Remembrance Sunday is nearly with us again and I was reminded of its continuing relevance at a workshop held in Kidderminster organised by SSAFA Forces Help and The Royal British Legion in partnership with Wyre Forest District Council and Wyre Forest Community Housing with contributions from Age Concern and the Citizens Advice Bureau. Money collected by the Service charities is still greatly needed to help hardship among the millions of people who have been in the services or their families from World War I to present conflicts. The Poppy Appeal is vital as it is their biggest single source of income.

The Bewdley Festival is over after another successful year and an event for children this year was particularly good when a delightful vet talked to children about their pets and responded to and expanded upon their questions. My daughter being the proud new owner of a small rabbit was fascinated.

Last week I visited the USA with the Parliamentary Health Select Committee as a part of our current enquiry into the problems of obesity. Although we are catching up in this country, the problems of obesity in America are critical. It is associated with a huge increase in Type II Diabetes and also associated with a wide range of heart and respiratory problems and other diseases including some cancers. 14-20% of all cancer deaths in the USA are now attributed to obesity and it is forecast that one in three children born in 2000 will develop diabetes during their life. We heard of realistic attempts to address the problem and recognition of the obvious, that if energy taken in as food is greater than energy burnt up by exercise, weight gain is inevitable. It was encouraging to hear that even modest weight loss reduces risks dramatically. The Committee will continue to take evidence on this important topic before writing its report soon after Christmas.

I recently attempted to take part in an Opposition Day debate motion on the effects of targets in the National Health Service. It was disappointing that speakers with some exceptions concentrated on party political point scoring rather than the important issues. Due to the length of other speeches I only had a few minutes myself and used them to appeal to the Government to take more notice of patient and staff opinion surveys of health services in rating Health Trusts and less of targets that rely on statistics that can be so variable in quality and accuracy. The Opposition motion was appropriate and pertinent and it was impossible to argue with the Government amendment thus I voted for both! I am sure I was the only MP who was able to take this probably unprecedented but to me entirely logical step.