All day at the desk, though I don't seem to have achieved a great deal!

Wrote to the Minister Derek Twigg MP about the Buddhist chaplaincy to the armed forces; dealt with an Ivoirean in Dover Immigration Removal Centre with a heart condition, who is about to be deported, though he has lived in the UK for 15 years; has been married to a British citizen for 12 years, and has a 15-year old son by a previous partner.

Spoke to various people about the case of two girls aged 10 and 13 who were kidnapped on June 26 in Muzaffargah, Pakistan, and forcibly married. Incredibly, the parents have so far not been able to regain custody of the two girls after two court hearings. This should be a matter for the police rather than the courts, but the criminal law doesn't appear to cover kidnapping in Pakistan, or to prohibit marriage of little girls under the age of 16. This case hasn't yet attracted any international condemnation, but I hope that submissions will be made to the UN Committee on the Rights of theChild and the UN Rapporteur on Violence against Women.

Ping-pong: 1-1 again today, cumulative score 91-86 in my favour.