There has been so much going on in Parliament this week, with a debate on migraines, Women and Equalities Oral Questions, an Urgent Question on HMRC, at the same time as I was trying to get through to HMRC about a constituent's case, as well as a quick trip to Andover to meet with the Andover and District Older People's Forum among others.
Over the weekend I was in Stockbridge to meet with local business owners to talk about Southern Water, and I was pleased this week for them to come up with some dates for a public engagement exercise at Abbotswood. I have yet to look at what is the most feasible, but it is important to emphasise that we need solutions for both waste water disposal and water supply. The Parish Council in King's Somborne has recently been in touch with me about the tankering operation which is still ongoing, and I am very conscious there are many properties with sewage backing up in their drains and in some instances coming up through their plug holes and toilets.
On Wednesday we had the Safeguarding Minister, Laura Farris, in front of my Select Committee, talking about violence against women and girls, rape prosecutions, revenge porn and buffer zones around abortion clinics. Laura is a near neighbour in Newbury and a very impressive Minister indeed, who does not just know her brief, but also cares about it passionately. That came across in her extremely thoughtful answers to all the questions posed.
On Thursday I visited Steamology in West Dean, who I recently helped secure their R&D tax credits, I was at Ace Liftaway on Monday and on Friday have a full day of surgery appointments and visits around the constituency scheduled. All any journalists want to write about is "Tory plots", which is why I used my fortnightly column in the Metro to try to put to bed any suggestion that there will be any sort of regicide of the PM. He was in excellent form at the 1922 Committee on Wednesday night, which acted as a reminder to me to go and buy the centenary photograph, which was only taken this year! I still have one in a cardboard tube rolled up from 2012 and the 90th anniversary of the 1922 Committee, so this one is coming ready framed to be stuck on the loo wall.
It is not yet the Easter recess, and I have a busy week next week with a number of events including one I am hosting with the WI. That should make up for me hanging out with the Men's Shed in Portcullis House this week, learning a bit about woodwork. I seem to recall some poor teachers at Romsey School trying to teach me woodwork circa about 1983, rest assured I have not improved any.
