Eric Avebury

Somali pirates

2012-01-28T22:42:00.003Z

Is it a good idea to offer space in Wormwood Scrubs for Somali pirates http://reut.rs/xXLrJi ? Or should they be tried, sentenced and imprisoned in the region, with international assistance? I'm only asking, but I do wonder whether Henry asked Ken Clarke?

2012-01-28T16:20:00.002Z

This week I voted three times against our Government - twice on the benefits cap, and the third time, on charges to be imposed on a parent with care if she has to use the state to recover the contribution by the absent parent.

The cap if £500 a week, and that sound like a lot of money when many people in work aren't getting that much. But the limit applies everywhere, and in London a family with three or more children will be paying £350 a week in rent, leaving them with £150 to cover food and drink, clothing and shoes, transport, heat and light. Among those who objected to my interview on the World at One on this subject was an Australian banker, who disagreed when I told him that instead of making people on benefits contribute towards eliminating the deficit, I would like to see a 75% rate of income tax levied on income over £250k a year. He said this would drive the top earners abroad, to which my answer was that there would be many others ready to take their places at more reasonable salary levels. But yes, there ought to be international agreement on curbing top salaries if possible, to stop companies relocating in states wherte inequality is greatest, such as the UK and the US at present.

On the third vote, moved by the former Conservative Lord Chancellor Lord Mackay of Clashfern, the question was about the payment of fees to the Child Suppport Agency where the two parents in dispute are unable to reach agreement on the contributions each should make to the maintenance of their dependent children. Almost invariably in these cases its the mother who is left to look after the children while the father absconds and shirks his responsibilities, refusing to cooperate. Why on earth the mother should have to pay a fee to recover her rightful due was not explained satisfactorily by the Government. The Minister said it was to persuade the parties to cooperate, but its never the 'parent with care' who is obstructive.

Travellers and legal aid

2012-01-26T20:05:00.002Z

The Legal Aid Bill prevents Gypsies and Travellers from getting legal aid in circumstances where they may lose their homes. With 2,000 Gypsies living in caravans on unauthorised sites from which the landlords are being given stronger powers to evict them. they will not qualify for legal advice on how to contest orders for their removal when they are trespassers, as so many of them are when it is made as difficult as possible for them to acquire land of their own, and there are no spare pitches for rent. But we did get assurances from the Minister who replied,Jim Wallace, that injunctions under S 187B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, and orders under Sections 289 and 290 of that Act, which lead towards the loss of a Traveller's home, would still be subject to legal aid.

The amendments attracted a gratifying number of supporters and I think we have the ammunition to ask for discussions with Ministers before the Bill gets to its final stage of Third Reading.

At the end of his speech, Jim Wallace took credit for the recent Government annoiuncement that £60 million was being made available for local authorities and registered social landlords to provide Traveller sites for some 600 caravans. I happened to have telephoned five of the successful applicants for this money and was able to point out that none of them had even identified the necessary land, let alone applied for planning permission. And if by some miracle all of the planned schemes were implemented overnight, they would still cover only a third of the technically homelss Travellers.

Immigration regulations

2012-01-24T16:53:00.002Z

All immigrants here for more than 6 months must now have biometric identity documents. We don't object to this per se, but with the UK Borders Agency incapable of dealing with its existing workload, to complete the rollout at the end of February is not good timing. http://bit.ly/wR9woo

There are more fundamental questions about whether the UKBA should continue to be a separate agency,rather than transferring its functions back to the Home Office where they belonged originally.

Blood test Jan 16

2012-01-20T13:10:00.003Z

Platelets should be within normal range when I see Professor M on January 30 if they continue to reduce at the same rate as they have since the previous reading<

WBC 4.79 [4.00-11.00 10^9/L]
RBC 2.97 L [4.5-5.8 10^12/L]
Hb 10.4 L [13.0-16.5 g/dL]
PCV 0.310 L [0.400-0.540 L/L]
MCV 103.2 H [77.0-95.0 fL]
MCH 35.0 [20.0-36.0 pg]
MCHC 33.9 [32.0-37.0 g/dL]
RDW 18.4 H [11.0-15.0 %]
PLT 501 H [150-450 10^9/L]
MPV 10.7 H [7.4-10.4 fL]
Neutrophils 2.33 [2.2-6.3 10^9/L]
Lymphocytes 1.30 [1.3-4.0 10^9/L]
Monocytes 0.44 [0.2-1.0 10^9/L]
Eosinophils 0.06 [0-0.4 10^9/L]
Basophils 0.04 [0-0.1 10^9/L]
NRBC 6.1 H [< 1.0 /100 Wbc]
% Hypo 5.3
Requested

Yesterday in Parliament

2012-01-19T22:22:00.003Z

In the morning, SubCommittee E which is coming towards the end of its inquiry into EU drugs strategy. At the end of the session in May I will be rotated off the SubCommittee, having done a four-year stint, and I shall be quite sorry.

Lunch with Shadia Syed, and a good chat about all things Bangladeshi.

At 16.00, meeting of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group: discussion of future programme, and funding.

18.00, a meeting chaired by Ilora Finlay to discuss 'compulsory sobriety', a system allowing courts to make orders that defendants convicted of repeat offences of violence or drink driving triggered by alcohol would be required to abstain totally for a fixed period of months, during which they would be regularly monitored, and any lapse would be punished by immediate 24-hours imprisonment. Schemes based on this principle had been highhly effective in Hawaii and South Dakota, andwere to be trialled in Strathclyde. The Mayor of London was keen to try it in the capital, but that would need primary legislation. The Government had rejected amendments for the purpose in the debates o the Police and Social Responsibility Bill, but the amendments had been retabled for the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, and I added my name to the sponsors.

After that I was in the chamber for the rest of the evening until 23.45 on the LASPO Bill, moving an amendment to restore legal aid for persons detained under the Immigration Act not only to challenge the detention itself, but the underlying reason for the detention, see http://bit.ly/A7xO5F. It would be impossible to separate the two, and I gave several examples of cases where the two were closely intertwined. PS January 21 The Independent complains that the LibDems are almost entirely silent on immigration, see today's leading article http://ind.pn/zlTsFH I can only say that in the Lords we do our best, and its disappointing to be ignored by the media.

