Anne McIntosh's week in politics

This week Anne McIntosh, the Tory Vale of York MP reviews the week in politics for BBC News Online.

Shadow health secretary Liam Fox on Labour's ideological conversion, welcoming the recent concordat that Alan Milburn has signed with the private sector, which could allow for the type of public-private partnership that is enjoyed in most European countries. This is what my constituents with experience of the long waiting lists are crying out for.

John Prescott forcing through the government's ill-thought out proposals for a half-hearted partial privatisation of Nats, the National Air Traffic Control Service, in the teeth of opposition from the DETR Select Committee, his former Transport Minister, colleagues from both sides of the House in both Houses including 37 Labour MPs, with a similar number of Labour MPs abstaining from the vote.

Ann Widdecombe's launching of the Conservative Law and Order Campaign in Preston, Lancashire, responding to my constituents' concerns fears about the growth of rural crime.

Caroline Flint, Labour MP for Don Valley. When called at Prime Minister's Question Time she had to sit down again, as her question had already been asked, and she could not think of anything else to ask to 'Tony'. You would have thought the 'Millbank Machine' could have paged her with another question - they must be getting rusty.

"It is interesting to hear the minister avoiding the question again and again. I am not sure whether he has got his facts right about the filling station in Inverurie. I happen to know it well because my late grandmother-in-law used to own and operate it. [Laughter.] I do not see what is funny about that. She used to own it and serve the petrol there. If Honourable Members had ever been to Inverurie, they would have seen her." - Eleanor Laing, Conservative MP for Epping Forest, catching out Scotland Office Minister Brian Wilson over the price of petrol in rural areas.

I attended daily for PQs, and asked the Secretary of State for Social Security about pension annuities, and Energy Minister Helen Liddell about the omission of animal feed companies from the list of organisations with access to emergency fuel. I also asked the Advocate General for Scotland about the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 in the Scottish Courts and road traffic cases, and the Secretary of State for Wales about the construction of new houses on flood plains and the effect this has on drainage. I co-sponsored Labour MP Alan Simpson's bill on Genetically Modified Food and Producer Liability.

A flood of letters about . . . floods. My Vale of York constituency has been very badly hit. Pensions have also featured largely, and I have had many letters from farmers who are very worried about the impact that the EU Everything But Arms initiative and changes to the EU Sugar regime will have on the UK sugar beet industry.

Will Margaret Beckett meet the challenge set her by Shadow Leader of the House Angela Browning on Thursday, and come back at Business Questions next week with a list of the government's unfinished business? I am not holding my breath! Then, there will be the vote on whether or not to allow stem cell research to provide treatments for Parkinson's and other crippling diseases. Guaranteed to be the most controversial Bill this session.