Former Eastenders actor Michael Cashman travelled back from Brussels to come south of the river to fulfil a long-standing speaking engagement with the South London Gay Group. For over ten years he has been the Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands constituency. On the day he was due to speak he found he needed to be in Brussels for parliamentary business and arrived in south London from the Eurostar with moments to spare, returning on an early train the next morning.

His wide-ranging talk explained the way he and supportive colleagues were working to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights are firmly embedded in the idea of fundamental human rights within the European Union. A series of tough questions from South London Gay Group members included immigration, the low profile of MEPs in their constituencies and the lack of protection from discrimination for single people.

With this being General Election year, the South London Gay Group has had a number of political speakers in recent months. Chukka Umunna (Labour) and Chris Nicholson (Liberal Democrat) have already addressed the group, and Rahoul Bhansali (Conservative) will be speaking on 9 March; all three are prospective parliamentary candidates for the Streatham constituency.

Details of other South London Gay Group events are available at http://www.slago.org.uk/slg/