Ben's Column

<table width="100%" height="100%" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> <tr> <td colspan="2" align="left" valign="bottom"> <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""><tr><td background="../../graphics/180601_pages/pat.jpg"><img src="../../graphics/180601_pages/top.jpg" width="760" height="54" alt="MP for Exeter" usemap="#Map" border="0"></td></tr></table> <map name="Map"> <area shape="rect" coords="38,21,223,37" href="../../biog/" alt="Biography" title="Biography" target="_parent"> </map> </td> </tr> <tr><td align="right" valign="top"> <table summary="" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td width="150" height="341" background="../../graphics/buttons/bottom.jpg" valign="top"> <table summary="" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <a href="/" target="_parent"><img src="../../graphics/buttons/home.gif" alt="Home" width="150" height="34" border="0"></a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <a href="../../exeter_labour/index/" target="_parent"><img name="Image6" border="0" src="../../graphics/buttons/party.gif" width="150" height="23" alt="Exeter Labour Party"></a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <a href="/" target="_parent"><img name="Image7" border="0" src="../../graphics/buttons/speeches.gif" width="150" height="23" alt="Speeches"></a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <a href="../../column/" target="_parent"><img border="0" src="../../graphics/buttons/column.gif" width="150" height="24" alt="Ben's Column"></a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <a href="../../faqs/" target="_parent"><img border="0" src="../../graphics/buttons/faqs.gif" width="150" height="23" alt="FAQs"></a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <a href="/" target="_parent"><img border="0" src="../../graphics/buttons/local.gif" width="150" height="23" alt="Local Information"></a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <a href="/" target="_parent"><img border="0" src="../../graphics/buttons/newsletter.gif" width="150" height="23" alt="Newsletter"></a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <a href="/" target="_parent"><img src="../../graphics/buttons/links.gif" width="150" height="23" border="0" alt="Links"></a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> <a href="../../contact/contact/" target="_parent"><img src="../../graphics/buttons/contact.gif" width="150" height="23" alt="Contact" border="0"></a> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> <td align="left" valign="top">  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> <title>Welcome to Ben Bradshaws Website</title> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#cc0000" vlink="#cc0000" alink="#cc0000" leftmargin="0" topmargin="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.legendsofgaming.co.uk/" style="padding: 5px 10px;">Betting Sites Not On Gamstop Uk</a></div> <font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><a name="top"></a></b></font> <table width="90%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="10" summary=""> <tr> <td align="right"><a href="../../column/column/" target="_self"><img alt="Back" src="../../graphics/new_bio/back.gif" width="90" height="22" border="0"></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="-3"><font size="4" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#CC0000">New Year message — 31 December 2003</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="-6"><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">2003 has been a good year for Exeter and the country, but a difficult one for the Government.<br> <br> Britain remained the only major economy to avoid a recession during the recent global down turn.<br> <br> Growth here stayed healthy, with unemployment reaching new record lows and inflation and interest rates low and steady.<br> <br> The South West economy and Exeter in particular continued to grow faster than most of the country. More and more of Exeter's problems have become <br> ones of capacity. How our transport infrastructure, pressure on housing and tight labour market can cope with continuing economic success.<br> <br> Most of us feel pleased and proud to have attracted the Met Ofice to Exeter. But I wonder if we would feel as enthusiastic about another major relocation <br> now, given the pressure on the city.<br> <br> Plans for our new high schools have been approved, the new medical school has been completed and our football club has been rescued from a bunch of <br> charlatans and real fans with the club's genuine interests at heart have taken over.<br> <br> England won the rugby, we did not disgrace ourselves at football and Tim Henman did what what we expect of British players by losing well at Wimbledon.<br> <br> We also won a war and deposed a brutal dictator. But this was not a matter for unbridled celebration. The war against Saddam was opposed by a substantial minority in the country and remains controversial. I expect only time will tell who was right and historians will argue over it for years to <br> come.<br> <br> But it was the dominant political event of the year. It absorbed a lot of the Govenment's time and energy and was the cause of most of its difficulties.<br> <br> So, my wish to all Echo readers on the threshold of 2004 would be for a healthy, prosperous and, above all, peaceful New Year.<br> </font></td> </tr><tr> <td height="-7"><a href="#top"><img alt="Back to Top" src="../../graphics/180601_pages/back_top.gif" width="100" height="27" border="0"></a></td> </tr> </table> </body></td></tr></table>