tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11541465419573733852024-03-18T05:42:37.490+00:00Law ActuallyThe blog of a practising lawyer and full-time cynic. Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.comBlogger1026125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-50056080036030640182022-10-28T16:40:00.003+01:002022-10-28T16:40:57.435+01:00Microsoft Office: coming soon button<p>I warn you: I’ve decided to publish a blog post and I’ve
never been moanier!</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It’s been ages since I’ve blogged, but I’m not going to
apologise or say I’ll try and blog more frequently now because:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->It’s not true, and I couldn’t give a flying
frick about blogging or my blog. Actually, I think I prefer <b>not</b>
blogging. So it probably <b>will</b> be months or years before you hear from me
again — if you ever do; and</li><li><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Nobody reads this blog anyway.</li></ul><!--[if !supportLists]--><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Anyway, enough of that. My beef today is the stupid little
loud hailer icon next to the minimise button in Word and other Office apps. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Yes — this thing. <br /><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgNbrs1yWtI0YjFhSKy_mDpgl1rq2qwNSGP8nyt7261tsDG1Lmms6C9xZywkkGmWeqdeLV_P8G1FMurepXuviuM_ZKex6_cpIo9Yxvbkn3RJefNNDV1xxrcma6sXFcpJOQTNp6wgTaj6NZg51B9Orfug3b4DfIwkEP4lOMxeH2r6O9x-pRHjYsd0PpK" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img data-original-height="63" data-original-width="65" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgNbrs1yWtI0YjFhSKy_mDpgl1rq2qwNSGP8nyt7261tsDG1Lmms6C9xZywkkGmWeqdeLV_P8G1FMurepXuviuM_ZKex6_cpIo9Yxvbkn3RJefNNDV1xxrcma6sXFcpJOQTNp6wgTaj6NZg51B9Orfug3b4DfIwkEP4lOMxeH2r6O9x-pRHjYsd0PpK=w51-h50" width="51" /></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span>I keep hitting it by mistake when I go to minimise the
window.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And when the sidebar popped up today after I hit the damned thing again, I spotted the following text:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i></i></p><blockquote><i>Office has a fresh look. It’s modern and new, designed to help
you focus on your best work.</i></blockquote><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Seriously? What a load of fucking bollocks. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I think progress peaked with Office 2010 personally. And
this touchy-feely modern-vibe bullshit just makes me want to boke!<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiEKvwAqFG7CMmPgFlulBFcgCazySxqirTMGL_by-JQVDy1GCJg2qqIQ1QBBbrEODmhjds4RTX5vdYiJj9sP4uxq9VNfEZdCnpbFrQZonq1MzcUFBvgcNypxo-gU2SrDAbqTB0hiSFNjTs2uS2VL86P-n-IRpFgXOb8HgyMfnQzKWPwf-Ew4m9iAkAV" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="690" data-original-width="811" height="544" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiEKvwAqFG7CMmPgFlulBFcgCazySxqirTMGL_by-JQVDy1GCJg2qqIQ1QBBbrEODmhjds4RTX5vdYiJj9sP4uxq9VNfEZdCnpbFrQZonq1MzcUFBvgcNypxo-gU2SrDAbqTB0hiSFNjTs2uS2VL86P-n-IRpFgXOb8HgyMfnQzKWPwf-Ew4m9iAkAV=w640-h544" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-23906542440860230652021-01-22T11:16:00.004+00:002021-01-22T11:16:56.902+00:00French students bemoan studying isolation and being stuck in front of a computerI was reading earlier this week about the concerns raised by French students currently studying (or trying to) at university with minimal in-person interaction. <br /><br />I'm sure students all over the world are saying much the same thing at the moment. And I get that facing these tribulations when you're younger can prove even more challenging and scary. But let's face it, huge swathes of employees are currently struggling with being holed-up in their spare bedrooms, hunched over a laptop trying to get work done. That's for those who are lucky enough to still have jobs. Students aren't the only ones who have got a raw deal here.<div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO4HhkijCWBQ7PQwQQ9fS5ybBZYgnB91Xg_w3WqnwaYbVNwamJ6okEcRXL1eGr5gjZarYVovaATCDr5OeXyzjbFYpCp_oZ_ynIX8_UHOskrDF3uGXpmoZJc8HYa1LeJwhbj7tBBLo-Cj8/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="442" data-original-width="678" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO4HhkijCWBQ7PQwQQ9fS5ybBZYgnB91Xg_w3WqnwaYbVNwamJ6okEcRXL1eGr5gjZarYVovaATCDr5OeXyzjbFYpCp_oZ_ynIX8_UHOskrDF3uGXpmoZJc8HYa1LeJwhbj7tBBLo-Cj8/w400-h261/image.