The following letter was sent to the Times, but not published. I hope it has appeared in Al Hayat (in Arabic) and in the Muslim News. Both Mr J Ewins and Mr K Hyland QC can be reached c/o Home Office, Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF: “This Act has received Royal Assent. It is a…
I recently visited Lebanon and have previously been in Tunisia. Both countries are very much “front line states”. They live next door to bloodshed and chaos in Syria and Libya. Both have taken in more than 1 million refugees coming from the neighbouring country. They have done so without putting their guests into “camps”. This…
Lebanon is a unique country. It is both Arab and Mediterranean with a long trading history. Today it serves as an entrepot and transhipment centre, while it has the prospect of significant off-shore oil and gas. It has mountains as well as a relatively fertile hinterland. The indigenous population is fairly evenly divided between Christians…
This was a short speech, prepared but not delivered. Both Houses of Parliament have now approved the Regulations. It remains to be see how they will work out in practice and whether the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority will be an effective and safe regulator: “I have received well over two dozen letters and emails…
I wrote to the Foreign Office Minister about the case of Aasia Bibi in Pakistan, asking him to arrange for her appeal against the death sentence for blasphemy to be observed continuously by British and EU diplomats, when it eventually comes to be heard in Pakistan’s Supreme Court. It is a kind of test case,…
