Cobweb gets into his basket

 

Bleak scene in the park

 

The garden last week

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Friday, a cliffhanger in the Lords, to see whether Davis Steel's House of Lords Reform Bil would get through report, in spite of the hundreds of amendments on the Order Paper. In the end he had to sacrifice the clause ending the perpetuation of the hereditaries by means of by-elections to replace any of the 91 who die, to placate the die-hards and save the pprovisions dealing with retirement and expulsion. There is now a chance that time will be found for Third Reading and a quick race through the Commons, to get the Bill through by the end of the Session.

In the evening, to the Queen Elizabeth Hall, to hear first a discussion between Chi-Chi Nwanoku MBE, the OAE's double bas player, and Sally Beamish, composer of Spinal Chords, the London premiere of which the OAE were to play. The composition is a recu=itation about what it's like to be a tetraplegic, based on the experience of Melanie Reid, the Olymic rider whose spine was broken in a fall from her horse. It was hard to think about the accompanying music when the words described such a catastrophic change in a young life.

There was sumptuous Handel, two cantatas from the Italian period, with the Italian soprano Roberta Invernizzi.

Afterwards we had a brief chat with Chi-Chi, and met the viola player Annette Isserlis.

 

After Cousin Penelope visited me for a cup of tea on Tuesday she went on to the Tent City at St Paul's, where she attended a discussion on the Welfare Reform Bill. The meeting decided to lobby Parliament next Wednesday, but unfortunately the Parliamentary proceedings are due to end on Tuesday, when finacial privilege will be invoked to stop the Lords discussing the amendments we had passed, and were rejected by the Commons - including the cap.

DRC

Is it safe to return failed asylum-seekers to the DRC? The UK Borders Agency thinks so, but an NGO has studied the situation and has serious doubts. We will be able to judge the position better when the Country of Origin Information Service publishes the first update of their analysis since 2009, see http://bit.ly/zOjaFj

 

Speaking at Emanuel School on Tuesday

 

With some of the sixth-formers at Emanuel School, Tuesday February 7

 

Dear old friend Addai Sebo, now growing hardwood trees in Ghana

Bahrain

The Bahrain International Commission of Inquiry into the gross and syatematic human rights violations committed in Bahrain following the uprising of February 2011 recommended that the sentences passed on political prisoners after they had been detained incommunicado and tortured for weeks should be 'reviewed'.

But the Commissioners made it clear that they intended the prisoners should be exonerated and released, and their records should be expunged of the charges, see http://bit.ly/ulUHbw

Cherif Bassiouni, head of the BICI, is in Bahrain now, seeing what progress is being made on implementing his recommendations, all of which the hereditary dictator said he accepted. We should be told when the victims of the military courts are to be released, and whether they will be compensated for their false imprisonment and injuries sustained under torture.

Ghana elections December 2012

Ghana

Question
Asked by Lord Avebury

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will have discussions with the Government of Ghana, the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union, on the monitoring of the Ghanaian elections in December 2012.[HL15226]

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Howell of Guildford): The UK maintains close contact with the Government of Ghana on a wide range of issues. This will include the monitoring of this year's elections there. In addition, we regularly engage with ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) and the African Union about their election monitoring missions. Ghana's elections will form part of those discussions.

Sack paid advisers and get them to work for nothing

Education: Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Children

Question
Asked by Lord Avebury

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will place in the Library of the House a copy of the equality impact assessment with regard to the ending of the two specialist consultancy services provided to the Department for Education by Arthur Ivatts OBE and Margaret Wood, on the education of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children.[HL15202]

7 Feb 2012 : Column WA37


The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools (Lord Hill of Oareford): The Department for Education advocates the use of equality impact assessments when developing new policies or making significant changes to existing ones, but would not routinely use them when ending consultancy contracts. No formal equality impact assessments were drawn up with regard to ending the contracts of Arthur Ivatts OBE and Margaret Wood 21 days earlier than originally planned.

The department is very grateful to Arthur Ivatts and Margaret Wood for the support which they have provided on the education of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils. The department continues to seek their advice on an informal basis, through its regular meetings with the Advisory Council on the Education of Romany and Other Travellers and through the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller education stakeholder group.

