I have had the pleasure over the past week of attending two different events which I enjoy because they plug the modern world into history, showing the sense of continuity which is so strong here in Kent. The first was the Kent Show, and the second the annual civic service in Tenterden.

Last week I enjoyed one of my regular breakfasts with businesses in Ashford at the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce. Alongside the bacon rolls and coffee came a very wide-ranging discussion, which covered some new topics as well as the hardy perennials which often dominate.

It is perhaps appropriate that as I approach my twentieth anniversary as Ashford's MP and write my last column in this space before the General Election I should celebrate another significant anniversary.

This week I can only add to the many tributes being paid to Councillor Harold Apps, who died last week after more than fifty years of public service. He was truly an inspiration to anyone who thinks that becoming involved in local politics is worthwhile.

There are many sports clubs around the Ashford area which do a fantastic job quietly and with no fuss, providing ways for thousands of people, particularly children, to have fun and keep fit at the same time. One of the most effective at this is Wye Tennis Club.

Two hugely important consultations for everyone who uses the railways are taking place at present.

Last week was a shocking and sobering one at Westminster. For years we have been told grimly by those in charge of security that, however good our police and intelligence services are, it was a question of when, not whether, a terrorist attack would succeed. We have now seen that happen.

years the issue of broadband speeds has become increasingly prevalent in my email inbox. There are two different issues within the Borough.

For some years now the issue of mental health treatment has been a vexed one in Kent.

With the news that the John Wallis Academy has reached the stage of applying for planning permission for a new primary school building on the site, it is time to celebrate the improvements in education in South Ashford in the last few years.