Message from David Burrowes MP
Posted by David Burrowes, MP for Enfield, Southgate, at 16:07, Mon 10 July 2006:
Welcome to my latest email post via HearFromYourMP. Thank you to those of you who have responded to my previous emails.
I am about to launch a local ‘family friendly’ newsagent policy, getting local newsagents to sign up and agree to display ‘lads’ and ‘ladies’ magazines out of sight of children and young people. There has been some debate in Parliament and in the media recently on this issue and it seemed like a good idea to see what local Enfield Southgate constituents thought, and to get their support for ‘family’ friendly’ newsagents in our area. Watch out for ‘Family Friendly’ posters in your local newsagents’ windows.
Another issue of contention recently inside and out of Parliament has been that of Scottish MPs voting on legislation which only affects England and Wales. This issue has been rumbling for many years and at times is more contentious than at others. However, I would be interested to hear your views on the fact that in recent political history, certain key votes have only been passed by the Government by relying on their Scottish MPs, for whose constituents the laws would have no impact.
Carrying on the ‘England’ theme, I am supporting calls to establish St George’s Day as a national holiday, much as St Patrick’s Day is in Ireland, and the 4th July is in America. What do you think about this?
Finally, I am currently writing an article on how to get more people volunteering, especially young people. In Enfield Southgate we have some brilliant examples of community action and volunteering, such as YAVE and Naree shakti. How do you think we can do more to encourage young and old alike to see the value and importance of giving their time to volunteering?
Please feel free to send me your comments on these issues or any other aspects of my work as your MP; I would be pleased to hear what you have to say. You can contact me by responding to this email or via david@davidburrowes.com.
Best Wishes, David Burrowes MP
Comments
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Posted by James Moran, 17:58, Mon 10 July 2006: (Is this post abusive?) #
As long as the magazines aren't put away somewhere, as this would head towards censorship - but some branches of WHSmiths have a good compromise where they put a plastic cover on the magazine, just displaying the title and not the cover, and all on the top shelf. I assume you mean to include magazines including FHM and Loaded, which regularly have saucy covers. Would this also include "newspapers" like the Sun, which have just as raunchy covers and content sometimes?
A St George's day holiday would be a very welcome addition, and I'm sure everyone would be glad of the extra day off!
Posted by Jack Hart, 15:58, Tue 11 July 2006: (Is this post abusive?) #
I believe that nothing can be gained from displaying ‘lads’ and ‘ladies’ magazines in a separate area, out of sight from children and young people. Placing them on the top shelves with far more pornographic material will only cause embarrassment for those who wish to purchase these magazines. Moving them to a separate area could also be considered a form of censorship as the magazines would then not be freely available to all those who wish to read them. If this sort of action is to be taken against ‘lads’ and ‘ladies’ magazines then maybe it is about time so called newspapers like ‘The Daily Sport’, ‘The Sun’, ‘Daily Star’, etc be moved to a shelf out of sight from children and young people due to their often raunchy or offensive front covers and their even more raunchy and offensive contents. You cannot hide sexual or adult entertainment from children because they will simply find another way of gaining that information. If one newsagent moves the magazines they will simply move onto another newsagent which does not follow out such a policy. They may even be pushed into finding this sort of entertainment from another genre such as the internet which will be even far less controlled.
I believe we should remain a United Kingdom. Giving power to Scotland and Wales was a mistake unless we are to make them fully independent countries. As the current situation stands it is unfair for a Scottish MP to vote on a British matter but it is also unfair that Scotland cannot have total control over its affairs.
Why do we need yet another public holiday? They serve little to no purpose and simply cause more hassle for people such as myself who work in public service industries such as restaurants because our workload increases but our means of providing our service such as travel to work on public transport and food or drink deliveries cease on these public holidays.
Volunteering should be introduced continually to young people from an early age in school. I have just finished my A-Levels and can only think of one time in all my 7 years at my secondary that someone from YAVE visited in order to explain what was to gain from volunteering.
Posted by David Durant, 21:55, Tue 11 July 2006: (Is this post abusive?) #
Dear Mr Burrows,
Thank you again for taking the time to write. While I congratulate you on continuing to use email to gather opinions and help from your constituants I would again suggest that the best way to really interact in an online manner would be to set up a forum where participants can read each others posts and respond to them.
While I am here I would like to ask what the outcome was of the questionaire flyer that you sent out some months ago. I expressed an interest in taking part in your international discussion forum but nothing seems to have come of it.
> I am about to launch a local 'family friendly' newsagent policy, getting > local newsagents to sign up and agree to display 'lads' and 'ladies' magazines > out of sight of children and young people.
While I accept this idea in theory I think you will find it very hard to get newsagents to agree in parctice. Plus who is to decide what is a "lad's mag"? The newsagent or some other external group? That is the start of a slippery slope.
> Another issue of contention recently inside and out of Parliament has been > that of Scottish MPs voting on legislation which only affects England and Wales.
If you intend to legislate this how long before North of England MPs are disallowed from voting on legislation affecting only the South? Besides, if this idea was enforced obviously Scottish MPs would reject the idea of English MPs voting on bills that affect only Scotland. This way lies secsession.
> Carrying on the 'England' theme, I am supporting calls to establish St > George's Day as a national holiday, much as St > Patrick's Day is in Ireland, and the 4th July is in America.
While I am all in favor of another day off work I do feel that such a nationalistic (and English as opposed to British at that) symbol is possibly not the best of choices.
> Finally, I am currently writing an article on how to get more people > volunteering, especially young people. In Enfield Southgate we have some > brilliant examples of community action and volunteering, such as YAVE and > Naree shakti. How do you think we can do more to encourage young and old > alike to see the value and importance of giving their time to volunteering?
It is excellent to know that this is going so well in Enfield. I know that PledgeBank, for example, is a good way to organise such things. Going into local schools and asking for volunteers (working under supervision naturally) might be a good idea. Otherwise approaching major employers for a chance to speak to their workforce is another way forward.
My only parting comment is that there is currently no way to know if this email has be read. As I outlined about with an open online forum I would be able to see that my views have been recorded and enter into ongoing discussions with other Enfield inhabitants on the issues in question.
Thanking you for your time.
David Durant
Posted by Jack Hart, 08:57, Wed 12 July 2006: (Is this post abusive?) #
I do agree that a forum would be the best option as then there could always be active discussion about matters that effect enfield southgate.