‘A Double Raid on UK Plc as Overseas Buyers Swoop’ was how the Evening Standard fearfully described both a recent bid by a US-Canadian consortium to buy British manufacturing firm, Tomkins, and the revival of merger talks between France’s GDF-Suez and the UK’s International Power. That news of either deal would have raised eyebrows in alarm a few years ago seems unlikely. And yet how the coalition government reacts to the selling of these British assets to foreign buyers is being watched with close interest....

Mark is Vice-Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Football. A keen follower of lower league professional football, he has visited several Football League clubs during the last few months to investigate problems in the game. The following is the full version of an article he has written about the state of our national game. An abridged version featured this morning on the Guardian's blog: ...

Mark was invited to speak at a NATO conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, on financial security during the global crisis. Below is the speech he made.

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. I thank you for inviting me to speak to you today. It is a great pleasure for me to address the NATO International School of Azerbaijan in Baku on the subject of Financial Security. In addition to my normal duties as a Member of Parliament I am also currently Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group...