Simon Blake

Every year I spend a bit of time reflecting about the things I am grateful for over the past year, and think about anything I want to carry into the year ahead, or indeed anything I want to jettison. Normally I write them in the back of a diary. This year i have read a few blogs which gave me some useful insight and learning so thought I would share. So here, in no particular order, 10 things I am grateful for in 2018.   Running – one of my New Year’s Resolutions for the last five years has been to keep my running fitness up all year round which I have never managed before. Giving up smoking aside this is probably the first year I have kept any NY resolutions ever. Highlights include: completing the 1000 mile running challenge; getting new PBs in 5k, 10k and half marathon races. Next year my aim is to beat my marathon PB. Jake Shears - I may be 44 but this is a crush that is both serious and enduring. A signed book, a hug and a photo was special. Beaten only by Jake r...

On Tuesday 13 th November I was privileged to participate in the Holocaust Education Trust ‘Lessons from Auschwitz’ project. Approximately 160 students from the South East of England and the excellent Holocaust Education Trust educators met at Gatwick Airport at 5am for an educational visit to Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenhau. Peter Kyle MP and I were guests on the visit. I don’t have the words to convey the brutality of the Holocaust, or how being in a death camp where up to 1.5 million people – most of them Jewish - felt that day. The physicality of the camp – the electric fences, watch towers, sleeping spaces, latrines and the sheer size and scale - was chilling. Trying to comprehend the planning behind this darkest period of history – recent history - was overwhelming. Overwhelming that such hatred existed that could lead to this industrial scale murder. The murder of 6 million people – mostly Jewish, but also gay people, disabled people and Roma communities. Time and...