To Luxembourg, to the impressive headquarters of the European Court of Justice, for the investiture of a friend, Kieran Bradley, as a judge in the Civil Service Tribunal. Kieran is an old friend. I am delighted for him and am sure that he’ll make a brilliant addition to the team. The experience was most interesting, from the solemn appearance of the judges, in their robes, sitting in a sort of horseshoe shape, to the valedictory speeches given by the outgoing judges. One of the most interesting of these was the one delivered by the outgoing President of the Civil Service Tribunal, Paul Mahoney. In a long and rich career he has worked for both the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice. Because he was retiring altogether he took advantage of the occasion to give his opinion about how the Courts should resist the temptation of encroaching on political prerogatives: ‘the law should be an objective quality, the same for everybody, including judges’. Even, he argued, where the law is vague or ambiguous it is not for the judge to substitute for the legislator.