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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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
In the light of recent events in Libya and elsewhere, the latest report from the House of Commons Committee on Arms Export Controls (CAEC) rightly questions UK policy to date in exporting arms to Middle Eastern and North African countries where there is a clear risk they could be used for internal repression. The report also has some stinging comments about UK policy on arms sales to Israel. Over …
A new report from the Britain Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group (BPAPPG) has highlighted the widespread detention of Palestinian children, by the Israeli state.
The UK government today announced that it is upgrading the Palestinian Delegation to London to the level of a Mission. You can read the FCO statement online here.
I am pleased that the government has upgraded the Palestinian Delegation and increased their diplomatic recognition in the UK.
Many constituents have been in touch over the last six months with their concerns about the bid by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation to take total control of BSkyB.
You may have seen today’s news that Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, has approved News Corporation’s plan to spin off Sky News, clearing the way for its proposed £8bn purchase of the 61% of BSkyB it does not already own.
More than 1,600 internal documents recording the details of Middle East peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine have been published by Al Jazeera and the Guardian. Today’s news reports in Al Jazeera and the Guardian have sent shock waves around the world. Some Palestinian leaders have already challenged some of the claims that have been made and, like most other people, I am in no …
For me, securing a yes vote in the referendum is about helping to create a more open and participatory politics. A lot of people in this country find politics a really big turn-off – and I can understand why. They want to see a change in the way politics is done. I do too.
Yesterday I returned from a five day delegation to Israel and Palestine with my colleagues Ian Lavery, Grahame Morris and Sandra Osborne. This delegation included a visit to a military court where we were able to observe the detention of Palestinian children and see first-hand some of their hearings taking place and the treatment they had to undergo – for instance, being required to wear leg …
At the beginning of September President Obama staked much political capital and personal energy on reopening direct peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, after a two year hiatus. The latest rounds of negotiations were greeted with near universal scepticism, sadly the efforts look doomed to count for nought. For the government of Benjamin Netanyahu it appears that talk is cheap when …
Ed Miliband’s first few days as Leader of the Labour Party have brought a breath of fresh air to politics. In his speech to the Labour Party Conference Ed was right to emphasise not just Labour policies, but also our values – the things which makes us tick. He has already shown he is prepared to face up to the things which Labour got wrong in government as well as celebrate the things we achieved …
Payments due to former MG Rover workers should not be delayed by contractual wrangles between Lloyds/HBOS and the Phoenix Four.
The Phoenix Directors still have it in their power to end the delay and to get money into the Trust Fund for their former employees. They have already had to wait five years – and that’s five years too long.
This week is the 5th year anniversary of the closure of MG Rover. I am calling on the Phoenix Directors to finally end the delay on the trust fund and do the right thing by their former employees.
Will you join me in calling for an end to the delay?
The government has today published their plans for a new high speed rail network. This is the kind of long term thinking that we need for the West Midlands. A high speed rail station in the centre of Birmingham will be good for the city and a gateway to the region as a whole. Having an additional interchange station adjacent to the NEC and Birmingham airport will boost the profile of the West …
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.
