Quite a good night's sleep, despite going to bed late. We were nearly late arriving at St Catherine's for the Eucharist but that was due to Clare walking slower than usual. Her ankle is giving her pain at the moment. Two children were baptized during the service this morning. I thought Fr Sion looked more relaxed taking the service. With the St John's congregation worshipping in St Catherine's at 9.00am today, he didn't have to leave early to rush between churches to meet a deadline.
After lunch and a snooze, I walked in Llandaff Fields, while Clare's study group was meeting. Here and there, a noticeable section of a particular tree's leaf cover has turned golden brown, though the majority of trees have not yet followed suit. It made me wonder if one tree suffers more stress than those surrounding it to accelerate leaf die-back: e.g. exposure to a localised current of hot or cold air, or insufficient water reaching its roots. Each tree has its own story.
Navi Pillay, a highly regarded South African who was an International Criminal Court judge has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The U.N. Human Rights Commission, and the Court have come under increasing criticism and attack in recent years. Last year a UN report overseen by her concluded that Israel's actions in Gaza were genocidal. The Nobel committee stated that by honouring her it wanted to remind the world that the international and national rule of law underpins the system devised.
Trump reacted in a fit of pique, attacking the Nobel committee decision as 'political', and announcing fresh sanctions on the International Criminal Court, the body established in 2002 to prosecute individuals accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Canada, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom reaffirmed their “continued and unwavering support” for the Court, which condemned Trump's move as an “assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order,”
Trump has also announced that America will buy sanctions breaking diesel supplies from Russia to meet the global shortage created by his war against Iran, with the aim of reducing the pump price of diesel in the run up to mid-term elections to boost his plummeting popularity. The revenue will support Putin's effort to prolong the war against Ukraine. President Zelenskiy described this as "A gift to Putin, an investment in a war that must be ended." Trump reacted by saying it's time for Ukraine to get a new President, but his move has met with strong criticism from Congress members on both sides.
Trump's Department of Justice proposes speeding up the death penalty backlog using execution by firing squad. It comes in the wake of last week's botched execution of a woman by lethal injection, who is now recovering in hospital. It's not clear what will happen to her next. First on his hit list is Ex Major Nidal Hasan, an army psychiatrist with hidden islamist sympathies, who massacred thirteen unarmed soldiers at an army base in 2009. He was paralysed from the waist down in the shoot-out. It is proposed the execution will be live streamed to serve as a deterrent to others. But what message about justice and humanity is conveyed by legally killing a wheelchair bound man in public? One attention grabbing pronouncement after another from the White House administration generates outrage or uncertainty. America's economy suffers meanwhile? Does Trump or any of his advisors have any real idea about the impact of his decisions and pronouncements on the world outside of his charmed circle of fans?
After supper I watched the melodramatic finale of series one of 'Black Sands'. Behind the murder mystery a back story of child abuse in a dysfunctional foster family. It was a bit difficult to piece together. Working out who was who among the characters from the way it was portrayed added unnecessarily to the mystery. The dialogue was in English or in Icelandic, a North Western Germanic language descended from Old Norse. Familiarity with German, Swedish and Danish movies made it possible to identify some words but not the flow of dialogue. Relying mostly on sub titles added to the challenge of working out what went on. A lapse of concentration meant having to rewind to read and make sense of dialogue, not something that's often necessary. I've just discovered there's a second series to watch. Shall I bother?
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