The morning we heard the power sharing agreement had been agreed in Northern Ireland and the democratic institutions would be restored I was meeting the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission in Parliament. It was interesting to hear their take on what the restoration of Stormont would mean for their work and they have agreed to come in front of my Select Committee later in the year.
Whilst this issue has dominated much of the Parliamentary time this week, with Thursday's business rescheduled as a result, my Committee has been focussed on misogyny in the music industry and the publication of our most recent report. That has meant numerous media appearances, and a lot of discussion as to why the creative industries should be worse than other sectors.
I was relieved at the start of the week to hear from the Chief Executive of Southern Water that they would be removing their over pumping equipment from parts of the constituency and that there would be no untreated sewage pumped into the Test. The Environment Agency has been very robust at highlighting the importance of this precious chalk stream and the damage over pumping could have done. Groundwater levels remain high and at this point more rain would be very bad news.
