At the start of this week, I led a delegation of the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) to a public meeting with the Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

In the midst of another busy week at Westminster I found time to listen to best-selling Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Reith lecture on Freedom of Speech. The lecture series is inspired by President Franklin D Roosevelt’s 1941 speech in which he extolled Four Freedoms; Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Fear and Freedom from Want. The last of the 4 lectures will be given by Darren McGarvey, author of Poverty Safari and will definitely be worth a listen.

And so, the UK Supreme Court has settled the disputed issue of whether our devolved parliament has the competence to hold an independence referendum, without the agreement of Westminster. In doing so they have answered a legal question not a political one. The political question remains – if Scottish voters continue to elect a majority of MSPs and MPs who support a second independence referendum, what is the democratic route to realising that mandate?

I make no apology for writing about asylum seekers for the third week in a row.  They really are amongst the most marginalised and disadvantaged groups in our society, and, if Suella Braverman has her way, their situation will only get worse.  But this week brought to light some truly horrifying information about the circumstances surrounding multiple deaths by drowning in the English Channel almost a year ago and I am shocked, but not, I am afraid, surprised, that it has not had more coverage.