Alistair pondering the meaning of life, or just putting on a funny face?

 

East Timor

Contrary to John Pilger’s New Statesman article (http://bit.ly/I6Yu6c), silence didn’t envelop  East Timor after the Indonesian annexation of 1975. Carmel Budiardjo’s TAPOL reported in detail on the occupation, and a network of MPs from Japan, Australia and the UK campaigned for East Timor’s liberation.

With Kohee

 

Alastair signs the visitors; book'

 

A happy reunion

With Mekh Gurung, Indra, and daughter Kohee, 6. She was interested in the cats, and wanted to know if we thought there were cats on other planets. The consensus was that if life evolved elsewhere in the universe to the same extent as it has on earth, the most intelligant species would probably have domestic pets, but they might not look or behave like cats. Kohee is doing very well at school!

Alastair visits

Dear little Alastair, who was staying overnight April 5/6

April 6, 2012

Visit from Mohammed Anwar of the Pakistani political party MQM, which has 51 Members in the Provincial Assembly of Sindh, 25 in the National Assembly of Pakstan, and 7 in the Senate. They campaign against feudalism, illiteracy, poverty, religious extremism and obscurantism

Bone marrow trephine from last August

Date Referral Received: 19/07/2011 13:00:00
Date Referral Sent: 19/07/2011 00:00:00

Additional Clinical Information: MPN



FINAL REPORT
Diagnosis (1): Consistent with Myeloproliferative disorder


Morphology [M]
Lab Accession Number: 11B0906711
Bone Marrow Word Processed:
Eric AVEBURY - DOB: 29/09/28 - D442931
Indication: Previous MALT lymphoma of lung, treated with surgery only. Noted thrombocytosis. MPL on PB positive. BM to assess MPN.
FBC (19/07/11): Hb 10.4, WBC 6.2, neut 3.8, plat 599
Site of Sample : Right posterior iliac crest
Particles : Multiparticulate
Cellularity : Hypercellular particles and trails
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Myelogram : ~
BL: 2% Pro: 15% My: 17% Me: 19%
Neut: 31% Ly: 6% PC: 1% Eryth: 9%
M:E Ratio : 9
Erythropoiesis : Relatively decreased, normal maturation
Granulopoiesis : Increased, mildly dysplastic
Blast cells : Not increased
Lymphocytes : Normal numbers and morphology
Plasma cells : Normal numbers and morphology
Megakaryocytes : Increased in number, abnormally large with abnormal hyperchromatic chromatin.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conclusion : Consistent with MPN.

Reported by : F.Pinto, Haem Registrar
Validating Consultant : R.Ireland


Immunophenotyping [IP]
Lab Accession Number: 11H0003005
Sample Type: Bone Marrow
Lab Comment:
Laboratory Comments
Results from a gate representing approx. 90% of TNC's. No immunophenotypic evidence of excess CD34+ myeloid progenitors.

Conclusion:
Consultant Comments
Multiparticulate. Hypercellular particles and trails. Megakaryocytes increased in number and very abnormal - large, with abnormal
hyperchromatic nuclei. No excess of blasts by morphology or immunophenotyping. Consistent with MPN. pp Dr Robin Ireland


Cytogenetics [CY]
Cytogenetics Karyotype: 46,XY [8]
Cytogenetics Result: ONLY eight metaphase cells available for analysis, insufficient for complete analysis. No clonal abnormalities detected.
NB This sample had a low white cell count.

Molecular1 Analysis [MA1]
Report Comment: Whole sample stored. Sample already tested under IOG reference (IOG-11-6033951).


Histology [H]
Lab Accession Number: 11S0010916
Histology Report:
SPECIMEN DETAILS
Bone marrow trephine.
CLINICAL DETAILS
MPN.
MACROSCOPIC DETAILS
A core of bony tissue measuring 10mm in length together with multiple fragments of haemorrhagic material which measure in aggregate
15x15x3mm.
BLOCK DETAILS
A1 M (1) All levels retic decal
(SK)
MICROSCOPIC DETAILS
The bone marrow trephine shows increased cellularity (70-80%) with all three haemopoietic cell lines represented. There is increase in number
of myeloid series but there is maturation to neutrophils. There is increased number of pleomorphic megakaryocytes with marked enlargement,
nuclear atypia and clustering around sinusoids and in paratrabecular locations. Few normoblasts are present.
Immunohistochemistry with CD34 shows no blasts. CD61 highlighted the clustered and abnormal megakaryocytes. CD117 is positive in 5% of
the cells including mast cells and erythroblasts. p53 is negative.
The reticulin is increased (grade 2).
The appearances are consistent with myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) although some features would favour myelodysplastic syndrome/
myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPD/MDS).
DIAGNOSIS
Bone marrow trephine: Consistent with myelodysplastic syndrome/ myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPD/MDS).

