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20 Most Recent Press Articles
Have you seen a grey squirrel? And did you report it to the Police?
Written by David Heath MP and published in Western Gazette on Thu 8th Jul 2010
I was reading an article in a paper the other day in which a lady was extolling the virtues of her garden. "It's so peaceful," she said, "flowers everywhere, birds singing, and we're always seeing squirrels on the lawn". I'm sure her garden was, indeed, delightful. But little did she realise that same garden had turned her, unwittingly, into a criminal. By observing a grey squirrel, but failing to report it to the authorities, she was breaking a law passed some time ago, I'm sure with the best of intentions, but still on the statute book. It's just one of the pointless laws we have in this country which still persist long after any possible use has evaporated.
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Read "Have you seen a grey squirrel? And did you report it to the Police?" in full (965 words).
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Let's free ourselves from unnecessary laws!
Written by David Heath MP and published in Somerset Standard on Thu 8th Jul 2010
A surprised nation learnt last week they are committing a criminal offence if they see a squirrel and fail to report it. Or if they are "drunk in charge of a cow". Trivial examples, perhaps, of laws that still exist but serve no useful purpose. But more importantly, what about the over 3,500 new offences, brought in over the last decade or so. The unnecessary restrictions, the red tape, the bureaucracy which plagues business.
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Read "Let's free ourselves from unnecessary laws!" in full (246 words).
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Some good news in the budget!
Written by David Heath MP and published in Somerset Standard on Thu 24th Jun 2010
The budget was always going to be a pretty brutal shock to the system, with the country facing a deficit of £145 billion The outgoing government knew that perfectly well, and they too factored in cuts of £44 billion in government spending, without saying what would be cut.
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Read "Some good news in the budget!" in full (249 words).
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Thoughts on the budget
Written by David Heath MP and published in Western Gazette on Thu 24th Jun 2010
The budget was always going to be a pretty brutal shock to the system. There is no way that the country can recover from a deficit of £145 billion, the biggest ever recorded and larger proportionately than any other country in Europe apart from Ireland, without some very difficult decisions being taken. The outgoing Labour government knew that perfectly well. That's why they themselves factored in cuts of £44 billion in government spending, but of course that is conveniently forgotten now there are opportunistic noises to be made in opposition. I think many of us would like to know just how cuts of that size could have been made without touching any of the spending plans which are held out now as crucial to the country.
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Read "Thoughts on the budget" in full (945 words).
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I'm having to learn new ways!
Written by David Heath MP and published in Somerset Standard on Thu 3rd Jun 2010
I made a little bit of history last week. I became the first Liberal minister to speak in the House of Commons since Sir Archibald Sinclair on May 16th 1945. It may be a small footnote to history, but it's my own!
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Read "I'm having to learn new ways!" in full (250 words).
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EDMs and other matters.
Written by David Heath MP and published in Western Gazette on Thu 3rd Jun 2010
There are several things I am having to learn to do differently in this Parliament. I am determined that being a Minister is not going to make me any the less effective as a constituency Member of Parliament, but the way I go about making the interests of my constituents heard has had to change. Up until now, if somebody in Somerset came to me with a problem, then I would often take the opportunity of standing up in parliament and either making a speech or asking a question to a minister about it. Now I am a member of the government, I don't have that freedom. However, I can write or speak to a ministerial colleague about whatever the matter is, with a higher chance of success in changing minds, so I hope I will manage to pursue matters in a perhaps less high profile but just as effective a way.
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Read "EDMs and other matters." in full (990 words).
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"Housing costs are the biggest issue in my surgeries" says David Heath.
Written by David Heath MP and published in Western Gazette on Fri 12th Mar 2010
It's curious. The biggest single issue to come up time and again in MPs advice surgeries and casework is hardly ever mentioned during election campaigns and barely registers in the acres of print devoted to political comment each week. And yet it's the biggest item of expenditure for most people under pensionable age, takes a very large slice of monthly income, and probably causes more worry and concern than almost anything else.
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Read ""Housing costs are the biggest issue in my surgeries" says David Heath." in full (942 words).
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"We need more affordable housing" says David Heath
Written by David Heath MP and published in Somerset Standard on Fri 12th Mar 2010
Imagine if a pint of milk cost £2.43, a jar of coffee £20.22, a packet of soap powder £28.53 and a chicken from the freezer cabinet £47.51p. All in all, if the cost of the average grocery bill came to £420.00. Thank goodness that even with inflation it's not quite that bad.
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Read ""We need more affordable housing" says David Heath" in full (221 words).
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Can we improve doctors' out of hours service?
Written by David Heath MP and published in Western Gazette on Fri 19th Feb 2010
I had a miserable cold last week. I say that, not because I want or expect sympathy, but because when we are ill, we all want to ensure that we get the treatment we need, and sometimes that need doesn't fall conveniently into office hours. My cold was just that - a cold, and not something I'd dream of troubling a doctor with. If a toddler was running a high temperature, though, or someone with multiple health problems became sick, then you might very well want advice.
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Read "Can we improve doctors' out of hours service?" in full (944 words).
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Can we improve doctors' out of hours service?
Written by David Heath MP and published in Somerset Standard on Fri 19th Feb 2010
Somerset Primary Care Trust is to be congratulated on agreeing to a meeting with local people about the out-of-hours doctors' service. I raised the issue in parliament last week, pointing out that not a single out-of-hours doctor is based in my constituency, which extends over nine hundred square miles. Of course, there is a mobile unit based in Shepton Mallet, but many are not reassured by the fact that one car covers the whole of Mendip.
