A somewhat disheartening intervention yesterday from junior justice minister Shailesh Vara, the mendacious bozo behind the false statistics on barristers’ earnings fiasco, as his written ministerial statement heralds a consultation envisaging the closure of 91 courts and tribunals. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Courts and Legal Aid made the following observation: “The estate costs taxpayers…
Read moreThe ballad of Steak Pants Man and the Criminal Courts Charge
This week brought forth a shimmering example of the perfect insanity of former Justice Secretary Chris Grayling’s parting gift to the criminal justice system. Insanity for which you, the taxpayer, are going to pay. In his last weeks in office, Mr Grayling snuck in through the legislative back-door secondary legislation giving effect to the Criminal…
Read moreWhy on earth should the DPP resign over Lord Janner?
I don’t normally blog on serious matters of law. Doing so tends to involve a level of effort, research and legal analysis way beyond my limited capacity, and in any case there are a number of top notch blogs (as listed in the blogroll) with which I can’t, and wouldn’t, compete. But as the allegations…
Read moreWhat I go to court for
I am not a habitually angry person. Those who know me professionally would, I hope, attest to my happy-go-lucky demeanour and brimming joie de vivre. By way of example, I considered illustrating this blogpost with a jovial (and nostalgic) nod to Busted’s What I Go To School For. In fact: See? Jocular. Convivial. That’s me…
Read moreThe start of the end
The naysayers have been saying nay since long before I came to the criminal Bar. This is a dying industry, the wide-eyed prospective criminal practitioner is told. You’ll be squeaking into a criminal justice system that would be fraying at the seams, had the seams not been privatised and sold at bargain-basement prices to G4S…
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