It’s been great fun spending the weekend in The Hague for the IBA War Crimes Committee annual conference. Many thanks to the formidable Kate McInnes and Arendt Chambers for the invitation, and to the organisers for a fantastic range of speakers on contemporary topics in international criminal law.
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📢 TOMORROW: IBA Events ‘IBA War Crimes Committee Conference 2026: Masters of war' #IBAWCC
🗓️18 Apr 2026 🌎 The Hague, Netherlands
✍️More Info!➡ https://t.co/RH5qFYOIkB
🔹Presented by the IBA War Crimes Committee
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‘Court of Appeal upholds convictions and 30 year sentence for multiple attempted murders in case prosecuted by Thom Dyke’
www.dekachambers.com/2026/04/07/c...
NEW A controversial view about probation - I don't expect everyone will agree. But there are points in my article for the Telegraph about inexperience, a shortage of male probation staff & flaws in risk assessment & public protection that urgently need addressing:
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/04...
Nice to be quoted in this piece on the Probation Service by @dannyshaw.bsky.social in @telegraph.co.uk:
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/04...
In case you missed… A rare look at the contrasts between those who live on U.S. supplies at the base at Guantánamo Bay and the Cubans on the other side of their minefield in this time of an oil blockade. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/30/u...
proud to host episode 69 🙂↕️
When you’re up to your neck writing a piece on the law of evidence in international law, and then Called to the Bar casually drops an episode on it… 😐
M. Gessen has spent a career writing about tyrants and terrorists. Their most baffling subject yet? Their own cousin. Our new show "The Idiot" is out March 26. nyti.ms/4uRnTMU
A much-needed night off at the Royal Opera House to see Siegfried. Can’t help wishing we still inscribed treaties on magic staffs…
“Heil’ger Verträge Treue-Runen schnitt in den Schaft er ein.”
News: The judge has ruled against a prosecution bid to resurrect some 2011 interrogations of a Saudi man who was held at Guantanamo for years, as explained in this article. The government's last option appears to be seeking his live testimony at trial. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/u...
En passant, the effect of the speech is all the more powerful in comparison to some of the feeble alternative contributions, often read verbatim from hastily-printed MoJ crib sheets. A salutary example of the benefit to Parliament of having members with experience of life outside Westminster.
I've struggled to find a way to describe the Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey Cox KC MP's speech on retaining juries without resorting to gushing superlatives, but it is a masterclass in the use of language, pace, structure, response to intervention, and even - dare I say it - hand gestures.
It's Sunshine Week* in drizzly dark Washington D.C. So I'm resurrecting an old favorite from the editorial pages of The Miami Herald.
(*A celebration of freedom of information, it coincides with the birthday of James Madison, who presented the first version of the Bill of Rights to Congress.)
Jürgen Habermas, a philosopher and public intellectual who was one of the most influential and cited thinkers in postwar Germany, died on Saturday. He was 96.
Jule Snackenberg talks about youth movement in bringing climate change to the International Court of Justice. Humanising these stories, makes the truth of climate change real. #DoughtyStWomen #IWD2026
The Legality of the UK Interception of Iranian Missiles and Permitting a Limited US Use of British Bases | by Marko Milanovic
I’ll be talking about the approach of the Court of Appeal to risk, in the context of the last week’s decision in R v Jamal [2026] EWCA Crim 135 (www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWC...), and it promises to be a fascinating afternoon!
I’m looking forward to speaking at the Jesus College Cambridge Intellectual Forum (@jesuscollegecam.bsky.social) this Thursday, where I’m appearing alongside a stellar cast of other speakers.
www.dekachambers.com/2026/01/23/t...
Terrific fun at the Old Bailey yesterday for the English National Opera performance of Trial by Jury, together with some familiar faces in the Old Bailey Choir, helping to support the Sheriffs’ and Recorder’s Fund for prisoner rehabilitation. A special mention to the LCJ for her turn on stage!
New Interview: www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...
Taking a step back from the flurry of international law 'hot takes' on the situation in Venezuela, it's worth revisiting the analysis of @oonahathaway.bsky.social and Scott J. Shapiro in @foreignaffairs.com on the collapse of norms against the use of force:
www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
