Yes, I know its getting on for a month since I posted anything on the blog. But Maurice and Olivia were here until October 5, to our great joy and satisfaction, and since they left I've been rather busy with backlogs of letters and emails, together with the return of Parliament. Last week I had two days on UK Borders Bill which involved a lot of preparation, and fielding questions on Burma and Zimbabwe. Borders didn't finish in the two days allotted (not my fault, I'm not long-winded) so we have extra time next Tuesday. Wednesday I am to receive the Blomfield Award at the Baha'i Centre, and Thursday I'm initiating a debate on the Government's revised alcohol harm reduction strategy, which is not going to make much of a dent in the problem.

The one concession we have had on Borders was that children born abroad of women who married foreigners are to be treated the same as if the father were British and the mother foreign. Up to now there has been a cut-off date of February 7, 1961, and when we first raised the matter 5 years ago Ministers told us there had to be a cut-off oint and 'we can only go so far in righting the wrongs of history' We have now asked the Government whether putting this particular wrong right will enable the UK to withdraw its reservation on nationality to th Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women

I almost forgot that in the few games of ping-pong since Maurice and Olivia left, the scores (me first) have been 1-0, 0-2 and 2-1, so the total is now 73 all.