Blood test April 2, 2012, and previous ones

Haematology

Blood test at 08.30 this morning, followed by a consultation with Dr L, nominally at 10.30 but actually 40 minutes later as usual. The King's appointment system is in need of a review.

Platelets were 564 compared with the previous reading of 532, and I am to take Hydroxycarbamide Monday-Saturday instead of Monday-Friday. Neutrophils were 1.53 compared with 1.73 last time, but over a year they have fluctuated a bit. Dr L isn't too bothered about them. WBC, PLT, Hb and Neutrophils over time see graphs above. You can see them more clearly if you double click on the item.

DEr L hadn't received Dr Claire Harrison's letter of March 20, so I have scanned and emailed it to him. For reasons of data protection, I believe, the NHS don't use email, causing them and their patients unnecessary delay and expense.

I am to have another blood test in two weeks time to check that the platelets are descending with the higher dose of Hydroxycarbamide, and a further appointment with Dr L at 10.10 on May 14.

Torture and murder by police in Rabwah, Pakistan

AHMADIYYA MUSLIM JAMAAT
22 Deer Park Road, London, SW19 3TL, UK
Tel: 0208 544 7678
Email:press@ahmadiyya.org.uk
Web: Alislam.org/press / www.twitter.com/AhmadiyyatIslam
LONDON, 1 April 2012
PRESS RELEASE
BRUTAL POLICE TORTURE LEADS TO DEATH OF AHMADI MUSLIM IN RABWAH
It is with great sadness that the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat confirms that on 30 March 2012 a well-known and much loved Ahmadi Muslim, Mr Master Abdul Qudoos Ahmad (43), died after succumbing to injuries inflicted during brutal torture by local police in Rabwah, Pakistan.
Mr Master Abdul Qudoos Ahmad was taken into police custody without any justification on 10 February 2012. He remained in custody until 26 March 2012 and during this period he was made to endure the most inhuman and depraved forms of torture, which caused internal injuries that were ultimately fatal.
Whilst in custody, Mr Master Abdul Qudoos Ahmad was hung upside down from his ankles for long periods. Furthermore, whilst laid supine, an extremely heavy wooden roller, similar to those used to flatten cricket pitches, was rolled all over his body, as attendants stood at each side of him making sure he could not move. Such inhumane and merciless treatment led to multiple organ failure and crushed his muscles. These are just a few examples of the torture inflicted.
Following such relentless treatment, Mr Master Abdul Qudoos Ahmad was released on 26 March 2012. Despite continuous medical treatment he was unable to recover and thus on 30 March 2012 he passed away as yet another martyr of Ahmadiyyat.
The deceased is survived by his wife, four children and his parents.
Mr Master Abdul Qudoos Ahmad was the President of the Nusrat Abad chapter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in Rabwah. Thus his arrest, made without any justification, was simply an attempt to try and defame the local Ahmadiyya Muslim administration. The brutal treatment he suffered occurred despite the fact that the police were unable to lay a single charge against him and ultimately was forced to release him.
The spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, Abid Khan said:
“It is devastating that a wife has lost her husband and four young children have lost their father in such an inhumane and merciless way. It is absolutely clear that if Mr Master Abdul Qudoos Ahmad had not been a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat then he would never have been subject to such abhorrent torture. Hatred and persecution of any organisation or its members must be condemned by all those who believe in peace and tolerance. Such attacks serve only to destabilise society and to spread discord.”
The International Community, Media and Human Rights organisations are all urged to take action to safeguard the basic human and civil rights of Ahmadi Muslims both in Pakistan and in other countries where they face discrimination. In an era where freedom of religion and belief is accepted as a basic human right throughout the world it is of disbelief that anti-Ahmadiyya legislation is still active and indeed still being enforced in Pakistan.
End
Further Info: press@ahmadiyya.org.uk / 0208-5447678

In the garden, late morning

 

With Dr Colin Butler

 

March 23: visit by Dr Colin Butler, from the Australian NGO BODHI, working in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and elsewhere in South Asia

With Jenny Bartlett

 

At the 50th anniversary dinner with Jenny Bartlett, who was my wonderful Secretary for most of the eight years I was in the Commons.

