Russell Brown's week in politics

This week Russell Brown, the Labour MP for Dumfries, reviews the week in politics for BBC News Online.

Eventually getting back to my constituency in the small hours of Friday morning having spent a frustrating week in parliament trying to dodge the media desperate for a "call off the election story", whilst at the same time speaking by telephone to hundreds of my constituents who are desperately trying to deal with the devastating impact of the foot-and-mouth outbreak on their livelihoods, families and communities. At times it been more like being a social worker than a politician.

The start of a cull of tens of thousands of seemingly healthy sheep in my constituency by the Ministry of Agriculture to help slow down the spread of foot-and-mouth. A necessary move but it doesn't make it any easier for local farmers watching their fields burn, and sadly for many, watching years of work disappear before them.

Keith Vaz for the way he conducted himself against the baiting of the opposition obsessed with the froth of politics whilst ignoring the real issues that matter to ordinary people.

William Hague for trying to turn the current foot-and-mouth issue into a political football. This is one bandwagon too many.

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy who asked the Prime Minister during PMQs on Wednesday if he acknowledged that this is not the time for politicians to be talking about their own livelihoods, in terms of elections, when other people are seeing their livelihoods literally going down the tubes, hour by hour and day by day. He did add however that he understood why some Conservative members were so worried about their livelihoods and the next election, but that is another story.

I was in the chamber to speak for half an hour on the Regulatory Reform Bill on Monday. On Wednesday I spoke in the chamber on the debate on foot-and-mouth. On Thursday I also took part in a debate in Westminster Hall on a report on Poverty in Scotland by the Scottish Affairs Committee, of which I am a member. I highlighted the often hidden problem of low pay and poverty in rural areas such as my own constituency. Unfortunately I wasn't in the chamber to hear William Hague misrepresent my comments during prime minister's question time on Wednesday.

Unsurprisingly enough, foot-and-mouth. Everything from farmers appealing against the government's decision to cull sheep within 3km of a farm with an outbreak of foot-and-mouth to other farmers saying the 3 km radius wasn't big enough to tackle the problem! I've given up replying in writing because the position changes by the hour so I decided to telephone all those who had written. Everyone had their own story to tell about the impact of this dreadful disease.

I sincerely hope that the number of new cases of foot-and-mouth in my constituency peaks and the cull of sheep brings this dreadful disease to an end. But I suspect that horizon is some months off.