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                           <title><![CDATA[Unbeaten in 2010]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[WOKE UP TO ANOTHER SNOWY SCENE. Every since the Copenhagen climate change conference, it seems to have snowed! No snuggling in front of the TV today, though, there was work to do. It was my first advice surgery of the year - at Cleethorpes Library. The Cleethorpes surgery is always busy, but following the Christmas break, this one was even more packed than nornal. I run a drop-in session, so no one has to make an appointment. There were some regulars and new faces. The issues and problems were as wide-ranging as ever - housing, CSA, lack of gritting in...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Mon, 04 Jan 2010 05:01:50</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Hello 2010]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[Happy New Year! Woke up to a snowy scene - an icing sugar dusting made for a magical world, sparkling in the winter sun. So jumpers, scarf and boots on and we were off for a walk by the beach. Brrrr - there was a bitter nip in the air. But in spite of the snow and the icy blast, it was busy. Lots of greetings and wishes of a Happy New Year for me and the husband as we strolled along. Not to be deterred by the weather, some hardy kids were determined to build their sandcastles, as dogs...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Mon, 04 Jan 2010 04:26:06</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Campus capers]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[ALL OVER THE COUNTRY, NEW STUDENTS will be heading off to universities and colleges - excitement flavoured with a touch of trepidation. No more parents telling me to get out of bed! Cheap student bars! But will I enjoy uni/? Will I be able to make new friends? Parents will fret about all the things their wee darlings are about to get up to (which all the wee darlings have already been doing anyway). Yes, there will be able hide under the duvet. Yes, there will be student bars and parties. But there will also be hard work, boring lecturers,...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:41:42</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Top Marks for the A Team]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[WELL DONE TO EVERYONE WHO HAS PASSED their A levels! For me, it was a delight to see happiness and joy replacing worry and anxiety on faces of young people as the results were revealed. I, for one, refuse to join in with the grumpy brigade's dark mutterings about dumbing down - hell bent as they are in belittling the achievements of young people, teachers, schools and colleges. For once, can't we just praise everyone who did so well and celebrate success? Seems not. Lo and behold, in the blue corner we have all the huffing and puffing about lower...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Mon, 24 Aug 2009 02:41:06</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Lording it over the NHS]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[The Tory health team are getting into ever deeper water over their links with private health, aren&rsquo;t they?   First, it was hapless Hannan and his comments that the NHS was a 60-year mistake.    Next came another Euro MP, who said that he wouldn&rsquo;t recommend the NHS.    Swiftly following these pronouncements, came the revelation that a sizable chunk of the Tory shadow cabinet were connected with right-wing politicians who condemned the NHS as part of the spiteful campaign again healthcare reforms in the USA. Now, The Times newspaper has revealed, three of the...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:44:00</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Health of nations]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[SO TORY MEP, DANIEL HANNAN, RECKONS THAT THE NHS is a 60-year-mistake, does he? The comment, made in the increasing poisonous debate on Obama's plans to reform American healthcare, swiftly winged its way across the pond. Cameron, already smarting from the comments of Alan Duncan about MPs being treated like s**** and living on rations, must have uttered one of his now infamous expletives on hearing Hannan's pronoucement.  Back in BB times (Before Brown), I was a Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Department of Health. At close quarters, I watched the Tory health spokesperson and Cameron schmooze health professionals....]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2009 06:10:51</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[We're all goiing on a summer holiday]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[THE OTHER DAY AS I WAS GOING INTO PARLIAMENT, the police doing the security check mentioned that they had never known such a busy recess, with so many MPs still around. There are reasons why MPs aren't all off on their summer holidays. And it's not because MPs are frightened to be in their constituencies following all the expexpenses revelations! I've been interviewing people for a vacant Westminster job, so that's why I am about the palace. Others are there to clear out their offices. There are about 100 MPs standing down at the next election. So far, that is....]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2009 03:12:25</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Whoops Apocalypse]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[I'VE BEEN POPPING INTO PARLIAMENT during the first few weeks of the recess to interview applicants for a job vacancy in my Westminster office and one in the Immingham office. The response to my ad was fantastic - I received more than 400 applications for the Westminster office. The ad I placed for the Westminster job tongue in cheek. The starry-eyed aspirants would probably prefer to work for a minister or someone in a very safe seat to establish some sort of job security. So as a backbench MP you have to put more effort into attracting applicants. It worked...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2009 02:52:10</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Going back to my roots]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[GARDENING AS AN MP. With free time at a premium coupled with constant flitting between Cleethorpes and London means plants have to be left to fend for themselves much of the time. When first elected, I worried about wilting plants and weeds, but after a while I hardened my heart and accepted there'd be casualties. Bye-bye high-maintenance, needy numbers. Hello bulbs and hardy, drought tolerant perennials and a naturalistic look. I'd love to have an allotment to indulge in the increasing trend of grow your own, but it's not practical. I was reading the other day that waiting lists for...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2009 02:41:16</pubDate>
                           
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                           <title><![CDATA[Hangin on the Telephone]]></title>
                           <description><![CDATA[AT LAST, I'VE GOT A NEW MOBILE - an all-singing, all-dancing, state-of-the-art, do-everything beastie. I confess that it was long overdue. My trusty old mobile - a black Motorola Razr - had been through the wars. Earlier this year, it must have fallen out of my pocket or handbag (aka 'the kitchen sink') on a Friday evening as I was clambering into the motor for the ear-numbing drive home from the office on the concrete awfulness of the A180, stopping off to pick up the shopping en route. 'Where've you been?' the husband quizzed when I got back, carefully ignoring...]]></description>
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                           <pubDate>Thu, 06 Aug 2009 04:04:49</pubDate>
                           
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