LAST Tuesday marked the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on Holocaust Memorial Day. It has been a privilege to get to know one survivor of the concentration camps, Mady Gerrard.

Originally from Keszthely in Hungary, Mady now lives near Chepstow. A few years ago, she met the British army officer who liberated the infamous Bergen-Belsen camp where she was imprisoned as a teenager.

Listening to Mady share her incredible story makes me realise how lucky those of us who were born after 1945 have been. However, the recent atrocities in Paris and the growth of ISIS in the Middle East should remind us that religious and racial hatred is still prevalent in the modern day – despite the lessons of history.

New figures show that ambulance response times for the most urgent calls in Wales are the worst on record, with only 42.6 per cent arriving within the eight minute target time. The paramedics are not to blame.

Having been out with them a few times, I know they work incredibly hard. On waiting times for operations, ambulance response times and access to cancer drugs, Wales gets a lesser service than England. The Welsh Government needs to stop accusing people who point this out of "running down Wales" and do something about the poor state of our NHS.

The town of Monmouth is currently being targeted by a gang of highly professional burglars. They are believed to have carried out over 20 break-ins, mainly in the Osbaston area, and there is understandably a great deal of concern.

I have organised a public meeting on Friday 6 February at Osbaston Church in Wales Primary School at 3:45pm, where the police will provide an update on the investigation. In the meantime, I would urge residents to make a note of any suspicious activity.

It’s well known that BT seems to be having problems supplying our rural communities with superfast broadband – although it’s not just Monmouthshire that’s losing out. I recently visited The Gate in Llanfrechfa, which is located close to the urban hub of Cwmbran.

Despite this, the landlord is struggling to get any sort of viable broadband service and I understand other people in the Llanyrafon and Llanfrechfa area are equally as frustrated. I’m happy to say that the service and food at The Gate is excellent but for business to prosper, a reliable superfast broadband connection is vital.