Evidently it's not just Aberdeen which has seen snow doing a vanishing act. (Seriously snow on the ground all last week, then yesterday I woke up to find it mostly gone and today has been pretty balmy if overcast.) Another week of meetings for Anne goes to show that being an MP isn't just about spending your time drinking champagne on the yachts of Russian businessmen. (Well it is for some MPs.)
Week beginning 9th February – Snow gone: London working again!
(Apologies for the delay in posting this week’s instalment but my computer decided to switch itself off just as I was typing it up!)
It has been one of those weeks where I seem to have either been in meetings or attending events all week and have spent little time in the Chamber or in the office clearing the mountain of paperwork and e-mails that seem to accumulate. I've had two meetings of my Select Committee; one meeting of the Speaker's Conference; chaired a European Standing Committee on Asylum this week; had a meeting with Swedish MPs to discuss Welfare Reform; and attended a summit of elected Labour women.
On Monday I also hosted the annual reception of the All Party Offshore Oil and Gas group which was attended by many of the big names from the industry. Perhaps unsurprisingly quite a few were from Aberdeen. It was the first outing of the new Secretary of State at the Department for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Miliband MP, who addressed the gathering. I was just introducing him when the division bells began to ring and all the MPs had to troop off to vote. However, 15 minutes later we were back and the introduction could continue.
Tuesday seemed to be taken up entirely by meetings, and on Wednesday, while my colleagues all trouped off to the Channel 4 headquarters for their Parliamentary Awards; I attended a working dinner on rare diseases. While health may generally be a devolved issue, there are certain things that would be much better delivered as part of a UK-wide strategy and rare diseases policy is one of them. It looks like there is a lot of campaigning ahead to get a UK framework agreed.
Thursday in Westminster was relatively quiet apart from the meeting with the Swedish delegation but Friday in the constituency was even busier than normal as I gave a talk to politics students at RGU about the role of an MP, had a meeting with the new Chief Executive of Aberdeen City Council, and spent the afternoon having constituent surgeries.
My next Week in Westminster will be coming to you from Aberdeen as the week beginning 16th February is a constituency recess week.
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just found your blog. I must say HAHAHAHAHAHA!
ReplyDelete"Reasoned debate strengthens democracy"
If you are the Labour party then isn't this considered an oxymoron? Considering the moves your party has made to close blogs, tighten the press, id cards, cctv, border checks and purchase and placement of media people.
You forget to mention the mind control drugs and the telepathic satellites orbiting the moon.
ReplyDeleteJust FYI you should probably look up what an oxymoron is since you clearly don't know.
To our new poster the very fact that you get to post and get a reply from us shows that reasoned debate does strengthen democracy.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with what you say in what labour has done but i accept your right to say it, i hope you accept our right to do what we do.