INTERVIEW WITH JOHN MCDONNELL MP

By Katie Goodall

JOHN McDonnell, MP for Hayes and Harlington describes himself as: "Hard working, confident and committed." Brunel graduate Mr McDonnell has a hectic schedule of attending parliament, updating his blog (see http://www.johnmcdonnell.org.uk/about-john.html), writing articles for the national press, and campaigning for the local community. Politics is a career he says he "drifted into, rather than planned" because he became involved in many community events, resulting in him climbing the political ladder to becoming an MP. He said: "I am a socialist, and believe in equality for all people."

Being an Uxbridge resident who lives 15 minutes away from Hayes, I was curious to know if anything was being done about the lack of a shopping centre in Hayes Town. He replied: "I am the Chair of the Board, and we've been working on it for 10 years." He added: "There are many core shops such as Iceland, Wilkinsons and Woolworths, but the town is still suffering after the closure of Sainsburys."

Two weeks ago I did a Vox Pop for the Uxbridge Gazette about the Crossrail development. McDonnell said: "I support Crossrail because it is a major aid to redevelop the lives of people. In 20 minutes you can get from Hayes to Central London. It will open up the access for many people across to the East. It will provide more job opportunities for people in Hayes to find jobs in London. It will also increase people's enjoyment, as they can travel into London more easily for entertainment and go to restaurants. There has been a dramatic improvement since Ken Livingstone became Mayor of London."

McDonnell is also involved in local community radio stations. He said: "Yes I listen to Hayes FM, and I would definitely talk on it. I was involved in the planning process, and worked with Sutish [Sharma] to raise funds, and gain the licence. It was going to be at Uxbridge College, but they had no room. I was involved with Desi Radio in Southall. I really enjoy the wide range of music on Hayes FM. I was meant to go down to Hospital Radio Hillingdon during the broadcast marathon, but I had a meeting."

When asked about the recent story in the press about MPs jumping the dinner queue, he responded: "That's rubbish, total nonsense. Yes, I saw that article. As a socialist, I believe in equality for all people, and I would never jump a queue."

Also see John's website for lots of political information: http://www.john-mcdonnell.net/

REPORTER KATIE GOODALL GOES TO NORTHWOOD

Yesterday (Monday) I went to the Gazette to book a photograph for a feature about a girl who wore an eye patch and had the opportunity to travel around Harefield, Ruislip and Northwood to gather news, views and pictures to hit the last minute deadline at The Gazette for tomorrow's edition. At Harefield we were on a mission to photograph a rat in a pond....afterwards we waited on the streets of Northwood to ask shoppers what they would like the council to spend £200,000 on and we had to ask them to have their picture taken by our professional photographer. Then it was back to Ruislip for more photographs of pubs and then back to base at Uxbridge typing up our vox pops.