Wednesday

Our outgoing Ambassador to Peru came to lunch with me at the House and we had a useful chat about the current situation there, also about his last posting, Colombia. We have a debate coming up on Latin America next week, so it was timely.

Then to the Foreign Office for a meeting with Alastair Burt MP, the Minister who deals with Pakistan, to discuss the recent atrocities in Lahore against the Ahmadiyya Muslim community - first at the Friday prayers in their principal mosques, where 86 Ahmadis were killed, and then at the hospital where the injured were being treated. If the Pakistani authorities don't act against the sources of incitement to religious hatred, no matter how much they spend on security the situation will continue to deteriorate. They need to repeal the anti-Ahmadi laws, to enact new laws making incitement to religious hatred a criminal offence, and stop the money coming into fundamentalist madrassas from Saudi Arabia.

Back to the Palace of Westminster for the AGM of the Zimbabwe All-Party Group, chaired by Kate Hoey MP, our hardworking and effective local MP.

Back home, to get a message via Lindsay from Dr S at King's, to say they had their 'multi-disciplinary case conference' on my aorta, and it was decided that before they do that operation they need to put a stent in the artery that serves my right kidney, which the scan showed was narrower than it should be. This procedure is done under local anaesthetic as a day patient. I will have a chat with Dr S in the morning.