It's a windy day today.

So, there I was sat at my desk working when someone opened my office door. In walked a gust of wind. It lifted my idiots guide to IPSA right up from my desk and into the air. It took it all the way across the room up and out of the balcony doors straight onto the Atrium roof - where I can't reach it.

And there I think it shall stay.

The Times should be awarded for the coverage it has given to the case of Sakineh Mohammabi Ashtiani and the decision of the Iranian authorities not to bury her two thirds into the ground and stone her to death by an all male death squad.

It would be hard for anyone in the Western world who has heard of this case to open their arms and embrace Iran and almost impossible for those who know nothing of Iran and it’s people to understand that the ruling Iranian regime is as far removed from it’s people as it is possible to be.

The other day, I heard from one of my daughters and her friend who were in Theran. This is what they wrote on a personal blog for family and friends…

‘On landing in Tehran we had a look at our flight details for our connection. We had 12 hours to wait before our one hour flight to Esfahan from a different airport in Tehran. A lady approached us and had a look at our details. She told us to come with her back to her apartment to sleep and eat before we caught our next flight. Usually we would say no to strangers and not get in cars with them, but our Lonely Planet book on Iran said to always accept invitations by Iranians as they are so famous for their hospitality - so we went with it. She seemed lovely too. She arranged and paid for our taxi to her flat. It was huge and so posh! I don’t know if that was normal in Iran but we were impressed anyway. Huge silver chandeliers, Persian rugs, designer everything. She gave us tea and fruit and made up the bedroom for us to sleep in, they had the sofas.

We had a good giggle with them trying to learn Farsi then went to sleep.

At 9 15 am the lady woke us up for a big Iranian breakfast spread she’d made just for us.

They wrote down all the essential Farsi we’d need and a few recommendations for food etc and their contact details in case we don’t get our Pakistan visa. They said to come and stay with them again. They booked our taxi to the airport and sent us on our way with a bag full of fruits, sweets and Saudi Arabian cigars?? They all smoke here so I think it was a standard gift. They also changed money for us as it was a Friday and no banks would be open. They gave us a very honest rate too.

I knew these people were hospitable but I didn’t expect that the second we landed in their country they would treat us like Kings. I felt quite embarrassed at one point. They let us sleep in their bedroom full of make up, perfume, jewels etc and trusted us completely. Iran gets bad press in our country sometimes; it would be nice to see this side of it represented more openly in the UK’

Notice how she doesn’t mention names. The couple who took in my daughter and her friend were acting as ambassadors for their country. It is important to ordinary Iranian’s (the posh ones too!) for the world to understand that Iranian people will share our horror at the prospect of Sakineh having received 99 lashes, to then face death by stoning.

Throughout the reporting of this awful situation, it is vital to remember and remind people that this is a corrupt regime. That over a hundred innocent Iranians, many who were students were executed and lost their own lives in protest to anti democratic elections. That this is a regime which executes children, which wants to see Israel blown off the face of the earth and day by day comes one step closer to reaching it’s nuclear dream.

Sakineh Mohammabi Ashtiani is a woman more sinned against than sinned. Let’s hope that the International attention which her case is receiving achieves some good in forcing the barbaric administration of Ahmadinejad to retreat and think twice before they condemn another woman to stoning.

I want to thank the couple who took in, fed and looked after my offspring as though they were their own flesh and blood and to repay them by doing my bit. To let people know that we must not allow this situation to colour our view of Iran.

One day its people hope to take their country back and we must do everything we can to assist them and help bring about their own regime change from within, to one where no woman will ever face a lashing or stoning again.

I have been hit by the ‘Gherson ‘ factor today.

For anyone who has seen the ‘Ghersonesque’ article, I would just like to point out the following.

 

The ‘former employee’ left my employment following a mutual agreement that it was time to go. This agreement was reached when he went for lunch at 1pm and returned at 9am the following morning. It was clear that his extra curricular, recreational habits were interfering with his work.

 

He was desperate to become a Conservative MP and applied to become a candidate, he was rejected.

