Recess over

Tomorrow Parliament resumes, and its a busy week ahead. In the morning I'm chairing a seminar in Committee Room 3 on the current political situation in Bangladesh, followed by lunch with an academic who is hoping to start a Kurdish Studies Programme at SOAS.

JW has beaten me 2-0 twice in a row, bringing the score up to 101-100. After two years of keeping the records, I suspect that my eyesight and agility may not be improving, whereas his may be. Fifty eight years difference between us may possibly make a slight difference.

We had tea today with Rhoda Torres (see above), who used to work for me more than 30 years ago, when we were at Eccleston Square Mews. She still lives round the corner from there, in a flat with views on two sides, overlooking the traffic lights at the end of Ebury Bridge. Her daughter Diana, a little girl in those days, has a high powered job in New York.