What is it about snowmen that turns entirely rational people (I assume they are or were rational but I suppose I could be wrong) into idiots? I mentioned recently the woman who had dialled 999 after discovering that someone had nicked her snowman [Snowman theft armless, say police, 7th December, 2010]. At the time, I thought… Read More »
One of the best loved stories of recent years is Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman with its music by Howard Blake. In case you are not familiar with the story (and surely everyone has heard the main theme tune Walking in the Air) it concerns a little boy who makes a snowman one day. Unable to sleep… Read More »
Those two words and all the menace they contain must have overshadowed the lives of many of the inhabitants of these islands over the centuries. After all, being sent to The Tower meant damp and insanitary conditions, poor food and rough treatment leading often to ignominious execution. Remember Thomas More and Anne Boleyn to name… Read More »
I suppose it was always going to happen. If something seems too good to be true, then it probably is! This is not a moan of “the glass is half full” variety but a realisation that in almost every sphere, the law, and often it is law made by our lovely European masters, sorry partners,… Read More »
Has the Oxford University Press printed its last book? This may appear startling to those of you who thought that the OUP was one of the great bastions of the printed word. As someone who passes the premises of the Cambridge University Press each week on the train, and an Oxonian, I was immediately drawn… Read More »
Ask people what they know about the Glorious Twelfth and you may not get a consistent answer. The Glorious Twelfth, otherwise known as Orangemen’s Day is July 12th and is a Protestant celebration of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and ultimately the victory of the Protestant King Billy (King William III) over the Catholic James II at… Read More »
Some of us knew it already. Others denied it. Still more did not want to know about it and others closed their minds to it. I am not talking about Legal Process Outsourcing, nor Smart e-Discovery. I am talking about a report I first heard early last Thursday morning on the Today programme about the… Read More »
Freelance journalist Grania Langdon-Down has sent me an article entitled “Call for backup” published in the July edition of Solutions. The article looks at how the process of forensic investigation works and how litigators go about finding the right firm for the job. Grania writes fluently on the subject and is kind enough to quote… Read More »
It was just a wooden chair! There was nothing remarkable about it until one realised that the padding at the sides consisted of cushions piled on top of one another and strapped together and that underneath was a shallow metal tray. Even that did not really capture the menace behind the image until one realised… Read More »
The report by Lord Saville into what happened in (London)Derry on 30th January 1972, which has become known as Bloody Sunday, was published on 15th June 2010. Much has already been written about it. The statistics are there for all to see. It took 12 years, it cost £190 million, there were approximately 2,500 written… Read More »