MY activities this week included surgeries, home visits, a visit to meet Inspector Dave Minty at the new Bourne Hill Police Station as well as a visit to Salisbury’s excellent racecourse. I also met with some of our local GPs to discuss their sensible aspirations to develop new medical facilities in Alderbury.

The overwhelming focus of international news this week has been on the appalling events in northern Iraq, where between 50,000 and 150,000 members of the Yazidi religious minority have been trapped on a mountain after fleeing from Islamist militants who overtook the town of Sinjar.

The humanitarian crisis has been the result of the progressive advance of the militants over vast expanses of Iraq in recent months. The extremist group, widely known as ISIS, claims to have fighters from across the world and is seeking to establish a "caliphate", or Islamic state, across many parts of Iraq and Syria.

ISIS’s actions have displaced many ethnic and religious – especially Christian – minorities along the way. I support the vital humanitarian work of the RAF C130s who are dropping emergency food and water aid supplies to the Yazidis and Christians.

It is deeply troubling that there seem to be constraints on what can be done, given the isolated position of the displaced peoples and the dangers associated with dropping aid from the air.

Some of my parliamentary colleagues have called for Parliament to be recalled to discuss the situation. This will become necessary if any military assets are to be used in combat, which I sincerely hope can be avoided, but when an evil force is seeking to ethnically cleanse a country and showing few signs of relenting or being willing to enter dialogue, we are in extremely difficult territory.

It must be hoped that the Kurdish forces will be able to provide a safe zone for the refugees.

I have no desire to rush to military options but equally, when innocent people are being forced to flee their homes simply because they are Christians or don’t conform to the aspirations of a militant Islamic force, the Government may have some difficult decisions to take very soon.