Spoke also on amendments to restore legal aid for victims of trafficking, and dependants of refugees still in the countries of origin.

Home just after midnight and straight to bed!

With Lulu Todd & Salma, Jan 15

2012-01-16T22:43:00.000Z

Somaliland discussion with Salma Sheik and Ahmed Kadleye

2012-01-16T22:37:00.002Z

An appalling story from Bahrain

2012-01-15T16:04:00.002Z

Badriya Ali is a 59 year old woman from the village of Sanabis. In April security forces raided her home to arrest her son, Ahmed Mushaima, who is 25 years old. They beat him severely in front of her, banging his head against the corner of an air conditioner repeatedly. Badriya screamed at them to stop beating her son, and an officer responded "shut up, we arrest women too". They then pulled her old sick husband from bed to arrest him, but he was so weak and collapsed to the ground, where they left him. Badriya fainted after watching her son being severely beaten. Before leaving, the officers wrote "long live Khalifa (the king's family name) " on the walls of her home.

Some of those officers were: Faisal Bakhsh, Khalid and Taher AlAlawi. They stole 4,500 BD (about £7,800), 3 phones, a laptop and Ahmed's wallet.

Since that raid, according to her daughter Zahra, Badriya went into deep depression.For a week she cried continuously, after which she fell completely silent. When Badriya's son was released she got a bit better, but a couple of weeks ago their village which is constantly under attacks by the security forces was invaded yetagain, and Badriya saw an old woman being chased by security forces in the street. Since that day she was terrified, and her family had to watch her constantly. She was afraid of any small sound, convinced they would come back for her children. She told her children that she couldn't take it anymore, and to let her go to the riot police so she can be killed.

Zahra says she was busy with her daughter for five minutes, only to find her mother had set herself on fire on the roof. She died of her burns today.

Traveller Pitch Funding

2012-01-14T14:09:00.002Z

The Communities and Local Government Department has announced new funding of £47 million for new and refurbished Traveller sites, said to provide 617 new and 167 refurbished pitches over an unspecified period [http://bit.ly/zBjDjv]. Forty of the pitches classed a 'New', in Bolton and Bassetlaw, are actually refurbishments, so the actual total of new pitches is 577, compared with the shortfall as indicated by the number of caravans on unauthorised sites enumerated in the count undertaken for the CLG in July 2011. At the end of the day there would still be 3,420 families legally homeless [http://bit.ly/wLNbOU], and that's not taking into account any increase in the caravan-dwelling Traveller population over the years covered by this programme.

Yet at the same time as marginally reducing the number of homeless, the Government are making it harder for Travellers themselves to get planning permission, and giving councils draconian powers to evict them from the 4,000 pitches they occupy without planning permission, even where they own the land as at Dale Farm and now Meriden. Kicking these people off onto the roadside without having any plans to provide them with alternative sites is an inhuman policy, the result of which is certain to be that the severe deprivation suffered by the Gypsy and Traveller communities will persist down the generations. It is a recipe for particularly severe harm to the children, whose education will be interrupted, in many cases permanently, and whose health, already the worst of any ethnic minority in this country, will be vdamaged still further.

Calls to five of the providers listed as receiving the CLG grants revealed last week that in only one instance had a funded site yet been identified, and none had been the subjects of planning applications. The providers all acknowledged that it would be a long and controversial process getting to the stage where a single pitch had been added to the total.

Medical

2012-01-14T13:20:00.003Z

Dr L tells me that the particular mutation I have is C-MPL W515L, not the K variant. The only recent paper on MPL mutations is from the journal Blood for July 1, 2008, see http://bit.ly/xV1wI3. This describes 44 patients with MPL mutations of all kinds, doubling the number reported to that date in peer-reviewed journals.

MPL, found at chromosome 1p34, encodes the thrombopoietin receptor that works in concert with thrombopoietin [http://bit.ly/xIsa7] for platelet production. Acquired MPL mutations eg, W515L and W515K are associated with severe anemia. [http://bit.ly/yN3G1w]

2012-01-02T15:56:00.001Z

2012-01-02T15:55:00.000Z

A bit sad to see them go but it was a great three weeks

2012-01-02T15:30:00.000Z

New Year's Day at Flodden Road

2012-01-02T15:24:00.000Z

2011-12-28T23:17:00.002Z

My New Year message to Liberal Democrat friends and colleagues

Please access www.theequalityrust.org.uk and click on "See the evidence", proving that more equal societies work better for everyone.

This is NOT a time of shrinking prosperity, but one of very slowly increasing GDP. This is to be welcomed, because its obvious that never-ending growth doesn't lead to better societies and in a few decades will wreck our planet and possibly lead to the extinction of all living things.

We need policies that will secure greater equality for the reasons argued convincingly in The Spirit Level and on The Equality Trust website. These will reduce the burden on the NHS and on the criminal justice system. Inserting private providers into the health or criminal justice systems is a distraction.

Certainly there is scope for better management and organisation in the public sector, but this is not to be achieved by crude and arbitrary percentage cuts.

So far we have been trying to amend legislation that will undermine the services that benefit the poor, while generally supporting the coalition Government because we need to repay the enormous debts left to us by Gordon Brown. In the next two years we must take a more robust line on Bills that damage those services, and campaign for higher taxes on the rich to pay for them.

2011-12-24T19:22:00.000Z

Olivia in the West End today

2011-12-24T19:09:00.000Z

A manhole in West Auckland, 1540 mm diameter, courtesy Maurice!

