I hope everyone had a pleasant Easter and made the most of some of the good weather we’ve been enjoying. I’ve been making some changes to my website and I’ve removed some of my old poll questions. I can tell you that most people would prefer my advice surgeries to work on an appointment system (55%) and that you’ll be hearing more about that soon. I was also happy to see that more voters were happy with the Chancellor’s tax cut (37%) than those who were not (33%), whilst 28% wanted an even bigger tax cut!                                                        Two new polls have now taken their place and I’d encourage you all to take part. 

Today I attended a special event held by the Lewisham Community Police Consultative Group. The theme of this conference was gun, knife and gang crime and how the police, in conjunction with the local community, can best address these problems. I was delighted to say a few words but, as always, it’s your views I am after so please do contribute to the new topic I’ve added to the ‘Have Your Say’ section of the site. I also have a new poll in my special polls section asking for your views on gun and knife crime. 

Young people today face tremendous pressures and we all – MPs, teachers, parents, community leaders – need to take responsibility for helping them. We also need to celebrate the achievements of our youngsters in Lewisham and not concentrate on the negative. The vast majority of young people (like the vast majority of adults) are law-abiding, civil and hardworking. We need to make sure that fact isn’t lost amid some of the terrible stories we’ve been reading about recently. Also, we mustn’t under-estimate the importance of role models such as Lewisham’s Young Mayor. 

Some of you may have also read in the Newsshopper about the March for Peace being organised for April 21st to say no to street violence. I intend to take my place among the marchers straight after my advice surgery that day. I’d be delighted to see some of you there too. 

• The march starts at noon opposite the cat statue in Rushey Green. There will be a one-minute silence outside Lewisham Police Station when the march reaches there.