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />I'm not convinced what the answer is: resuming face-to-face teaching isn't a viable or safe option at the moment and there should be no calls for that to happen.<br /><br />I remember being holed-up in my room in halls of residence for long periods of time trying to do work - and that was in the early to mid noughties. Admittedly, I (reluctantly most of the time) had lectures and seminars to attend so I had the opportunity of seeing other people. We didn't even have in-room internet access in my first two years, so whenever you wanted or needed to get online, it meant a trudge down to one of the 'computer rooms'. We weren't all permanently attached to smartphones, either, thank God!<br /><br />From <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55716340">Coronavirus: French students highlight pandemic's mental health toll - BBC News</a><br /><br /><blockquote> [Heïdi Soupault, a political science student from Strasbourg,] sent a letter to President Emmanuel Macron last week. "I'm 19 years old and I feel like I'm dead," it began. "I no longer have dreams. If we have no hope or prospects for the future at 19, what do we have left?"</blockquote><div><br /></div>Well, you've got your youth. That's something.<br /><br /><blockquote>"We don't have perspective anymore," Ms Soupault told the BBC. "There's nothing to look forward to. When you're in your early twenties, you live intensely and social interactions are at the centre of your life." </blockquote><p> </p><blockquote> "At first it was supposed to be temporary, but being on the computer all day long is tiring to the point where you can't focus on anything," she added. "Everything just feels sad at the moment."</blockquote><div><br /></div>That's working life, love. Get used to it. <br /><br />Harsh, perhaps, but true.<br /><br /></div>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-13433963990529424312020-12-29T18:17:00.004+00:002020-12-29T18:17:56.181+00:00Brexit agreement proof-reading balls-upTee hee. This is a good one.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55475433">Brexit deal mentions Netscape browser and Mozilla Mail - BBC News</a>:<br /><blockquote>References to decades-old computer software are included in the new Brexit agreement, including a description of Netscape Communicator and Mozilla Mail as being "modern" services.<br /><br />Experts believe officials must have copied and pasted chunks of text from old legislation into the document.<br /><br />The references are on page 921 of the trade deal, in a section on encryption technology.<br /><br />It also recommends using systems that are now vulnerable to cyber-attacks.<br /><br />The text cites "modern e-mail software packages including Outlook, Mozilla Mail as well as Netscape Communicator 4.x."<br /><br />The latter two are now defunct - the last major release of Netscape Communicator was in 1997.</blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt;"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I think all solicitors have experienced that sinking feeling
when they find they've left something in an agreement that <b>really</b> should have
been removed from the precedent on which it was based. The name of a previous client is a classic or the product/service that that previous client provided. Instances of irrelevant technical crap being left buried in a schedule isn't unheard of either.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">But this stuff happens; it's not the end of the world. And it's proven that <b>someone's </b>reading the Brexit agreement at least.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgopZq7aNloqnW4u-cQ1B70xAEAGoYLQaadLZiR6dDRA_L9XL8W214_FEk8RO3Cnd8KrYBQkNR7uFIOAVsxhRQSwuKJPxu1YDoOqRN5AHUozwCF3itaosMr4QFwRfCdrLoBKK1DHbhcHy0/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="902" data-original-width="1036" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgopZq7aNloqnW4u-cQ1B70xAEAGoYLQaadLZiR6dDRA_L9XL8W214_FEk8RO3Cnd8KrYBQkNR7uFIOAVsxhRQSwuKJPxu1YDoOqRN5AHUozwCF3itaosMr4QFwRfCdrLoBKK1DHbhcHy0/" width="345" /></a></div><br />I remember Netscape Navigator fondly. On my first PC, back
in 1999, I found it to be much more reliable than the pesky installation of
Internet Explorer 4 with which I had to grapple. As I recall, it would often freeze my entire system without warning, forcing me to switch it off at the wall. <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It was eventually fixed after I completely corrupted that computer in late December that
year — apparently, uninstalling software wasn’t as straightforward as manually
