WESTMINSTER often seems a long way away. Ministers are quicker to react to any crisis, whether it is a rail strike or a lack of NHS beds, when it affects the South East.

So well done Anne McIntosh for waving a Yorkshire problem right under the nose of our Prime Minister. She took copies of the Evening Press and the Star to the Commons to show how bed blocking is causing a care crisis in York.

Tony Blair admitted he did not know about the situation. Now, thanks to Miss McIntosh and a campaigning local press, he does.

Updated: 10:19 Thursday, January 31, 2002