Well - I'm back! For those who have wondered what I have been doing, I have been getting my energy (and bank balance!) back in order by working hard at my life outside of politics.
I work part-time for a privately owned college in London which has brought me into contact with International students and their difficulties with the UK Border Agency. Genuine students are really suffering as knee jerk reaction at Westminster makes their life difficult. This country has had a proud tradition of offering first class education to young people from all over the world. This shouldn't be an immigration issue and, here, I agree with Richard Bacon's recent speech on the subject.
I'm also involved in assist with appeals against the Home Office by people who have been refused refugee status - a real eye opener, in that there is little consistency in decisions!
As you can see, the politician in me won't lie down as I get outraged by unfairness and injustice whenever and wherever I find it.
I have watched the upheaval in the Middle East with a mixture of excitement and horror. The Dictators who feel the hot breath of reform in their countries have reacted in very different ways - Mubarak running away with his personal fortune which, strangely, exceeds the grant aid his poor starving countrymen have received during his time in power - Gaddafi bombing and shooting his own people who are PEACEFULLY asking for democratic rights which we all should take for granted.
Can civilised countries like ours really sit on the sidelines? A hard call to make as when we do intervene - in Afghanistan for example - the local population continues to suffer and families in the UK lose fathers, brothers and sons.
