2012 has been a record year for the blog, with more of you viewing it that ever before. Since the blog began in 2008 I have posted 1100 blog posts, and we have been visited by several hundred thousand people. It is one of the most visited blogs in the North East - thank you for all your comments and feedback.
January:
January kicked off with me running a debate in Westminster around the future of the Falklands. Torchgate hit the front pages and Mike & Lauren came to London as part of our campaign against fuel poverty to give evidence to the DECC select committee. I handed over a cheque of £3000 to the NHS hospital which saved my life in 2011 after my charity walk of Hadrians Wall.
February:
Rory Stewart MP joined Hexham Conservatives as the speaker for our Annual Dinner; he was fascinating. We also welcomed Chris Grayling, the then Jobs Minister, to the North East Jobs Summit which I organised in Prudhoe. February was also National Apprenticeship Week and my own apprentice Jade hit the papers. We pulled off a great local win at Heddon on the Wall after energy giant Npower slapped the local WI with a bill for £5,315 - after some strong words Npower dropped the bill. Our campaign to protect the Greenbelt was launched in 2011 but we won a small mercy in February when Newcastle began to row back on it plans for 3,500 houses on the Ponteland Greenbelt. After our campaign the Council was magically able to "identify more deliverable housing sites within the urban area"
