Rory initiated an Adjournment Debate in the House of Commons last Wednesday at which he led MPs from around the country to push the Minister for Broadband, Edward Vaizey MP, on the demand for rural broadband. In the Westminster Hall Debate on Wednesday 23rd March 2011 Rory attracted 20 fellow MPs to the debate representing […]
This is a fantastic budget for Penrith and the Border. Our economy depends on four things: small and medium sized businesses (which prop up our incredible tourism industry), fuel prices (because of our long distances), infrastructure (such as broadband) and agriculture. We’ve made huge progress on broadband and, following the visit of the Defra Ministers last […]
Rory welcomed to Cumbria Secretary of State The Rt Hon Caroline Spelman MP and Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Jim Paice MP on Thursday March 10th in a day-long visit to Penrith and the Border. Rory took Caroline Spelman and Jim Paice first to uplands hill farm Gaythorn Hall near Orton, where tenant farm-manager Stephen Lord welcomed […]
Rory has written to over sixty primary schools in his constituency to encourage them to enter the 2011 Make IT Happy competition, the theme of which is ‘Pass IT On’. This year schools across Britain are being challenged to demonstrate how they have used technology to connect schoolchildren with others in their community – whether down […]
Rory visited Penrith’s Eden Rural Foyer on Saturday 19th March, where he was given a tour of the Foyer, met with current residents and presented certificates as part of the Foyer’s award-winning healthcare programme. He joined Chief Executive of the Foyer Federation Jane Slowey, and Chief Executive of Impact housing Association Mike Muir in a ceremony […]
Transcript I honour the hon. Member for Dagenham and Rainham (Jon Cruddas) for giving a good defence of many of the good elements of the big society, and a good warning on some of its dangers. Much of the debate, however, reminds me of sitting in a room with a group of philosophers looking at […]
Transcript This is not something that began in Libya, and it will not end in Libya. It came out of a regional situation. It is a response primarily to Egypt and Tunisia. We should be celebrating, but with immense caution, what both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition have supported because of […]
Rory has issued a statement in relation to the ongoing consultation at High Hesket and Armathwaite primary schools, and will attempt to broker a better level of communication between parents, teachers and local authority representatives. He said: “Having met with a number of parents and teachers in the past weeks I can see that this […]
Published by The London Review of Books, 18th March 2011 Until yesterday, I thought we were at the end of the age of intervention. The complacency that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union had been shattered by the Balkan wars; despair was followed by the successful interventions in Bosnia and then Kosovo; then triumphal […]
It is two in the morning. The House of Commons debate today was on Libya and the UN resolution passed three hours ago. There is talk of planes flying tonight. On the radio, Gaddafi’s spokesman rattles off UN jargon in English: ‘the technical aspects of the cease-fire’, ‘some concerns over the text’. The spokesman – […]