“May you live in interesting times”, they say. Well, the past few weeks have been an interesting time, to say the least.

As this goes to press, we have had the dreadful news of the sudden accidental death of Dean Kronsbein, who has brought so much new energy and so many new jobs recently to Ross-on-Wye as founder and MD of Ultrafilter, the Covid mask manufacturer.

A new cross-border working group of agencies, local authorities and other key parties has come together to frame the first five-year integrated plan to cut pollution in the River Wye. 

Just a couple of weeks ago, I had the joy of leading a hike on the newly relaunched Herefordshire Trail. 

After months of delay, Philip Dunne MP and I were at last able to bring the issues of water quality and the dire state of the River Wye to the floor of the House of Commons for a debate last Thursday.

At a time when political debate is dominated by public concern over pollution and other threats to the environment, few things are more important than the protection of our rivers and the ecosystems, livelihoods and businesses they support.

Jesse Norman is interviewed by Justin Webb on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Jesse Norman writes to the Prime Minister setting out the reasons he can no longer support him.

Last month, the Government published its response to the report about the state of England’s rivers from the Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) of the House of Commons chaired by the great Philip Dunne, MP for Ludlow.