New Blackmore Vale, August 20, 2021
MPs’ round-up
Vaccine passports would set very dangerous precedent In a spirit of measured calmness and stoic resilience, our market towns and villages are coming back to life. A buzz is returning to our high streets and long overdue village gatherings are taking place. Life is returning to normal. Of course, for many of us, August means one thing: exam results. And I’d like to say a huge congratulations to the thousands of local students who’ve received their GCSE, A-level and vocational results over the past few weeks. I have fond results day memories from my time as a secondary school teacher; watching hard work pay off and my students taking their next exciting step in life. Having had to contend with the
Somerton & Frome MP David Warburton disruption and uncertainly of the last couple of years, I’m incredibly proud of all that our local young people and school teachers have achieved. With so much to celebrate, I’m incredibly glad that more
live events will be going ahead thanks to a Government-backed insurance scheme worth over £750 million which I spent months campaigning for. I met privately with the Chancellor to ask for this precise initiative, which I hope will give the folks at Gilcombe Farm confidence in planning next year’s FarmFest and Sunrise festivals, while also supporting the fantastic live events at Wincanton Racecourse and all those in the wider industry such as the brilliant Bradsons Event Services. I’m acutely aware of how challenging this pandemic has been for those who make a living from live events – with many sadly forced into
cancellation. Now, the show can go on. Speaking of social events, there’s been a lot of speculation recently about the role of vaccine passports as we emerge from this pandemic. I should make it very clear that I do not believe that vaccine passports offer either the safest or most appropriate way forward when it comes to admittance to nightclubs or any other social settings. Equality under the law is an indivisible principle which underpins our way of life – and any attempt to apportion the freedoms which we all (rightly) take for granted according to the receipt of a vaccination sets, I believe, a dangerous precedent.
My predecessor founded community in Bermuda! I hope you enjoyed Miranda’s interview with me in Edition 22. I wasn’t expecting to see a childhood photo on the front cover! But thank you to many of you who have been in touch with your kind comments. The West Dorset constituency is vast. It is 400 square miles with 137 parishes. So although the Blackmore Vale is my home, as an MP, I have an extended home, all the way down to Lyme Regis! A few weeks ago, I joined the commemorations of one of my predecessors, Sir George Somers, in the annual Somers Day celebrations at Lyme Regis. He was Mayor of Lyme Regis in Elizabethan times, and subsequently MP in 1603, and then naval leader who founded the island community known today as 34
MP for West Dorset Chris Loder Bermuda. Exotic foods and knowledge of the world are two things we take for granted today, but Somers and his crew endured considerable disease, starvation, and mutiny in the pursuit of discovery and knowledge. In Lyme Regis a few weeks ago, I was joined by the Mayor of St. George’s, one of the earliest settlements
founded in Bermuda by Somers. And for many years now, the Somers Day parade has celebrated our continued close relationship with Bermuda where elected representatives are always keen to visit us. The Mayor of St George’s speech was moving and from the heart. He told us that these celebrations underscored how important it is that we learn from our history and to be always in the pursuit of truth, rather than what we are first told. I think it is important to hear from those who are much closer to historical issues like this rather than those who like to be the voice of others without a mandate. n We take for granted today our ability to search on our phones or computers for
any information we want to know about this world in an instant. It is important though to remember that sometimes what we first read might not be accurate and we have a responsibility ourselves to validate what we read too. n Finally, this week, the Friends of the Yeatman Hospital in Sherborne celebrated its 70th anniversary on Monday last week. The Yeatman, with its continual service to Sherborne has a special place in the hearts and minds of those of us in and around the town. Our campaign to see the Minor Injuries Unit re-open after a year of closure, was met with success several weeks ago, but has certainly shown the importance of these facilities to the wellbeing of our town.