Blood test December 19

2011-12-24T18:43:00.002Z

Avebury, Eric Haematology OPD 83y M de Lavallade, Hugues
CLS 29-Sep-1928 D442931 / V6825848
05-Dec-11 08:33 Renal/Liver/Bone/Urea
Sodium 143 [135-145 mmol/L]
Potassium 5.0 [3.5-5.0 mmol/L]
Urea 7.0 H [3.3-6.7 mmol/L]
Creatinine 104 [45-120 umol/L]
Estimated GFR 59 [mL/min]
Calcium 2.26 [mmol/L]
Corrected Calcium 2.18 [2.15-2.6 mmol/L]
Phosphate 1.18 [0.80-1.40 mmol/L]
Total Protein 75 [60-80 g/L]
Albumin 44 [35-50 g/L]
Globulin 31 [25-35 g/L]
Bilirubin (Total) 8 [3-20 umol/L]
Alkaline Phosphatase 72 [30-130 IU/L]
Aspartate Transaminase 24 [10-50 IU/L]
Gamma-glutamyl 17 [1-55 IU/L]
Transferase

05-Dec-11 08:33 Full Blood Count
WBC 3.57 L [4.00-11.00 10^9/L]
RBC 3.10 L [4.5-5.8 10^12/L]
Hb 9.9 L [13.0-16.5 g/dL]
PCV 0.306 L [0.400-0.540 L/L]
MCV 98.8 H [77.0-95.0 fL]
MCH 32.0 [20.0-36.0 pg]
MCHC 32.4 [32.0-37.0 g/dL]
RDW 16.8 H [11.0-15.0 %]
PLT 592 H [150-450 10^9/L]
MPV 10.9 H [7.4-10.4 fL]
Neutrophils 1.36 L [2.2-6.3 10^9/L]
Lymphocytes 1.61 [1.3-4.0 10^9/L]
Monocytes 0.46 [0.2-1.0 10^9/L]
Eosinophils 0.14 [0-0.4 10^9/L]
Basophils 0.01 [0-0.1 10^9/L]
NRBC 7.1 H [< 1.0 /100 Wbc]
% Hypo 4.4
Red Cell Morphology Slight anisocytosis.
Platelet Morphology Count increased. Platelet anisocytosis.
White Cell Morphology Neutropenia. Few lymphocytes display flowery and
cleft nucleus.

19-Dec-11 08:38 Full Blood Count
WBC 3.11 L [4.00-11.00 10^9/L]
RBC 3.07 L [4.5-5.8 10^12/L]
Hb 10.1 L [13.0-16.5 g/dL]
PCV 0.322 L [0.400-0.540 L/L]
MCV 104.8 H [77.0-95.0 fL]
MCH 32.9 [20.0-36.0 pg]
MCHC 31.4 L [32.0-37.0 g/dL]
RDW 16.9 H [11.0-15.0 %]
PLT 571 H [150-450 10^9/L]
MPV 10.4 [7.4-10.4 fL]
Neutrophils 1.61 L [2.2-6.3 10^9/L]
Lymphocytes 0.68 L [1.3-4.0 10^9/L]
Monocytes 0.34 [0.2-1.0 10^9/L]
Eosinophils 0.02 [0-0.4 10^9/L]
Basophils 0.01 [0-0.1 10^9/L]
NRBC 5.7 H [< 1.0 /100 Wbc]
% Hypo 31.0

19-Dec-11 08:38 Renal/Liver/Bone/Urea
Sodium 142 [135-145 mmol/L]
Potassium 4.8 [3.5-5.0 mmol/L]
Urea 7.1 H [3.3-6.7 mmol/L]
Creatinine 97 [45-120 umol/L]
Estimated GFR 64 [mL/min]
Calcium 2.2 [mmol/L]
Corrected Calcium 2.16 [2.15-2.6 mmol/L]
Phosphate 1.18 [0.80-1.40 mmol/L]
Total Protein 75 [60-80 g/L]
Albumin 45 [35-50 g/L]
Globulin 30 [25-35 g/L]
Bilirubin (Total) 9 [3-20 umol/L]
Alkaline Phosphatase 72 [30-130 IU/L]
Aspartate Transaminase 26 [10-50 IU/L]
Gamma-glutamyl 14 [1-55 IU/L]
Transferase

2011-12-24T15:21:00.001Z

St John's Smith Square before the Christmas Oratorio December 22

Legal Aid, Sentencing & Punishment of Offenders Bill

2011-12-20T23:54:00.002Z

This afternoon I sat through the first amendment in Committee stage of the LASPO Bill, in which Lord Pannick proposed to insert the words:

The Lord Chancellor must secure (within the resources made available and in accordance with this Part) that individuals have access to legal services that effectively meet their needs

Almost everyone who spoke agreed with the principle, though Martin Thomas pointed out that unless the many amendments to Part 1 of the Bill, dealing with legal aid, were agreed, it wouldn't correspond with the wishes of the speakers. It is utterly wrong to remove the power to grant legal aid to poor people such as homeless Travellers, refused immigrants and victims of asbestos poisoning. As was said repeatedly, the right of access to justice should not be confined to those with money to pay the legal fees.

Haematology

2011-12-19T21:09:00.004Z

Consultation with Dr L this morning.

Dr L says that the genetic abnormality C-MPL W515 occurs in 3-5% of the MPD/MDS cases, so that means 60-100 cases in the UK a year. There was an article about these cases in the US journal Blood in 2008 which he will email to me. At a first glance there weren't any relevant papers at the American Society of Haematology's annual conference this year.

The only feature of this variant of the disorder worth mentioning is an increased risk of thrombosis, but as I'm already taking aspirin there's nothing more needed.

Platelets were down since November 9, from 592 to 571 10^9/L, and Neutrophils were up from 1.36 to 1.61. WBC down from 3.57 to 3.11 10^9/L but Dr L was not concerned.

If I get a fever (38 c or higher) it is to be reported immediately to the practice nurse.

Dr L didn't want to be drawn on the subject of my expected balance of useful existence, but said I should ask Professor M when I see him on Monday January 30.

On the tube

2011-12-17T18:58:00.000Z

On the Northern line, returning from the National Portrait Gallery exhibition on early actresses. It covered the period from 1660 to 1800, which excluded all the Kembles except Sarah Siddons. A great pity they didn't borrow the portrait of Roger Kemble, which the family subscribed to restore, from the museum at Bath.

Maurice looks up trains

2011-12-17T18:53:00.000Z

Saudi Arabia

2011-12-17T18:45:00.002Z

Debate in the Lords last Monday on Saudi Arabia http://bit.ly/ukn116

Its not a subject frequently discussed, even though Saudi Arabia is an absolute hereditary dictatorship where there is no freedom of expression or assembly, no freedom of religion, harsh repression of women, widespread ill-treatment of migrant labour, arbitrary application of a particular variant of the Shari'a law, and frequent use of capital punishment.