Short week

Yesterday the House went into Easter recess, and we have until April 23, it seems because the Government had overlooked the fact that the Commons will be spending the week it comes back on the budget, and will therefore be unable to deal with the three major Bills sent back to them from the Lords until the following week. So there is no legislative business for us to do until they have considered our amendments. How could the business managers be so incompetent as to have overlooked this until a day or two before we were due to rise?

Monday I attended a meeting with our Special Representative on Sudan, who is coming to the end of his term of office. Its a really bleak picture, and getting even worse now as the North attacks across the frontier with the South, as well as committing war crimes in South Kordofan and Blue Nile against non-Arab peoples.

At question time I intervened in a question on piracy off the coast of Somalia, http://bit.ly/H43815


Tuesday I spoke on an amendment dealing with clinical negligence cases brought on behalf of children, in the Legal Aid etc Bill see http://bit.ly/HmEY61

Wednesday morning, with other members of EU Subcommittee F, to the Serious Organised Crime Agency in Vauxhall for a briefing on their work, and particularly the treatment of Suspicious Activity Reports, the mechanism used in compliance with European law to detect money laundering and terrorist offences. Their database contains 1.38 million records, which are retained for a maximum of six years, and are accessible to specialists in the law enforcement agencies under strict conditions. The ability of the software to rapidly identify links n=between SARS and to display them visually is an effective tool, and it was good to hear about an effective large IT system that is delivering results.

Wednesday evening, to the Index Awards ceremony at the St Pancras Hotel, which has been restored to its spectacular Victorian splendour. The Innovation award, supported by Google, went to Freedom Fone, a system developed by the Zimbabwean NGO Kubatana to enable ordinary citizens to communicate on civic and human rights issues even in the repressive surroundings of Mugabe’s dictatorship. The arts award went to the Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat, who has suffered beatings and threats of death but continues to satirize Arab dictators including Assad. The Index 40th anniversary award went to The Research and Information Centre “Memorial” in St Petersburg, a huge archive of material relating to the era of Soviet repression. To my delight, the Advocacy award was won by the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, and it was a great thrill to be there to see my dear friend Nabeel Rajab being presented with it.

With Nabeel Rajab at the Index Awards Ceremony yesterday evening. He is President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, which received the Award for Advocacy. I was really delighted to be there to see my dear friend honoured for his brave and persistent stand in very difficult and dangerous circumstances. It was a splendid occasion at the Gallery of the St Pancras Hotel, and Index is doing a great job highlighting the enormous sacrifices made by people like Nabeel in the cause of human rights.

Morgan Tsvangirai

Morgan Tsvangirai, Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, and Kate Hoey MP, Chair of the All-Party Zimbabwe Group, at the meeting of the Group this evening in the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Rooms. He was upbeat about the political and economic future of Zimbabwe, whilst acknowledging that some problems need to be solved with the aid of Presidents Zuma and Dos Santos through SADC.

Haematology at Guy's

Saw Dr Claire Harrison, who co-authored the 2008 study which included 24 patients with the W515L mutation. None of them had the combination of MPD/MDS, however, so it wasn't likely that my disease will follow their course. Dr H said there was an Italian study of MPD/MDS patients that she would refer to, and also see whether others working in the field had come across the combination with W515L. Work is going on to construct an international database of patients with these blood cancers, but that's still some way off

Meanwhile, Dr Harrison was going to refer back to the results of the bone marrow biopsy, which I think originally confirmed the diagnosis of MDS. She said that MDS is more aggressive than MPD, but the blood test results were quite stable. In particular, the platelets (483) were almost down to the upper end of the normal range (450) and neutrophils (2.50) were within normal range. Only RBC and Hb were considerably outside the normal range, so it seems that the hydroxycarbamide is doing its job.

With Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the NSS

 

At the Secularist of the Year today, with the winner Peter Tatchell, and Muriel Turner

 

Sue, me, Lyulph, JW and Safia at the dinner

 

Lindsay and Alan at the 50th Anniversary dinner

 

Rest of the week

Monday Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill (5 contributions) http://bit.ly/zFz4fZ

Tuesday Information Committee Annual Report http://bit.ly/w6sCKI ; Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers’ Compensation) (Payment of Claims) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 (2 contributions) http://bit.ly/zFrZkI

