The new Schools Secretary has suddenly woken up to the realisation that kids all over the country don't get enough fresh air and rarely play outside.  He wants fewer children to be wrapped in cotton wool.  Don't we all?

A new report points out that children from poorer families are more likely to be killed in a road traffic accident or in a household incident or fire.  This hardly surprises me.  Families with less money have less opportunity to buy in child care and there's a greater chance of family breakdown or a lack of support network from extended family.  But if the Government wants to see kids outside more, and away from the dangers of the internet, what should they be doing?

For a start, many parents in Eltham have been telling me they don't feel the streets are safe for their kids to play alone.  A more visible police presence would be reassuring.  So, too, might greater investment in part rangers so that parents can send their kids to kick a ball about in some of Greenwich's many open spaces.

Encouraging kids to walk to and from school would also help instill a sense of independence, as well as providing some exercise and fresh air.

A greater investment in sports activities would send a better message than allowing existing playing fields to be concreted over, as residents in Kidbrooke are only too well aware.

 

A lot more also needs to be done - to make after school activities more widely available, to make it easier for youth organisations to organise clubs and outings without the endless red tape and bureaucracy, to remove the compensation culture so that people are afraid to take any responsibility for anything - and to remind parents that kids need to make mistakes in order to learn, including falling over on a muddy field.  There's so much out there to see, what a shame they often only see it on a computer screen.

If you've been visiting and noticed I hadn't posted in a while, I'm sorry.  I've been in Berlin and didn't have the opportunity to post.  I would have posted a note in advance but it would have been like putting up a big sign saying "rob my home, it's empty".

A few observations from Berlin - a city I did not have huge enthusiasm to visit but thought it important to 'tick off the list'.

 

• Firstly, it's still a massive building site.  My partner went in 1994 and assumed it would now be much more complete.  I reckon there's a good 20 years more work to be done before it resembles anything like a finished city (though which city is ever 'finished'?).  That said, there is some fantastic architecture, impressive use of old and formerly damaged buildings and some very creative flair.
• Not surprisingly the fall of the Wall plays a huge part in the way the city operates.  Most of it was obviously demolished as fast as possible but some parts remain and are protected by law.  I think this is terrific and it is well worth visiting the parts which are intact, if only to imagine what it must have been like to live under its shadow.
• There are monuments in every major capital, but so many in Berlin it is impossible to see them all.  However, the most obvious for me to visit was the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.  Quite a title huh?  At first glance, slabs of concrete (2,711 of them actually).  In fact, it is the most impressive memorial I have seen anywhere in the world.  There is no 'right' way of seeing it as you simply walk in and get lost among the slabs, some of which slant, all of different heights.  Yes, like tomb stones.  I walked at night and by day, the latter being a more impressive way of seeing it.  But the information centre throws up some terribly simple but moving details of the suffering that existed in the Nazi era - not least the last farewell letters from people, including children, who knew death was moments away.  A staggering achievement, and well worth the 17 year debate which led to its creation.
• Culturally, Berlin is extraordinary.  Over 170 museums!  The Museum of German History was very interesting and like so much of what we saw this weekend, frank and open about the past.  Indeed, it's this honesty which has really endeared me to the city, as wella s the friendly welcome we received in shops and restaurants - even though we speak absolutely no German and couldn't even manage 'thank you' properly!

My only major complaint would be the difficulty one has trying to get a ticket to use the trains!  There are no ticket offices, only machines - which only take small change or notes.  We missed three trains on one occasion for not having the right change...but the trains run frequently, efficiently and are clean.  Sadly, the same could not be said of the trains on our return.  Welcome back to the UK.

I just watched a recording of Richard Littlejohn's documentary on antisemitism in Britain - The War on Britain's Jews.  He is not someone I usually trust to give a conidered or balanced view, but full credit to him, he delivered on this occasion.

Antisemitism is something I have been campaigning against since before I went to university.  In recent years I mention it to supposedly well informed people and receive blank looks and comments bordering on astonishment.  There is a general assumption that this is a form of racism which has long passed in this country and is a matter of history.  Sadly, it is very much alive.  Worse, it is a growing issue and the conflict in the Middle East is used as a convenient cover for those who call themselves liberal but actually dislike Jews or the Jewish State.

A couple of years ago I was a guest of a BBC employee at his flat for a Eurovision party (anadmission in itself!).  My partner was in the kitchen, where the best guest at a party always assemble, and was asking a couple of women which entry they thought should win.  One replied that she didn't really mind as long as Israel didn't win, but best be careful not to say too much as there's a Jewish bloke sitting in the other room.  And there lies the point of Littlejohn's programme.

She wasn't against Israel winning on the basis of the entry, she simply couldn't stand Israel as a nation.  When told o his guest's comment, the host laughed.  So did I, mainly at the thought that this woman should warn my partner to keep it quiet because the 'Jew' might be offended.  Needless to say,my partner waited until we had left to tell me, knowing  I would wish to get into a debate about why those on the Left are actually more racist than most people who vote Conservative.  Now, if only she knew I was a Conservtive and of Jewish stock.  Poor woman would probably have had a heart attack.....shame.

When I was a child, I remember an incident in which my grandfather was confronted by a neighbour.  My grandparents lived ina beautiful private road off Reigate Hill, now a millionnaires' row  They had a petty dispute over something and nothing as neighbours sometimes do.  Coldly, the neighbour suggested that people like my grandfather shouldn't live in roads such as theirs and should consider going back to where they came from.  Hardly shocked, my grndfather turned to me and said tht no atter how long ago his family moved here from Poland, the fact he had been born in this country, worked hard, married an English woman, integrated, run a successful business and entered local community life, we would always be reminded we did not really belong here.  I vowed then and there never to accept that.  And so I find myself now, running for Parliament to prove him wrong.  What a long way we still have to go.

Iain Duncan Smith has done what so many former Conservative Leaders failed to do - he has found a job in helping to develop policy, in effect, finishing the job he started when he was Leader of the Opposition.

His new report on social justice, in which he says we are losing the fight against poverty and laments the break-down of marriage as an institution, is very welcome.  I suspect I will not agree with everything he says (I have yet to read it all) but I believe he is on the right track when he says we must make it easier for people who want to marry to do so.  He is also right to tackle the glaringly obvious fact that many people in this country continue to live in conditions which are far from satisfactory in the 21st century.  Some of those people live in the Eltham constituency.

There is too much reliance on the welfare state, once intended as a safety net, now seen by too many as the only way.  We spend £104 Billion on the NHS annually, but the cost of social breakdown, according to the new report, is £102 Billion.  Something has gone disasterously wrong when we have a situation like that.

I believe in the institution of marriage.  That is not to say I think people who live together, unmarried, have got it wrong or are in some way less equal.  I believe in choice too.  But it is a fact that on average, children benefit from 2 parents rather than 1 - and I rather suspect the parents benefit from having each other to lean on too as it happens.  To that end I would welcome some financial help for married couples.  I would like to see the status of marriage restired, so it is something people do aspire to once again.  And whilst I know many young people take responsibility for their lives, too many do not.  I want to see young men and women aspiring to more than being on X Factor or Big Brother or just wanting to be 'FAMOUS' though not knowing what they want that fame to be for. 
It is going to take a massive change in government policy, in teaching, in the media.  It is a mammoth task.  But simply ask yourself - why do we have so many social problems that simply do not exist in France or Germany or Italy?  Perhaps it is their belief in family and community.  Fewer drunks, less family breakdown, fewer children born to single parents, less obesity.  We really could learn a thing or two.  IDS is right to publish this report.  I hope the debate which follows leads to real change.