ST GEORGE'S Day was celebrated in full in Basingstoke last weekend!

The Scouts held their annual St George's Day parade through the town and I was delighted to be asked to take their salute at parade on Sunday.

The St George's Day themed celebrations continued well into the evening. I attended a stirring concert at The Anvil given by Basingstoke Male Voice Choir and Tadley Concert Brass.

The audience joined the performers in singing rousing renditions of Land of Hope and Glory and Jerusalem.

St George's Day is a great opportunity to take stock and celebrate our pride in being English.

BASINGSTOKE Friends of the Earth invited me to be a member of a panel on climate change last week.

I believe that this is one of the biggest issues that we face in the world today. It is all too easy to look to others to provide the solutions when, in fact, we should all take responsibility for the issue.

Recycling is a straight-forward way to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions in our everyday lives.

In Basingstoke, we only recycle 17 per cent of our rubbish, while neighbouring East Hampshire recycles 34 per cent. I know from my postbag that environmental issues are of great concern to many residents in Basingstoke. Perhaps the forthcoming local elections are an opportunity to push environmental issues, like increasing the level of recycling, higher up the priority list for our local borough council.

IT HAS become received wisdom to accept that the UK is enjoying an unprecedented period of economic stability. But is the economy as stable as we are led to believe?

Seventy per cent of people under 40 have no savings at all and one in four of those aged between 20 and 39 has fallen into financial difficulties in the past five years.

The Chancellor may congratulate himself on his own record of fiscal prudence, but these facts seems to suggest that the long-term financial stability of the residents of this country is far from certain.

First published: April 26, 2006