Thirty years ago today, Haringey Trade Unions and community groups took a stand against racism – it was the Battle of Wood Green. Three thousand Haringey Trade Unionists, locals of West Indian descent, members of Rock Against Racism, the Indian Workers Party, and many others, came together to disrupt a fascist march through Wood Green, with many being arrested.

Today the TUC organised a rally at Duckett’s Common at the very time on the very day of that original march – with some of those there having also been at the original march in 1977. There wasn’t a huge crowd – perhaps a sign of all the work that goes on in Haringey, where we all work hard to unite across faith, culture and race. That effort has paid off – and here (unlike many other places) we experienced no serious backlash against Muslims after 7/7.

However, as I said through megaphone, this day also reminds us to be vigilant. Blair will leave this country more racially divided than when he came to power. Both Muslims and Jews are experiencing a rise in hate crime and incidents. It is so easy to ignore early signs – but anti-Semitic attacks are at the highest they have been for years.

So I was pleased to play a small part in the celebrations today. Someone suggested that we ought to have some sort of memorial there – and I think that is an excellent idea. So – we will see what can be done.

There is a petition running on the BBC website for the release of Alan Johnston in Gaza – so this is the link for you to sign up!

I am currently slowly writing – or more accurately trying to write – a chapter for a book. My thesis is that we live our lives surrounded by the unattainable – the ‘must haves’ of how our lives should be, what we should do, think, eat, be and aspire too – all of which leaves us meandering along life’s path, whichever path we are on, feeling vaguely disappointed in our achievements or our lack of them and feeling perpetually disappointed or deprived. Even in this age of unparalleled wealth in our country – it doesn’t protect us from a perpetual feeling that if we only had X or did Y, our lives would be so much better.

So how – in this world that has moved on from those ‘old-fashioned’ values – can we create structures or environment that value our human good qualities more and place less importance on wealth or status?

And what – if any – role is there for government and public bodies in all this? This is tricky territory to tread in as one false slip of the sentence and you open yourself up to pastiche as wanting a Ministry of Fun and state-regulated force-fed humour courses with every meal.

You can read where my thoughts have go to so far in my latest newspaper column, published just after Easter.

Find I have Question 7 on the Order Paper for Department of Constitutional Affairs Questions. So – turn up and give some thought to what my follow up question would be. But sadly – Mr Speaker called ‘Order Order’ finishing the session just as we got to my question.

Shame – because it was about the Government ignoring the Otterburn report which in turn criticised the Carter report which (following this I hope!) is a report that loads of constituents and those in the legal aid system have written to me about. They are not happy with its proposals for changes in the legal aid system.

The Otterburn report recommends that any of these changes should not be rushed into. So I wanted to ask the Minister why they are ignoring the findings of the Otterburn Report – and instead ploughing ahead with undue haste and controversial proposals – but it wasn’t to be!