Sat at my desk in Westminster recovering from 10 days up north and the mountain of post and to do stuff that awaits. The old rule of never leave your office for more than 7 days applies. This week we are debating the Energy Bill at Report Stage and third reading. I will try and get in to tomorrows debate but it is severely time limited from 3.30-7pm, and a large part of this will be taken up with the debate on decarbonisation and nuclear energy, but I shall bob up and down in hope of catching the speakers eye - probably at around 6.20-30 I suspect given the list of speakers.
On Wednesday we have PMQs in the morning - then we will be debating a variety of issues in the main chamber and westminster hall, from Health issues like the 111 service, to the contentious issue of the proposed badger cull to start the long process of stopping bovine TB spread by badgers. This is decimating the herds of cattle in the south and this menace of TB spread by badgers is slowly heading north.
On Thursday I am hoping to be called in DECC questions and will then be involved in the student visa debate from 12 noon until around 3.45pm when I will cycle like mad to make the 4.30 train to Newcastle. If you see a panting bloke still in a suit running for the 4.30 train at Kings Cross that will be me!
Friday I am hosting the banking conference at the Baltic in Gateshead, followed by a recording of the Sunday Politics [the secret is they pre - record on a Friday afternoon] and various events thereafter in Hexham.
