By Damian Carrington, 1 March 2012

Cabinet office minister Oliver Letwin revealed on Tuesday that he thinks environmental guidance and regulation could be a "great deal simpler". That fits pretty closely with the direction I was told he gave privately to environmental officials to slash thousands of pages of regulation and guidance down into 50 pages, as "worked very well" in the goverment's highly controversial planning proposals.

Letwin appeared before the environment select committee of MPs and was questioned by Labour's Barry Gardiner on his red tape challenge proposal, which Gardiner said had "sent shockwaves through the natural environment community in this country".

By Jessica Thompson, 5 December 2011

AN MP for Brent claims to have launched the first online advice surgery in the country.

However, Barry Gardiner has pledged to continue his face-to-face work in addition to his new online offerings.

Cases can now be submitted online at www.barrygardinermp.com, and constituents will receive an email once a response is ready.

The web service is described as experimental at this stage.

Mr Gardiner said: "It is important that as MPs, we respond to the new ways people are using technology. Relying on phone calls and letters can be time consuming and inconvenient for many people.

"This new service is not only more efficient for my constituents, but it is also better for the environment, as well as the taxpayer. I will, of course, continue to hold my five regular surgeries every month as well as my Sunday visiting programme and coffee mornings."

Mr Gardiner's network of websites has seen a tenfold increase in traffic since 2010, according to his office, and he is followed on social networks like Twitter by a combined pool of over 10,000 users.

Link: Brent MP launches 'first online surgery'

By Hasan Suroor, 2 December 2011

Distinguished academic Noam Chomsky is among a group of high-profile international figures, including British MPs and former Olympians, who have written to Lord Sebastian Coe, Chairman of London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog), urging him to drop Dow Chemical Company as a sponsor of the London Games because of its link to the 1984 Union Carbide Bhopal gas tragedy.

Under a £7 million deal, Dow is to sponsor a fabric wrap that will surround the Olympic stadium in East London.

Barry Gardiner, MP Chair of Labour Friends of India, who organised the letter said: "All across the world people have signed up to kick Dow Chemicals out of London 2012. From Olympic gold medallists and Bollywood legends, to artists, actors and politicians, extraordinary people have made it clear that Dow must clean up its legacy in Bhopal before it tries to clean up its reputation on the back of the London Olympics".

Signatories include former London Mayor Ken Livingstone, Conservative MP Priti Patel, deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Simon Hughes, actor Martin Sheen and Gold medal winning Olympians from India and Pakistan.

22 November 2011

Tessa Jowell, the shadow Olympics minister, has written to the London 2012 sustainability watchdog to call for the release of documents relating to a sponsorship deal with the Dow Chemical Company, in light of claimed links with the 1984 Bhopal disaster, which took thousands of lives.

In a move that will increase pressure on the London organising committee over its decision to award a contract to sponsor the £7m wrap that will surround the stadium during the Games to Dow earlier this year, Jowell has called for any documentation relating to the decision to be released.

16 November 2011

Opposition is growing to London 2012 sponsor Dow Chemical Country, owners of Union Carbide, the company responsible for the Bhopal gas leak in which thousands died.

Dow Chemical Company was awarded the contract to build the decorative outside wrap around the Olympic stadium.

However a cross-party coalition of MPs, survivors of the Bhopal disaster, and Indian Olympians has launched a campaign against the decision taken by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG).

In 2001, Dow bought the company Union Carbide Corporation, which was responsible for the gas leak in Bhopal, India, in 1984 - the world's worst industrial disaster.

Thousands of people died and tens of thousands were injured as a result of exposure to poisonous gas from the Union Carbide factory. Health and human rights groups in Bhopal continue to report high rates of congenital deformities and cancers among families who are forced to use contaminated groundwater sources.

By Suruchi Sharma on 14 November 2011

A WEMBLEY sixth form student was praised as "inspiring" for her charity work and invited by an MP to tea at Parliament last week.

Anisa Qureshi, 17, was invited with her family by Brent North MP, Barry Gardiner, to tea at the Houses of Parliament last Thursday.

She was invited after she won a Youth Achievement Award for raising money for charity.

In February, she took part in a charity skydive collecting around £450 to children's charity NSPCC.

In a letter Mr Gardiner sent to Anisa he said: "You have clearly demonstrated a fearless and passionate resolve in fundraising for worthy causes and I was especially impressed with your sponsored skydive for the NSPCC.

"It is inspiring young people like yourself who are beacons in our community."

Anisa said: "It was a really great to be invited and Mr Gardiner gave me advice about what to do in the future with charity events.