deleting the programme files, sigh — and it necessitated a mercy dash to
computer man extraordinaire ‘Slim Steve’. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Once Steve <b>finally </b>got round to it some days after the drop-off, he reinstalled Windows
for me and generally saved the day, allowing me to get my teenage kicks through the internet once more. </p><p class="MsoNormal">Thanks again, Steve, wherever you are now.</p>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-30418898465795346382020-12-24T18:26:00.002+00:002020-12-29T18:19:39.460+00:00What happened to the Law Society’s professional development centre?<p>I've come to rely on the Law Society’s professional
development centre (let’s call it PDC) as part of my diet of CPD or continuing
competence or whatever we’re meant to call it these days. Over the past 12
months or so I viewed webinars the Law Society offered on vertical agreements, legal
privilege in 2020, cyber security and a contract law update. All were pretty
good. And all were reasonably priced (not that I personally pay for it).</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOIXtAK5GEO6ITP4rdga4AZYPyZB2EMSJn5SDrkEWCGBUJc7KfXt48vWFVJjXbdVSMChse6-P3j5w436rMJxeQ0vcV5qRCjvGtzFAJ2EN7icBvtRCTI0TrOW3dvMCJnt15LLocxRnx9G4/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1084" data-original-width="1380" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOIXtAK5GEO6ITP4rdga4AZYPyZB2EMSJn5SDrkEWCGBUJc7KfXt48vWFVJjXbdVSMChse6-P3j5w436rMJxeQ0vcV5qRCjvGtzFAJ2EN7icBvtRCTI0TrOW3dvMCJnt15LLocxRnx9G4/w400-h314/Professional+Development+Centre+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Professional Development Centre... gone, but not forgotten</td></tr></tbody></table></div><p class="MsoNormal">In November, the Law Society pulled the plug on their PDC
service. The portal is still there, but all courses have been marked as
‘inactive’ and you can’t purchase new material. I still had a webinar to
complete before the switch off occurred. Damn!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It turns out the Law Society put out a blog post out about
it in early November, but my attention was elsewhere at the time. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://communities.lawsociety.org.uk/civil-litigation-news-and-updates/changes-to-the-professional-development-centre/6001457.article">Changes
to the Professional Development Centre | News | Communities - The Law Society</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<blockquote>From 23 November 2020, the Professional Development Centre (PDC) will no longer be available. <br /><br />You’ll need to complete any courses you have begun by this date. You’ll also need to download any training records and certificates you want to keep while you still have access. <br /><br />Members can soon access future training through our new platform – Law Society Learning.
</blockquote><p class="MsoNormal">Ah — so that’s the plan. </p><p class="MsoNormal">The advent of Law Society Learning is all well and good, but
there’s a paltry selection of content on there currently — just practice
management stuff. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbK00EGqf66gtwDVk1gTOAzahOlzPEh2en53hdxLlkZDOTqQA9jL1oRkOGe9iHK7Xd8Rh7Tuaa7E5208B9y36eT4PzKAo33qxYekG18LcmTnVwSKpMpYJD27xeT3xNtZ9XLsEGITEYfuk/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="610" data-original-width="606" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Xo1uozVGe2dVgpuYvvd4LNSj2qVLDU_nhndAR7TVdnRZS7wn9Vj8B25BpsBgJn35gFAwaauvwifErOCO8Qto5W-fBmeHkRHoQnbiingo4BSjyTQzGyzgSNEtDL0QzeiGA9Au-8qsqUM/w397-h400/Law+Society+Learning.jpg" width="397" /></a></span></div>And that’s a real shame. What I don’t get is why they couldn’t port across all of the existing content from PDC. They seem to be starting completely from scratch. Perhaps it's a licensing thing.</div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Oh well. I’m sure it’ll
improve over time. <o:p></o:p></p>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-24973262655934983622020-12-18T15:01:00.002+00:002020-12-18T16:49:00.503+00:00A Christmas checklist from B&Q<p> I received the following piece of nonsense in my inbox earlier from B&Q. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDZrM2Sx2djS5pBQkgO7MZ8_8AqDZz-44PGp85ujVyZu0AdaLXOxvfSeAg86SqwMsbXEqsv9uTH4L4WLywKwUOJXZ39F0-_fxwaAT4Q1xuwiMtXrKu1yTGtjtV-1BwEQHvcmIYZLRcDTc/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="642" data-original-width="1334" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDZrM2Sx2djS5pBQkgO7MZ8_8AqDZz-44PGp85ujVyZu0AdaLXOxvfSeAg86SqwMsbXEqsv9uTH4L4WLywKwUOJXZ39F0-_fxwaAT4Q1xuwiMtXrKu1yTGtjtV-1BwEQHvcmIYZLRcDTc/w400-h193/image.png" width="400" /></a><br /><br /></div>Seriously? A Christmas checklist. I've annotated it accordingly!