The murder of Shabbaz Bhatti, the Christian politician who spoke out against Pakistan’s medieval blasphemy laws reinforces all my prejudices about this systemically corrupt and dysfunctional country that is in the habit of exporting its problems to the rest of the world.

Conservative MP, Roger Gale, raised the issue at PMQs yesterday.

In January he led a cross party delegation to Pakistan which included Pendle’s Andrew Stephenson who chairs the All Party Pakistan Group.

They met Shabbaz Bhatti and the news of his assassination would have shocked them all to the core.

Pakistan’s political establishment looks the other way. Their attention seems to be focussed anywhere but on the murder and persecution of Christians in their midst.

What leverage do we have over these timid Pakistani politicians who say and do nothing?

Personally, I wouldn’t allow them sanctuary in the UK if and when their political careers fall apart In Pakistan.

That would be a start.

All aboard for Grassington

Last week I gazed into the biggest man-made hole in the ground that I had ever seen.

The Swinden limestone quarry in the Yorkshire Dales is so big and deep that it would swallow the old gasworks (aka the Houses of Parliament) many times over.

High quality limestone has been quarried there for hundreds of years.

It was due to close in 2020 but I discovered last week on a visit organized by Tarmac and the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust (thank you both) that the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority has allowed mineral extraction to continue until 2030 by which time the gaping hole will be so huge it will take up to 10 years to fill with water, to become a new "eco-friendly" lake.

It used to be a very dirty business but Tarmac have cleaned up their act and the white dust that used to coat the surrounding countryside has gone.

Over the years, I’d driven past the quarry a million times but had never been inside its cavernous interior.

The limestone is carted away by tarpauline covered trucks and, more importantly, by trains. Four every day. Sometimes five.

The railway used to snake its way from Embsay, near Skipton, all the way up to Threshfield, a stone’s throw from Grassington, but the final mile of track from the quarry into town was lifted years ago.

You can follow the old track bed at a leisurely stroll, imagining how it was.

The eight mile single track railway opened in July 1902 and cost £72,000 which doesn’t sound like a lot of money, even then.

But the railway struggled to make the passenger side pay – as opposed to freight - and services to Threshfield/Grassington were withdrawn in 1930 although excursions continued, off and on, until 1969.

But with the price of petrol going through the roof, taking the train into the Yorkshire Dales could be the way to travel in future.

So long as no-one rips up the tracks when quarrying ends.