Last Friday I visited King Charles I School to meet the three students who have been elected on the basis of their manifestos by students from across the county as Worcestershire Members of the Youth Parliament. 

Gareth Griffiths, 
Paul Ingenthron and 
Philip Powell 

told me of their aims that include improving the image of young people, increasing the availability and practicality of cycle lanes, improving recreational opportunities for the young and producing a countywide policy to tackle bullying. 
They are planning a festival in the summer holidays and are working on a website (youngalternativecommittee@googlemail.com). 
I have promised to help them to raise their profile so they can coordinate and publicise the needs and aspirations of our young people effectively. It is a tribute to the school and to Wyre Forest that we have three young people who have put themselves forward and then been elected to represent their colleagues.

On Tuesday I met MPs from the three main parties and Baroness Cox from the independent benches of the House of Lords in Berkeley Square to join a hundred protesters from the UK and Myanmar (Burma) to march to the Myanmar Embassy. 
The event was organised by Amnesty International to deliver to the Ambassador of the Union of Myanmar petitions bearing about 10,000 signatures asking for the release of prisoners of conscience held under the Emergency Provisions Act and the Unlawful Association law. These prisoners range from students to octogenarians and have prison terms lasting two to 44 years from now and in one case for life.

We gathered outside the Embassy and to the well-behaved but noisy accompaniment of a chorus demanding release of prisoners now, rang the door bell. 
The omens were not auspicious as although we had warned the Embassy of our intent and were accompanied by police the door was firmly locked, windows were closed and rubbish was piled up in the porch awaiting collection. The only visible notice told visitors the Embassy was open for visa applications from 10am to 1pm. So it was no surprise that there was no reply and no sound at all from inside the building when we called for silence to listen. 
We resumed our vocal efforts, posted some of the petitions through the letter box and left knowing that we had registered our feelings against injustice.

Having refreshed my resuscitation techniques at home recently, as occasionally I am called to emergencies at Westminster, I attended a course to make sure I understood the defibrillators available in the Houses of Parliament. 
Thank goodness medical equipment has come far since I started at Kidderminster Hospital when defibrillators throughout the hospital were all different. Now those available for lay use are standardised, simple to use and safe. 
A medical colleague here complained that he could not override the machine which is exactly what is intended.