Paddy Tipping has heart attack

Paddy Tipping, the Labour MP for Sherwood, has had a heart attack. Thankfully he is doing OK. "I am receiving excellent care from all the staff at QMC hospital and I cannot praise them too highly." He is on the mend!

He is not the first MP to suffer a heart attack and he will not be the last. I have long thought that we ask ridiculous workloads of our MPs. They sit on committees, they do constituency work, they are encouraged to hobnob with all and sundry to enhance their careers, and they spend time travelling around. Now the pat answer is "We didn't make them do it" but that's not the point. The trust has broken down, not just over allowances, but over what MPs do.

I think there should be a constructive debate about representation in the UK. Do we need so many MPs. Should local government do more not less. The debate about MPs behaviour is one thing. We also need a debate on effective representation.

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