the UK government to support the recognition of a Palestinian state.
The economy was a key focus of the Labour Party Conference today with major speeches by Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, Shadow Business Secretary John Denham and Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Liam Byrne.
First thing this morning I participated in a roundtable discussion on how the automotive industry can help to drive the growth of a low-carbon UK economy.
Today MPs debated the possible UN membership of a Palestinian state. The debate, which was secured by Richard Burden MP, took place two weeks before Palestine is expected to ask the United Nations to recognise an independent Palestinian state within 1967 borders. Mr Burden, who chairs the Britain-Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group, used the debate to call on the government to recognise an …
Representing a seat in the West Midlands I know how important the automotive industry is to the UK. Across the country it is an essential part of the glue that binds our economy together. Over the last year the All-Party Parliamentary Motor Group (APMG), which I chair, has brought together parliamentarians, ministers, officials, industry representatives and trade unions to discuss key issues …
The Home Secretary must urgently clarify this situation. It is important that everyone should be aware of what is fact and what is conjecture. Guilt should be on the basis of evidence and conviction, not by innuendo, allegation or association.
I am backing Age UK’s campaign against government plans to accelerate the state pension age which could see 500,000 women across the country waiting for more than year longer for their state pension than promised under the Coalition Agreement. The government’s proposals will hurt thousands of hard-working women who believed their retirement was just around the corner. Almost 10,000 women in …
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.
