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Dr Simon Opher MP: on a busy week in Parliament and why getting back to Stroud was the perfect medicine

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Last week was an especially busy one in Parliament.

I try to sit in the House most days to keep in touch with the debates, but a lot more happens away from the Commons itself – there are any number of committee meetings happening all day, every day. It’s also essential to meet some of the many groups and individuals who visit Parliament to question, lobby and inform us.

My diary is packed, but I am all too aware that pretty much all the issues we deal with are important.

I say this a lot, but people do not feel heard or understood. I try to listen more than I talk, digest what I have heard, and then do my best to represent the views of those I was elected to serve, while drawing on my own experiences, skills and opinions.

It is quite a job.

Last week, for example, in no particular order, in addition to attending a number of debates, I met colleagues in APPGs (All Party Parliamentary Groups) about the WASPI women and climate change, and supported a group campaigning to get music tuition in every school. I met and talked to Small Business Britain, a group that champions and supports small businesses (of which there are an enormous amount in Stroud) about what we can do to improve ways of working, especially with training and helping young people.

The Assisted Dying Bill will take up a lot of time now that it is in committee stage, but it’s right that we give it the scrutiny such a serious piece of legislation deserves. It’s also especially important to listen to those who are opposed to it, for whatever reason. We have to build consensus, not argue or dismiss those with whom we disagree.

I helped pioneer social prescribing as a GP, and so taking time to look at how comedy on prescription might help address loneliness felt important (and, frankly, fun).

And over the week I spoke in debates on foreign donations to political parties, the importance of school meals, medicine regulation, mandating the installation of solar panels on public buildings and the plight of the WASPI women, who really deserve to be treated better than they have been.

I’m lucky to do it, and I love doing it, but getting on the train back to Stroud on Friday felt like a big relief. I even enjoyed the Q&A session on the Assisted Dying Bill we had in Dursley that evening!

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