People have written to ask me to vote to recognise Palestine.

I want a two state solution but it isn’t entirely clear to me what I would be recognising at the moment since the borders are heavily disputed, there’s no agreement on Israeli settlements, none on Jerusalem and a sizeable part of the proposed state is run by Hamas, a proscribed terroristic organisation backed by countries that want to see Jews run into the sea.

No sooner had UKIP’s successful candidate in Clacton been declared than he was issuing a veiled warning to his new party against the sort of oppressive and distasteful things that many of us see at its heart.

I’m a mainstream moderate keen on learning the lessons of history. My analysis of 20th century Europe leads me to be wary of loud populist politicians leading something called a ‘people’s army’ with whipped up antipathy towards easy targets. That road leads to a very dark and unhappy place.

It’s become trendy to claim Britain’s politicians are an out of touch class apart. Indeed UKIP’s leader Nigel Farage, a veteran Member of the European Parliament from a privileged background, plays this up, suggesting UKIP is somehow different.

Well, after a busy advice surgery, a string of local engagements and a Sunday reading and answering correspondence from my constituents, the people I live among, I find that utterly infuriating. It may be sneeringly amusing to lampoon MPs as remote careerists without roots in the real world but the cynicism really is misplaced.

My colleague Bob Neill MP is sponsoring the EU Referendum Bill which would allow for an In/Out referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU. I don’t see how the Lib Dems can oppose this, particularly as they insisted on the last nationwide referendum we had – an irrelevant attempt at gerrymandering our voting system to their advantage which was given an almighty thumbs down.

Bob’s bill should be given the green light by all who want people to determine this important element of our shared future.