Paul Zukowskyj, PPC for Welwyn Hatfield

About Paul

Paul grew up in the town of Bury to the north of Manchester, the youngest in a family with four children. Paul's mother, a school teacher for forty years, was a profound influence on his early life. Growing up in Thatcher's Britain in the north of England was an education in itself. On leaving school in 1985 with 'O' and 'A' levels, Paul was unable to find a job with a living wage, an experience that has stayed with him ever since. Paul was able to escape by applying and being accepted into a London university to study Geology and Geography, but many of his friends were not so lucky.

Paul began working in motor-racing whilst still at university and after graduating devoted himself to the sport full time. Paul worked and competed in motor-sport for the next few years in the UK, Europe and around the world, the highlight being achieving fourth place in the Pro-Kart British Championship.

Paul returned to study in 1994, part-time, studying Remote Sensing at MSc level. A post lecturing on the MSc programme opened up immediately after Paul graduated in 1996 and this led to subsequent posts at Greenwich University and the University of Hertfordshire where Paul still works. Paul is now a senior lecturer in Geographic Information Science at the University.

Paul has worked in Hatfield since 1999, moving to the town in 2002, just before the birth of his eldest daughter. Paul has two children, his second daughter was born in 2006. His wife Karen is a librarian at the University of Greenwich.

Politics

Paul has always supported the Liberal Democrats, however he did not join the party until 2006. Paul has always felt very strongly about civil liberties, and was deeply concerned about their erosion after the Conservative-inspired Police Act in 1996 was followed by further erosion after 9/11 in the name of counter-terrorism. One specific event led to Paul's decision to become active in politics, namely the arrest, prosecution and conviction of two protesters who had the audacity to stand alone on the Cenotaph in London and read out a list of the Iraq war dead. Paul strongly believes that erosion of civil liberties is handing successes to the terrorists and that the legislation introduced will not protect us, it will simply move us closer, inch by inch, to a police state.

Paul was selected as Liberal Democrat Prospective MP for Welwyn Hatfield in March 2008. He has been centrally involved with all the local and regional campaigns since then, including the most recent success in holding Malcolm Cowan's County Council seat, which resulted in the Liberal Democrats becoming the official opposition both locally and across Hertfordshire. At the Liberal Democrat Conference this year a rail motion proposed by Welwyn Hatfield and St Albans was debated and now forms national policy.

Paul is looking forward to the challenge of the General Election campaign in the next few months and is anticipating much increased national awareness when the Liberal Democrats achieve significant success.

Other interests

Paul continued his interest in motor-sport after 1996, changing from four wheels to two, racing motorcycles. Paul competed in thirteen club races before deciding to 'walk away' whilst he still could! Paul still follows motor-sport and occasionally competes in 'friendly' races.

Paul is interested in herpetology and keeps three pythons, including two Burmese pythons.

Paul is interested in travel and adventure, including hill-walking and the great outdoors. In 2001 Paul attempted to climb Kilimanjaro and in 2007 went to both Japan and Cambodia with his wife and family. Paul has a particular interest in the arab world. Paul runs fieldtrips as part of his University post, including a trip for 60 students to southern Spain.

Paul is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and is a council member of the Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society, where he chairs the Membership and Publicity committee.

Contact Paul

Paul welcomes your comments and opinions on local and national matters.