Single parents and pubs

Was interesting to hear today that all three of the mainstream political party leaders have backed Gingerbreads campaign to remove the stigma of being a lone parents.

Whilst backing this campaign might not be so hard for Labour and the Lib Dems back it shows what a long way the Tories have come from party that was attacking single parents as part of its now infamous back to basics campaign.

Single parents still get a pretty tough time and the Gingerbread Campaign is very welcome and well help in removing some of the stigma that single parents face.

Pubs play a very important role in the community and are as much an asset as post offices the pub industry has been in decline for a number of years factors such as changing lifestyles all are factors however one measure that would help would be a reduction in beer duty.

The Labour Government has recognised many of the challenges that the pub industry faces and John Healey has been appointed Minster of Pubs.

At the Labour Party Conference in Brighton last year I meet with John Mann MP of the All Party Beer Group and the Chief Executive of the Pub Industry Association to raise my concerns at the decline of the pub industry.

A question of Leadership

This week has been a challenging one for John Terry outed by the News of the World having an affair with a french underwear model.

The decision to remove Terry from being England Captian must have been a hard one for the England Manager however the danger is that John Terry's affair with not only anybody but the ex-girlfriend of a team mate might have weakend the respect that other players in the England Team.

Who ever the England Manager chooses to be the new Captain lets just hope they can keep there mind on football.