Oliver Letwin MP

Once upon a time, ancient Greece made a name for itself with the marathon and the Olympics.  Ancient Rome was famed for circuses and gladiators.  Cricket and polo were the sports that marked the empire on which the sun never set.  And Henley is Henley, and Wimbledon is Wimbledon.

But Olympic athleticism, marathons, cricket, polo, rowing [...]

I ought to begin this week’s column with an apology.

A few weeks back, I used the column to draw attention to the need for hospital transport in West Dorset – and I mentioned the meeting I have arranged to discuss how we can take forward the idea of volunteer transport in the Sherborne area, alongside [...]

One of the challenges of life as a local MP is that things go wrong and you find there is only a limited amount you can do to put them right.

So it is, to say the least, good news when something which was widely thought to be going wrong actually turns out to be perfectly [...]

In last week’s column, I mentioned that I had recently been present at the launch of Rural-Net at Kingston Maurward.

Like many of the countless meetings and events which I have been pleased to attend at Kingston Maurward over the years, the launch of Rural-Net showed the way in which this fine land-based college is used [...]

Some months ago, I found myself talking to a group of business people in Dorset about the rural business clubs.

These clubs perform an invaluable role – enabling people who are just setting out in business to draw on the help and expertise of experienced businesses.

The sad fact is that a very high proportion of all [...]

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 [...]