Wednesday LASPO Bill again http://bit.ly/FOrpdY

Friday Middle East http://bit.ly/FPrGzs

50th Anniversary Dinner

Wednesday, the National Liberal Club gave a splendid dinner attended by a capacity 120 people, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Orpington by-election. Many of the 1962 warriors were there and we had a great time exchanging reminiscences. Here is an extract from my after-dinner speech, proposing the toast to LibDem candidates:


The arguments that are going on within the coalition reflect the tensions caused by the need, accepted on all sides, to eliminate the deficit. There’s no fundamental principle which decides who’s to pay the bill, but I imagine the Prime Minister must have regretted echoing the slogan ‘We’re all in this together’ coined by George Osborne in the early days of the coalition. It has turned out to be manifestly untrue, and Liberal Democrats have objected to policies that load extra burdens onto the poor and vulnerable, while allowing the fat cats to become even more obese. That’s why some of us have voted against our Government in the Lords on amendments to the Welfare Reform and Legal aid Bills.

But my very welcome task this evening is to propose a toast to our candidates, who aren’t facing an easy time and are doing remarkably well in a climate where its only just starting to be recognised what an impressive job we’re doing to radically improve unpopular measures, and particularly the Health Bill, on which the LibDem team has given the coalition plenty of time to think gain, and secured major concessions. We have ensured that the future of the NHS is guaranteed, with the Secretary of State ultimately responsible, and accountable for a comprehensive health service funded by the taxpayer and free to all at the point of delivery. So the LibDem candidate has a good story to tell the electors on how we have shifted that Bill light years away from being the end of the NHS, as it was labelled by some critics when it was first published.

But the candidate needs something more for her election address - and I hope we shall make a really determined effort to get equal numbers of men and women candidates next time.

We are struggling to make a reality of the claim that we’re all in it together. We need to intensify the LibDem demand for a mansion tax on houses worth over £2 million, and the ending of higher rate tax relief on pension contributions, which Danny Alexander estimates would save £7 billion. Ending winter fuel payments to Britons resident abroad, and making them taxable, would save a great deal more, and if coupled with raising the income tax threshold to £10k as we propose, wouldn’t hurt people on modest incomes. The child benefit conundrum could be solved by withdrawing it on the basis of a joint family income threshold rather than when one of the partners gets into the higher tax bracket. And we should scrap Trident, saving £25 billion according to the LibDem think-tank Centre Forum.

To these I would personally add substantial increases in the duties on alcohol, sufficient to produce an all-round increase of 10% on all alcoholic drinks, cutting hospital admissions by 50,000 a year, making a dent in the £2.7 billion cost to the NHS of alcohol abuse, with commensurate benefits to the criminal justice system.
At the same time we should stop handing out money to greedy millionaires to place the unemployed as free shelf-stackers in Tescos and pay themselves huge dividends. The privatisation of getting people back to work is a disaster.

Instead, how about providing low-interest loans to local authorities and social housing agencies to build low-rent housing, reducing housing benefit, reducing unemployment benefit and getting the economy moving again. To prevent this policy slowing down the reduction of the deficit, it could be funded by retaining the 50p tax rate on higher incomes, and even reintroducting supertax at 66 2/3 % on incomes over say £250,000 until we’re out of the wood.

Some of our leaders tell me they have read The Spirit Level on the correlation between inequality and a variety of social harms such as violent crime, physical and mental ill-health, educational under-achievement, obesity and lack of social mobility; but its argued that the authors’ evidence had been rebutted by some respectable academics. Actually, the authors have responded to their critics , and comprehensively demolished their arguments.

I’m also told that LibDems believe in equality of opportunity rather than equality per se, and that they are separate and distinct objectives. Well actually, they aren’t. Research shows that in more unequal societies, there is also less social mobility. The UK is at or near the wrong end of the scale of industrialised countries on both inequality and social mobility, while the four Scandinavian countries are near the top with both variables. If we could reduce our level of inequality to Scandinavian levels it would achieve a major improvement in equality of opportunity. It has been shown that the benefits would be felt at the top as well as at the bottom end of the scale.

The way to differentiate ourselves from the Tories as we approach the next general election would be to adopt the slogan ‘We can Conquer Inequality’, and in the meanwhile to stand up to them in Parliament against measures that breach that principle. Tim Farron says we have to demonstrate a commitment to fairness that the Tories won’t match, and that’s bound to mean some heavy weather inside the Coalition, which I dare say would be reflected in the election addresses of our candidates.

