I'M delighted to be launching this new blog - especially as this is the week that one of the Dudley News campaigns got taken up by the new Prime Minister!

You might have seen that Gordon Brown announced that the restrictions on flying the Union Flag should be lifted.

And you'll remember how the Dudley News and I launched a campaign last year to fly the flag on all public buildings every day as a demonstration of national confidence and pride.

Our campaign struck a real chord and thousands of readers sent in coupons backing our call but council bosses turned down the request. They said it should only be flown on eighteen "special" days such as royal birthdays, but I'm hoping they'll think again now.

Last week's attempted bombings show us just how important it is to stand up for the British way of life and defend our values against anyone who would undermine them.

We live in the greatest country on earth and we should not be afraid to say so.

And we should be proud to fly the Union Flag because it is a great symbol of the great British values of freedom, tolerance, democracy, equality and fairness, the values that British people have fought for.

Extremists from the far right have tried to make our flag a symbol of division when it should be a symbol of unity around these British values we all share and the pride we should all feel pride in a British patriotism founded on these great British beliefs.

Being British is not about what you look like, or where you or your parents are from, but about whether or not you believe in these great British values and will defend the British way of life.

We should be absolutely clear that people who live in the UK should learn to speak English, work hard and pay their way.

All people living in this country must obey the law, respect our country's traditions and uphold our traditional British values of freedom, democracy, fairness, tolerance, responsibility and equality. People who are not prepared to do all that must not be allowed to settle here and we need to take tough action to ensure the swift removal of people who have no right to be here and are making no contribution to our country.