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HELLO & welcome to my weekly update no.330
Parliament is on short November recess but the BBC impartiality scandal has suddenly overtaken the budget to become the main story in Westminster. Locally we have had many moving Remembrance Sunday services (thank you Cranleigh for hosting me for a wonderful occasion) and the Hunt family had a lot of fun at the Chiddingfold bonfire.
WESTMINSTER WHISPERS
BBC SCANDAL Since the Telegraph’s bombshell report last week that revealed that a Donald Trump speech had been selectively edited by Panorama, the organisation has been under huge pressure over its impartiality standards, finally leading to last night’s resignation by BBC Director General Tim Davie. I know and like Tim but what none of us understand is why the BBC took so long to take action over something that was so obviously a breach of its rules. What’s so sad is that we really do need a strong BBC. In my book Can we be Great Again? I argue that the BBC has a vital role in combatting fake news as one of the world’s most trusted news sources, something Craig Oliver talked about on the Today programme this morning. There is clearly a long way to go…
END THE SCANDAL OF ‘NORMAL’ BIRTHS One of my major areas of focus as Health Secretary was improving maternity safety. Some progress was made including reducing baby deaths by 20% but a particular cultural problem that still needs addressing is the way pregnant mums can be pressured to have a ‘normal’ birth even when a C-section would be much safer. The Sunday Times did an excellent piece of investigative journalism into this which was published yesterday and I contributed this opinion piece. The solution? Of course women must make the final decision but it is vital they know all the facts before they do.
DON’T DO IT RACHEL! Horrible tax rises are almost certainly to feature in this month’s budget but ultimately it is a political choice not to tackle welfare and public sector productivity which could have avoided them. That doesn’t mean I don’t have some sympathy for the enormous pressure Rachel Reeves is under, as I discussed with Nick Ferrari on LBC last week. People will be angry if there are tax rises but even angrier if there is no discernible plan to grow the economy out of its current rut.
LOCAL LIFE
BROADWATER GOLF CLUB SITE Steve Farmer (along with many locals) wants to see Broadwater former golf course turned into a community sports facility in memory of his wife Laura who tragically died last year, but he’s very frustrated by the lack of progress. The project has already taken longer than the London 2012 Olympics from start to finish! Last week Waverley asked for more cash and pushed the completion date back to 2031 – super frustrating. I met Steve last week on site to discuss.
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