So does the Cobbies

 

Lindsay sits in the garden

 

The whie camelias, only a tiny bush

 

Camelia in our front garden

 

Fairly busy week

I have spoken on each day this week, though only brief interventions:

8 March 2012
Health and Social Care Bill

7 March 2012
Death Penalty (2 contributions)

Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill (2 contributions)

6 March 2012
Gypsies and Travellers (2 contributions)

5 March 2012
Legal Aid: Social Welfare Law

Monday, a very useful meeting with Paul Boateng, who has kindly agreed to attend the launch of the programme to vaccinate children against Pneumonia and rotavirus in Ghana on behalf of the All-Party Group against Childhood Pneumonia at the end of April. This is a world first! Ghana is the only country so far to deal with both these diseases, the two biggest killers of children in the developing world, at the same time.

Tuesday, did a TV programme for al-Aalam TV on Bahrain; Lyulph came to lunch, and in the evening a reception in the River Room for the Parliamentary Human Rights Group, at which the guest speaker was my old friend Sir Nigel Rodley.

Wednesday, voted against the Government twice on the Legal Aid etc Bill, on amendments restoring the right of appellants against official decisions about entitlement to welfare benefits to legal aid in complex cases both at the First-Tier Tribunal and on appeals against the decisions in the First Tier Tribunal The argument was very one-sided, not a single member apart from the Minister supporting the Government's case, I have already explained that although I am a firm supporter of the Government's intention to eliminate the deficit, I don't agree that we should make the poor and vulnerable share the burden, when there is plenty of scope for taxing the rich, and in the case of the NHS, taxing bad habits like drinking, smoking and eating harmful substances like sugar and fats.

 

See report at http://www.ghrd.org/

Bangladesh demo at Parliament Feb 29

 

Haematology

Blood test this morning at 08.40, followed by appointment with Dr L in Haematology Outpatients. Platelets slightly up at 532 compared with 526 last time, Neutrophils a bit better at 1.73, but no change in the Hydroxycarbamide medication is recommended, Dr L handed us a list of things to look out for and to be reported to the 24-hour chemotherapy advice service. Patients are supposed to have a 'Chemotherapy Alert Card, the first we had heard of this.

Dr L said he would remind Dr Harrison at St Thomas's, who is following up 24 patients with the C-MPL W515L from the May 2008 study published in the journal Blood, that she was going to see me.

Emlyn Hooson

it was sad to learn of Emlyn Hooson's death this morning, and I have been thinking of him not only as a great figure in the politics of Wales and the UK, but as a great personal friend over half a century. One of the first engagements I undertook after my own by-election was to speak at Emlyn's by-election in Llanidloes, and we were close allies in the successful campaign to revive the Liberal Party in the sixties, We holidayed together in Brittany, where we spoke for devolution in the French political system, and Emlyn taught me the few sentences of Welsh that I have used whenever I have spoken in Wales. For years he was a brilliant performer in the Lords, and there he always spoke up for Wales. It is a privilege to have been a companion of Emlyn, one of the finest and truest Liberals of our generation.

The Week in Parliament

Monday, my question about the drafting of the new constitution and progress towards a new electoral register,needed before the deadline of the elections in June 2013 [http://bit.ly/zv5hWG]. By that time Mugabe will be 89 and it is becoming increasingly unrealistic for Zanu PF to say that he will be their Presidential candidate. That's why there is a faction within the party that wants elections by the end of 2012, even though many of the provisions of the Global Political Agreement remain unfulfilled. Free political activity, freedom of assembly, the rule of law, and impartiality of state institutions, for instance, are all absent, and it remains to be seen whether SADC, as the guarantors of the GPA, will step up the pressure.

Tuesday morning, I chaired and spoke at a seminar on Bahrain in Fielden House, one of the annexes of Parliament. For reasons that aren't clear of transparent, Black Rod won't allow TV cameras or even photography in the Committee Rooms of the main building, though unofficially I understand that its to avoid giving the impression that the views expresed are those of the House itself. I spoke about the failure to implement some of the most important recommendations of the Bassiouni Commission of Inquiry into the human rights violations that followed the start of the uprising in February 2011. None of the most important political prisoners have been released, nor have they been compensated for the torture an incommunicado detention they endured in the weeks after they were detained.

In the afternoon I listened to the debate on the Welfare Reform Bill, when the House considered amendments rejected by the Commons, and considered alternative amendments that were proposed in lieu of the rejected ones - which couldn't be tabled in their original form because the Commons asserted financial privilege. The Commons have exclusive and undisputed jurisdiction over taxation, but the principle has been widened so that it now covers any financial matter such as, in this case, benefits.

