Today's Holocaust Memorial Day is more important than ever

The passage of 70 years since the day Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated on 27 January 1945 has rendered those events no less unthinkable. For my part I have not yet been to Auschwitz but do plan to go. My trip to Jerusalem a few years ago moved me tremendously, most particularly the visit to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum http://www.yadvashem.org

Many have uttered the words ‘never again’ - but recent atrocities in Iraq, Kurdistan, Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur are reminders. 

Recently in France and Belgium Anti Semitism has seen Jews murdered by terrorists simply because of who they were. Across France armed police stand guard outside Jewish schools.

Our best defence against this poisonous ideology is education, and I support the work of the Holocaust Educational Trust; the Trust’s mission is to educate young people in Britain from every background about the Holocaust and its meaning for us today. I know they are working with several Tynedale schools very successfully.

Spend a moment today to reflect on what happened 70 years and more ago. 
More details of why this matters here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/11367593/Britain-must-confront-the-anti-Semites.html

Sunday in Westminster prepping for the week ahead and sorting the outstanding casework

Sat at my desk with a busy three days ahead in Westminster, before I head north for 2 weeks.
Tomorrow we have the big LA7 debate to created the North East Combined Authority, which I support and have campaigned at length to make happen. I shall be speaking in the short debate between 4.30-6. Writing my short speech now.
I also have a Justice and Home Affairs debate tomorrow, plus the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust Parliamentary Reception, which I hope to be able to go to. In the evening I will be hoping to fit in a meeting with some of the Better Together team, who will be down in Westminster Monday evening.
Tuesday sees Foreign Office Questions, followed by a series of debates and meetings concerning credit unions. I am particularly looking forward to a meeting with Sir Hector Sants, Chair of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Credit Union Task Group; Sir Hector is seeking input from interested parties on the Church’s role supporting the growth of credit unions as part of a more competitive financial sector which encourages responsible lending and saving. The meeting is in Committee Room 14, Palace of Westminster, 4-6pm.
Wednesday is busy with PMQs, the end of the Finance Bill in Committee, and a series of meetings with a 7 pm finish and I will then sprint for the 8 o'clock train to Northumberland.
Once back home I have a multitude of meetings and visits over the next 10days, which I will blog about in more detail later in the week.