Brailsford Brothers light up Brentry and the lives of many

With Brentry's heroes, Lee and Paul B

Seldom am I more proud to be the MP for Bristol North West than on the night of the Brailsford Brothers' Christmas Switch-on in aid of the Wallace and Gromit Appeal. I've seen the lights on their mum's house on Oakbourn Road get more and more, and the crowds get larger and larger as each year goes by. After being featured in a Channel Four Documentary last year, this year, the extravaganza reached new hights with some outstanding performances from local artists, which held us all spell-bound.

I first came across Lee and Paul when I was out canvassing in Brentry, one scorching hot September day. It was once of those boiling hot days left over from mid-summer, and I was amazed to find the two brothers working away in their garage in the heat , on Father Christmas light displays. "It's a bit early, isn't it?!" I asked, incredulously. Then they told me of the mammoth task they undertake each year in transforming their mum's house into a winter wonderland. It takes months.

They also told me how they fork out for the electricity bill from their own money, in order to raise funds for the Wallace and Gromit appeal. For years in succession we wrote to the energy company to ask them to give them some help on the bill, since it was for charity. Appallingly, we never managed to persuade them. Now, thanks to some superb sponsors, the brothers have some help in putting on the big Brentry Christmas Light Up.

The event certainly kickstarts my Christmas, and makes me tremendously proud to be the MP for this amazing community.  The Brailsford Brothers are on twitter @brailsfordxmas;   you can go to their website to donate: http://www.brailsfordlights.co.uk/  or text text rixy88 and £1, £5 or £10 to 70070.

Lee and Paul Brailsford, and all the team, thank you so much for making our Christmas so special, and raising thousands of pounds over the years for all those children helped by the Wallace and Gromit Appeal.

Syria's 'shattered beauty'

One of the pieces of art at the Syria Relief art exhibition, 'Shattered Beauty' in aid of the humanitarian crisis in Syria

The humanitarian crisis continues and escalates in Syria, with unspeakable hardship being suffered and cruelty being inflicted on innocent citizens.

I visited Syria as late as February 2011, just before the uprising happened, and I don't think I've so appreciated getting back to the UK, and what freedom and democracy actually means. We were of course constantly closely watched and monitored  and for some of the time driven about by the Syrian regime, who were anxious we should see all the 'right' things.

What they couldn't hide from us, in the blacked-out black cars that sped through the streets of Damascus with disdain for the citizens in the roads, an old man crossing, or for traffic lights, was the look of dread and fear on the faces of the people as the cars approached, and the look of fear and hatred on their faces as the cars passed and they thought they were out of sight. Loathing was palpable in the air.

Depiction of the regime, coming like inhuman shadows, bats in the night, anonymously to take people away.

We went to the British Council, and met with some frightened and angry young people. Once the drivers of the black cars were not in sight, one described the British Council as their 'bubble of oxygen' -the only place where they could think and talk freely; and discussed the dangers of going on facebook and sharing what life was really like in Syria. I am not sure what has happened to all those bright and vibrant young people now. I won't forget that meeting as long as I live.

Events of the last year have been all the more poignant because the Syrian people are so vibrant, cultured and full of life, and Damascus and the rest of Syria so beautiful. 

One effort to raise money for those in distress is the 'Shattered Beauty' exhibition of Syrian art in London, organised by SYRIA RELIEF, which also helps Syrian artists, and their families and helps save the art from destruction, which depicts the realities of the regime and the struggle.

If you want a good blog on which to follow events, try Robin Yassin-Kassab's excellent Qunfuz blog  (Qunfuz is Arabic for 'hedgehog, by the way.)

The West cannot turn its back as this country is torn apart in the most brutal way. The humanitarian crisis is diabolical, and hitting the most vulnerable and innocent - and with winter approaching, things will only get harder.

If you can, please donate.

Bus Lane Madness

Me and local campaigner Kevin Staples at the White Tree Roundabout bus lane: Now you don't see it. Now you do. Now you do, er but only a bit of it... (they're busy taking up a small stretch of it in the background)

 Ok, so whose brilliant idea was the White Tree Roundabout bus lane?

It's one of those decisions that was obviously always going to be a disaster to anyone who knows the area, but it went ahead anyway as part of the Greater Bristol Bus Network.

The result? As anyone in the lines of snarling traffic queuing up to the roundabout and sometimes extending way down Falcondale Road, could have told you,  it has been an expensive way of making things worse. Buses couldn't even get to their bus-lane because, yes, they're snarled up in the traffic!

Our Councillor, Geoff Gollop set up a PETITION - and a campaign took place on  FACEBOOK as well.

I went on BBC Radio Bristol during the summer,  live from the White Tree Roundabout, in front of lines of traffic queuing and hooting, and heard a statement from the Council implying it was all working just fine, thank you. The ultimate example of the council-house inhabiting a different planet from the rest of us. Really frustrating.

Finally the Council couldn't hide from reality any more and conceeded - and took up just some of the bus lane. A triumph for people-power and common sense. If only they'd listened to common sense in the first place. What a waste of money.

Macmillan's Big Coffee Morning

deceptive number of sweets

 Once again, Macmillan's Biggest Coffee morning really did make a huge stir.

Events happened up and down the country and Bristol North West. I managed to visit Henbury's coffee morning at the scout hut, and Lockleaze's event at the Cameron Centre - who very generously provided their venue for free.

Every year I write about how important Macmillan are, and anyone who has had any experience through a loved one with cancer will know just how valuable the care they provide is, at such difficult, upsetting times.

Teddies' names were guessed ( unsuccessfully) numbers of sweets were estimated (unsuccessfully) , much coffee was drunk and many cakes were bought.

Yes, I know I look like my mum.

 Well done to all who organised, and particularly Christine Welsh, who organised the Lockleaze event and who made the beautiful cup-cakes shown below here. ( Ended up buying the entire plate... ahem.)

Christine's had first hand experience of the tragedy that cancer can bring, in her own family, and has come through to organise an amazing coffee morning, for others suffering in similar ways. Remarkable to see. Well done all.

Christine, who organised the Lockleaze Event...

..and makes irresistable cupcakes...

The Henbury Loop Line - it's real!

Much excitement as First GW puts on a special train along.. yes, the Henbury Loop Line! see, the route actually ALREADY exists...

Much excitement at the Community Rail Festival as a special train ran from Templemeads, to the Portbury Dock, along much of what would be a Henbury Loop Line, connecting a re-opened Henbury Station to the Severn Beach Line.
Disappointingly, current West of England Partnership Plans, whilst a real step forward in promoting plans for a Bristol Metro - with a Portishead Line, and enhanced local branch line services- stops short at the really vital point: Creating a circuit round the city by joining up the Henbury line with the Severn Beach Line. Current plans make Henbury a cul-de-sac turn-round station. Bonkers! It's like building a circuit board but not completing the last millimeter to get the current running through it.
Great campaign groups like Transport for Greater Bristol Alliance ( TfGB's Ian Crawford here with me in the pink shirt), and Friends of Suburban Bristol Rail  ( FOSBR -spot my yellow fosbr sticker!) and one-man-campaign-army Dave Wood have been superb in keeping the pressure up. I am going to be continuing to make the case for a Henbury Loop, not spur, until I'm blue in the face and everyone's completely bored of hearing about it... (I've already mystified a whole lot of non-Bristol-area MPs during Prime Minister's Questions by raising it...)
 But it's important because this will be the game-changer for Bristol Transport, this is the opportunity of a generation, and we cannot have a situation where we look back in 20 years and say, yet again "what on earth were they thinking?" 
For once, let's have long term vision, be ambitious about our city region, and get it right.