There was a three-line Whip but I voted against the Government on an amendment by Lord Best, a Crossbencher, dealing with the so-called 'bedroom tax', a provision that withdraws part of the housing benefit now paid to a family which occupies more than the number of rooms it is said to need. Thus for example if a member of the family dies, the benefit may be docked and they may be compelled to move or make do on income which is insufficient for their needs.


I disagree with the idea that in order to pay off the deficit we need to cut benefits from the poor and vulnerable, as in some parts of this Bill. There is plenty of scope for raising the money quicker and more effectively. For instance, the Daily Telegraph quoted Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander MP on February 11 2012 as saying that the better-off are receiving overly-generous tax relief when they invest money for their retirement. He said that removing the higher-rate tax relief would save the Exchequer more than £7 billion and make the system fairer.

Ending winter fuel allowance and free TV licences for higher rate taxpayers would be another way of increasing revenue.

Duties on alcohol sufficient to cause an all-round increase of 10% in retail prices would raise £1.5 billion, and at the same time yield large savings in health and criminal justice. Reggie Maudling told me, when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, that he believed in taxing people’s vices rather than their virtues, and I agree. We should use fiscal means to deter the consumption of alcohol, tobacco and harmful things people eat such as salt.

Some of our leaders tell me they have read The Spirit Level on the correlation between inequality and a variety of social harms such as violent crime, physical and mental ill-health, educational under-achievement, obesity and lack of social mobility, but they say the authors’ evidence had been rebutted by some respectable academics. Actually, the authors have responded to their critics on The Equality Trust website [http://bit.ly/ejLDF2], and I think a dispassionate reader would agree the authors have won the argument. Their message was reinforced in a powerful New Statesman leader Too many feel that they have no stake in our unequal society [http://bit.ly/rEHWZE].

I recognise that Liberal Democrat Ministers have mitigated a great many of the harmful effects of Government Bills, and they are to be congratulated and thanked for those achievements; but it does seem to me utterly illiberal, politically unwise, and downright immoral to penalise those at the bottom end of the income scale for the economic crisis. My decision to vote against the Government wasn't the careless whim of a moment, and I have listened to, read and considered long and hard the debates on the relevant sections of the Welfare Reform and LASPO Bills we have been debating.

Wednesday morning, Subcommittee F considered the draft txt of our report on EU Drugs Policy, due to be published in the near future.

Thursday, I chipped in on Janet Whitaker's Question on the definition of Gypsies and Travellers [http://bit.ly/wkaHHN]. There are two separate definitions in law, one for housing policy and the other for planning. The planning definition is based on lifestyle rather than ethnicity, and since Travellers are no longer nomadic because there are hardly any temporary stopping places, this has caused some problems in the courts. Ann Medhurst applied for planning permission to develop land she owns in Tonbridge, as a caravan site for her family, and the High Court decided that she was not a Gypsy for the purposes of planning Circular 1/2006, though it was common ground that she was an ethnic Gypsy [http://bit.ly/wIxSoW]. This case is now going to the Court of Appeal.

Three written questions this week: on plans for Black history month, and the UK's attendance at the Bahrain International Airshow in January 2012 [http://bit.ly/zbrAUc],and on the number of Roma in England and Wales. They say there are no reliable estimates, but the Roma Support Group estimate the number as 500,000. Th 2011 Census won't help much either, because 'Roma' wasn't one of the ethnicities from which respondenrs were asked to choose.

 

Cobweb gets into his basket

 

Bleak scene in the park

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Friday, a cliffhanger in the Lords, to see whether Davis Steel's House of Lords Reform Bil would get through report, in spite of the hundreds of amendments on the Order Paper. In the end he had to sacrifice the clause ending the perpetuation of the hereditaries by means of by-elections to replace any of the 91 who die, to placate the die-hards and save the pprovisions dealing with retirement and expulsion. There is now a chance that time will be found for Third Reading and a quick race through the Commons, to get the Bill through by the end of the Session.

In the evening, to the Queen Elizabeth Hall, to hear first a discussion between Chi-Chi Nwanoku MBE, the OAE's double bas player, and Sally Beamish, composer of Spinal Chords, the London premiere of which the OAE were to play. The composition is a recu=itation about what it's like to be a tetraplegic, based on the experience of Melanie Reid, the Olymic rider whose spine was broken in a fall from her horse. It was hard to think about the accompanying music when the words described such a catastrophic change in a young life.

