The Choosing of Judges
The Times today is arguing that judges are generally male, white and Oxbridge and that this is wrong. I will probably agree that we need a broader judiciary, but not with a lot of their reasons.
My late wife was a reasonably successful barrister and she was asked many years ago to take the first steps to becoming a judge. At the time, she was happy in her work, and as she had other responsibilities like breeding racehorses, that fitted well with her career, she declined.
As The TImes argues we may choose our judges from a rather limited pool, but how many of the really creative legal minds, much prefer to form their own career, outside of the legal mainstream. I know one very capable barrister, who went into commerce, chaired a large plc, and now acts as an international mediator. He may or may not have made a good judge, but like many he found the confines of the traditional law, a desert for his creativity.
I have known several judges well. They find the job well-paid and pensioned and in general they enjoy it. But many do find it rather routine and lacking in creativity. And when they are creative, like a judicial friend was, very much to general acclaim, they are slapped down by those that run the Lord Chancellor’s Department.
So in some ways the job chooses the sober line-toeing minds, who want a decent pension and many of those who would make excellent judges make other and better career changes.
What Do Saudi Arabia, Russia and the Vatican City Have In Common?
According to tonight’s Evening Standard, they’ve all had diplomats arrested for drink driving in the last three years in London by the Met. Saudi Arabia had four, so I suppose it’s now alright for expats to drink in that country! In that time, 59 diplomats or their family members were alleged to have committed various offences, including fraud, robbery, rape and other sexual offences. One from Oman, even made a bomb threat.
But of course none were punished, as they all claimed diplomatic immunity.
Isn’t it about time, this arcane law was scrapped.
A Cable Thief Finally Wins a Darwin Award
After several attempts recently, like this one and these on the Central line in London, someone has finally won a Darwin Award in Leeds.
I know it’s sad when someone dies, but it does appear that in this case the electricity company involved has done a lot to make the site safe.
Visual Basic 6 Programmer For Hire
A couple of times recently, I’ve met people, who have said that my skills in Visual Basic 6 may still be needed, because in the City of London, there are still a lot of important systems written in the language. Hence this post, which is almost an advert to say that I’m looking for work.
At my age and with my hopefully sensible finances, I don’t need a permanent job, but old programmers never give up coding, even if they just do it in their mind. Living alone, I have plenty of time on my hands to spend with my therapist, but sometimes I feel I need to do something constructive. Even if it’s just to prove I still can!
So if anybody is in trouble and needs a good Visual Basic 6 programmer who still has most of his marbles, I’m here just north of the City of London, a short bus ride away.
On the legal side, I have complete sets of discs and manuals, so I would not be working outside of any licences.
The Unbelievable Case of the Hacking of Milly Dowler’s Phone!
I wrote a few months ago about how easy it is to hack many mobile phones. Basically, if your pin is still set to the factory default, the averagely competent ten year old can read your messages and do other things with it.
You could make out a case for some phones to be hacked, especially if a compromising or criminal scandal that has ramifications for us all is ongoing.
but no-one, and especially the editor of a newspaper or the child’d parents could sanction the hacking of the phone of an young girl, as appears to have happened in the Milly Dowler case.
Obviously, to hack a phone you need its number and the problem here is that I suspect that the average child has given their mobile number to dozens of friends and some have even posted it on-line.
But at least, it should be possible to find out the numbers of those, who called Milly’s number and when they did it. It should also be possible to find the number of the perpetrator of this horrendous act. But I suspect that the hacker would have used an untraceable number, from perhaps a pay-as-you-go phone that they bought for cash in a no-questions-asked shop.
There is only one sentence for newspapers that do this sort of thing, if it is fact proved that they did. And that is that they have to suspend publication for an appropriate time.
If you read the headlines of today’s papers, the tabloids mention nothing about the Milly Dowler case. In my view, this indicates that they all know a lot more about phone hacking than they care to disclose.
Is Novac Djokovic’s Success Down To Going Gluten-Free?
According to some web sites, like this one, it is.
I’m sceptical, especially as that site has an agenda!
But statistically, the fact that I only know of one top class sportswomen, Hayley Turner, who has been diagnosed as a coeliac is way under the expected odds.
The Most Well Known Piece of Art In The World
I took the Northern Line to Finchley Central station today, to see the plaque dedicated to the creator of the most well known piece of art in the world. Although we generally don’t think of it as such, the London Underground map is so recognisable, that show it to many five-year-olds in farawy places and they will recognise Harry Beck ‘s amazing solution to the problem of how to create an understandable map for a transport system. It was so good, that within a few decades it had become a standard used all over the world.
Plaque Remembering Harry Beck at Finchley Central
The picture shows the plaque dedicated to Harry, who used the station regularly.
Harry Beck's Original London Underground Map
This picture shows a facimile of his original map.
Alomgside this is said in the text.
The map shown on this panel is a reproduction of Harry Beck’s 1933 design – the first to be mass produced in a pocket form. Alongside you will see today’s diagram; although there are more stations and lines operating today, the design has been easily adapted to change and growth – a true testament to the genius of its originator.
There is little more to say. Except that all modern Underground maps acknowledge Beck in the bottom left corner.
Greenwich Park Eventing Invitational CIC2
I would have liked to go to this event, but it is exclusive and the general public are not allowed, even if they pay for a ticket.
I would have liked to go to the eventing at the Olympics, but failed like many to get a ticket.
As I pointed out on this blog, Greenwich Park is just too small for the eventing.
I hope that this exclusivity doesn’t apply to all the preview events!
Getting The Interface Between Real and Internet Shopping Right!
I recently bought some towels from John Lewis, as most of mine are rather tatty and frayed. I also wanted all of them to be the same dark blue colour. C had bought numerous ones over the years and we had purples, reds, green and yellows to name but four colours.
I needed to buy some more to match my new ones, but they don’t have any serial number on the tag, so that I can order the right ones. The only way to do it, is to keep the packaging or take the towel back to the store. I can’t even login to my John Lewis account and get the details that way.
In this instance it isn’t that serious, but it does mean I’ll have to take one of my towels back, so that I can get the same colour. If it was properly tagged with a stock number or this was available on-line from my account, it would mean that all I would need to do is repeat the order on-line.
Other shops like IKEA and I think a few others have a consistent internet and real shopping numbering system that works. Surely getting it right would mean they got more repeat sales. I know ranges change, but I suspect that a lot of the stuff stocked in John Lewis hasn’t changed at all in years.
Crossrailed Again!
I have a feeling London is going to have to learn to live with CrossRail. Not content with causing chaos in Oxford Street, the construction work has now effectively removed Hanover Square from being a useful thoroughfare between Fenwick and John Lewis.
An Unfriendly Hanover Square
But it still doesn’t stop idiots driving through to make matters worse for buses, taxis and pedestrians.
Traffic Jams Towards John Lewis
I must say that I might miss driving at times, but not in Central London.
I should say that I walked to John Lewis, a couple of minutes quicker than the Ferrari! But perhaps the driver was a learner, as this driver was.
The Anonymous Widower 