I have organised a public meeting about the proposed closure of the magistrates court in Worksop on Tuesday August 3rd at 7pm at The Crossing in Worksop. It would be foolhardy to allow this closure to go ahead, waving a white flag to criminals and reducing access to justice for law abiding citizens. Everyone who has a view on this issue is invited to attend.

There is a lot of talk in Westminster about primary ballots similar to those used in the USA when people are choosing their elected leaders. Bassetlaw Labour Party has taken a lead by organising one for the Labour Party leadership. The front runners are the Miliband brothers who have both taken part in this with enthusiasm. Ed came to Bassetlaw last week and his older brother, David captivated my student Summer School this week in Parliament.

Primaries work whereby the supporters of each political party help chose their candidates and so a Tory primary would be open to Tory supporters, a Labour one to Labour voters etc. [Please note this ballot has now closed].

My fourth Parliamentary Summer School has taken place in London this week with pupils from all our secondary schools working in Parliament, the City of London where they are meeting and questioning the country's leaders. This is a unique event that lots of MPs would like to copy. The Speaker of Parliament again met the students and gave a promise that he would visit Bassetlaw in the not too distant future.

My website also contains details of the Vesuvius appeal and I am asking for authority to represent those who agree with me that this development should go ahead with 1,000 new jobs and a new home for Worksop Town Football Club. The Council still dogmatically opposes this development, despite renewing the planning consent for another supermarket at the Clinton Maltkins this month by seven votes to five. Nobody has yet given a proper explanation of why Cllr Quigley is behaving so inconsistently and why taxpayers money is being wasted on legal costs for this appeal. I am presuming that the Councillors will put their hands in their pocket if they lose to cover the costs.

Sadly one decent Councillor, Michael Bennett died recently. We sometimes strongly disagreed, but he was a man motivated by public service and was totally without malice. Indeed he and I agreed more than we disagreed and Worksop has lost a good, generous and honest man who will be greatly missed.