On Monday, having worked alongside Gareth Thomas (former Welsh international rugby captain) and his campaign, I will present to the House of Commons a Bill that seeks to amend and extend the Football Offences Act 1991 to include homophobic abuse. In recent years, both Gareth and the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, which […]
On Friday last week I visited the Kent Wildlife Trust at New Romney to discuss their work on the Fifth Continent project. This landscape partnership will facilitate the restoration and enhancement of the Marsh’s natural heritage by restoring habitats and increasing biodiversity. The project is also investigating local archaeological heritage, including excavating St Martin’s Field […]
The updated framework masterplan for the Otterpool Park garden town development was published before Easter and can be viewed on the website www.otterpoolpark.org. This scheme is an opportunity to provide needed new housing to our area, and in particular to create more affordable homes for people to rent and buy. The development will bring investment […]
Last Tuesday the Department for Health and Social Care, and Health Education England announced that it had approved the joint bid by the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University to create Kent’s first ever medical school. This new facility will bring together the existing centres at the two universities with our local healthcare […]
Happy New Year. I hope that 2018 can be a year of peace, prosperity and progress for our community, and the country as a whole. In this, my first column of the year, I would like to thank everyone at Border Force and our emergency services, who have worked over the Christmas period, and in […]
In the early New Year, Shepway District Council expects to bring forward the formal planning application for the development at Princes Parade in Hythe. As most readers know, the plan is for a mixed used development including a new swimming pool, new homes, and leisure and recreational space on the seafront. There is certainly no doubt […]
Select committee chairman Damian Collins says site does not act quickly enough and fake news could pose threat to ‘the integrity of democracy’ Facebook must improve its response to fake news before the UK general election and start blocking or issuing warnings about material that contains falsehoods, the chairman of the Commons culture, media and […]
Over the past six years I have been involved with a number of issues, both as an MP and as chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport select committee, involving corruption in sport. In many of these scandals it has been investigative journalists who first brought the issue into the light. Often journalists have provided […]
The ticketing industry in the United Kingdom has become a national scandal. Fans are being ripped off left, right and centre if they want to buy tickets to see their favourite performers. When someone uses the term "tout", many people will instantly think of the shadowy figures found standing around concert venues and sports stadia calling out […]