A pleasure today to share the stage with @clark345.bsky.social from @rhnuk.bsky.social - bringing our research into dialogue - to address catastrophic brain injury and “ethics, philosophy & the Mental Capacity Act” #ProlongedDisordersofConsciousess

*Upcoming Court of Appeal - Weds 25th March 2026** Does open justice apply in the Court of Protection? That's what the Court of Appeal will be considering. openjusticecourtofprotection.org/2026/03/22/c...

#IdesofMarch A bronze Roman larva convivialis 199 BCE-500CE--a type of memento mori displayed at a banquet or feast to remind the revelers of their own mortality. collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co90.... #TheVictorianBookoftheDead

New blog post By @kitzingercelia.bsky.social openjusticecourtofprotection.org/2026/02/24/t...

YES - IT'S TONIGHT! Your rare opportunity to see & hear the Grasmere Dialect Plays brought to life! Wed 11 March, 6.15 in the Studio, @tbtlake.bsky.social Keswick. A few tickets left: phone the theatre box office on 017687 74411 (or visit the Words By the Water website).

It's tomorrow night! Still (just) time to get your tickets for our readings from the fabulous Grasmere Dialect Plays. theatrebythelake.com/event/the-la... 6.15, The Studio, @tbtlake.bsky.social, Keswick. See you there!

Week 8 for new left knee, and my highest boots-on hiking mileage this year: 18 miles. Pics from this weekend's outings with @kitzingercelia.bsky.social and Keswick Rambling Club. #LakeDistrict #nhs1000miles

En route from Lord's Seat to Barf today: another gloriously sunny one in the #LakeDistrict Thanks to @kitzingercelia.bsky.social for the pic!

Great to be celebrating Lakeland icon Beatrix Potter on International Women's Day!

Thrilled to see the William Heaton Cooper backcloth - painted in the 1930s for the Grasmere Dialect Plays - at the Grasmere Village Hall this afternoon. (It was 'lost' until 2015, when it was rediscovered rolled up under the stage: www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/1413859...)

I'm having one of *those* mornings....

Sun eve check-in for #nhs1000miles. 11 hiking miles, with 2 more Wainwright fells, for me this week (week 7 of new knee). Pics are from my longest/highest hike to date: the Knott Rigg - Ard Crags ridge. #LakeDistrict (Pics by @kitzingercelia.bsky.social)

Contested decision-making about life-sustaining treatment for adults after catastrophic brain injury Free lecture (on line and in person) 19 March 2026 17:45 to 19:30 www.gtc.ox.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

Week 6 of new knee and 13 hiking miles completed towards #nhs1000miles. Two more Wainwright summits: Sale Fell and Great Mell Fell. Pic is of me navigating the remains of the snow and ice on Thursday, as the thaw began to set in. #LakeDistrict (Thanks to @kitzingercelia.bsky.social for the pic)

In Keswick for the 'Words by the Water' Festival? I'll be introducing members of the Lakeland Dialect Society performing sketches from the amazing Grasmere Dialect Plays. Guaranteed to be both informative and great fun! 11th March, 6.15 in the Studio, Theatre by the Lake @tbtlake.bsky.social

And for my next trick ... The operated knee - 40 days old - successfully navigates its first stile today, on Great Mell Fell #LakeDistrict May not be elegant but definitely functional! (Think @kitzingercelia.bsky.social might have been impressed)

Sandwiches while sheltering from 25-mph gusts of freezing wind! Cold but wonderful views on an exhilarating walk today.

One of those - rare - blue sky days when it would have been rude not to get out! Sale Fell this morning #LakeDistrict Pics by @kitzingercelia.bsky.social

It's a year since my extraordinary daughter died unexpectedly. Re-sharing her obituary because it matters so much that the world understands who children w/ SEND actually are - especially right now when their right to the support they need in education is at risk. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Well, just had to get up above the snowline today: Little Mell Fell. Thanks to @kitzingercelia.bsky.social for the video #LakeDistrict

A Welsh white leopard? Litigation capacity in the absence of subject-matter capacity revisited Whether you can have capacity to conduct proceedings about a decision you lack capacity to make is a question that infrequently, but consistently, troubles the Court of Protection.  Mostyn J once…

Attorneys, failures to consult and consequences Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board v RW & Anor EWCOP 10 (T3) provides a snapshot of the realities of navigating health and welfare decision-making of a kind that rarely makes it to court.  In short compass, it concerns a failure by a hospital…

Cool and warm: Blencathra early afternoon and Skiddaw late afternoon today #LakeDistrict

New blog post Daughter of P (@AmandaAPHill.bsky.social) wins right to refer to Court of Protection proceedings naming her mother without having to make a further application after her mother's death. It shouldn't have been so hard! openjusticecourtofprotection.org/2026/02/12/h...

