Adam Jogee

My hon. Friend makes an interesting intervention. The Edinburgh Festival takes place in his constituency. My wife and I, and some of my cousins, went to the festival earlier this year for the first time, despite both of us having lived in Edinburgh at separate times before my wife got stuck with me. I not sure if we went to the pub he mentions, but we went to many places during our two days in Edinburgh. I will resist the temptation to talk about prisons—that is a dangerous road to go down—but there is certainly a benefit to people socialising and coming together at the heart of our politics. Obviously, not everyone drinks alcohol, but that does not mean they cannot benefit from being included in the community spirit that underpins and drives most, if not all, pubs and communities up and down our United Kingdom. When I hear my colleagues from Scotland speak, I think of the Better Together campaign. My hon. Friend has made an excellent intervention that speaks to the strength of our United Kingdom. Let me come down from Scotland and up from Hackney and go back to Mellards in Newcastle-under-Lyme. People of all ages come from far and wide to Mellards for “Alan’s Kwiz”, held every Thursday, keeping our good old fashioned pub traditions alive and providing an opportunity for Mellards’ faithful regulars to have a mid-week catch up and to learn, too. When I was there on “Kwiz night” a couple of weeks ago, one of the answers involved my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and another referenced the right hon. Lady the Leader of the Opposition—Alan just gave me a knowing smile. As I have said in the House before, soon after my election to this place I launched my very own Newcastle-under-Lyme best pub competition. It was a timely and enjoyable opportunity to visit, celebrate and enjoy the pubs in our community. Each time we have run the competition, there have been nominations flying in from every corner of the constituency. It is always fantastic to hear about all the different things that local people in our community love about our pubs. In the end, last year’s winner was the Little Vic on King Street. I am conscious that we have to be careful about our security, but that is our local. It is an excellent place and I am often given casework when I am in there. It topped the poll among my constituents, and I put on record a big thanks to Sophie, who was doing some charity fundraising not long ago that involved putting cream on weak and useless paper plates that get thrown in people’s faces—I cannot remember what that is called, but colleagues know what I mean.