Monitored sobriety 24/7 for repeat alcohol-related offences?

The Government are willing to pilot the use of court orders imposed on offenders who undertake to comply with them, requiring 24/7 sobriety, remotely monitored. Schemes based on this principle have worked in the US, cutting recidivism in half. See Column 90, http://bit.ly/x3YGhk

DfID's assistance for Dalit girls' education

India

Question
Asked by Lord Avebury

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the debate on international development policy on 1 December 2011, what initiatives they have taken in connection with the Secretary of State for International Development's recent visit to India concerning the Dalit communities there, particularly with a view to ensuring that Dalit girls enter and remain in education.[HL15174]

Baroness Northover: We are pressing ahead with the design of a stipend scheme benefiting over 200,000 tribal and Dalit girls in Orissa, conditional on their enrolment and regular attendance at secondary school. In addition we will continue to support free schooling and residential hostels for some of the poorest Dalit, tribal and Muslim girls across India as part of our

7 Feb 2012 : Column WA49

contribution to the Indian Government's Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (basic education) and Mahila Samakhiva (women's empowerment scheme) programmes.

Blood test Jan 30

King's College Hospital
Patient Results
All results -Performed since 30-Jan-12
Avebury, Eric
PRE
M83y Haematology OPD
D442931 / V6938322 29-Sep-1928
de Lavallade, Hugu
30-Jan-12 08:10 Renal/Liver/Bone/Urea

Sodium 141 [135-145 mmol/L]
Potassium 4.9 [3.5-5.0 mmol/L]
Urea 7.2 H [3.3-6.7 mmol/L]
Creatinine 114 [45-120 umol/L]
Estimated GFR 53 [mL/min]
Calcium 2.27 [mmol/L]
Corrected Calcium 2.17 [2.15-2.6 mmol/L]
Phosphate 1.11 [0.80-1.40 mmol/L]
Total Protein 77 [60-80 g/L]
Albumin 45 [35-50 g/L]
Globulin 32 [25-35 g/L]
Bilirubin (Total) 7 [3-20 umol/L]
Alkaline Phosphatase 87 [30-130 IU/L]
Aspartate Transaminase 27 [10-50 IU/L]
Gamma-glutamyl 20 [1-55 IU/L]
Transferase


30-Jan-12 08:10 Full Blood Count

WBC 3.97 L [4.00-11.00 10^9/L]
RBC 3.16 L [4.5-5.8 10^12/L]
Hb 10.2 L [13.0-16.5 g/dL]
PCV 0.329 L [0.400-0.540 L/L]
MCV 103.9 H [77.0-95.0 fL]
MCH 32.2 [20.0-36.0 pg]
MCHC 31.0 L [32.0-37.0 g/dL]
RDW 17.8 H [11.0-15.0 %]
PLT 526 H [150-450 10^9/L]
MPV 11.2 H [7.4-10.4 fL]
Neutrophils 1.27 L [2.2-6.3 10^9/L]
Lymphocytes 1.71 [1.3-4.0 10^9/L]
Monocytes 0.87 [0.2-1.0 10^9/L]
Eosinophils 0.08 [0-0.4 10^9/L]
% Hypo 31.7
White Cell Morphology MANUAL DIFF
Red Cell Morphology SLIGHT MACROCYTOSIS, POIKILOCYTES, +
Platelet Morphology NORMAL MORPHOLOGY,


Requested by: Van-der-velde-Ong, Geke (Specialist Nurse) Printed from: King's College Hospital
02-Feb-12 09:19 End of Report Page: 1 of 1

