This is the week of the UK-EU reset. Brexit is not to be relitigated. But I admit that I was moved when a tinny version of Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’ came over a loudspeaker system last week, and over 100 lawyers from around Europe stood up to signal respect for shared values.

This was at the plenary session of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) in Bordeaux.

I was even more moved when the same lawyers stood as one later, and applauded the bravery and values of the President of the Istanbul Bar Association, İbrahim Özden Kaboğlu, who had just addressed us via video-link from Istanbul. Professor Kaboğlu was recently dismissed from his position as President of the Istanbul Bar Association, along with the other members of the board of the bar, by a court in Turkey.

This was in consequence of the bar’s issue of a statement condemning the alleged targeting and deaths by drone strike of two journalists covering Syria, and asking for both an effective and impartial investigation into the circumstances and respect for international humanitarian law.