Freedom works.

The Independent reports:

Tony Blair will be quizzed over a devastating official memo warning him that war on Iraq would be illegal eight months before he sent troops into Baghdad, it was claimed last night.

The Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war will consider a letter from Lord Goldsmith, then Mr Blair’s top law officer, advising him that deposing Saddam would be in breach of international law, according to a report in The Mail on Sunday.

But Mr Blair refused to accept Lord Goldsmith’s advice and instead issued instructions for his long-term friend to be “gagged” and barred from cabinet meetings, the newspaper claimed. Lord Goldsmith apparently lost three stone, and complained he was “more or less pinned to the wall” in a No 10 showdown with two of Mr Blair’s most loyal aides, Lord Falconer and Baroness Morgan. Mr Blair also allegedly failed to inform the Cabinet of the warning, fearing an “anti-war revolt”.

I look forward to the progress and conclusions of the inquiry.

In the meantime, I recommend reading the 1929 Kellogg–Briand Pact, the “General Treaty for the Renunciation of War”, which I understand remains in effect:

WHEREAS a Treaty between the President of the United States Of America, the President of the German Reich, [...] His Majesty the King of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, [...] providing for the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy, was concluded and signed by their respective Plenipotontiaries at Paris on the twenty-seventh day of August, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-eight,

Deeply sensible of their solemn duty to promote the welfare of mankind;

Persuaded that the time has, come when a frank renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy should be made to the end that the peaceful and friendly relations now existing between their peoples may be perpetuated;

Convinced that all changes in their relations with one another should be sought only by pacific means and be the result of a peaceful and orderly process, and that any signatory Power which shall hereafter seek to promote its ts national interests by resort to war a should be denied the benefits furnished by this Treaty;

Hopeful that, encouraged by their example, all the other nations of the world will join in this humane endeavor and by adhering to the present Treaty as soon as it comes into force bring their peoples within the scope of its beneficent provisions, thus uniting the civilized nations of the world in a common renunciation of war as an instrument of their national policy;

Have decided to conclude a Treaty and for that purpose [...]

ARTICLE I

The High Contracting Parties solemly declare in the names of their respective peoples that they condemn recourse to war for the solution of international controversies, and renounce it, as an instrument of national policy in their relations with one another.

ARTICLE II

The High Contracting Parties agree that the settlement or solution of all disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them, shall never be sought except by pacific means.

I am still searching in vain for the complicated section which can be misinterpreted.

On a grey and showery day, skydivers at Weston on the Green commemorated D-day, not by skydiving, but by jumping static line at what for us is a low level: 3500ft. It makes you think.

D-day Commemoration – Dornier G92, originally uploaded by stevenjbaker.

Sport parachuting is relatively low risk, believe it or not. We go high with modern equipment: it works reliably and there is time to take the reserve if the main fails. No one is, or will be, shooting at you. But to be on a static line, lower, is a little unnerving.
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Beth’s Grandma talked us through some key memories today, from a life lived in just two central Birmingham streets:

• The earthquake, which rearranged the furniture, despite people sitting on it.
• The tornado, which filled the lounge with electrical fire, burning out the TV, before moving on to destroy in adjacent streets.
• Running through the streets during a WW II air raid, trying to find space in one of the bomb shelters, only to be turned away, and nearly tripping over an unexploded bomb.
• The time Grandpa saved a man’s life after his leg had been wrecked by an incendiary bomb.
• The time Grandpa — a train driver — hitched an engine to a train of bombed and burning cattle wagons and drove them out of Birmingham, with German bombers overhead, to avoid compromising the blackout.

Tough little lady, Grandma. And much as this is an economic crisis, things could be worse.