Next week my constituency MP, Stephen Dorrell, will be starting a 21-hour-a-week post with KPMG as a health policy consultant on a massive salary. Stephen Dorrell has chaired the Commons Health Select Committee until this summer, a role requiring impartiality, yet he will now be helping KPMG bid for £1bn NHS contracts. This presents a serious conflict of interest and misuse of his privileged position on the select committee making him unfit to continue as an MP. Public trust in politicians is vital for a working democracy but is currently at an all time low. Dorrell's action in joining KPMG displays yet enough cynical lack of integrity amongst MPs. Civil Servants have to wait 2 years to take up such posts relating to their government work, so MPs should also follow this principle. If it is discovered that Stephen Dorrell was in discussion with KPMG whilst Chair of the select committee, it would discredit the role of select committees. See Mirror article here: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/1billion-nhs-sell-off-scandal-tory-4724959 And Daily Telegraph article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/11264425/Stephen-Dorrell-MP-faces-calls-to-resign-over-conflict-of-interest.html

Stephen Dorrell, the veteran Conservative MP, has been accused of a conflict of interest after taking a job as an adviser with a private firm targeting a £1billion NHS contract. The MP for Charnwood, a cabinet minister in John Major’s government, announced last week that he would be stepping down at the General Election as he had accepted a job as a health policy consultant with accountancy firm KPMG, which he said would be “incompatible” with his role as an MP. However, it is claimed that he is starting his new three-days-a-week job on Monday, meaning that he will be in both positions for six months. KPMG are considering bidding for a £1 billion deal to manage the patient’s medical records. Mr Dorrell, who quit his post as chairman of the House of Commons Health Select Committee in June, faced calls to resign from one of the posts.

In many countries including the USA and Spain British pensioners enjoy annual increments to their pensions just as their counterparts in the UK. But if you are unlucky enough to live in a number of countries including Australia, Canada or Indonesia, your pension is frozen for life. A recent example in the press highlighted the plight of two sisters. They both retired in 1982 on the then full pension of GBP 28.50 a week. One now lives in the UK and enjoys a fully indexed pension of GBP 113.10 per week. The other sister went to Canada and receives the same GBP 28.50 a week that she received in 1982. There are many war veterans living overseas who are similarly suffering. They paid their contributions in full during their working lives and they fought for their country. But who is getting the benefits they earned now? Many politicians have promised their support in the past but when it comes to the crunch the victims of this injustice are out of sight and out of mind. The pensioners are not asking for charity; they are simply asking to be treated fairly and given the pensions that they paid for. Had they paid the contributions to a commercial institution and been similarly treated that company would no doubt be in serious trouble. But the government is above the law and continues to be more concerned about winning votes than righting a wrong that has been perpetuated by successive governments. The wicked irony is that the cost of rectifying the wrong would be a fraction of the billions they are now collecting in fines from the crimes committed by banks. Another irony is that the people who are suffering constitute no burden to the state while they are living overseas. But should they be forced through sheer poverty to return to the UK not only would their pensions be restored in full but they would have access to all the state benefits and could become a much greater burden on the government. It all defies logic but unless the public recognizes the unfairness and shouts loudly enough for MP's to hear, the 550,000 pensioners will gradually grow weaker and fade away. Does anybody care?

According to the housing and homelessness charity Shelter, 2% of all renters in the private sector have been evicted after they complained to their landlord or letting agent about a problem. Revenge evictions has particularly been a problem in London, where 14% of all families renting privately have been a victim to the practice in the last year. Time to debate issues in Parliament is a precious commodity. It appears that these MPs put their private interests above those of their constituents, democracy and the British tradition of fair play. Rather than allow a debate, they deliberately monopolised the allotted time, using rule-play to subvert democratic decision making. This seems to be further evidence how many modern politicians serve themselves over the common good of the electorate, thus bringing politics into disrepute again. In order to restore some confidence, those political parties who value the opinion of the electorate should condemn the practice and take measures to reassure voters that a conflict of interest will not occur. New reports: http://www.buzzfeed.com/sirajdatoo/these-two-tory-mp-landlords-just-blocked-a-bill-banning-reve http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/tory-mps-who-blocked-bill-banning-revenge-evictions-are-private-landlords-1477218

"Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne's appearance and bizarre behaviour during Prime Minister's Questions on the 26th of November 2014 begs the question of whether or not he was or had recently been under the influence of drugs. The government's exponentially failing drug policy puts public health at risk and defies the advice of their own researchers, whilst lining the pockets of dubious pharmaceutical companies and criminal gangs dealing on the black market. It is also in the public interest to know whether MPs are dabbling in legal highs, in a bid to escape failing a conventional drug test."