<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXrIguZ3qSHoq10-CU1NsmYxQo888E54nKxUiz6ArAANHx5sEhKCzI42NsQEvHwkn94X3Ix-Xp6uhndCSih9fOfIJYZlXL1jXeZbjxwHTffvSr-tNdvxzjtGICS4zOVGuzE67bq7rG6o8/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1381" data-original-width="2048" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXrIguZ3qSHoq10-CU1NsmYxQo888E54nKxUiz6ArAANHx5sEhKCzI42NsQEvHwkn94X3Ix-Xp6uhndCSih9fOfIJYZlXL1jXeZbjxwHTffvSr-tNdvxzjtGICS4zOVGuzE67bq7rG6o8/w640-h432/image.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Because that's what you really need over Christmas, isn't it - a fricking toilet seat! Actually, they say 'seats' - PLURAL. What sort of digestive calamities are B&Q anticipating here??</span></div></span></div></div><p>What utter bollocks this is. Mindless consumerism at its absolute worst! (On second thoughts, that award probably goes to secret santa arrangements in workplaces up and down the land. Suffice it to say that I always opt out of that nonsense.)</p>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-35606812764264458732020-09-25T15:59:00.008+01:002020-09-25T17:51:16.557+01:00The last six months…<p>They’ve been interesting, haven’t they?</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thankfully, I wasn’t furloughed, unlike many of my
colleagues, and work for me has stayed pretty buoyant throughout (apparently commercial
deals <i>are</i> still being done, generating a need for contract negotiation
and drafting — and us commercial contracts lawyers haven’t been (totally) replaced
by AI just yet).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">2020 was meant to be the year we finally moved house. We
thought COVID had put paid to that, but when the property sector reopened with
gusto in the early summer, we decided to give it a go. We’re glad we did: our
house is sold (STC) and our offer to purchase has been accepted. We’re hoping
to move pre-Christmas… provided the moving gods are still smiling on us. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So the summer was largely a blur of estate agent viewings and
that sort of stuff. All pretty tedious — and it wasn’t helped by two of our
neighbours also listing their houses within a fortnight of us going on the market.
Bastards.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I worked from home even before COVID hit — save for two or
three trips to the office per month — so there wasn’t a great deal of adjustment
needed for me on that front. The daily firm-wide webcam calls have been a bit
of a drag, but it’s been a small price to pay in exchange for avoiding all
commuting. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’ve also had no issues adjusting to wearing a face mask — provided
I use my ‘ear saver’ (a rubber strap with notches onto which the mask’s ear
loops can grip*). Fun fact: I’ve sensitive ears and I don’t like things pulling
on them. One of my hobbies (nothing kinky) requires me to wear a respirator for
lengthy periods of time, so popping on a surgical mask whenever I womble around
Sainsbury’s isn’t much hardship.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>* For the benefit of the uninitiated, this is the type of thing I'm talking about:</i></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFpqAcy68RUN8Htme22oRMS8am3mcpRqqT8NMiiX-LVEuBByILU0P0b1R566-elwHJhgQEcmL6CTI5o1AuCizGXwqm1K8UVimfBaDzlZWtKD7pvKXykIDZKoFHvF-XSTZ_0SHhZxkIElQ/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="1422" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFpqAcy68RUN8Htme22oRMS8am3mcpRqqT8NMiiX-LVEuBByILU0P0b1R566-elwHJhgQEcmL6CTI5o1AuCizGXwqm1K8UVimfBaDzlZWtKD7pvKXykIDZKoFHvF-XSTZ_0SHhZxkIElQ/" width="320" /></a></div><br />I suspect the next few weeks and months will be a continuing
ball ache of conveyancing nonsense, mortgage applications and quotes for
removals. Actually, we’re quite a way down some of those roads already — and I
even had to dust off (electronically) my property law and practice materials
from the LPC to remind myself of certain points in the conveyancing process. <p></p><p class="MsoNormal">The law firm we’ve instructed in connection with our sale and purchase are <i>all
right</i>, but that’s about as much as I can say for them. I’m sure my numerous
emails, letters and phone calls to them have been getting on their ‘thruppney
bits’ (to quote Sharon and Tracy from Birds of a Feather that my wife and I are
currently re-watching, episode by episode**). Having a client who’s both a lawyer