Today: climbed 180m the to top of mighty Binsey (447m) in the rain and cloud, with my hiking buddy @kitzingercelia.bsky.social. #LakeDistrict OTD a year ago: we climbed 610m to the McKinnon Pass - the highest point (at 1514m) on the Milford Track, in glorious sun. #NewZealand

“Contested Decision-making about Life-sustaining Treatment for adults after catastrophic brain injury” Public lecture @ox.ac.uk by Prof Lynne Turner-Stokes. 19th March, 5.45pm Further info + Register to get online link, or to reserve a seat in person: www.gtc.ox.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

Great progress in week 4 of new knee! 10.5 hiking miles, and back on the fells. Began a new round of post-surgery Wainwrights (with @kitzingercelia.bsky.social). Summited #Latrigg on Wed and #Ling today. So happy! #nhs1000miles

Day 25 post-left-knee replacement - and I'm back on the fells! Yippee! Gorgeous light for my first Wainwright (of Round 4): the mighty Latrigg

New blog post How do appeals work in the Court of Protection - why do they fail, and how are they different from reconsiderations, or hearings after a material change in circumstance. By Robert Sharp openjusticecourtofprotection.org/2026/02/04/a...

progress for reporters on family court proceedings

New blog post by @kitzingercelia.bsky.social Successful application to disapply Section 12(1) of the Administration of Justice Act: Making Polly’s statutory will application public openjusticecourtofprotection.org/2026/01/18/s...

Stop referencing fake case citations, judges warned www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/stop-re...

Can we get this one over the line? 10k to go!

I'm told this was a listing error after all.

New blog post by @jennykitzinger.bsky.social Judge acts as mediator between two sisters in dispute about their mother's care... openjusticecourtofprotection.org/2026/01/11/s...

There's a private hearing today in Pontypridd County Court. Someone is being deprived of their liberty - on the application (I think) of Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council. Following recent experiences in Wales, I'm concerned about private hearings there + will ask to observe.

Evidence of the need for marriage law reform in England and Wales where humanists cannot conduct legally binding marriages ⬇️

8 more hiking miles for #nhs1000miles this week (YTD 16 miles) + a new left knee yesterday! Might be rather fewer miles for the next few weeks …

What a shambles. P's bank account locked for nearly 4 years and care home fees unpaid (with his daughter being put under pressure to do something) after COP apparently lost a Deputyship application when a judge went off sick. openjusticecourtofprotection.org/2026/01/06/a...

** This is wonderful A court that exceeds expectation. A court that wants P not just to have "care and support" but also to be RADIANT - glowing, joyful, uplifted. Sometimes a typo reveals what's often missing....

What a shambles. P's bank account locked for nearly 4 years and care home fees unpaid (with his daughter being put under pressure to do something) after COP apparently lost a Deputyship application when a judge went off sick. openjusticecourtofprotection.org/2026/01/06/a...

None of these 90+ year old protected parties was in court. I doubt most of them even knew about the court case. I *really* don't want to be in this situation when I'm in my 80s or 90s but can't see how to avoid it.....

None of these 90+ year old protected parties was in court. I doubt most of them even knew about the court case. I *really* don't want to be in this situation when I'm in my 80s or 90s but can't see how to avoid it.....

Gentle start for #nhs1000miles 2026. 2 small Wainwright summits for 8 very frosty boots-on hiking miles. Here's us on #Dodd this morning. Pretty sure this will be my last summit before knee surgery next Sat, tho' I hope to clock a few more miles this week #LakeDistrict @kitzingercelia.bsky.social

Recommended (and further to my post here: pinktape.co.uk/rants/lawyer...) : naturalandartificiallaw.com/ai-in-judici...

Last (short) hike of 2025, with @kitzingercelia.bsky.social: a chilly wander over Latrigg. Here's the view over Derwentwater into Borrowdale and the high fells beyond. Happy New Year everyone!

Fleetwith Pike on Christmas Day

This is a long read but an important one for anyone interested in how the Court of Protection, or indeed any public service, interacts with families. It is a shocking and very frightening case and I'm hugely grateful to Zoe and to Celia for sharing it.

Lord Sumption in his own words is almost always more impressive than other people’s gloss of his arguments and thinking would suggest. “Perhaps the second worst sin that a judge in the final court of appeal can commit is accidentally to decide half a dozen other cases that aren’t before him.“

This shocking case has generated lots of comments (scroll down to the bottom of the blog post. Thank you to everyone who has sent kind messages to Zoe. No family should be put through this kind of trauma.