A New Year message from MALCOLM MOSS, MP for North-East Cambridgeshire LET S hope this year isn t quite as traumatic and horrific as the last one. Without doubt the most memorable moments were the events of 7/7 in London, which brought home to everyone ju

A New Year message from MALCOLM MOSS, MP for North-East Cambridgeshire

LET'S hope this year isn't quite as traumatic and horrific as the last one.

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day who refused to panic, and who walked home calmly in an eerie and surrealistic atmosphere as public transport was withdrawn.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 Two, 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 new Conservative leader David Cameron.

These are indeed very exciting times, and I truly hope 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.