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Read "Can we improve doctors' out of hours service?" in full (246 words).
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Schools dominated events this week.
Written by David Heath MP and published in Western Gazette on Thu 4th Feb 2010
I've had a very schools-centred week. Last Friday I went along to Huish Episcopi school, along with Paddy Ashdown, to meet fifth form students. Brilliant questions, and Paddy was, I thought, on top form, especially when asked about his multiple former lives as soldier, spy, diplomat, youth leader, MP and, latterly, King of Bosnia! I hope the students felt that they got as much out of it as they should have done. It was also good to see the new buildings taking shape, and I'm glad we managed to persuade the Learning and Skills Council before they went into a state of utter shambles, which has meant getting any commitment over the last year has been a herculean task.
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Read "Schools dominated events this week." in full (947 words).
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School children ask pertinent questions!
Written by David Heath MP and published in Somerset Standard on Thu 4th Feb 2010
A group from Selwood School visited the Houses of Parliament this week and asked me questions about life as an MP and areas of policy, questions which wouldn't have disgraced an adult audience.
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Read "School children ask pertinent questions!" in full (235 words).
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A question of tone - and one of over-simplification
Written by David Heath MP and published in Western Gazette on Fri 22nd Jan 2010
Events in Haiti are absolutely horrific. It is hard to imagine a country less capable of withstanding such a natural catastrophe. They had nothing before the earthquake, and they certainly have nothing now. All those of us who are lucky enough to live in richer, more comfortable and safer places can do is to look on in horror and lend our financial support. And hope that, after the horrors, a better society emerges.
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Read "A question of tone - and one of over-simplification" in full (929 words).
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Crime in the country DOES count!
Written by David Heath MP and published in Somerset Standard on Fri 22nd Jan 2010
Despite the bad weather a couple of weeks, there was a good turnout for a meeting with local farmers I had in Beckington village hall. They were concerned about the levels of crime they are experiencing on their farms, and they wanted to impress on me, and on the local police, that it wasn't something they were prepared to simply put up with.
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Read "Crime in the country DOES count!" in full (243 words).
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Village shops, dementia care and electricity pylons - a mixed bag!
Written by David Heath MP and published in Western Gazette on Fri 4th Dec 2009
Just over a year ago I put in an appearance as an auctioneer at a fund raising event in Kingsbury Episcopi. I remember writing about it at the time, firstly because it was great fun, but secondly because the event was so well supported by the village - it seemed almost the entire community was there. The event was raising funds to do something which a lot of villages would like to have the drive and gumption to do, to try and bring back a functioning village shop.
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Read "Village shops, dementia care and electricity pylons - a mixed bag!" in full (958 words).
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Good news for the NHS in Frome!
Written by David Heath MP and published in Somerset Standard on Fri 27th Nov 2009
I'm paying another visit to the new Frome Community Hospital on Thursday, in the company of my colleague and party leader Nick Clegg. Frankly, I'm showing off the results of what so many people in Frome and hereabouts campaigned so hard for over many years, but I'm also hoping that it will serve as a model for hospital provision elsewhere.
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Read "Good news for the NHS in Frome!" in full (245 words).
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Thoughts on rural health care
Written by David Heath MP and published in Western Gazette on Fri 27th Nov 2009
I'm paying another visit to the new community hospital in Frome on Thursday, in the company of my colleague and party leader Nick Clegg, and I'm very pleased to hear that two of the outstanding issues relating to the hospital may now be on the way to being solved. Firstly, the hours during which treatment can be given for minor injuries is going to be extended; this was an annoyance to people who found that they had to trek off to Bath to deal with some misfortune which couldn't be dealt with at the brand new hospital in the evening. Secondly, the local GPs practice are publishing plans for a new surgery next to the hospital, which is what we hoped for in the first place but which was cut out for budgetary reasons.
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Read "Thoughts on rural health care" in full (937 words).
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The House - and the horse.
Written by David Heath MP and published in Western Gazette on Fri 20th Nov 2009
The Queen's speech marks the official opening of the parliamentary session,amid all the pomp and ceremony that several hundred years of tradition can muster. Although I am sure that Her Majesty on occasions winces at the stuff she is expected to read out (written, of course, by the government of the day), nevertheless the whole occasion has a certain charm and a great deal of circumstance. And the symbolic shutting of the door of the House of Commons in the face of Black Rod, representing the refusal of the elected house to accept the whim of any unconstitutional monarch, still has resonance.
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Read "The House - and the horse." in full (959 words).
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What a waste of time!
Written by David Heath MP and published in Somerset Standard on Fri 20th Nov 2009
The Queen's speech this week marks the official opening of the parliamentary session and sets out the government's legislative programme. But one thing we can be absolutely sure of is there will be a general election within the next six months, which means that few if any of the measures contained in the speech will ever become law. So what on earth is the point of it? Aren't we just wasting our time?
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Read "What a waste of time!" in full (243 words).
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We need clarity on our vision for Afghanistan.
Written by David Heath MP and published in Western Gazette on Fri 13th Nov 2009
I spotted the first on the lapel of a government minister in the second week of October this year. Within a week every minister and most government ministers, not to mention every reporter and newsreader on the television, was sporting a poppy. I'm afraid I stick to what I have always considered the proper period for the wearing of Remembrance Day poppies, which starts on 1st November and ends the day after the 11th. And I refuse to accept that wearing a poppy earlier, or for that matter wearing a larger poppy, mean that you "care even more".
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Read "We need clarity on our vision for Afghanistan." in full (949 words).
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