Along with thousands of other residents, I signed a petition to the Prime Minister in protest at plans to cut the subsidy to the London boroughs for the Freedom pass - a vital lifeline for residents aged 60+ or disabled, living in London.  The government agreed a 3 year funding formula and then decided to tear up the commitment and reduce the grant by £29 million.

The response can be seen here.  What it proves is that the government neither cares nor wishes to listen.  In short, it says the cut will proceed regardless of public opposition, and that London gets more than its fair share.  If only that were true!  Strange, I always thought that Londoners subsidise certain other parts of the UK, including those where university courses, hospital car parks, care of the elderly and prescriptions are all free.  Silly me.

If you read The Sun newspaper, you may already be aware of an extraordinary new book that has been published to help children understand why their fathers sometimes have to be away from home.  Written by an old school friend of mine, who served in Iraq and wrote the first part of it on the plane home, it helps to answer the inevitable questions any youngster would have when seeing their dad disappear for an extended time.  So whether dad is a soldier like Chris, an oil rigger, a sailor, a businessman, a doctor, an actor or a truck driver, hopefully this book can offer some comfort. 

My Daddy's Going Away is illustrated with delightful cartoons and has an introductory message from HRH The Prince of Wales.  The book tells the story through a poem.  All proceeds are going to Combat Stress and the Foundation for Integrated Health, both charities with which the Prince is involved.

If you have children I am sure they would appreciate this book.  If you dont have children, why not buy one for these great causes and donate the book to a local charity shop, so that another child might have the benefit.  Today, I have bought one for each of my four god children.

You can purchase the book here.

Leadership is about being brave, principled and taking tough decisions even when such actions may not immediately help your own cause.

Today David Cameron made a speech in East London.  He set out how he would start to rebuild trust in our political system - a challenge that should not be under-estimated.  Among the many very welcome commitments was a pledge that any petition with 100,000 signatures will be eligible for a parliamentary debate; and any petition with 1 million+ signatures would lead to a Bill being presented to Parliament.  

There will be times when parliamentarians will despair of ever having introduced this power.  That is how it should be!  MPs are there to represent the public who elect them.  And I believe the more they are seen to be 'in touch' with the feeling of the public, the more politics will seem relevant to the public.

These may seem like small measures, but think how little direct influence members of the public have over legislators at the moment.  Suddenly, under these proposals, there will be a real purpose to debate among the public - and not only in the run up to elections.  In addition to a reduction in the number and cost of MPs and greater transparency over issues like remuneration, and stronger limits on political lobbyists, today's speech proves who has the required leadership qualities in Westminster.