Below are the opening paragraphs from a column I wrote in the Ham & High in 2010.

I got sacked from my first job.

It was a small design/advertising agency and one night during my six week trial period – one of the Directors asked if I would join him and a blue chip client for the show reel and drinks. Afterwards he offered me a lift home, insisted on stopping for a drink on the way home and as he dropped my at my mother’s house – made a pretty crude lunge at me. I told him where to go – and the next day I was fired.

I sobbed my heart out to my mother – who said it was just one of life’s lessons. Thank goodness these days (I hate to admit this was over thirty-five years ago) it isn’t just one of life’s lessons – it is sexism, bullying and discrimination – and we have laws against it!

So today I was just watching Max Clifford on the news talking about the number of celebs who are concerned that their names will surface connected with similar incidents during the Jimmy Savile era and wanting to defend themselves. What really made me mad was Clifford kept saying something like the girls were pretty happy when it got them introductions / parts / jobs – they were more then willing etc.

Has he no idea that the world worked exclusively along mens lines then? Does he really believe that there was no culpability on behalf of those men in powerful positions?

It may have been a different era. And as my column above describes – men used their power to try and take advantage of young girls. But it wasn’t right then – and it isn’t right now. That is why laws were brought in – to protect girls (and boys) from exactly this sort of abuse.

Here’s my latest Ham and High Column on protecting our local services:

What would we do without our schools, hospitals, post and sorting offices, small businesses and pubs? Our local services are the backbone of our community and need to be protected – but they have been under threat in Haringey for years.

Right from our childhood, we begin to benefit from one of the most important local services – schools. It is vital that schools have enough money to provide a good education and pay their teachers decent wages. Haringey’s schools, however, faced a chronic underfunding problem. Locally, I ran a successful campaign to get fairer education funding – and Haringey’s schools now more than £7 million extra every year to help give our children the best start in life.

From a young age, we also rely on health services – and continue to do so for the rest of our lives. I was shocked, therefore, to recently discover that Haringey’s health services also suffer from unfair funding. We’ve lost out on hundreds of millions of pounds! Having won the fight for fairer education funding, my attention is now firmly on this – I have already launched a campaign and a petition you can sign up to online here.

One of the amazing things about Haringey, both west and east, is the sheer number of independent retailers you see lining our streets and broadways – from bakeries to antique shops! But in these tough times, many of our local shops are struggling. That’s why Liberal Democrats are campaigning for Haringey Council to reduce parking charges on the broadways, and for up to 30 minutes free parking on our high streets – so people aren’t put off from popping into these unique local services.

People of all ages felt the effects of the post office closures under the last Labour Government. We lost vital services that we may never get back. But I’m determined to make the most of what we have – and one of the first things the Liberal Democrats did in government was to call an end to the previous closure program. Now we’re supporting the Post Office’s modernisation programme – it sounds great, and I look forward to seeing refurbished, modern and efficient offices and expanded services on offer. Having met with them last week they gave little away about actually reopening an office – but rest assured that if there’s a chance to campaign to get a new post office in the constituency – then I will take it!

But in the meantime there is another major battle on to protect our postal services. Royal Mail is planning to close both the Hornsey and Harringay area sorting offices, and move services to N19 – meaning residents will have to travel massive distances to pick up undelivered parcels. Not on my watch, Royal Mail! I immediately called a meeting and told them that the plan was unacceptable. I pushed hard for local collection points to be maintained. They agreed to look at the plans again and will get back to me shortly. In the mean time, I have launched a petition to keep services local, which has already received over 1,000 signatures. Do get in touch if you’d like to help the campaign too.

And of course, I have to mention pubs. My constituency office in Hornsey is above one – the Three Compasses – and in their own right they are community assets – providing a place for people to drink sensibly and socially. At the recent party conference I spoke with the chief executive of the Campaign for Real Ale about the issues facing pubs. I continue to support them in their plight against unscrupulous pub companies, high rents and cheap supermarket booze.

As the local MP, I spend a great deal of my time in the constituency campaigning to protect or improve the local services which local people rely on. And as you can see – I’m certainly very busy fighting on all these fronts right now!

Written yesterday evening:

Today I visited the Yusuf Batil refugee camp in Upper Nile state, South Sudan. From Juba, I took a 90 minute UN plane flight to Malakal, followed by a helicopter ride from Malakal to the refugee camp.

The Yusuf Batil camp has nearly 37,000 refugees – out of a total of around 110,000 in the Upper Nile state. They’re fleeing fighting in South Kordofan and Blue Nile – the states of Sudan which lie on the South Sudanese border.

During the visit I spoke with women who face serious challenges to their personal security, and to Sheikhs about food distribution and community relations. Given the challenges they face, the human spirit of the refugees and the dedication of the workers was just awe-inspiring.

Yesterday I visited the Sipri Alternative Education Centre in Juba, South Sudan to meet with South Sudanese regional and deputy education ministers (both female – hooray!) and students.

I spoke with young women and girls about the challenges of being in education. Many of the girls say that society views them as ‘property’ and ‘not worth educating’ – so it’s very encouraging to see them rising above these barriers and learning skills such as masonry.

Following this, I was so happy to launch a series of textbooks which will be provided to schools in South Sudan. The textbooks – which looked fantastic – are funded by UK Aid. 9.3 million textbooks were provided in total – which means South Sudan will have sufficient textbooks for next year for the first time ever!

I then had dinner with South Sudanese Government Advisors, campaigners and activists. I met a man who was involved in a leading local peace-building organisation. The whole day – and trip so far – has been simply inspirational.

You can view all my photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lynnefeatherstone/

Posted on Liberal Democrat Voice this morning.

A month after taking up my new role as Minister for Africa in the Department for International Development, I’m currently on my first trip to the continent – South Sudan, via an overnight stop in Kenya.

Though I’ve actually been to Africa in my role as International Champion for Tackling Violence against Women Overseas, a role I’ve held since soon after the Coalition was formed, I’m anxious to see first-hand the work that DFID does toward alleviating suffering, bettering people’s lives and working with partner governments to improve their ability to function more effectively.

South Sudan – where I’ll be spending the next few days – is the world’s newest country, gaining independence from Sudan in July 2011. It was a long road to independence, and unfortunately it’s another long road ahead to stability.

Years of civil war have left South Sudanese society deeply fragmented. Their government is currently facing multiple humanitarian crises – hundreds of thousands of internally displaced, hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing fighting in the north, and yet more thousands affected by seasonal floods. And, shockingly, a 15 year old girl is more likely to die in childbirth than complete secondary education.

It puts our economic and inequality troubles into perspective.

I’m sure I will learn an incredible amount over the next few days, and I’m keen to share these lessons with you. I’ll be tweeting and blogging as often as I can, so do follow the progress of my trip!

When I watched Nicola Adams win her gold (on TV) – I was over the moon. Many reasons: first woman boxer to win gold, amazing determination – and she did a lot of her boxing in Haringey. So when I was invited to Haringey Police Amateur Boxing Club fund-raising dinner – at which Nicola and Ricky Hatton (said to be about to make a come back) were the guest speakers – I went.

It was last night – and a real pleasure to meet such a genuine champion in all ways.

I have long been a supporter of this great local boxing club. In our area – this most disciplined of sports – does nothing but good.

A big well done and thank you to Gerry Willmott and Kenny Marsh – whose dedication and effort drive the club.

And now a gold medal winner to add to their manysuccesses.