Posts from — February 2007

Last Tuesday (13 February) a letter by a number of prominent lawyers appeared in The Guardian newspaper in the UK about the denial of ID cards to the believers in Egypt was published in The Guardian newspaper on Tuesday 13 February.

As experienced lawyers we have serious concerns over the ID-card policy in Egypt, which requires Baha’is, and followers of some other religions, to deny their religion to obtain the mandatory card. Not wishing to lie, Baha’is cannot obtain ID cards and so are denied access to government services, such as medical care and education, cannot register marriages, births, divorces or property transactions, and cannot obtain passports. They are also subject to the threat of detention if the police ask them to show their card. This policy is inconsistent with Egypt’s obligations under international law.

The letter was signed by the following individuals:

Prof Ilias Bantekas Brunel University,
Benedetto Conforti former judge, European court of human rights,
Prof Guy Goodwin-Gill All Souls College, Oxford,
Prof Mark Janis University of Connecticut,
Prof Jeffrey Jowell QC University College London,
Prof Matthew Kramer University of Cambridge,
Prof Dan Sarooshi University of Oxford,
Prof Malcolm Shaw QC University of Leicester

Note added Monday 19 February, 2007
I’m sorry not to have put the link to this letter in The Guardian. Bilo was kind enough to find it here.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Egypt, ID cards, lawyers, human rights

A bit late, but I really love these pictures of Erica’s and my No. 1 and No. 2 grandchildren, Ethan (6 years old) and Emily (4 years old) in the recent snow. Charlie, Ethan and Emily’s mum, took the pics.

Technorati Tags: grandchildren, Leith

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A kindly suggestion from grandpa and, behold, Maya Olivia Leith is the name.

Technorati Tags: baby, grandchildren, Leith

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I don’t know about you, but I have three (only three?) prevailing faults when it comes to personal organization:

1. I’m disorganized.

2. I procrastinate big-time.

3. I love personal organization systems, whether electronic or on paper.

I can give you plenty of evidence of (1). Just look at my bookshelves…

Erica and I moved here a year ago. I was full of plans to get my bookshelves organized, but once I’d got the shelves up and I’d begun to get the books out of the boxes in some kind of order I lost the will to continue. Some of the books are still in boxes.

To be honest, I’d meant to sell these books on eBay, but I just never got around to it.

And then there’s my desk… No, let’s not talk about my desk!

I’m sure I don’t need to go on. The thing is, I find this state of affairs deeply frustrating. On the one hand, I can’t be bothered to organize and tidy up. On the other hand, I hate this shambles; it stops me working effectively.

You may be getting the picture now about (2). I procrastinate. I put things off. I postpone. I defer. I use delaying tactics (like writing in my blog). I temporize, stall, drag my feet, take my time.

And (2), I think you’ll agree, is very much tied up with (1).

As it happens, it’s also tied up with (3). One of my procrastinating strategies is to spend a great deal of time seeking the “perfect” system for organizing myself and my to-do lists. I have this illusion that out there, somewhere, is the very system that will change my life, that will organize me and get me to do things on time.

In other words, I’m looking for the magic bullet that will kill the procrastination bug.

So now, to the point of this post (I’m sure you really don’t want to know any more about my inadequacies). There is a very good system, and it’s called Getting Things Done

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The name is Maya Olive Leith. It has been decided.

Technorati Tags: baby, grandchildren, Leith

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Bilo has posted a story on his blog, Baha’i Faith in Egypt of the utter stupidity of the denial of ID cards to Baha’is in Egypt.

Shady Samir Sobhy Daniaal, an Egyptian citizen, has been unable to obtain a passport simply because he is a Baha’i. His old passport which expired on 31 December 1996, was issued to him only six months before that date.

He is caught in a Kafka-esque bureaucratic trap:

To be issued a valid passport he needs an ID card. His old paper ID card would have been sufficient (until the end of 2006) except that it is worn-out and his third and fourth names are missing (ID cards must show the person’s four names). Thus there is no way for him to prove that the ID belongs to him, i.e. Shady Samir Sobhy Daniaal.

But that’s not the end of it. It gets worse, as you will find out if you visit Bilo’s blog and read the story.

I am reasonably familiar with the situation of the Baha’is in Egypt. I have Egyptian Baha’i friends and I have talked to them about what is going on in their country. I try to imagine what I would do and feel if I were caught in that trap - and I can only conclude that I would feel, trapped, angry and then, perhaps, resigned. It would be very difficult to take any kind of constructive action in such a situation, knowing that the cards are stacked against you just because you are a Baha’i.

Of course, my reaction is not the proper Baha’i spirit, and Baha’is in Egypt are acting most positively and courageously in taking their plight to the administrative courts in Egypt. Baha’is in other parts of the world are seeking the support of their governments and making the situation known in their media.

It’s worth reading the update on the Baha’i World News Service.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Egypt, human rights, civil rights, religious freedom

Peter Smith (who lives in Thailand) has sent this link to a list of silly or unusual names that appears on the Cornwall County Council website. The list has, apparently, been compiled over the last six years from records held at the Cornwall Records Office.

The list starts with one Admonition Abbott, quickly followed by Dark Adam and finishes (the list only goes from A to C) with Penticost Cullecott, Dorcas Cutlip and Melior Cutty. One of my favourites is Sebastin Bagglehole, who appears in the records in 1641.

I can’t help but wonder, was he, perchance, a Hobbit?

Technorati Tags: personal names, Cornwall, hobbit

Here are a couple more pictures (taken by Tom) of his brand new daughter.

Vicky with her newborn baby.

The young lady herself.

Technorati Tags: baby, grandchildren, Leith

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Yes, it’s the first serious snow of the winter of 2006-07. It started snowing at some point in the early hours of this morning and has dumped around 3 inches on us. As I write (11:36) it is still snowing. We can’t get up the lane, so we’re here, stuck, until the weather changes.

After the dog had been out for her morning inspection of the estate, she came in covered in snow.

Snow piled up on Jake’s little car.

It’s nothing by North American or Scandinavian standards, but it’s our very own!

Technorati Tags: Hertfordshire, Welwyn, weather, snow

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After a long and exhausting labour, our son Tom and daughter-in-law Vicky’s baby, a girl, was born in hospital last night by forceps delivery.

First picture of Olive Maya (or possibly Maya Olive) Leith, taken moments after the birth on Tom’s mobile phone.

Vicky had arranged a home birth, so a forceps delivery in hospital will not have been at all to her liking. However, we’re happy to say that the baby is fine. Vicky’s still in hospital. Tom has gone home and crashed out, so we’ve no direct information - all of this has come from our other daughter-in-law, Charlie. This means that we still lack vital information, such as the weight of the baby.

We’re looking forward to meeting our fourth grandchild, but we’ll have to wait a few days.

10:18
Erica and I have just talked to Tom. Vicky started her contractions on Monday and the baby wasn’t born until 23.15 last night. Anyway, the baby (7lbs 5oz) is fine and Vicky is recovering in hospital. She’ll be out later on today. Tom was full of praise

Tom and Vicky deliberately did not ask what the baby’s sex was during Vicky’s pregnancy, so didn’t find this out until the birth. Tom says he had had a dream that they were going to have a girl; and he had another dream that she’d be called Olive. So they’re “road testing” the name Olive right now.

Technorati Tags: birth, baby, grandchildren, Leith

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