They Blog For You

I came down this week to London, as I normally do, by train. Once again, although the train was on time, the service let the passenger down badly. Not because of the staff, who I think do a really good job given the conditions, but because of the way that [...]

I wrote this article in Saturday's Guardian's Comment is Free.The real Left rarely gets access to the main newspaper's pages because of their control by New Labour in all its forms from Blairites/Brownites/Compass but at least the Comment is Free website is sufficiently open to the Left.The Labour government's latest [...]

Digital Britain [...]

Under the rules introduced on 1st July (aiming to provide greater transparency about "outside" work) we have been told that payment in kind also has to be registered - including for when we make speeches etc in the constituency. Some of us thought that such events were not part of [...]

The calls for pay cuts and cuts in spending on public services prompted me to write the following article for the Morning Star today.In the last major economic depression in the 1930s, a Labour government fell because it decided that the cure for the latest crisis of capitalism was to [...]

Took part in a fascinating policy seminar this lunchtime organised by CentreForum around the issue of early access to Pension Fund cash. In particular, we were discussing the paper that I jointly wrote with Jo Holland about the part of your pension which you can currently take as a [...]

Theresa May has commented on the Government’s new consultation on flooding. Theresa said, “Maidenhead residents know all too well the damage that flooding can cause and I am pleased the Government is taking flooding risks more seriously. However, I am concerned the draft Bill fails to tackle the root causes [...]

Following my declaration of the strawberries I must complete the record by stating that I received the following reply from the registrarThe Registrar advises that the charity event does not come into the category of employment. You might only have to register this if anyone sponsored you for more than [...]

Recently published figures show an increase in the number of people using St Marks Minor Injuries Unit in the past few months. The Unit opened in September on a temporary basis after a strong local campaign led by the Maidenhead Advertiser and Theresa May in which they convinced Berkshire East [...]

Newton's Third Law of Motion ('to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction') applies equally to politics. Looked at over the long-term, it is easy to find examples of how policy has a tendency to swing from one extreme to the other rather than alighting at [...]

Valley Cities Fence has been around for many years and has the experience that most do not. You will get nothing but quality and art when it comes to creating and building your next chain link fence. Although Valley Cities Fence works for many of the cities you will see [...]

Theresa May has welcomed the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead’s announcement that it will be conducting a study into the feasibility of expanding Oldfield Primary School. The school is regularly over-subscribed meaning that many parents miss out on their first choice of school for their child. However, the council is [...]

The war in Afghanistan has claimed more lives of British soldiers this week. This terrible loss of life prompted a debate in Parliament today (Thursday). The debate focused on an at times unseemly tussle between the political parties on whether the Government had provided sufficient support in terms of troops [...]

A friend sent me this film of this year's May Day rally in Trafalgar Square. Tony Been's speech is so relevant to what we are now facing. [...]

After reading the briefings in the media on the report to be launched today by Alan Milburn it is clear that it is just another cop out.The report is merely a statement of the blindingly obvious and a complete cop out of tackling the real issue of the growing inequality [...]

I was approached to support the campaign to save the jobs and the operation at the Vesta wind turbine company. I tabled the following Early Day Motion in Parliament on Thursday and have now sent a message of solidarity to the workers occupying their factory. It is critical that we [...]

This is the press release I put out on the announcement of the Norwich North result.Shocking result for Labour in unnecessary by-election, says McDonnellLabour has been defeated in the Norwich North by-election caused by the barring of former Labour MP Ian Gibson from standing at the next election.John McDonnell MP, [...]

The Guardian's Comment is Free website asked me to comment on the Purnell/Cruddas Demos "Open Left" exercise. I wrote this article on Friday after we heard the Norwich North result. I had in mind the work that Ian Gibson had put in in trying to prevent New Labour bringing in [...]

Bruce George MP today welcomed the publication of a report by the Joint Committee on the Draft Bribery Bill, a committee which he was a member of. In its report published today, Tuesday 28 July 2009, Bruce and the other Committee members strongly welcomed the draft Bill as an [...]

The national media are having a field day, as they do every year, in encouraging people to believe that the twelve week parliamentary recess is little more than an incredibly extended holiday. I’ll tell you how I’m using this period. I’m not really into holidays, and when I [...]