LibDem policy on Gypsies and Travellers

Although it is LibDem policy to get rid of the Regional Spatial Strategies, this is qualified by the statement that

' we are not intending to disturb the plans already in place for providing traveller sites'.

I'm very surprised that policy on Travellers didn't arise during the campaign, considering that the Tories made it clear they did intend to scrap the arrangements that have been set up laboriuusly over the last seven years, from the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act onwards, leaving the grant of planning permission for Traveller sites at the discretion of every single local authority. As very few if any permissions would be granted, this means a proliferation of unauthorised sites and worse deprivation and harassment for Travellers with nowhere to live.

Second stint

Just cycled back from Durand School where I did my second two hour stint of telling, this time free of any encounter with Mr Crump. After I'd been there for half an hour or so Kate Hoey arrived on her rounds and we had a nice little chat. She noted that there was no Labour teller, and I said that after 12.00 when I was on my previous stint, there had been no replacement for the Labour teller, who had to leave for work. After Kate left she must have taken steps to remedy the deficiency, because a Labour teller rapidly appeared, with her little boy aged about four who wanted to ask voters for their numbers and write the answers on the pad. She was replaced on the hour by a Nigerian lady. from Lagos. So we had a chat about Lagos, former President Obasanjo. the death of President Yar'Adua, and the likelihood of instability arising in the consequent Presidential elections. And about her family of four children, the youngest of whom was celebrating her 24th birthday today. This daughter was reading psychology at university. The lady had two grandchildren, both boys and both aged four, one from a son and one from an older daughter.

Later: Did a third stint from 20.00 to 21.00 at our local polling station.

Haematology

Following my appointment with the haematology consultant at Kings, Mr M has written to my GP as follows:

Mr Avebury was reviewed in clinic today. From the point ofview of his lymphoma, I doubt very much that it will recur: he had a stage I MALT lymphoma erased almost 4 years ago and there have been no symptoms or signs of recurrence. Of more concern arc 2 possibly unrelated symptoms:

Firstly, an obvious prominent aortic aneurysm; a CT done in October done in 2009 suggests that llus has reached the size of 56mm and 1 would be most grateful if Mr Rachid would send him an early appointment please.

Secondly he remains anaemic with a haemoglobin which has fallen to 9.7 with a normal white cell count and slightly raised platelets, suggesting a blood loss.

I note that he has Barrett's oesophagus diagnosed 8 years ago and I would be very grateful if Dr Guy Chung Faye could send him an appointment with a view to upper and lower GI endoscopy to establish whether Lord Avebury is suffering from any significant blood loss. 1 am also taking the precaution of checking his PSA. direct antiglobulin test, liver function and paraproteins today. We will see him again in 6 weeks time.

Polling Day

Yesterday, local canvassing. The response was good, but I think Kate Hoey, our Labour MP, has done a very good job and is well-known for having a mind of her own, so she will probably survive the swing against Labour.

I did a two-hour stint telling from 11.00 to 13.00 this morning, and the presiding officer came outside to tell me he had 'a number of complaints' about my conduct. I told him that only one person had said anything to me personally, and that my standard approach is

'Would you be kind enough to let me know the number on your poll card'.

If anybody says they prefer not to give the number, that's the end of the conversation.

Mr Crump (for that was the gentleman's name) said he would report the complaint to the Town Hall. I said I hoped he would say precisely what it was I was alleged to have said or done, and that I expected to be given a full opportunity to respond to the complaint. In the meanwhile, I vigorously denied that I had done anything that could have justified a complaint.

Now I have to go and do another two-hour stint at the same school!

Nasser Butt, LibDem candidate for Tooting

At the Streatham rally, with Margaret Wingfield's daughter. and granddaughter who is a Council candidate in Streatham

Nick Clegg speaking at Streatham rally today

One of Nick Clegg's younger supporters at Streatham today

Ian Martin and Lindsay

Bank Holiday weekend

Saturday evening Ian Martin came to dinner and we had a good old reminisce going back to the days when he was Secretary-General of Amnesty International, right the way through to his most recent appointment as Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Nepal. Now that he's based in London we hope to see a bit more of him.

Yesterday I canvassed locally in the pouring rain, and found it particularly difficult to access the blocks of flats where the answerphones were all outside entry gates. If residents answered. they generally didn't allow me to enter the building, so I got pretty wet. Generally, though, the results were good. Only one person told me to F--- off before I had opened my mouth, and an eccentric local Tory journalist slammed the door in my face, but others were friendly and many accepted window stickers.

Today, I went to Streatham for the visit of Nick Clegg, a tremendous success. Its a constituency where there's a chance of a surprise LibDem win.

Then on to Tooting, where our energetic candidate Nasser Butt is making a great impression. But there's a sour note, with the Khatme Nabuwwat intimidating local shopkeepers who put up Nasser's posters. Who are the Khatme Nabuwwat? An extremist Deobandi organisation that promotes religious hatred and violence in Pakistan, resulting in murder and violence against the Ahmadiyya Muslims. They now want to bring their ideas to the UK, but we do have a law here against incitement to religious hatred.

Meeting with Bangladesh LGRD Minister

show details 8:22 AM (2 hours ago)

International Bangladesh Foundation

Patron Lord Dholakia Chair Lord Avebury

315 Collier Row Lane, Romford, Essex RM5 3ND

Tel: 01708 448055 Fax 01708 470 256

http://hem.bredband.net/secularvoice/

30 May 2010

PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE

Bangladesh has made all preparations for war crimes trial: Syed Ashraf

Syed Ashraful Islam, LGRD minister, who is here in London on a short visit, met Lord Avebury, Vice Chair of UK’s All Party Parliamentary Group on Human Rights, Chairman of Bangladesh International Foundation & Co-Chair, Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission on Friday 30 May 2010 to discuss issues of mutual interest.