There was sumptuous Handel, two cantatas from the Italian period, with the Italian soprano Roberta Invernizzi.

Afterwards we had a brief chat with Chi-Chi, and met the viola player Annette Isserlis.

Penelope's visit

 

After Cousin Penelope visited me for a cup of tea on Wednesday she went on to the Tent City at St Paul's, where she attended a discussion on the Welfare Reform Bill. The meeting decided to lobby Parliament next Wednesday, but unfortunately the Parliamentary proceedings are due to end on Tuesday, when finacial privilege will be invoked to stop the Lords discussing the amendments we had passed, and were rejected by the Commons - including the cap.

DRC

Is it safe to return failed asylum-seekers to the DRC? The UK Borders Agency thinks so, but an NGO has studied the situation and has serious doubts. We will be able to judge the position better when the Country of Origin Information Service publishes the first update of their analysis since 2009, see http://bit.ly/zOjaFj

 

Speaking at Emanuel School on Tuesday

 

With some of the sixth-formers at Emanuel School, Tuesday February 7

 

Dear old friend Addai Sebo, now growing hardwood trees in Ghana

Bahrain

The Bahrain International Commission of Inquiry into the gross and syatematic human rights violations committed in Bahrain following the uprising of February 2011 recommended that the sentences passed on political prisoners after they had been detained incommunicado and tortured for weeks should be 'reviewed'.

But the Commissioners made it clear that they intended the prisoners should be exonerated and released, and their records should be expunged of the charges, see http://bit.ly/ulUHbw

Cherif Bassiouni, head of the BICI, is in Bahrain now, seeing what progress is being made on implementing his recommendations, all of which the hereditary dictator said he accepted. We should be told when the victims of the military courts are to be released, and whether they will be compensated for their false imprisonment and injuries sustained under torture.

Ghana elections December 2012

Ghana

Question
Asked by Lord Avebury

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will have discussions with the Government of Ghana, the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union, on the monitoring of the Ghanaian elections in December 2012.[HL15226]

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Howell of Guildford): The UK maintains close contact with the Government of Ghana on a wide range of issues. This will include the monitoring of this year's elections there. In addition, we regularly engage with ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) and the African Union about their election monitoring missions. Ghana's elections will form part of those discussions.

Sack paid advisers and get them to work for nothing

Education: Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Children

Question
Asked by Lord Avebury

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will place in the Library of the House a copy of the equality impact assessment with regard to the ending of the two specialist consultancy services provided to the Department for Education by Arthur Ivatts OBE and Margaret Wood, on the education of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children.[HL15202]

7 Feb 2012 : Column WA37


The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools (Lord Hill of Oareford): The Department for Education advocates the use of equality impact assessments when developing new policies or making significant changes to existing ones, but would not routinely use them when ending consultancy contracts. No formal equality impact assessments were drawn up with regard to ending the contracts of Arthur Ivatts OBE and Margaret Wood 21 days earlier than originally planned.

The department is very grateful to Arthur Ivatts and Margaret Wood for the support which they have provided on the education of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils. The department continues to seek their advice on an informal basis, through its regular meetings with the Advisory Council on the Education of Romany and Other Travellers and through the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller education stakeholder group.

Monitored sobriety 24/7 for repeat alcohol-related offences?

The Government are willing to pilot the use of court orders imposed on offenders who undertake to comply with them, requiring 24/7 sobriety, remotely monitored. Schemes based on this principle have worked in the US, cutting recidivism in half. See Column 90, http://bit.ly/x3YGhk

DfID's assistance for Dalit girls' education

India

Question
Asked by Lord Avebury

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the debate on international development policy on 1 December 2011, what initiatives they have taken in connection with the Secretary of State for International Development's recent visit to India concerning the Dalit communities there, particularly with a view to ensuring that Dalit girls enter and remain in education.[HL15174]

Baroness Northover: We are pressing ahead with the design of a stipend scheme benefiting over 200,000 tribal and Dalit girls in Orissa, conditional on their enrolment and regular attendance at secondary school. In addition we will continue to support free schooling and residential hostels for some of the poorest Dalit, tribal and Muslim girls across India as part of our

7 Feb 2012 : Column WA49

contribution to the Indian Government's Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (basic education) and Mahila Samakhiva (women's empowerment scheme) programmes.

