| Womens Mentoring Scheme |
| Thursday, 02 August 2007 16:11 |
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I met the organisers of "Muslims United" who have been placing adverts in the mainstream press confirming unity in the condemnation of the recent attempted bombings in Glasgow and London. You can find out more details about this by visiting their website HERE. On Tuesday I had tea on the House of Commons terrace with two local residents (Deborah and David) who had won this as a prize in a local raffle. Fortunately, the weather held out (as did my diary) which meant we were able to spend some time discussing local issues. In the evening I attended a meeting organised by Fiona Mactaggart MP, who organises a Women’s mentoring scheme. One of the people I am currently mentoring is from this scheme and it was good to meet others on the scheme to discuss how to get more women into Parliament. Unfortunately, it is only the Labour Party that has taken this issue of the "democratic deficit" seriously. Although, we are light years ahead of the other parties (there are more Tory MP's called David than women, more Tory MP's with double barrelled surnames than ethnic minorities!) we still need to do a lot more. On Wednesday, Gordon Brown was superb at Prime Ministers Questions. The contrast between Gordon and the Leader of the Tories has never been starker. Whilst Gordon was able to show why he is such a respected statesman, Cameron looked more lightweight and inexperienced than ever. The fact that he had to revert to Europe as an issue for 3 of his questions shows just how much in control the far Right is of the Tory party in 2007. In the evening Tooting Labour Party held a special Policy General Committee meeting in the House of Commons. Secretary of State for the Department for Culture, Media and Sports, Rt Hon James Purnell MP was our speaker. His grasp of a wide range of issues was extremely impressive as were his views on the future challenges for the Government. You can see a photo of James with Local Councillors Leonie Cooper and Belinda Randall and me by clicking HERE. I also attended a party organised by my good friend and neighbour Siobhan McDonagh, MP for Mitcham and Morden, to celebrate her being a Labour Party representative for 25 years (15 as a Councillor in Merton and 10 as a MP). On Sunday I attended Tooting Methodist Church’s Annual Civic Service where I was invited to read Psalm 85 to the congregation. In the afternoon, I also had the pleasure of presenting the winning trophy at the Balham and Tooting Community Association’s Eight-a-Side Cricket Tournament. The event held on Tooting Common was a huge success with eleven teams from across the constituency batting it out for the trophy. The eventual winners were Russellmania (Russells Hardware Shop). You can see a photo of me with the winning team by clicking HERE. |
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