16 December
2005
New Year’s
message from Malcolm Moss MP
Let’s hope that next year isn’t
quite as traumatic and horrific as this last one
has been.
Without doubt the most memorable
moments were the events of 7/7 in London which
brought home to everyone just how vulnerable we
all are to this new and terrifying threat of
terrorism.
When the news filtered through I
was in my office in Parliament and, like
thousands of others in London, there was nowhere
to run or hide. I pay tribute not only to the
emergency services who handled the tragic events
as they unfolded with great professionalism, but
also to the millions of people in London that
day who refused to panic and who walked home
calmly in an eerie and surrealistic atmosphere
as public transport was withdrawn. Our sincere
condolences also go out to the families in our
region who lost loved ones and friends in the
carnage.
As we celebrated last summer the
50th anniversary of the ending of
World War 2, we were reminded of the courage and
stoicism of our ancestors, not only during that
awful conflict, but the even more horrendous War
of 1914-18. Did you share with me the feeling
that the qualities shown by our predecessors
were well to the fore during the events of last
summer, and that the memorial services in our
communities on Remembrance Day had much more
poignancy this year?
Another momentous achievement
last year was the winning of the 2012 Olympics
for London. I supported this not just for the
obvious reasons, but because I can see
significant knock-on effects for tourism in our
region and, more importantly, great motivation
for our young people to take up sport much more
seriously. And we need to encourage sport and
exercise not only to win medals, but to develop
a healthy and productive future generation.
On the political front, I am
delighted to have been re-elected to serve North
East Cambridgeshire for a fifth consecutive term
and to have retained my front bench job as a
Shadow Minister for Culture, Media and Sport
under the new Conservative Leader, David
Cameron. These are indeed very exciting times
and I truly hope that more people, particularly
the young, will re-engage with the political
process. After all, we have never had such
powerful challenges as global warming and
limited energy supplies!