 

He then wrote his own reference from my office and found himself another job, which I have been told, was advertised in the national press a couple of weeks ago.

 

He attempted to smear another Conservative candidate before me in the local newspapers, but it didn’t work.

 

That candidate won last Thursday.

 

He didn’t go to the papers with his fictitious story during the expenses crisis; he went two weeks into the election campaign. The Liberal Democrat opponent was the only other person he appears to have discussed this with, as verified by her indiscreet comments on Twitter.

 

The ‘friend’ I employ was an employee before becoming a friend. We met as a result of my employing her.

 

I am friends with everyone I employ and count amongst my friends people I have employed in the past. Minus one it would appear.

 

The ‘friend’ I employ still works for me. The details of her work and job description are held with and approved by the Parliamentary authorities.

 

The remainder of my Sunday will be spent writing thank you letters. Over 29,000 of them :)

George Pitcher has written this article in the Telegraph which makes a very salient point. The Liberal Democrat party gave Evan Harris a platform for his own cause. He was not 'political' and I don't believe I ever heard him mention his constituency once in the chamber.

He was known as 'Dr Death' by most MPs and journalists, so zealous was his attitude towards abortion and euthanasia.

http://tinyurl.com/26jrk8u

I want to say a quick thank you to David Reeves, who was my Labour opponent during the election.

Feisty and true to his principles in debate, David was a complete gentleman, professional, a thoroughly nice man and very kindly. He was totally loyal to Labour and defended Gordon Brown at every turn. 

My family thought he was lovely too, he has a little fan club now!

Good luck in the future David. There is a seat somewhere with your name on it. It's just not my seat :) 

Excellent posters which tell it as it is re Lib Dem policy, not as Nick Clegg tells it when on TV. From conservativehome.com

 

I wasn't sure what the residents of Woburn who don't have front gardens were going to do with their Corex posters, but I soon found out. Those who do have a front fence or garden have also, er, made the point! Thank you to everyone who has put up posters, they are everywhere!

When you are living out of the boot of your car and you have forgotten what a home cooked meal tastes like, keeping up with the daily blog slips somewhere down the list of priorities. My apologies.

As it is, I have just got back from another full day out on the doorstep, just in time to catch up with emails and then get back out to another public meeting.

The public meeting last night in Elstow was great and well attended. I hadn't really seen the full coverage of 'bigotgate' at that point, but I was soon filled in on all the gory details.

In 2005, the question most often raised by people was inheritance tax. In 2010, without doubt, it is immigration.

Gordon Brown was wrong to refer to an outspoken 'northern nana' as a bigot and Nick Clegg is wrong to think we should give 900,000 illegal immigrants amnesty. Neither of those head in the sand attitudes wash with the general public. They want an answer which is clear, that they can trust - above all else,  they want to be re-assured that there is a politician brave enough to tackle the problem in a way which stops the ever spiralling increase in numbers.

It took a 'northern nana' on her way to buy a loaf of bread that made it possible for me to write that. If I had written it a few days ago, the dogs of war would have been after my head.

 

 

When you speak at lots of public meetings, you get to know the specific types who attend, which can range from the genuinely interested and concerned, to the saboteur.

 

Last week we had the noisy spy. The type who agitates the person sat in front by writing down everything you say, turning over pages, shuffling around and whispering, over loudly  -‘what did she say?’ - whilst scribbling furiously, every thirty seconds or so. Spies really should at least be competent at shorthand and speaking in sotto voice.

 

The other night we had the crowd stirrer. This is the person who waits until someone in the audience asks a question and is not as happy as they would like to be with the answer, you as the past MP give. The crowd stirrer then noisily joins in, agreeing overly enthusiastically with the questioner. The crowd stirrer is very rarely the person to ask a question or to lead a discussion; they almost always piggy back someone else.

 

The difficult thing for me is to suppress the smile of recognition when you watch the spy/stirrer in action. There are a couple of other public meeting stereo types who haven’t surfaced yet, however, I am sure they will.

 

By and large, our meetings have been full of reasonable, intelligent, concerned people and have been a pleasure to hold.

Which is just as well, I have three more to attend this week.