Spending a few days in Liverpool last week was another reminder for me of just how much many of the great northern cities have changed in recent years.
Old and crumbling buildings and spaces have become havens of beauty, inspiring architecture, regeneration, learning and enterprise. That is why the party conferences have been held in Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester rather than some of the traditional coastal resorts.
Good government acting in partnership with go-ahead local councils - our own Gateshead council has been one of the most far-sighted - has been behind this transformation.
There are still some deep seated problems but things have improved and these local economies are now much more diverse and robust than in the past.
The reason I was in Liverpool was for the Labour Party conference - where there were sessions and fringe meetings on all the key issues.
For me there was a great deal of substance in Mr Miliband's keynote speech. It's worth reading it in full not just a few extracts on television.
I will be working with colleagues on many of these themes in the months and years to come.
One of these is the welcome emphasis on protecting consumer rights and those of service users who come up against "the computer says no" style of customer relations.
Napoleon said of the British that we are a nation of shopkeepers and no one has anything against honest traders.
But I do deplore rip off merchants, cowboys and legal loan sharks trying to get their fingers on our hard earned wages.
Finally, let me mention the Royal British Legion. I recently attended an event for North East MPs at the Commons. It was very good to have a detailed discussion with the Legion which does wonderful work in supporting soldiers and their families to the tune of £1.4 million a week and which is marking its 90th anniversary.
The Legion believes that bereaved families of service personnel would be better served by appointing a Chief Coroner to improve investigations into military deaths, the Northumbria manager convinced me and others of the need to appoint a Chief Coroner to spearhead reform of the inquest system.
I shall pursue it in Parliament.
Newcastle Chronicle and Journal
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