Tuesday

Over the weekend we had two games of ping-pong, 1-1 and 2-0 to me, so I've edged ahead again at 106-105. This morning JW started his course at the Alliance Francaise, which he said will get him going again. I'm trying to persuade him to read Anatole France's novels, of which I now have several in both English abd French.

In the House today I asked a supplementary to Caroline Cox's question on violence against the Christian minority in northern Nigeria. It was estimated that about 300 were killed and 50,000 displaced, mainly in Jos, but this wasn't a one off. The UN Rapporteur on Religious Freedom, Asma Jehangir, reports that over a few years, thousands have been killed and tens of thousands displaced in religious conflicts. There are two commissions of inquiry into the latest events, at state and federal level, but with no news about the timescale of their reports five months after it all happened. Nor is there any indication of what the Nigerian government is doing about the recommendation by the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review, that Nigeria should monitor and protect the rights of religious minorities, and make promotion of the culture of religious tolerance the priority of the Federal, State and Local Governments.