The week

Monday received a large delegation of Bangladesh National Party UK members who presented a petition. I forwarded it to the Foreign Secretary asking if he would take up the human rights matters they raised with the Bangladesh government, Their three main concerns are extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances and the conduct of the war crimes trials, all of which have been taken up by international NGOs and lawyers.

At question time I had asked the Minister, David Howell, if we might suggest to the Bangladesh government that they issue an invitation to the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances, and he said he would discuss this with colleagues.

Tuesday I recorded a broadcast for Channel 4 TV for transmission that evening, on the report by Medical Justice of the treatment of asylum-seekers who claim they were tortured. MJ showed conclusively that Rules 34 and 35 of the Immigration Rulles, which lay down the procedures for checking and acting on torture claims, are being widely ignored.

Wednesday a meeting with Abdul Malek, BNP convener and colleagues

Thursday, to Oxford to chair the meeting of the Maurice Lubbock Memorial Fund trustees, followed by the Open Day at the Engineering School, and the Maurice Lubbock Memorial Lecture by Howard Shiplee CBE of Laing O'Rourke on "LONDON 2012 - Engineering Success" The completion on time and within budget of the vast collection of engineering projects required for the Olympic Games shows that we can do it, with the right management. We have the engineers, and a skilled and able workforce. Lets hope the Government will  get stuck into other large infrastructure projects as Nick Clegg foreshadowed in his Financial Times article the other day, see http://bit.ly/MmmtQ4

Friday, meeting with Sean Risdale and Matthew Brindley of the Irish Travellers Movement in Britain to discuss the situation at Dale Farm.