Another sunny morning! Hard to get used to after all this rain. Into the office early and then off to Purbeck District Council to raise the Commonwealth flag to commemorate this extraordinary collection of countries. I understand that the Queen takes her role as head of the Commonwealth extremely seriously and she sent a note which was read out during the short ceremony. Cllr Bill Trite raised the flag with great flourish, tying it off with a granny note around the flagpole which would have dumbfounded any sailor! The Mayor and Mayoress of Wareham, the Mayor of Swanage and other dignitaries attended, along with some sixth formers from Purbeck School and council staff. Then into the car and upto London for another week of politics. The Lords' amendments regarding the Care Bill are going through the Commons for the next two days. Before that I went into the Chamber to listen to the PM report back on an emergency meeting of the European Council. Ukraine was the topic, not surprisingly. The problem is that the EU has now got itself in a bit of a mess. There's nothing we can do to prevent Russia from taking control of the Crimea, at least militarily, and I cannot see Putin being too concerned about threats of trade sanctions and the like. The EU has tempted the Ukraine to look westwards and membership of NATO has been mentioned. Russia, understandably, is concerned about Sevastapol, home to its Black Sea fleet and access to the Med. I cannot see Russia allowing this strategic port to fall into NATO's hands, however remote that possibility might be. In the meantime, we will procrastinate, make threats we don't want to execute and hope Russia backs down. The PM was asked many good questions and to be fair he handled them all admirably. But the problem is a big one and I'm not sure talking in the Commons is going to resolve it or worry Putin. There's no doubt Russia's actions are totally unacceptable, but I'm a pragmatist and I can't see Putin moving much on this issue. I worked through steadily to 2200 and then headed home for a late supper.