We need to pay far greater attention to the use of Saudi oil billions to spread their pernicious ideology throughout the rest of the Islamic world.

2011-12-17T18:32:00.000Z

2011-12-17T18:29:00.000Z

2011-12-17T18:27:00.000Z

2011-12-17T18:25:00.000Z

2011-12-17T18:22:00.000Z

Edwina's exhibition of some of her 'little people' Sunday December 10

Brutal arrest of Zainab al-Khawaja

2011-12-16T13:24:00.004Z

On Thursday December 15 Bahraini human rights defender Zainab AlKhawaja was violently arrested while she was engaged in a peaceful protest.

Bahraini security forces used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse hundreds of opposition supporters attempting to protest alongside a highway leading to the island kingdom’s capital (more details: http://www.bahrainrights.org/en/node/4905) . Zainab Alkhawaja, 27, participated in this peaceful protest, staging a sit-in on a roundabout with several other women. The riot police responded with firing tear gas canisters at the women, forcing all except Zainab to abandon their protest. The police then fired a tear gas canister directly at Zainab, see video - http://t.co/m8Mph6Gw

Next, the police handcuffed Zainab, slapping her and striking her on the face, see video http://t.co/SD8DnUgD and the attached photos. They dragged her from the handcuff itself along the ground to the pavement and then to the street, removing her Muslim head scarf from her head. This treatment of a woman is totally alien to the cultural traditions of Bahrain and indeed the Gulf as a whole.

Zainab and another woman, Masooma alSayed were then taken to the police station and referred to the general prosecutor "for taking part & calling for an illegal gathering & for attacking a public security female employee near Busaiba" https://twitter.com/#!/moi_bahrain/status/147361704743936000. No physical assaults by Zainab is seen on the videos of these events.

At the general prosecutor's office, Zainab told the lawyer that the female officer " took my scarf off and tied it around my mouth to stop me from speaking". Lawyer Zahra Masood who was with Zainab at the general prosecution, said that Zainab looked tired & hardly opened her eyes.

Zainab is mother of a 1-year old child. Her husband, father and uncle are all in jail. He father is the prominent Human Rights activist AbdulHadi AlKhawaja, a former Regional Protection coordinator for the Middle East with Front Line and former President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR). He has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a military court for taking part in the February 14 protest and there has been no indication of his release in spite of the King's undertaking to free all political prisoners at the press conference launching the Bassiouni commission's report on the egregious human rights violations in Bahrain. Zainab's husband Wafi, who was arrested along with her father, was sentenced to 4 years in jail, also by a military court.

Zainab was arrested previously, from the Bahrain UN house in June 2011 http://www.bahrainrights.org/en/node/4246, and before that had been interrogated at the police station.

On this video Zainab talks about her activism, family, human rights, her father, and the difficulties of campaigning for human rights in Bahrain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOQgvw7TGjk&sns=fb. More information about her below.

More about Zainab AlKhawaja

http://yfrog.com/hsqjywej
Zainab was very active on twitter during the Feb-March protests under the name of @angryarabiya, posting news and reports directly from the ground to her twitter page.

She was a witness to the brutal arrest of her family members, and reported to the international media how her father was aggressively beaten: DemocracyNow http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naUBnvmDju8
BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13023428
CNN http://articles.cnn.com/2011-04-09/world/bahrain.activist.missing_1_human-rights-detention-center-torture-and-ill-treatment?_s=PM:WORLD

She wrote an open letter to President Obama, and launched a ten-day hunger strike that gained international awareness and triggered a series of hunger strikes in support of the Bahraini people.

50th Anniversary of UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness

2011-12-16T12:52:00.001Z

After the UNHCR/PHRG meeting on statelessness on December 14, with two Kuwaiti Bidoon colleagues at the Peers' Entrance. The meeting was to mark the 50th Anniversary of the UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the publication of a joint study by the UNHCR and Asylum Aid of statelessness and the UK. The Representative of the UNHCR to the UK, Rudolf Schilling, attended and spoke, and among the other speakers was Vaderius Tang, a stateless Malaysian BOC stranded here in Britain with no support and no right to work. Also Mirna Adjami, Senior Legal Consultant, Statelessness Unit, UNHCR Geneva; Bronwen Manby, an old friend who used to be Deputy Director of the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch, and Greg Constantine, the award-winning photographer who has worked extensively with UNHCR, MSF and the World Food Programme.

2011-12-16T10:36:00.000Z

Interview with Somaliland TV, December 15

Saudi Arabia

2011-12-14T22:58:00.001Z

Debate on human rights in Saudi Arabia initiated by Lord Ahmed last Monday: http://bit.ly/ukn116

Mehdi Foundation International

2011-12-14T22:47:00.002Z

At last, the 62 members of the Mehdi Foundation International (MFI), have been freed. They had been detained in Tihar Jail, New Delhi, since April 23, 2007, after they staged a demonstration at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, burning the Pakistani flag, their passports and visa papers. The number had increased to 67, with births to detainees after they were arrested.

I had confirmation from the UNHCR this morning that the detainees had been accepted as refugees by Canada and the US. These people's only crime was to follow a set of religious beliefs that were unacceptable in Pakistan, which is slowly becoming a state in which only Sunni Muslims will feel at home.

Blood test December 5

2011-12-11T11:44:00.002Z

Avebury, Eric Haematology OPD 83y M de Lavallade, Hugues

PRE 29-Sep-1928 D442931 / V6825848

05-Dec-11 08:33 Renal/Liver/Bone/Urea

Sodium 143 [135-145 mmol/L]

Potassium 5.0 [3.5-5.0 mmol/L]

Urea 7.0 H [3.3-6.7 mmol/L]

Creatinine 104 [45-120 umol/L]

Estimated GFR 59 [mL/min]

Calcium 2.26 [mmol/L]

Corrected Calcium 2.18 [2.15-2.6 mmol/L]

Phosphate 1.18 [0.80-1.40 mmol/L]

Total Protein 75 [60-80 g/L]

Albumin 44 [35-50 g/L]

Globulin 31 [25-35 g/L]

Bilirubin (Total) 8 [3-20 umol/L]

Alkaline Phosphatase 72 [30-130 IU/L]

Aspartate Transaminase 24 [10-50 IU/L]

Gamma-glutamyl 17 [1-55 IU/L]

Transferase

05-Dec-11 08:33 Full Blood Count

WBC 3.57 L [4.00-11.00 10^9/L]

RBC 3.10 L [4.5-5.8 10^12/L]

Hb 9.9 L [13.0-16.5 g/dL]

PCV 0.306 L [0.400-0.540 L/L]

MCV 98.8 H [77.0-95.0 fL]

MCH 32.0 [20.0-36.0 pg]

MCHC 32.4 [32.0-37.0 g/dL]

RDW 16.8 H [11.0-15.0 %]

PLT 592 H [150-450 10^9/L]

MPV 10.9 H [7.4-10.4 fL]

Neutrophils 1.36 L [2.2-6.3 10^9/L]

Lymphocytes 1.61 [1.3-4.0 10^9/L]

Monocytes 0.46 [0.2-1.0 10^9/L]

Eosinophils 0.14 [0-0.4 10^9/L]

Basophils 0.01 [0-0.1 10^9/L]

NRBC 7.1 H [< 1.0 /100 Wbc]

% Hypo 4.4

Red Cell Morphology Slight anisocytosis.

Platelet Morphology Count increased. Platelet anisocytosis.

White Cell Morphology Neutropenia. Few lymphocytes display flowery and cleft nucleus.

WBC, RBC, PCV and Neutrophils down; Platelets up a bit

2011-12-10T15:25:00.000Z

December 10: just going out to buy a Christmas Tree and get the tickets for flight to Dublin on Monday.

2011-12-10T15:23:00.000Z

Maurice & Olivia arrive at Hethrow T3 December 9, at 16.50

2011-12-06T10:56:00.000Z

Granddaughter Olivia, who arrives on Friday for a Christmas visit.

Haematology

2011-12-05T13:36:00.003Z

Consultation this morning with a new doctor, Dr L. Platelets slightly raised, so the Hydrocarbamide is increased from four to five days a week. The problem is that this may reduce the Neutrophils which at 1.59 10^9 g/L are already below the normal range of 2.2-6.3, having fdropped from 2.44 on October 17. Dr L will have another look at the blood in two weeks' time.

Dr L said that the genetic abnormality C-MPL W515 occurs in 5% of the MPD/MDS cases, of which there are 2,000 a year. So with only 100 cases a year, there aren't enough data to say anything useful about the prognosis in this subset of cases. He agreed that the life expectancy was 3.5 to 5 years for MPD/MDS cases as a whole, but was doubtful about the one year of normal existence suggested by Professor M on October 17. The answer is probably that the one year wasn't based on any published statistics.

This week

2011-12-01T22:13:00.002Z

Monday, rendezvous at 06.50 at St Pancras International to catch Eurostar to Brussels with Subcommittee F, to take evidence for our inquiry into EU policy on dangerous drugs. Spent the night there, and almost as early on Tuesday we flew to Lisbon for two further sessions. Then back to London, and tube to South Kensington, where kind Lindsay picked me up, arriving home at midnight. Wednesday was quite relaxed, my only appointment being with Edna Adan who runs the hospital in Hargeisa, together with the indefatigable Lulu Todd and others concerned with Somaliland.

Today, joined in a question on Pakistan http://bit.ly/oe98V4. Then one of my own on foreign national prisoners, 1,600 of whom are clogging up our prisons after their sentences have ended. At the end of Questions I introduced a Caravan Sites Bill, 43 years after I did the same in the Commons. The old one became an Act in 1968, because Dick Crossman, then Minister of Housing & Local Government, and Arthur Skeffington, then Parliamentary Secretary, were both sympathetic and helpful. Unfortunately with a Secretary of State who makes no bones about his hostility to Gypsies and Travellers, there's zero chance of getting the presnt Bill or anything like it onto the statute book.

Later, I took part in a debate initiated by John Sandwich on international development and the plight of the Dalits http://bit.ly/txj8Fm . It fell to me to congratulate my old friend Indarjit Singh on a notable maiden speech.

2011-12-01T21:26:00.001Z

Granddaughter Olivia cuts the 21st birthday cake

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With Edna Adan, former Foreign Minister of Somaliland, November 30. She now runs the Edna Adan University Hospital, Hargeisa

2011-11-30T11:33:00.001Z

Rotavirus vaccination in Sudan - courtesy D Porter, GAVI Alliance

Rotavirus

2011-11-30T11:25:00.000Z

Effective use of development aid: rotavirus vaccines save children’s lives

By Eric Avebury

Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhoea among infants and young children and remains a major killer of children under five years of age worldwide, taking the lives of nearly half a million children each year and hospitalising millions more. More than 1,200 young children will die from rotavirus diarrhoea each day and 95% of all rotavirus deaths occur in developing countries in Africa and Asia, where access to treatment for severe rotavirus diarrhoea is limited or unavailable. In these countries, vaccination offers the best hope for preventing severe rotavirus disease and the deadly dehydrating diarrhoea that it causes. Rotavirus vaccines are saving lives today in countries where children have access to them.

Investment in rotavirus vaccines through the GAVI Alliance is a cost-effective investment, delivering enormous value for money, generating concrete results and saving children’s lives from deadly diarrhoea, one of the top two killers of young children worldwide.

As Co-Chair of the UK All Party parliamentary Group for Global Action against Childhood Pneumonia (APPG) I have worked for many years to encourage greater roll out of vaccines globally. While the key focus of our APPG is on pneumonia, tackling diarrhoea is a crucial priority to meet MDG4. Successive British governments have invested in the work of the GAVI Alliance with the aim of reducing child deaths and the UK’s pledge in June 2011 of up to £814 million to GAVI reaffirms this commitment to life saving interventions. In the recent multilaterial aid review by the Department for International Development (DFID), GAVI’s work was ranked first for evidence-based outcomes showing that the contribution by the British Government was not only money well spent but will make an enormous contribution to saving lives across the world. GAVI’s support for the affordable and financially sustainable introduction of rotavirus vaccines in national immunisation programmes will have a dramatic impact on global rotavirus diarrhoea mortality.