He informed Lord Avebury that Bangladesh has made all preparations to seek justice for the victims of Bangladesh War of 1971.

Syed Ashraful Islam said in order to initiate trial against those accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, torture, rape and murder of civilians, tribunal and prosecution teams have been established. Prosecution team has already started its work.

Lord Avebury supported the initiative taken by the government to try the war criminals but enquired about concerns raised about the trial process in a report by the International Bar Association (IBA) to the Parliamentary Hyman Rights Group Syed Ashraf said the Bangladesh government had amended the 1973 Act to bring it into conformity with international judicial norms including rights of appeal and open and transparent court proceedings. The Government had ratified the Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression, but this applied only to crimes committed since the Rome Statute came into force such as the attempted assassination of Sheikh Hasina. Syed Ashraful Islam said members of the IBA would be welcome to visit Bangladesh.

On Chittagong Hill Tracts Syed Ashraf said the he had recently visited Chittagong to ensure the peaceful coexistence of both indigenous population and Bengalis. The Rohingya issue was also discussed. It was agreed that the land issue was critical, and Lord Avebury re-emphasised the conclusion of the CHT Commission in their last report, that the settlement of individual disputes between holders of land by traditional communal title and those who were later granted individual plots by District Commissioners should be settled before the CHT Land Commission launched its general survey.

The meeting was attended by Joint Secretaries of International Bangladesh Foundation Sujit Sen & Ansar Ahmed Ullah, human rights activists Sunahwar Ali from Bangladesh and Raktim Das from the Russian Federation.

Syed Ashraful Islam formally invited Lord Avebury to Bangladesh who gladly accepted the invitation, but said it would have to be later than his next visit as vice-chair of the CHT Commission in the summer.

End

Wednesday and Thursday, canvassing for our effective and personable candidate for Norwich South, Simon Wright, who lives in the constituency and is a successful campaigner already on local issues.

Today, an appointment with Mr M, haematology consultant at King's, who ordered yet more blood tests to see why my haemoglobin has declined from 13 to 9.7 over the last two years. He also said I should see Mr R, to assess whether my aortic aneurysm, which was 4.97 cm in January, was still increasing. Although surgery isn't normally recommended if its less than 5.5, it probably needs to be watched. Mr M also wanted another consultant, Mr C, to do an endoscopy on my Barrett's oesophagus. I certainly get my money's worth from the NHS.

The Bangladesh Local Govt minister and AL General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam came to see me at 14.00, to tell me about the progress towards implementing the war crimes trials. He said that the 1973 Act had been amended, and he thought the criticisms made in the International Bar Association's report to the Parliamentary Human Rights Group had been met. We also talked about the land problems in the CHT, which are key to the fulfilment of the Peace Accords of 1997.

After that, the Eritrean Ambassador called, to discuss the preparations for celebrating Eritrea's independence day. He kindly invited me to the launch of the Eritrea-UK Friendship Association on May 24

With Ishfaq, head of the Kashmir International Relief Fund, of which I'm Patron, at the SOAS meeting. The KIRF have donated a 50-bed hospital to Azad Kashmir, and are sending 12 volunteers from the UK later this year, to start up the hospital's IT system and train staff in various medical skills. This is a really great venture, and I hope it will be widely supported, particularly by UK Kashmiris!

SOAS meeting

At the well-attended four-party Volunteering Alliance meeting, SOAS, Tuesday evening. Each speaker had seven minutes for an introductory statement, and then it was questions from the floor for the next hour and a half.

Sue, Lyulph and Vanesa at last Sunday's joint birthday lunch for Sue and Vanessa. Sue has moved out, and Alex was moving to Edinburgh today to start his new career with the MRC, so it'll be an empty nest from now on.

Norwich South

Wednesday, drove to Norwich South with my old canvassing partner Michael Garrard, and did an afternoon and an evening's canvassing for our excellent candidate Simon Wright. He's a local man and will be a full-time MP if he gets in, unlike Charles Clarke the present incumbent who took on a consultancy job after Gordon Brown sacked him as Home Secretary. He has made a number of speeches attacking Brown and obviously recognises that he hasn't much of a future in Labour politics. Simon is young and energetic, and has already been successful in fighting for local rights. He goes down well on the doorstep and will certainly gain the seat if we can limit the Green vote. The Greens are making a big pitch for Norwich South, not recognising apparently that if they do well they could hand the seat back to Labour, reducing the support for green policies and electoral reform that only the Liberal Democrats can provide.

After canvassing we were kindly given an evening meal at the house of my distant cousins Nigel and Judith Lubbock. She is an effective LibDem councillor, and is working hard in our campaign. Then we stayed the night with hospitable and charming local activists.

Yesterday morning we were out canvassing again, and then joined a walkabout with Shirley Williams in the market square, before returning to London in time for the party leaders' final TV debate at 20.30

Vanessa at birthday lunch last Sunday

Canvassing

Yesterday Michael Garrard came over and we drove to Susan Kramer's campaign HQ in Richmnd, then went out canvassing on a long road of mainly large detached houses, at first sight Conservative territory but as it turned out with quite a few LibDem supporters. The residents all agreed that Susan was a hardworking and effective MP. But as we all know, the personal qualities of a candidate very seldom outweigh the general swing, and normally one would expect that to count against us in Tory-LibDem marginals. In Richmond Park, however, there should be some tactical voting by former Labour supporters who see the necessity of preventing a Tory win. And I think a lot of people may resent the way that Ashcroft's money is behind the Tory campaign