Blood test Jan 30

King's College Hospital
Patient Results
All results -Performed since 30-Jan-12
Avebury, Eric
PRE
M83y Haematology OPD
D442931 / V6938322 29-Sep-1928
de Lavallade, Hugu
30-Jan-12 08:10 Renal/Liver/Bone/Urea

Sodium 141 [135-145 mmol/L]
Potassium 4.9 [3.5-5.0 mmol/L]
Urea 7.2 H [3.3-6.7 mmol/L]
Creatinine 114 [45-120 umol/L]
Estimated GFR 53 [mL/min]
Calcium 2.27 [mmol/L]
Corrected Calcium 2.17 [2.15-2.6 mmol/L]
Phosphate 1.11 [0.80-1.40 mmol/L]
Total Protein 77 [60-80 g/L]
Albumin 45 [35-50 g/L]
Globulin 32 [25-35 g/L]
Bilirubin (Total) 7 [3-20 umol/L]
Alkaline Phosphatase 87 [30-130 IU/L]
Aspartate Transaminase 27 [10-50 IU/L]
Gamma-glutamyl 20 [1-55 IU/L]
Transferase


30-Jan-12 08:10 Full Blood Count

WBC 3.97 L [4.00-11.00 10^9/L]
RBC 3.16 L [4.5-5.8 10^12/L]
Hb 10.2 L [13.0-16.5 g/dL]
PCV 0.329 L [0.400-0.540 L/L]
MCV 103.9 H [77.0-95.0 fL]
MCH 32.2 [20.0-36.0 pg]
MCHC 31.0 L [32.0-37.0 g/dL]
RDW 17.8 H [11.0-15.0 %]
PLT 526 H [150-450 10^9/L]
MPV 11.2 H [7.4-10.4 fL]
Neutrophils 1.27 L [2.2-6.3 10^9/L]
Lymphocytes 1.71 [1.3-4.0 10^9/L]
Monocytes 0.87 [0.2-1.0 10^9/L]
Eosinophils 0.08 [0-0.4 10^9/L]
% Hypo 31.7
White Cell Morphology MANUAL DIFF
Red Cell Morphology SLIGHT MACROCYTOSIS, POIKILOCYTES, +
Platelet Morphology NORMAL MORPHOLOGY,


Requested by: Van-der-velde-Ong, Geke (Specialist Nurse) Printed from: King's College Hospital
02-Feb-12 09:19 End of Report Page: 1 of 1

Life Saving Vaccines Reach the World’s Largest Refugee Camp

23 January 2012 – I am delighted to note that the Global Alliance for Vaccinations and Immunisation (GAVI) has announced plans to provide life saving rotavirus vaccines for children in the Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya.
The Dadaab complex is the world’s largest refugee camp and plays host to approximately 500,000 inhabitants, a population centre roughly the same size as Manchester. The camp was established in 1991 as a temporary measure to shelter refugees fleeing violence in areas of Somalia but it has grown dramatically since and now ranks as the third largest population centre in Kenya, behind the capital Nairobi and the port of Mombasa.
The camp is estimated to grow at a rate of 1,300 new inhabitants every day and presents a number of healthcare challenges, with malnutrition, respiratory tract infections and diarrhoea particularly rife.
The announcement by GAVI is extremely welcome and has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives. Rotavirus is the single largest cause of diarrheal disease amongst children and infants, accounting for nearly half a million deaths worldwide. Alongside pneumonia this makes rotavirus one of the leading killers of children in the developing world.
The agreement between GAVI and the Kenyan Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation will see GAVI provide a regular supply of the rotavirus vaccine for use in the Dadaab camp. The Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation had already planned to roll-out the rotavirus vaccine for the rest of the country in 2013 and this announcement will mean that children in the Dadaab camp will not be missed out.
In my capacity as Co-Chair of the APPG for Global Action Against Childhood Pneumonia I worked for many year to champion the roll-out of vaccines globally. Last year I met and liaised with representatives from DFID, GAVI and UNICEF to discuss the issue of vaccination in the Dadaab camp. I also discussed the matter with Baroness Northover, the Department for International Development Spokesperson in the Lords, who promised to look into the issue.
Until now the key focus of the APPG has been on pneumonia, however in 2012 we intend to expand our work to include rotavirus and diarrhoeal disease. Following visits to Kenya and Bangladesh group members were dismayed to see firsthand the terrible impact that rotavirus and diarrheal disease was having on child mortality rates in both countries.
I am extremely proud of the UK’s continued commitment to helping to fund life saving vaccines for children in the developing world. The key role that DFID have played in helping to bring about this new agreement with GAVI is further proof that the UK remains a leading force for change in international development policy.