By 2015, GAVI plans to support the introduction of rotavirus vaccines in 40 countries, immunising more than 50 million children and saving millions of lives. GAVI is an excellent example of aid being used effectively and responsibly.

I am very proud of the leading role the UK has played in calling for new donors to invest in successful and cost-effective aid interventions to prevent child health, such as vaccines and immunisation. Our APPG will continue to encourage global development leaders to keep their promises and to ensure that pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines reach the children who need them most.

Eric Avebury is Co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Global Action against Childhood Pneumonia

2011-11-20T22:23:00.000Z

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At Wellington Barracks last Sunday, for the Welsh Guards Remembrance Day parade and service in the Guards Chapel

2011-11-20T22:01:00.003Z

Meeting of the International Imam Hussain Council, at the al-Khoei Foundation, November 12

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With Mark Thomas after his gig at the Clapham Library yesterday evening

2011-11-14T21:07:00.000Z

Ceremony this afternoon at the Board of Deputies of British Jews, at which the President, Vivian Wineman, was awarded the Samaritan Medal of Peace and Humanitarian Achievements

2011-11-13T19:33:00.001Z

With the Amir of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Muslims

2011-11-13T19:26:00.001Z

Visit to Parliament on November 10 by Professor Dr Abdul Karim Saeed MRCP(UK), FRCP(London), FCPS(Pak), 5th Ameer/Head of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, on my left.

2011-11-06T22:54:00.001Z

Bhante's visit this afternoon

2011-11-05T16:36:00.000Z

JW at Le Bout du Monde in Cambodia

2011-11-01T21:23:00.000Z

With Lulu Todd, Kadar and Faisal Ali Sheikh on the Terrace after lunch today

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Friday

2011-10-28T20:27:00.003Z

Monday amendment to the Education Bill on collective worship in schools http://bit.ly/ufXPqv.

I pressed it to a division but omitted to leave a colleague in the chamber to shout when it was called for the second time. Up to that point 50 had gone through the Content lobby to 115 in the Not Contents, so we would have lost handsomely if the division had been completed.

Wednesday morning, Subcommittee F heard evidence from Home Office officials on European Union DrugStrategy see http://bit.ly/tO2wbT

In the afternoon, Education Bill again, this time on the rule that when considering the closure of a school. a local authority should avoid reducing the number of denominational places http://bit.ly/vjQkOJ

Thursday, appointment with Mr R in the morning, followed by debate on the National Planning Policy Framework in which I spoke on planning for Traveller sites http://bit.ly/vAp6Hq

Today I have been catching up on emails and preparing for tomorrow's annual Peru Support Group conference, which I shall be chairing from 10.30 to 17.30.

So far I'm managing to lead a more or less normal existence apart from getting quite tired, but I'm starting to tell friends and colleagues that I'll have to scale down my activities, probably within the next year. I'll say something to the Peru Support Group tomorrow, as we don't meet very often. The news of my MPD/MDS is already on my new website my-silbury.co.uk and Twitter @EricAvebury as well as here on this blog but there are still a good many circles of contacts who don't see any of those.

Blood test October 17

2011-10-28T20:20:00.003Z

Eric AVEBURY, DOB: 29-09-1928, Hospital No: D442931, NHS No: 4644474150

26 Flodden Road, LONDON, SE5 9LH

17/10/11 Renal/liver/bone/urea

Sodium 144 mmol/L [136-145 mmol/L]
Potassium 4.5 mmol/L [3.5-5.0 mmol/L]
Urea 6.5 mmol/L [3.3-6.7 mmol/L]
Creatinine 117umol/L [45-120 mmol/L]
Estimated GFR 52 mL/min
Calcium 2.19 mmol/L
Corrected calcium 2.13 mmol/L [2.16-2.6 mmol/L]
Phosphate 1.17 mmol/L [0.80-1.40 mmol/L]
Total protein 73 g/L [60-80 g/L]
Albumin 43 g/L [35-50 g/L]
Globulin 30 g/L [25-35 g/L]
Bilirubin (total)5 umol/L [3-20 umol/L]
Alkaline phosphatase 87 IU/L [30-130 IU/L]
Aspartate transiminase 24 IU/L [10-50 IU/L]
Gamma-glutamyl transferase 19 IU/L [1-55 IU/L]

17/10/11 FBC

WBC 4.50 10^9/L [4.0-11.00 10^9/L]
RBC 3.18 10^9/L [4.5-5.8 10^9/L]
Hb 9.9 g/dl [13.0-16.5 g/dL]
PCV 0.312 L/L [0.400-0.540 L/L]
MCV 98.1 fL [77.0-95.0 fL]
MCH 31.3 pg [20.0-36.0 pg]
MCHC 31.8 g/dl [32.0=37.0 g/dL]
RDW 18.8% [11.0-15.0 (def) %]
PLT 558 10^9/L [150-450 10^9/l]
MPV 10.8 Fl [7.4-10.4 (def) fL]
Neutrophils 2.44 10^9/L [2.2-6.3 10^9/L]
Lymphocytes 1.19 10^9/L [1.3-4.0 10^9/L]
Monocytes 0.38 10^9/L [0.2-100 10^9/L]
Eosinophils 0.05 10^9/L [0.0-0.4 10^9/L]
Basophils 0.00 10^9/L [0-0-1.1 10^9/L]
NRBC <0.2%
%Hypo 3.2

Some poikilocytes, abnormally shaped red blood cells, and RBC below normal range. Poikilocytosis is a rather general condition, but a predominance of one particular type of abnormally shaped red cells, some of which may indicate possible presence of a specific disease or disorder.

Medical - vascular

2011-10-27T17:27:00.004Z

This image of my left femoral artery was scanned last Thursday, and Dr R discussed it with me this morning. It shows that the artery is totally blocked at one point, but the blood finds alternative pathways so that diminished flow still reaches the bottom of the leg. Dr R said that angioplasty to remove the blockage could be undertaken but (a) it doesn't last and (b) if it goes wrong it carries a small risk that the leg would have to be amputated. So he advised that as I'm capable of walking, it was better to leave it alone. His letter to the GP:

"The duplex scan of the left leg showed that he has got a short occlusion of the superficial femoral artery at the adductor hiatus. We had a discussion about treatment options, including angioplasty. However, since his walking distance could be unlimited uf he walks at a slower pace, I do not think at this stage the risk of having an angioplasty of the SFA is justified. The plan is to see hum again in my clinic in six months' time, with a follow up of his EVAR and I will reassess him again from the leg point of view".

