Levelling up, Burns Night and Yorkshire shop Marks and Spencer's 70s fashion - the Week Ahead

Levelling up

Yorkshire MPs will ask the Government what it is doing to “level up” the region during a Parliamentary session tomorrow.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, led by Michael Gove, faces oral questions.

Alexander Stafford, Conservative MP for the Rother Valley, has asked in advance about what steps the department is taking to level up Rother Valley constituency in particular, while party colleague Kevin Hollinrake, who represents Thirsk and Malton, will ask about measures to increase home ownership.

David Davis MP, for Haltemprice and Howden, has asked what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of the construction of new garden villages – sites of between 1,500 and 10,000 properties.

Dame Diana Johnson, Labour MP for Hull North, will also ask a question but it has not been submitted in writing.

The Government has been accused on betraying the North of England after plans for the HS2 and the Northern Powerhouse Rail projects were scaled back last year.

Burns Night

Suppers of haggis, Scotch whisky and poetry will be enjoyed on Tuesday as people celebrate Burns Night.

The occasion marks Scottish poet Robert Burns’ date of birth.

Burns, variously known as “Rabbie”, the “Bard of Ayrshire” and the “Ploughman Poet”, is perhaps Scotland’s best-known poet.

He wrote variously in Scots and dialectic English, and is celebrated around the world.

His best known works include Auld Lang Syne, A Red, Red Rose, To a Mouse (and To a Louse) and the longer poem Tam o’ Shanter.

The occasion is thought to have first been observed by the Burns Club of Greenock in the Scottish Lowlands in 1802, six years after his death.

They staged their supper on January 29, which they erroneously thought was his birthday – the following year, parish birth records set the matter straight.

Traditionally, Burns Night guests rise to salute the minced offal with the reciting of another Burns poem: Address to a Haggis.

Marks and Sparks

A free online event exploring the 1970s fashion at M&S will take place on Friday from 12.30pm to 1pm.

The pre-recorded talk features original images introduced by archivist from the University of Leeds, who will be available to respond to questions during and following the talk.

The brand began at Kirkgate Market in Leeds in 1884. Search ‘Mini, Midi or Maxi: 1970s Fashion at M&S’ on the Eventbrite website to book.

Bloody Sunday

A grim milestone comes this week when it will be 50 years since Bloody Sunday, one of the most notorious incidents of the Troubles.

British soldiers shot dead 13 civil rights protesters in the the Bogside are of Londonderry on January 30 1972. Another man who was shot died four months later. The 50th anniversary comes as the British Government plans to prohibit future prosecutions of military veterans and ex-paramilitaries for Troubles incidents pre-dating April 1998. However the Irish premier

Micheál Martin has repeated his criticism of the proposals. The Taoiseach said: “It would be totally unacceptable, it would be a betrayal of the victims of all violence.”

Day of memorial

Holocaust Memorial Day, a national event in remembrance of millions of victims, falls on Thursday.

The date is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp.