I spent much of the day chasing around on the Weymouth Relief Road. I am optimisitic that we will now be able to proceed without public inquiry. This will save months of further delay, and would
challenge the view of all the democratically elected representatives of the area. Nevertheless I continue to work with Natural England and others to talk through their concerns.
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Yesterday I paid a ministerial visit to Bexley Business Academy. This was back in the part of London where I was born and I was delighted to see such a successful school in a difficult area
of the country.
I was initially slightly sceptical about academies, because I'd read in the press that they were expensive and unaccountable. I've visited several now and found them all to be really good
schools in challenging areas.
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Pupils prefer them to their predecessor schools, parents are desperate to get their kids into them, and they are well led. It also turns out that they are no more expensive than a new
school in an equivalent inner city area, and that in many cases their accountability and engagement to parents and pupils set an example for others nationally.
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I've also become slightly addicted to Facebook , a social networking website that I've been using to communicate with
my daughter in Africa and share photos. More recently I've discovered more friends using it and a great way of keeping up with people. | 