Blood Cancer

2011-10-22T20:12:00.003Z

This morning Lindsay and I attended an Open Day organised by Leukemia and Lymphoma Research (LLR), one of the main organisations that funds this research, at UCL Cancer Institute. There were seven presentations on the research being conducted, followed by demonstrations in the laboratories. It was a steep learning curve for us, having no previous knowledge of the science beyond articles in the media. We heard, for example, about how T cells, which play an important role in getting rid of viruses, can be modified to hook onto cancer cells and destroy them. The equipment needed for this research is enormously expensive but steadily becoming more powerful. UCL is probably the premier centre of excellence in the UK, and clearly attracts bright young researchers from all over the world, some of them funded by the EU.

2011-10-21T17:00:00.000Z

With Congressman Javier Diez Canseco at London University's Institute for the Study of the Americas seminar last week.

Medical again

2011-10-17T16:35:00.004Z

Consultation with Professor M at King’s College Hospital this morning, to discuss the prognosis of my MPD/MDS. On average the life expectancy from diagnosis of this condition is 3.5 to 5 years, but probably one year before it starts to interfere with normal life, with blood transfusions becoming necessary, and treatment of the side effects such as the build-up of iron that transfusions produce. This estimate is no doubt an average, and I didn't ask for the standard deviation.

The prognosis varies greatly between patients: some deteriorate gradually, while others remain on an even keel and then go downhill sharply. But the timing of the end result is much the same in both cases. Professor M said that none of the list of dysplastic syndromes in the WHO classification as described in Wikipedia fit my symptoms, but the practice nurse will send me precise details of the one that best fits my symptoms. Blood test:

WBC 4.50 [4.00 - 11.00 10^9/L]

Hb 9.9 [13.0 - 16.5 g/DL]

PLT 558 [150 -450 10^9/L]

Neutrophils 2.44 [2.2 - 6.3 10^9/L]

Creatinine 117 [45-120 umol/L]

Kidney slightly abnormal; Immunoglobulin normal; no blasts

The original indicator of MPD/MPS was the C-MPL mutation, which encodes the protein CD110 and thus plays a major role in platelet formation.

2011-10-13T14:50:00.000Z

This afternoon, at my desk

2011-10-10T11:03:00.000Z

2011-10-10T11:02:00.000Z

Party for Lindsay, to mark her 11 years of work leading the Myatt's Fields Park Project, under which £3.5 million has been spent on the park, resulting in a great new children's playground; a children's building for the One O'Clock club for mothers and toddlers; a new football pitch; a new wild garden; renovation of the Victorian buildings; landscaping of the whole park, and a popular new cafe.

2011-10-09T19:54:00.001Z

With our kind host this afternoon Khider al-Surchi (on my left), his brother Jowhar al-Surchi (on my right) and two of their sons. It was good to know that the injustice done to the family in the nineties had been remedied at last.

Parliamentary Group welcomes UNICEF's programme

2011-10-04T09:38:00.000Z

THE APPG FOR GLOBALACTION AGAINST CHILDHOOD PNEUMONIA WELCOMES

UNICEF EFFORTS TOVACCINATE CHILDREN IN THE DADAAB REFUGEE CAMP

The APPG for Global Action against Childhood Pneumonia todaywelcomed the efforts of UNICEF to provide routine pneumococcal vaccinations forchildren entering the Dadaab refugee complex but warned that more must be done.

Childhood pneumoniais the leading infectious cause of child mortality worldwide, causing over 1.5million child deaths every year. Many of these deaths could be averted with theuse of simple vaccines and effective treatments. Without a concerted effort onbehalf of the global community, pneumonia will continue to claim the lives ofmillions of children each year.

Kenya was among the first countries in Africa to introduce thevaccine against pneumococcal disease, one of the leading causes of pneumonia,and, thanks to UNICEF, this vaccine has now been supplied to all three refugeereception points in the Dadaab complex.

Located in the North Eastern Province of Kenya, on theKenya-Somalia border, the Dadaab camp is the world’s largest refugee complex.Established in 1991 as a temporary measure to help refugees fleeing conflict inSomalia, it is now home to around 430,000 inhabitants and is estimated to growat a rate of 1,200 new arrivals every day. The Dadaab complex now ranks as thethird largest population centre in Kenya after the capital Nairobi and the cityof Mombasa.

It is estimated that around forty percent of childrenentering the Dadaab camp have received no vaccinations at all and, despite theefforts of a range of NGOs, malnutrition, diarrhoea and respiratory tractinfections remain widespread in the complex. With such a high concentration ofpeople, hygiene standards are extremely low and the complex suffers from acritical shortage of clean water.

Co-chair of the APPG, Lord Eric Avebury said “Its brilliantthat UNICEF are providing for the vaccination against pneumococcal disease –and also against rotavirus, the second biggest killer of small children - inthe vast Dadaab camps. We must develop a coordinated response to protect otherrefugee children in Africa, such as those in new camps for the 35,000 inEthiopia fleeing the attacks on civilians in Sudan’s disputed Blue Nile state”.

The APPG for Global Action against Childhood Pneumonia wasestablished to raise awareness of the global disease burden of childhoodpneumonia and to increase access to effective prevention and treatmentinterventions such as vaccines, effective use of antibiotics and educationaround the disease.

Further information: Eric Avebury 020 7274 4617

At Springhill last Sunday

2011-10-02T17:14:00.001Z

From Brittany

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83rd birthday

2011-10-02T12:05:00.000Z

More medical

2011-10-01T11:48:00.001Z

The clinical nurse specialist at King’s tells me that I havemyelodysplastic syndrome (MDS, www.mdspatientsupport.org.uk/what-is-mds/) aswell as the myeloproliferative (MPD)already mentioned. MDS has a number of subdivisions (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myelodysplastic_syndrome),of which RARS-t in the WHO classification seems to match the symptoms best.This has the best prognosis of the lot, with an average life expectancy of 3-5years. The article doesn’t say how long patients can expect to continuefunctioning more or less normally.