<b>and</b> a bit of a control freak must be a bit trying. Still, I have to bear
it as part of my day job, so why shouldn’t they?</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>** That’s the original nine series that ran from 1989 to 1998
on the BBC, not the subsequent ‘comeback’ drivel that aired on ITV more recently.</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu5Bx4Lnmc0jFlLJi2DkEIWkesnItFwlJBM49GfqSjVpsUeeYlF0yL4hveDxmx2Rb9KRJR9llfY3y4fhrddXM5mEXje8XsTuSp1jdbKnhfCC6A9n-OnZ6a9uS8qgTP0H0T4tmctIY_sKU/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="994" data-original-width="1908" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu5Bx4Lnmc0jFlLJi2DkEIWkesnItFwlJBM49GfqSjVpsUeeYlF0yL4hveDxmx2Rb9KRJR9llfY3y4fhrddXM5mEXje8XsTuSp1jdbKnhfCC6A9n-OnZ6a9uS8qgTP0H0T4tmctIY_sKU/w476-h249/Birds+of+a+Feather.jpg" width="476" /></a></i></div><i><br /><br /></i><p></p>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-9174987458078585272020-03-13T15:20:00.003+00:002020-09-25T16:00:36.583+01:00Movies to self-isolate by<i>Actually, that should be: 'movies to watch while self-isolating'. Ne'er mind.</i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I saw yesterday that the Guardian had <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/mar/12/comfort-films-to-watch-while-self-isolating-coronavirus-ranked">compiled a list of movies</a> that people self-isolating from the Coronavirus could watch to while
away some of the time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">That list was strange, very strange — to say the least of
it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I’d not heard of at least half of them, and they were
supposed to be ‘comfort films’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Even those that I had heard of, wouldn’t have brought any
comfort to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzx9huhq2Eb04PKw_HfOjNlmb_33kmGZDbKz0qdTdxEBhPq5qVkbyH2Mcwpy0vpne8uLCnB6J23JdWEGeBm0DxEtcsCidTqPLEEGrMNytovucoxELcpBIv_UH8iQyXTGI0pq7614S9DJg/s1600/self-isolation.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzx9huhq2Eb04PKw_HfOjNlmb_33kmGZDbKz0qdTdxEBhPq5qVkbyH2Mcwpy0vpne8uLCnB6J23JdWEGeBm0DxEtcsCidTqPLEEGrMNytovucoxELcpBIv_UH8iQyXTGI0pq7614S9DJg/w512-h336/self-isolation.jpg" width="512" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So instead of the utter trash that the Guardian suggested,
here’s my suggested list of films.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Airplane </b>(you can't beat a spoof)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Airplane II </b><o:p></o:p></span>(you really can't beat a spoof)</div>
<div style="margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The Big Bus </b>(spoofs are the best, you know)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>North Sea Hijack</b> (also knows as ffolkes)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Jurassic Park, I, II, and III</b> (my wife’s
suggestions, seconded by me)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The Core </b>(it’s surprisingly watchable)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The Mummy, I, II, and III</b> (or whatever their
correct titles are)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Die Hard (I, II,</b> and, at a push, <b>III</b>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Airport </b>(the 1970 original)</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Airport 1975 </b>(in some ways better than the original - watch out for the singing nun that inspired the corresponding scene in Airplane)</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Airport 1977</b> (this was a corker)</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Airport 1979</b> (turns out there was nothing you couldn't do with a Concorde)</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Speed </b>(but not Speed II)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The Shining </b>(Stanley Kubrick's obviously, not
the Stephen King's mini-series abomination)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Jaws, I, II, III </b>(and the revenge if you get
really desperate)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Piranha </b>(the 1970s version)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The Final Destination movies </b>(cos we're probably all doomed anyway)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The <b>Bond movies </b>— any until Pierce Brosnan’s
rather lame attempts in the 1990s, and absolutely none since)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Journey to the centre of the earth </b>(my wife's
