Rock the House and Film the House are Parliament's largest run competitions, engaging musicians / filmmakers (and the respective industries) with Parliamentarians for the aim of promoting Intellectual Property rights. It brings acts from all over the country to play or showcase their films in the unique surroundings of the Houses of Commons, and is a chance for MPs and constituents to engage, as well as to meet rock legends such as Brian May, Alice Cooper, and Fightstar's Charlie Simpson. The success and reputation of Rock the House has meant that competitions will also be held this year in the U.S. Congress, the Australian Parliament and the European Parliament.
From time to time there are stories that capture the public imagination. One such story was the recent landing of the Philae lander on a distant comet as part of the Rosetta mission. It was a truly remarkable feat, slingshot-ing Rosetta several times around the solar system to miraculously catch up with a comet speeding at unimaginable speeds, and then to send a lander to touch down and start analysing the structure of the comet. Truly incredible.
There are a number of indicators of how successful a local economy really is - employment (and unemployment) figures, new business starts, and construction activity are just a few. All these indicators look good for Wyre Forest (although I would never be complacent about any of them).
Every year, at this time, since I have been elected, I have written about the Remembrance Day Services. Each year I rotate through our three towns. Iit is tricky when we have so many services throughout the district and just one of me to cover them all. This year I went to Bewdley, and as is always the case I was struck by how much people care about the sacrifices that have been made to maintain our freedom, our freedom of choices, our freedom of press and expression, and so many other important freedoms.
The issue of bringing criminals to justice is a topic that raises passion. We see, all too often, odd outcomes of trials and peculiar sentences. But the area of justice that gets people upset the most is that of foreign criminals languishing in our prisons at our expense, whilst people who are victims of crimes in the UK seeing those who committed crimes against them enjoying the sun and freedom in other countries.
Mark Garnier MP supports consultation to improve network coverage, benefitting Wyre Forest businesses and residentsOn the 5th of November, Sajid Javid, the Culture Secretary launched a consultation into tackling areas of the UK with poor mobile phone network coverage, or "non-spots". Residents of Wyre Forest, especially in Cookley and Wolverley, are familiar with poor or intermittent mobile network coverage, and will welcome the outcomes of this initiative. The consultation, set to close on the 24th of November, will be talking to the four major mobile phone operators and the public.
Wyre Forest MP has raised a question in the House of Commons about flood defences in BewdleyOn Thursday 30th October Mark Garnier asked Dan Rogerson, floods minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs “Whilst west bank residents of the Severn in Bewdley have benefited from brilliant flood defences, those on the east bank live with uncertainty of the Environment Agency’s final solution to local flooding. Can I urge my right hon friend to seriously consider demountable flood barriers to protect the east bank residents of Beale’s Corner in Bewdley?”
Last week, the new chief executive of NHS England published his report on the state of the NHS and its long term future. It was a welcome report. It concludes that the NHS has improved dramatically in the last few years – the truly shocking spectacle of patients in Mid Staffordshire having to drink water from a flower vase and being neglected in their own filth just over five years ago is something that can never be allowed to happen again and it is right that we have come a long way from the previous situation. But the report also says the NHS can have a better future and that more money spent on improved treatments, and responding to the ageing population, is crucial. Some of this extra spend can come as a result of more efficiencies and slashing unnecessary waste; it can also come as a result of NHS trusts collecting money owed to them by foreign health authorities as a result of foreigners receiving treatment.
