Enfield round-up

Last night I took part in a public meeting at Enfield Civic Centre. The theme of the event was "trust and leadership" but it explored many topics from the reform of parliament to the role of the media. A number of pupils from Kingsmead School were there and interviewed me after the event - many of them already had very strong opinions on the world!

Today I went along to an event at the Park Avenue Disability Centre which was jointly organised by Enfield Vision and the RNIB. We talked about how blind people were often excluded from the mainstream health care system and discussed how things could be improved, for example, blind patients receiving letters from doctors and hospitals in braille.

I also met with a representative from the Big Lottery Fund to visit Edmonton Lower School. Back in September 2004, the school was awarded £1.8 million to build a state-of-the-art sports hall, fitness suite, changing rooms and external tennis courts as part of a programme to get young people active. It's always great to see investment projects in the constituency that are really working and that benefit so many people.

More next week ...

Sadly no free cash, but a free-to-use cash machine at least

This morning I had the real pleasure of opening the new free-to-use cash machine on the outside wall of Silver Street Post Office. You can see in the photo that I was joined by postmaster Adman Khan and a group of expectant customers who couldn't wait to use the new machine. In fact, in its first day of operation, it had over 100 customers - that's a sure sign of success!

As a member of the Treasury Select Committee, I've campaigned hard to ensure that non-charging cash machines are installed in lower-income areas across the UK, such as Edmonton. It's a real achievement to see that work pay off and to know that local residents will not have to pay to get access to their own money, or travel out of their own community just to find a free-to-use cash machine.

When people have to pay to get to their money it can exclude them from the financial system, which can in turn exclude them from many aspects of society as a whole. The installation of these machines goes some way to ensuring that can't happen and I'm pleased that Edmonton can benefit from this scheme too.

Christmas is coming ...

Actually, Christmas is still quite a way off, but last night I got to attend the switching on of the Christmas lights at Edmonton Green Shopping Centre. Enfield's Mayor Eleftherios Savva flicked the switch and now the area's looking considerably more festive. I'll try to put some photos of the event up here as soon as I can, but you can always pop along and see them for yourselves if you get a chance.

Events like last night's show how far Edmonton Green has come. And today I was invited to a site visit at the shopping centre by developer St Modwen to discuss further redevelopment plans for the area. There are small plans underway such as rejuvenating the signage and existing shop fronts in the centre, as well as some larger plans that might come to fruition too, such as the development of a hotel.

Watch this space!

Progress on Cyprus: slow but definite

As I'm sure many of you will know, I am always keen to participate in discussions concerning the reunification of Cyprus. The number of discussions on this matter might suggest that there has been no progress on uniting the Turkish and Greek sides of the island but this is not true. There has been some progress, but admittedly that progress has been slow.

On Tuesday there was another long and in depth debate in Westminster Hall on Cyprus which I took part in. I suggested that Britain, Turkey and Greece, as guarantor powers, as well as the European Union and United Nations, all have a critical role to play in taking the negotiations forward and offered that they all could be doing more on this front. From Britain's perspective, I proposed that the Minister for Europe, Chris Bryant - who was present at the debate - should visit Cyprus as a confidence-building measure. He said that he would be visiting the island at the end of the month, which I can see only as being a positive move.

I also suggested that we could be doing more to turn around the air of pessimism evident in Cyprus by dealing with the missing people and opening a dialogue about the history of the conflict, which would in turn lead to more positive negotiations. Our Government could certainly help further to foster and sponsor these type of joint ventures between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities.

I want to see progress sped up. There is much talk about a settlement being further away than ever, but if all the parties involved, including Britain, give fresh impetus to the negotiations then that does not have to be the case and we can reach agreement sooner than many people can imagine.

Further Colombia questions

Yesterday in the House of Commons I asked a further question on Colombia during the Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs debate. I wanted to know who is responsible for monitoring Colombian security forces' compliance with human rights standards.

You can read the debate in full here.

Warm Front

Last Friday I visited one of my constituents, Patrick McCornish, to see how his home had been improved by the Government's Warm Front Scheme. He was keen to show me the insulation and draft proofing he'd had installed around his windows all free of charge. He said that he was really happy with the work, which meant that he could now use the heating less but that the house was still much warmer.

Mr McCornish is not alone. To date in Edmonton, 2,304 homes have been made warmer through insulation and heating measures since the Warm Front initiative began in June 2000. In total, over £2,436,234.37 has been invested by the Government through Warm Front in Edmonton alone. And as a result, many of those who have benefited from the scheme have reported average household savings of anything between £300 and £600 a year on their energy bills. That's big news given the rising fuel prices, combined with the current economic situation, which I know are a real burden to many constituents.

Warm Front is designed to combat fuel poverty in the private owner-occupied and rented sector by providing contributions of up to £3,500 towards insulation and gas heating measures and £6,000 for oil for the elderly, disabled and for low income families on benefits.

As winter approaches, many people are worrying about how they will cover the costs of heating their homes. If you think you might be eligible to receive help from the scheme then I'm urging you to call Warm Front on 0800 316 6014. Their action could be invaluable.

St Demetrios of Thessaloniki

On Monday I was invited to attend St Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church on Logan Road in Edmonton for a large service to celebrate the annual feast day of Patron Saint the Great Martyr Demetrios.

Saint Demetrios is revered as one of the most important Orthodox military saints, which explains the grandeur of the celebrations for him, as displayed in these photos.