Parliament was in recess last week, and I took up the invitation by the Conservative Friends of Israel to visit Israel for 4 days. I hadn’t been to Israel for twenty five years, and whereas back then, tensions obviously existed, it was possible to visit the holy sites without impedance. Security fences now separate Jersusalem from Bethlehem as the level of violence between the communities has escalated. It was a fascinating trip that took me to the Palestine Liberation Organisation offices in Ramallah in the West Bank and then an audience with Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu in the same day. The visit also took us to the border crossing with Gaza and a display of the many rockets that the Israeli border town of Sderot has endured. The Israel-Palestine issue has now been with us for close to 70 years, and continues to elicit huge passion. It was enormously valuable to have free access to talk to both sides and to see first-hand the local situation. Local constituency visits have included the Citizens’ Advice Bureau in Margate, to hear of new plans for an additional office in Ramsgate, provided at a peppercorn rent by TDC - which is excellent news. There is a call for volunteers and advisers to staff the new facility, so if you have some skills you’d like to share, I can facilitate a necessary introduction. Charities that are sustained by local authority grants are facing frozen or reduced budgets, and the costs of changes to National Insurance, Auto-Enrolment pensions and increases to the National Living Wage add to budgetary pressures. One such charity is Age Concern in Sandwich who serves many residents across Thanet. I had a productive meeting with Trustees to brainstorm ideas into the future. In Broadstairs, Pierremont Hall and Retort House look set to be taken over by the Town Council. This is great news, and a local campaign that I have long supported. There are other assets in Broadstairs, notably the harbour front buildings and harbour arm which are looking shabby and I am working with tenants and other users to get them into shape for the Summer. Keep Britain Tidy are heading up the “Clean for the Queen” project nationwide in advance of H.M. The Queen’s 90th birthday over the weekend of 4th to 6th March. There are a number of local projects to support the local clean-up. I will, as ever, be cleaning graffiti! The major announcement has of course been the firing gun for the EU referendum. Again, an issue that can bring out deeply held views. I have never made a secret of my opposition to the UK’s membership of the EU, as I feel we would have a brighter future as a normal, independent nation looking outwards to the world, of course trading with the EU, but not part of its political ambitions, costs and bureaucracy. I pay a tribute to the Prime Minister in bringing the referendum; only possible because we have a Conservative government of which my election here in South Thanet was an important part. My constituency office recently received a protest by local activists concerned about the EU’s TTIP negotiations on our behalf (a new free-trade agreement with the US), an interesting alternative take on concerns about the direction of the EU.