Saffron Walden (again)

A basement full of chairs at Reeds Antiques.

Vicar's car, Saffron Walden

We took a day off on Monday and ran out to Saffron Walden again. A lovely day, but road closures on the A14 made getting back a bit of a trial as diverted traffic backed up onto the B roads ...

Kourion, Cyrpus

Once again, the view over Episkopi Bay was one of the highlights of the holiday.

Amsterdam

A surprisingly classy hotel room for the conference on Wednesday (my unmade bed notwithstanding). Shame there was no time to see the city.

Cyprus holiday

View from Kourion's annexe of Eusolios looking over Episkopi bay.

Neighbourhood

The sculptor's/jeweller's studio around the corner from us.

Spring flowers

The profusion of flowers everywhere is one of the joys of Spring in Cambridge. That and daylight until 10 pm, which I can never quite get used to after the depths of winter ...

Our car

I've not owned a car since leaving Melbourne in 2003. We bought this just a few weeks ago (click for a bigger image), I've only posted a picture of something so dull as a friend has requested it. Nonetheless, we love it: it has the biggest interior of a small car I've ever seen - the three back bucket seats can fold down in two separate ways or lift out entirely!

Bilbao

A very pleasant weekend away ...

A great conference venue

Onati, Spain (outside Bilbao).

Dinner last night

Cycles vs Punts

A photo from Saturday of a common summer sight: dragging punts over the rollers and cycle path at the Mill Pond lock to get from the Backs heading upstream to Grantchester.

Saffron Waldon

The brick-paved turf maze at Saffron Waldon common yesterday, on a balmy afternoon ...

The Granta

The punt station outside our local, the Granta.

Rug

About two years ago we both started new jobs. We still had quite a few debts, but with a surprisingly large slice of our combined first pay packet we bought this rug.

It was a good investment.

Community

One of the things I like about our neighbourhood is this impromptu noticeboard on the street outside our flat. It's a section of fence that's been in use this way as long as we've been here.

It provides some insight into a family neighbourhood in a university town: children's furniture, yoga, public lectures, home reading groups, private language tuition.

An action figure we can believe in!

So, anytime one of goes away, the other has to get them a bad present from the airport. On my trip to DC in April I picked up a little presidential fun. He lives on top of our coffee-maker, along with the egg-shells ...

India has authority to pursue pirates

"Delhi has formally been given permission to act under a UN resolution allowing navies to pursue pirates into Somalia's territorial waters."

UN Security Council Resolution 1816 is a very odd creature, authorising pursuit of pirates into Somalia's territorial waters - where Somalia (or at least the internationally recognised, if ineffectual, Transitional Federal Government) consents. 

This is an authority the TFG could give under international law, with or without a UNSCR. Thus, Resolution 1816 is largely pointless. Nonetheless, this is the first formal report I've caught on an agreement stuck between the TFG and a foreign navy under the Resolution (which expires next month anyway).  

India has already shown it's prepared to use lethal force against pirates. In that case it appears to have been self-defence or returning fire. This would clearly be legal, though a shoot-on-sight policy towards pirates would not.

Pirates may be nasty characters but generally they are little more than common criminals who - while hostage-takers - are not interested in endangering life unnecessarily. (What use is a dead hostage?) We are not at war with pirates, and most legal systems don't authorise shoot-to-kill policies in the course of general law enforcement. That said, such an approach might well not generate much protest. 

I doubt, however, it would be much of a deterrent. So long as Somalia remains in chaos and easy pickings are available in the Gulf of Aden, piracy will continue regardless of the risks to the pirates themselves. 

Obama on international law

In response to an ASIL survey:

"The next president will have to prioritize restoring our traditions of adherence to international legal regimes and norms. When I am President, America will reject torture without exception. America is the country that stood against that kind of behavior, and we will do so again. I also will reject a legal framework that does not work. There has been only one conviction at Guantanamo. It was for a guilty plea on material support for terrorism. The sentence was 9 months. There has not been one conviction of a terrorist act. As president, I will close Guantanamo, reject the Military Commissions Act, and adhere to the Geneva Conventions. Our Constitution and laws such as our Uniform Code of Military Justice provide a framework for dealing with the terrorists."

How quickly could most of this be done after 20 January? Just about instantly, I'd hope.

Only in a Cambridge student paper ...

Headline on the US election: "Yes we could", thus identifying the correct use of the conditional subjunctive.