Apart from the disappointment, for me, that the vote on the order to allow the new casino in Great Yarmouth to be built was lost in the Lords, the biggest disappointment was that the opposition MP’s in Norfolk would not support the order going through. This could have meant that the Commons vote could have gone a different way and the future of the order could have been somewhat different. It was particularly disheartening because we have, on occasions, given support to each other where there was no political mandate. However to vote against the order, to me, was like voting against the Great Yarmouth casino, a position I could understand if it was because they opposed all form of gambling but this clearly was because of a  politically driven view to defeat the government. There will be, I am sure, another opportunity soon to revisit the issue and I hope they give us their support then. Can I add, that I appreciated the support of both Norwich MP’s and Waveney’s Bob Blizzard.

The issue of the casino was actually raised on a short tour I had recently of some of the tourism facilities on the seafront as part of the Great British Tourism week. Having visited the established attractions such as the Sea Life Centre and the Model Village, both having invested considerable sums of money recently, I went to the new attraction, Yesterday’s World and had a sneak preview of what is in store. Again, it is clearly a massive investment for the owner who told me that when he was looking for somewhere to open his second attraction in the country he chose Great Yarmouth mainly because of the regeneration and the decision to build a casino was one of those regeneration initiatives that will add to extra facilities in the coming year to keep Great Yarmouth at the top of the seaside destinations in the UK. After the visit, I met with two landladies who have recently moved here, and their view was the same about the direction Great Yarmouth is going in and was one of the reasons why they came.  

The difficulty faced by the James Paget Hospital with the outbreak of C-Diff (Clostridium Difficile) has been well documented by much of the national media and it is indeed a tragedy that we have had 17 deaths associated with the C-Diff bug. It is hoped we may find out where this strain of the bug came from but more importantly we need to pull out all the stops to eradicate this from the hospital and am sure that the action being taken by the James Paget will result in this.

The issue of the replacement of Trident submarines was decided last month. The difficulty for me was not just the concept of nuclear weaponry but the unknown cost looking 15 years into the future with estimates of anything from £20 billion to £80 billion.

With Iran holding 15 of our servicemen captive it is vitally important that the diplomatic skills of the Prime Minister are at their best, and possibly without the interference of President Bush.

Most months I am given the opportunity to visit and learn more about an organisation that offers help to anyone who needs it. Last month was no exception when I visited the Samaritans and learnt about the work of the volunteers and how they manage their workload, including working through the night. We usually look to the 999 services to be operational 24 hours a day 7 days a week but there is always someone at the end of the phone line at the Samaritans, the only difference being that they have to raise their own funds to provide the service. I am truly amazed at the dedication of the thousands of people who do volunteer work and there is no exception when it comes to the Samaritans. Any offer to help by volunteering is welcomed but if you haven’t the time to spare then another way you can help is by logging onto www.everyclick.com which is an internet search engine with a big difference, The Samaritans get a small amount of financial help for people using the search engine and I for one am telling my staff to use this site – it doesn’t cost you but it will help the Samaritans and if you use the site be sure to nominate the Great Yarmouth branch.

With the weather against the Great Yarmouth People event last week, it was a pleasant surprise to see the number of people who turned out to spell the letters G Y P on the central beach. As someone who made part of the letter G, I can confirm that the wind chill factor would have been at least five degrees lower than when standing on the promenade. Apart from that, the day was a success and congratulations to everyone who organised the event as well as the many residents who braved the elements.

This year is the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery and there are many events celebrating the fact, yet it is clear that slavery is far from being ended. I took the opportunity to ask the following questions during International Development questions to Gareth Thomas (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for International Development)  ‘How his Department is marking the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade.’ He replied, “Last month, we published the booklet "Breaking the Chains", which highlights the ongoing need to fight slavery and the clear link between modern slaves and global poverty. In October, in partnership with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the International Labour Organisation and Anti-Slavery International, we will hold a conference to explore what further action we can take”. I then thanked my hon. Friend for his response and commended the book to everyone, and said it is a sad reflection of society that it was just 200 years ago that slavery was abolished. However, it is also an indictment of today's society that slavery still exists in other forms, whether that is child slavery or human trafficking. In India, with the Dalit system, we have a situation in which individuals are paid just 80p a day and have to try to survive on that pittance – we need to do a lot more before we can truly say slavery no longer exists.