This is important because he has backed Andrew Mitchell for the last two years, since "plebgate" started, now officially said MP has been told, by a judge of his peers, he probably did call that hard working police officer "a pleb".

People are under threat and we owe our thanks and should give them safety. I am and was against this war but these people are being let down by our country - they are not at fault, the UK is.

The commissions report on 27.11.2014 are not the powers that were promised. Many voters in Scotland voted no as a result of HOME RULE being promised. The new devolution settlement falls far short of this and as such does not constitute home rule. Therefore the result was based on a lie making the previous result null and void.

1. London is becoming a victim of its own success: a hellishly expensive place to live, work and do business. 2. At the same time London's pull on resources and wealth has become a drain on the rest of the UK, plunging many regions into permanent economic decline. Parliament and government are widely regarded as having a London-centric bias (public spending figures certainly bear this out) and the location of both in London undoubtedly contributes to this. 3. In addition, the presence of Parliament & Government in London effectively acts as a massive public subsidy to ironically the one region of the UK that really doesn't need it! A subsidy that could be better spent elsewhere. 4. Currently the Palace of Westminster needs repairs totalling up to £3 BILLION and may have to close for up to 5 years. Moving Parliament to new, purpose built accommodation in the heart of the UK would save this money by selling off the non-historic parts of Westminster, raising millions given London property prices. Governments love privatising things - why not Westminster? 5. We also believe housing politicians in 'Palaces' is wrong - it gives them delusions of grandeur! 6. Money would also be saved by the lower cost of MPs home and office accommodation outside London and no longer having to pay London-weighted salaries to civil servants. All at a time when spending cuts are needed to tackle the national debt. Let's cut politician's costs not nurses, teachers or police. 7. Trust in our democracy is also at historically low levels and a clean break from a past mired in scandals would help to restore that trust. Moving MPs into the heart of the UK and into a new parliament building which places openness, transparency and public access at its centre will help to restore that trust. 8. Moving Parliament out of a dominant London will also ensure Parliament follows policies for the good of the whole country rather than its current London-centric focus. 9. The time is right to renew our democracy - and renewing our Parliament should form a central part of that.

In times of reduced public spending on services like Education and NHS this an insult to those who are loosing services. This leaves aside the low level of income for many households in the region. How many actually have a comparable income with 2 adults working? Lead by example.

How far will we allow corporate interests to run our Government's environment policies and dismantle the biosphere before we finally scream "ENOUGH!" ? The natural environment we are leaving to our children and grandchildren is already massively degraded, and if narrow corporate interests continue to be pandered to by our government, who have instituted wicked mechanisms by which to undermine our care for the environment, even this damaged inheritance will be lost. Full details of the underhanded, cynical and biased way the Government is undermining our natural patrimony can be found in George Monbiot's excellent article on the following link: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2014/nov/21/we-need-nature-wellbeing-act-protect-wildlife-decline?CMP=share_btn_fb The Nature and Wellbeing Green Paper drawn up by the RSPB and Wildlife Trust offers an antidote to the toxic behaviour of the Government. A link to it can be found on the article by George Monbiot (URL given above). We know that people power CAN change government policy, because it is WE, the VOTERS, who tick the boxes in elections. So please use your power for the sake of both Nature and future generations! Every email or letter sent to your MP, pressuring him or her to put Nature first by pushing for the adoption of the Nature and Wellbeing Paper as law, will make an important difference. Thank you !

Public bodies of the Scottish Government are organisations that are funded by the Scottish Government. It is a tightly meshed network of executive and advisory non-departmental public bodies ("quangoes"); tribunals; and nationalised industries. These public bodies are distinct from executive agencies of the Scottish Government, as they are not considered to be part of the Government and staff of public bodies are not civil servants. The Scottish Government is responsible for appointing a board of directors to run public bodies. The Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland is responsible for regulating the process. SEPA (The Scottish Enviromental Protection Agency) is one of these quango's - It is also the licensing agency for all fracking licenses in Scotland. By bringing it into government control or by tying its hands through legislation, fracking could be stopped in Scotland despite the protestation of Westminster