Oliver Letwin MP

Fashion is a very strange thing. 

I have never  been able to work out how it happens that, on a certain day in a certain year, fashion for or against a particular type of clothing starts and then spreads like wildfire only to be replaced by another.  And, of course, it isn’t just a matter of [...]

Events like the Queen’s Jubilee and the Olympics (not to mention last year’s Royal Wedding) serve to remind us all of the way that glamour can be life enhancing.  It would be a dull world indeed if we didn’t have these marvellous, enormous events to lift us out of ourselves and into special worlds.

But George [...]

At the start of the New Year, I am reporting on my activities in 2011 as your constituency MP.

We are lucky to have a much lower rate of unemployment here than almost anywhere else in the country. Nevertheless, I have found myself increasingly involved in helping young people find jobs, and others in the public, [...]

As Christmas approaches, shopkeepers in Sherborne and elsewhere in the country will be hoping that – despite the world’s economic problems – people will be taking out what money they have in order to buy presents and stock up the fridge for the festive season.

Traditionally, even in difficult times, this produces a surge in high [...]

Even in these troubled times, West Dorset is very fortunate to have a very low rate of unemployment – one of the lowest in the country, and indeed one of the lowest in Europe.

But this shouldn’t blind us to the disappointment and misery that long term unemployment causes – particularly for young people who are [...]

Last week, I found myself giving what is called the Poyntington Lecture in Sherborne.

The name of this series of lectures is not a coincidence. The lectures held each year to help raise money for the village of Poyntington.
As someone who has spent a certain amount of time over the years in this lovely little village, [...]

A visitor to Sherborne could be forgiven for thinking that this lovely town, tucked away in the Dorset countryside, is pretty much disconnected from the wider world.  And, of course, in many of the best senses, it is.  Sherborne doesn’t have a large number of problems that afflict many other parts of the world.

But it [...]

Amongst the many wonderful voluntary organisations in West Dorset, none is more admirable than the little charity which goes by the name of Footprints.

This organisation has been strongly supported by the Church of England and is lucky enough to have the Archdeacon of Sherborne as its chairman. Its purpose is very simple. It exists to [...]

I see that we have once again reached the time of year for poppies. As soon as this happens, boxes filled with buttonholes (both of the English and of the Scottish variety) appear in the House of Commons – and I almost always find that I have bought several of them by the time we [...]