Expanding the work to fill the time

Just been to Bristol and feel overwhelmed by Bristolian enthusiasm as well as Bristolian madness (the latter by the city council).

After a briefing to business people on our plans to deal with the recession, I went to a remarkable organisation called the Broad Plain Boys Club. This boys club, which has been going for more than half a century, teaches boxing to boys and young men who one way or the other have come off the rails. Some of them have been excluded from school, others are at young offender institutions, others have just come out of prison. They don’t just learn boxing – they are given coaching to get their whole lives back on track. But boxing and sport generally are an important part of the formula.

As so often, the organisation is really carried along by the enthusiasm of the person running it, Dennis Stinchcombe. His pride in what he achieves for these young men bursts from every syllable he utters. His son Liam also works there (as well as being a part time professional boxer) and has the same pride, as do all his staff.

The crazy thing is they have been told they will lose their funding from Bristol City Council if they don’t drop the word “boys” from the name of the club as it is "discriminatory". What stupid nonsense. Girls actually use the club on Tuesday and Thursday nights anyway, but it is young adolescent men who most need what the club has to offer. That surely is what counts - not whether it has a politically correct name.

Jeremy Hunt MP