'Will you hear me sing when all our words have flown away?' An extract from 'Incantation', the final movement of my recent piece Going, Going, Gone, which celebrates words in the English language that are going obsolete. Full thing here open.spotify.com/track/2MY8Vv...

Have had to use the block function on here for the first time. Guess online folks gonna be online folks. 🥴

Well worth your time to listen www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

This person is Attorney General of the United States - a part of the executive - declaring war on the Courts headed by John Roberts. That she should be impeached and gone by noon tomorrow is a given. However, there is no way now Roberts can duck this fight and have any credible role.

Through all his troubles, neither the DOJ/FBI nor any state authorities ever subjected Donald Trump to arrest, preferring in every case to proceed by indictment and voluntary surrender. It’s notable that a sitting judge and pillar of the Milwaukee community was not extended the same courtesy.

Shall mourn Pope Francis. Lux aeterna luceat ei..Requiescat In Pace But will add this: this is one of the most important conclaves in living memory. Possibly longer.

I wanted to be a Criminal barrister for the oral advocacy. Now my life is a paper trail of emails, “attendance” notes, defence statements and endless advices ….

Word of the day is ‘bugiard’ (17th century): one who distorts the truth beyond all recognition to fit their own agenda.

When I was younger I used to giggle at a #StarTrek character called Deanna Troy. The ship’s counsellor and an empath who would interpret situations etc Now I see it as prescient.

The British model is far from perfect but I fear this coming our way more heavily and readily now. The stances taken on the COVID regulations gave a glimpse.

Worth reading the review. All I kept asking myself as I did was “How is this going to be funded?” Closely followed by “ And how is this going to play out in real time conditions?”

For the good of my blood pressure and mental health, do I listen to Rod Liddle (for it is he!) on Times Radio discuss whether ADHD even exists…. 🙄😬

Well worth a listen to today’s episode of the Law Show on BBC Radio4 on expert evidence. Will add this caveat: juries determine cases on all the evidence they have heard and that can include the Defendant’s evidence if they choose to give it.

A thing about public attitudes to Crime that has struck me of late: the use of adverbs & adjectives in media briefings by Police &/ CPS but especially Police. Often turns up the heat but with no explanation from Defence or evidential context. That’s why published sentencing remarks matter.

Also if you don’t know who Curtis Yarvin is or what his philosophy is, go look him & it up. Then some of what is happening in the US may make a little more sense.

Another US state governor, this time, New York, setting out what it actually means to be a republican with a small “R”https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNd1WgEwY/

This speech by the Governor of Illinois is eloquent as it is powerful. He’s not bending a knee to any monarch, real or self-delusional: vm.tiktok.com/ZNd1W84aA/

experimental drag act of a fancy lawyer who's also a dainty little dog: welcome to the stage, Bichon de Reya

"La guerra es la forma que tiene dios de enseñar geografía a los estadounidenses". Ambrose Bierce, citado por Anthony Beevor.

My history degree is making my teeth itch in terms of current world politics.

Am not sure how many folks in the UK realise what is being done to websites/data repositories in the US. Some have just been wiped away…. It’s like deleting the whole of the ONS.

Sticking to what I vaguely know about: all the Crown courts in my area are like ghost ships. Nothing much going on. Guess they are waiting for a new financial year for more sitting days ? Backlog what backlog?

The test of basic legal literacy in the UK is whether you think UK judges use gavels. Not a single person involved in the production and publication of this cartoon would pass that test.

I’ve come here because holding my nose in the other place is becoming frankly painful…

For @katebevan.com

This be me!

I hope one thing digital government practitioners are taking away from attempting to divine what is happening in the US: it should be a mater of public record how digital public services and infrastructure work, when they change and what data they use. No more excuses.

Always worth listening to Nemone Lethbridge - a trailblazing woman at the Bar www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Would just like to reiterate a long held position: the criminal law needs to overhaul the way it deals with mental health to reflect (more) modern medicine & treatment. And also Hospital orders need a review too…

*Interesting* AG in the US… oh my

This is spot on. Am at a loss as to how so many are now fanning flames of a well known issue & subsequently at a 5 year inquiry. It’s almost like it didn’t matter that the previous Govt did not act on the Jay recommendations.What is point of another inquiry to be ignored again? Now PIE ? Eh?

@barristersecret.bsky.social Happy festivus, Bunny! May your pole have a very high strength-to-weight ratio 😘

In the face of tragedy, all respect to Madison’s Police Chief Barnes who has spoken with calm clarity & compassion. We share in your grief, Madison, Wisconsin 💔

Christmas cutie at 12CP chambers 🐾🎄

This is indeed a Christmas cracker. And for all at 12CPBarristers #IYKYK 🤍 Showaddywaddy - Hey Mr. Christmas - 17th December 1974 www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3aL...

So here’s a weird cultural thing. I didn’t grow up in UK but a country where everyone had ID cards aged 16 onwards so it didn’t seem an issue to me. My dad had to explain to me why the British are so resistant to it.

What a letter.

Affordable court attire I came across in Tesco:

All this talk of prisons and no talk of why. What are the underlying causes of some offending ? How do we rehabilitate effectively? What are the alternatives to remanding in custody prior to trial ?

Not me listening to the Reith lectures broadcast from HMP Grendon to see if I know any of the inmates. But on a more serious note, it’s excellent stuff and everyone should listen.

What to do if I give up Criminal law next year ?

A reminder to please pay your freelancers before popping off for the holidays otherwise Santa won’t visit you and you will be doomed to live in a forever-winter with no Christmas and Mr Tumnus will be turned to stone.

Wish somebody would set up advocacy sessions for more senior members of the Bar. Sometimes a refresher or sharpener is what you need.

Sharing the link to Talk to Spot as yet again I remain astonished by how many members of the Bar don’t know what it is or how it works. www.barcouncil.org.uk/support-for-...

Reactivating this account to promote my Substack, Bleak House Revisited, writing about English law, legal history, literature and London. First post on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill which passed its second reading in the House of Commons yesterday open.substack.com/pub/bleakhou...

Late guilty pleas may occur for a variety of reasons but rarely just to bump up defence fees. This kind of collateral attack on the integrity of the defence practitioners of the Criminal Bar is not a good look. Especially when many also prosecute.

In case anyone wondered: I and most of my colleagues at the Criminal Bar do not tend to deliberately leave cases to the last period before trial to get an uplift in fees. So many factors though it’s usually our clients or late service of Prosecution material that create the situation.

Sending people to prison is a national pastime- it seems to be the response to most crimes without ever tackling underlying causes or looking at effective long term rehabilitative solutions.