So, the rest of the day including chairing a meeting of the APPG on Credit Unions, with a Treasury Minister as guest speaker. Part of our discussion was about whether credit unions could work more closely with post offices to help them offer more services and ensure their survival. I later discovered that the APPG on Post Offices had been meeting at exactly the same time, with a DWP Minister in attendance, to discuss way in which post offices could expand their range of services.... Typical example of joined-up working!
As for my stint in the Chamber - I actually managed to arrive only 30 seconds before Bill Cash sat down, which is about the right length of time to listen to Bill Cash on Europe, and got to hear an excellent speech from Natascha Engel, about how growing up in West Berlin, till she came to England at the age of nine, shaped her views on 'the European project'. Some of it - the interaction with the Euro-sceptic Tories on the benches opposite - was really funny, but Hansard will probably tidy all that up.
Also made the tail end of a meeting today at which Friends of the Earth were launching their new 'What's Feeding our Food' campaign, which is really good stuff and hopefully I'll be working with them on it in 2009. They want people to put pressure on MPs... you might be pushing at an open door in my case, but feel free to push!