Life Saving Vaccines Reach the World’s Largest Refugee Camp

23 January 2012 – I am delighted to note that the Global Alliance for Vaccinations and Immunisation (GAVI) has announced plans to provide life saving rotavirus vaccines for children in the Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya.
The Dadaab complex is the world’s largest refugee camp and plays host to approximately 500,000 inhabitants, a population centre roughly the same size as Manchester. The camp was established in 1991 as a temporary measure to shelter refugees fleeing violence in areas of Somalia but it has grown dramatically since and now ranks as the third largest population centre in Kenya, behind the capital Nairobi and the port of Mombasa.
The camp is estimated to grow at a rate of 1,300 new inhabitants every day and presents a number of healthcare challenges, with malnutrition, respiratory tract infections and diarrhoea particularly rife.
The announcement by GAVI is extremely welcome and has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives. Rotavirus is the single largest cause of diarrheal disease amongst children and infants, accounting for nearly half a million deaths worldwide. Alongside pneumonia this makes rotavirus one of the leading killers of children in the developing world.
The agreement between GAVI and the Kenyan Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation will see GAVI provide a regular supply of the rotavirus vaccine for use in the Dadaab camp. The Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation had already planned to roll-out the rotavirus vaccine for the rest of the country in 2013 and this announcement will mean that children in the Dadaab camp will not be missed out.
In my capacity as Co-Chair of the APPG for Global Action Against Childhood Pneumonia I worked for many year to champion the roll-out of vaccines globally. Last year I met and liaised with representatives from DFID, GAVI and UNICEF to discuss the issue of vaccination in the Dadaab camp. I also discussed the matter with Baroness Northover, the Department for International Development Spokesperson in the Lords, who promised to look into the issue.
Until now the key focus of the APPG has been on pneumonia, however in 2012 we intend to expand our work to include rotavirus and diarrhoeal disease. Following visits to Kenya and Bangladesh group members were dismayed to see firsthand the terrible impact that rotavirus and diarrheal disease was having on child mortality rates in both countries.
I am extremely proud of the UK’s continued commitment to helping to fund life saving vaccines for children in the developing world. The key role that DFID have played in helping to bring about this new agreement with GAVI is further proof that the UK remains a leading force for change in international development policy.

I've not been keeping the blog up to date, but have entered several things on nTwitter, which must have a wider audience now that it has reached 300 followers. Just to catch up with Parliamentary activity, I spoke yesterday on David Alton's amendment to the Legal Aid etc Bill, dealing with the amounts that are to be deducted from damages awarded to victims of industrially related respiratory diseases. Mesothelioma, a painful cancer that kills patients on average within a year from diagnosis, accounts for the majority of these payments, and its unbelievable mean to take money from the terminally ill victims of this horrible disease. When they are told they will be fined in this way, many sufferers won't even bother to pursue their legitimate claims. See http://bit.ly/yE3g08

Today I voted against the Government on an amendment to the Welfare Reform Bill dealing with payments to single mothers of disabled children who aren't in work. As I've said before, we shouldn't be making the poor and vulnerable contribute to paying off the debts left to us by Messrs Blair and Brown. There's plenty of scope for getting more from the rich, such as the mansion tax on houses worth more than £2 million or Supertax on incomes above £250k. It is said that if we tax the rich heavily they will emigrate to Geneva or Hong Kong, but I don't believe the top jobs couldn't be done just as well by the next rung down, for less money. But the risks could be managed by raising the % gradually over say ten years, so that individuals and companies would have time to adjust to the idea.

Medical

Blood test this morning, followed by an appointment with Dr L in Haematology Outpatients, not with Professor M as expected. We saw Dr L 50 minutes after the scheduled appointment time of 10.10, and this happens every time. There is something badly wrong with the way they schedule appointments.

Platelets were slightly up on laat time - 526 compared with 501 - but not enough to alter the dose of Hydroxycarbamide. WBC count was down (3.97) and there was no reading for Neutrophils, with which the PLT count has to be balanced. The risk is of thrombosis, but is not high as long as the platelets are under control. Longer term risks are bone marrow fibrosis and leukemia (< 1%), but Dr L is referring me to Dr Claire Harrison at St Thomas's, who is following up the survey of MPL mutations published in the journal Blood, and referred to in the previous post on this subject. This means she will have a better idea of what to expect, and in particular, how long I'm likely to be able to continue working normally. Dr L gives the impression, without actually saying so, that he thinks the original estimate of one year given to me off the cuff by Professor M last August was pessimistic, and at least Dr Harrison should be able to say what the mean experience was of the 24 patients with the MPL W515L mutation in the cohort she studied.