Its a mystery why the consultant didn't mention this when I saw her the Friday before last.

Abdominal surgery

2011-09-29T09:47:00.005Z

The Royal College of Surgeons says poor access to facilitieslike operating theatres and scans means some abdominal emergencies are notspotted in time.

Emergency major gastrointestinal (abdominal) surgery has oneof the highest mortalities, which can reach 50% in the over 80s, the reportsays.

I wascycling to the House on October 4, 2001, to wind up a LibDem emergency debateon Afghanistan. A few minutes before 10.00, when the debate was due to start, Iwas knocked off by a motorist who did a u-turn on Millbank without looking. Itwas a hell of a bang, and bystanders offered to take me to hospital, but as Iwas due to wind up for the Liberal Democrats I staggered to my feet, waved themall away, and walked the remaining 100 metres to the House, where I put themangled bicycle in the rack and went into the Chamber.

After a couple of hoursI began to feel very odd and I told Shirley Williams, who had opened for us,and was sitting next to me on the bench. She urged me to get a medical check,so I went along to the Commons nurse, who called a taxi and took me to St Thomas's. We waitedthere four hours, and they did an ultrasound scan which showed nothing. Thecasualty doctor gave me some painkillers and told me to go home and rest.

The nextmorning, Friday, I felt worse, and called my GP. He came out and examined me,couldn't find anything, and prescribed stronger painkillers.

SaturdayI felt worse still. Our lodger, who was a doctor at Guys, examined me andcalled a doctor friend for yet another opinion. They still couldn't findanything.

Thatnight I couldn't sleep and felt really ghastly. At 04.30 my wife Lindsay calledan ambulance and I was taken to St Thomas's A & E for the second time. After a fivehour wait they did a CT scan, and found that I had a burst colon. The contentshad been spilling into my abdomen for the previous three days. After a furtherwait to get the theatre ready and call in the anaesthetist, I was operated onat 17.00 for a colostomy - removal of about 20 cm of colon, and the creation ofan exit from the upper section of the colon in the side of the abdomen. Not abundle of laughs.

I wasthree weeks in hospital, and after that convalesced at home for four weeks,gradually back to 95% normal, 5 kg lighter.

Posted April 11, 2002

On March 14 2002 (the 40^th anniversary of the Orpingtonby election!) I went back to St Thomas’sfor a reversal of the colostomy, and was there until April 1. This time I lostonly 6 kg, and am still languishing at 63 kg.

Children in Dadaab refugee camp vaccinated!

2011-09-28T20:37:00.000Z

In Kenyan camps, vaccine protects Somali refugee children from killer pneumonia

DADAAB, Kenya, 14 September 2011 – About six months ago, Kenya was one of the first countries in Africa to introduce the pneumococcal vaccine, and children now have access to this life-saving intervention through routine immunization in the Dadaab refugee camps in the north-east of the country.

ACERT AGM

2011-09-28T10:24:00.002Z

Last Sunday we had the AGM of the Advisory Council on the Education of Gypsies and Travellers, an organisation formed in 1973 by Lady (Bridget) Plowden to lobby for more effort and resources to be put into Gypsy, Roma and Traveller education. I succeeded her as President when she died at the age of 90 in 2000, and as usual this year I spoke at the AGM on current problems of which the main one is the rundown in the Traveller Education Support Service. Since 2006 when the ring-fenced money provided by the Department for Education was merged into a more general pot, local authorities have been making Traveller Teachers redundant, not replacing those who retire, and in some cases abolishing the service entirely.

Olivia in her ball dress

2011-09-28T10:07:00.000Z

Springhill

2011-09-26T12:52:00.001Z

Sunday September 18, to Springhill Prison for the annual celebrations at the Buddha Grove there. It was the last to be attended by the present Governor Dr Peter Bennett, who is due to retire shortly after nine years as Governor of Springhill and Grendon Underwood. He has always been very friendly and encouraging to the Buddhist Prison Chaplaincy Angulimala, and in particular he has a good word to say about us at the celebration. This year we had a record attendance, and the event was led by a record number of monks.

I do think Buddhism has a great deal to offer prisoners, and its hugely impressive when one meets a former inmate whose life has been turned round by his contact with Angulimala. An ex-prisoner who was at Springhill for this year's event had been inside for 25 years, during the last half of which I had been corresponding with him. He's now in a flat of his own and picking up the threads of independent living.

Medical

2011-09-17T15:07:00.002Z

Visit to Haematology Outpatients at King's, following a blood test. Platelet count was 588, a bit lower than 4 weeks ago, but still above the normal range of 133 to 332. White blood cell count is low and haemoglobin well below normal, but the consultant said it wasn't practical to treat multiple aberrations of blood chemistry simultaneously. I find that difficult to believe, but didn't have time to query it because Jamie was coming round at 13.00 to deal with our network problems (which he solved). The myeloproliferative disorder I have, which is described as essential thrombocytosis, may be symptomless but can lead to heart attack or stroke if untreated. The medication which has brought the platelet count from nearly 1,000 to its current value of 588 is to be continued 5 times a week instead of 7, and I'm to see a consultant again in another four weeks' time. Dr P is no longer taking the haematology clinic, and its not certain who will replace him.

2011-09-16T17:36:00.000Z

2011-09-16T17:34:00.001Z

These pictures were taken by Mike Timbers my first cousin twice removed at the annual High Elms picnic last Sunday, for descendants of my grandfather John Lubbock, of me with his wife Prapha Suriwong. Mike is the son of Kenneth Timbers and Bridget Newman, daughter of Eric Newman and Jean Grant Duff, daughter of my aunt Ursula and Adrian Grant Duff, who was killed serving with the Black Watch just after the outbreak of the First World War, in September 1914.

Lindsay's camera battery was flat and we had lost the recharger, and Lyulph didn't bring his camera, so we didn't have any other pictures. For the first time I can remember, we were just about settled under the trees between the lawn and the tennis court when there was a downpour, and we retreated to the Visitor Centre, where Lyulph showed us his latest family history pictures and documents. He really has a terrific collection, and is constantly making new discoveries!