choice, not mine)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Fire, Ice and Dynamite</b> (Roger Moore and Simon
Shepherd and a complete lack of meaningful plot or acting). Actually, don’t
watch this: it’s atrocious.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">You'll be pleased to know that I might update this list over time.</span></div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-65161264828679171202020-03-12T12:50:00.002+00:002020-09-25T16:01:03.602+01:00The world is falling down around us<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I just can’t COPE with this Coronavirus business. It feels
like the world as we know it is disappearing in front of us, and it’s far from clear whether it
will ever be the same again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSXa-TFCvm4UYtP-sQ5wIJlS_TpKbx91ucbXYWV59M3fduF1sywj807BkfjI-a7FCGsNcxcl5o16LmVKLocHLdOavijngat18Of6rfA6GNNgoMYNDFPC8eIT8yBp7u9wu08y7opOkZS74/s1600/Cornonavirus.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSXa-TFCvm4UYtP-sQ5wIJlS_TpKbx91ucbXYWV59M3fduF1sywj807BkfjI-a7FCGsNcxcl5o16LmVKLocHLdOavijngat18Of6rfA6GNNgoMYNDFPC8eIT8yBp7u9wu08y7opOkZS74/w512-h301/Cornonavirus.jpg" width="512" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Schools are closed in Ireland.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tom Hanks has been bitten by the bug and is mopping his fevered
brow as I type.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
McLaren have withdrawn from the Australian grand prix.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My work meeting next week has been cancelled and replaced with a call, but I’ve already bought an advance train ticket in the GWR sale to
travel to London. Bum! Do I go into the office and do the call from there, or write
off the cost of the ticket (it was cheap, stupidly cheap, compared with the standard
price), or do I try to exchange it for £10 and use the ticket at a later date. I
like to show my face in the office occasionally, as it helps to underline the
fact to my colleagues that I’m still alive and I still do work.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My wife and I want to stick our fricking house on the mother
fricking market, having been focusing for the past 8-9 months on getting it up
to scratch. It’s an absolute outrage. First Brexit, now Corona. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Still, you kind
of feel that humanity has brought it on itself. We’ve long been due a plague:
just think about what Stephen King prophesied in The Stand — not that we can rely
on him as being an authority on anything, save perhaps for writing (too) many
verbose books.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And now there’s a dirty great big bluebottle crawling on the
outside of my office window — a bad omen, if ever there was one.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To paraphrase the great Murray Walker: if we didn’t have bad
luck, we’d have no luck at all.</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-22060894212429165092020-01-16T10:27:00.000+00:002020-01-16T10:29:00.725+00:00Smallbone Deceased<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXYwXAzUkoEv7zG-vN1Z2HXdxss5ZgeLz6H_yQtmsUkg6efJJxLA2csdtMo1Kd_V1e-0dgtenvBrcpJqJH_LNSKmLyrD9zAC9_ddhjh9-_6rhyjb97TqueHxQjFB9bxFHhra-EV8pf7M/s1600/Smallbone+deceased+-+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXYwXAzUkoEv7zG-vN1Z2HXdxss5ZgeLz6H_yQtmsUkg6efJJxLA2csdtMo1Kd_V1e-0dgtenvBrcpJqJH_LNSKmLyrD9zAC9_ddhjh9-_6rhyjb97TqueHxQjFB9bxFHhra-EV8pf7M/s320/Smallbone+deceased+-+cover.jpg" width="220" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back in late 2015 I discovered the range of classic crime
books that are being re-published by the British Library. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Aptly titled ‘British Library Crime Classics’, these books
are a mixture of whodunits and other formats of the crime genre written during
what it recognised as the ‘golden era’ of crime fiction — that is, the period
between the two World Wars. The books published include those written by a
number of eminent authors of detective fiction, including E.C.R Lorac, John
Bude, J. Jefferson Farjeon, Freeman Wills Crofts and George Bellairs. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The list of BLCC titles has grown to nearly 80 now — and
I’ve read about three quarters of them. Most are good to very good, a few are
sensational, with just the odd let down (‘Somebody at the Door’ by Raymond
Postgate immediately springs to mind for the latter category). I eventually had
to cast that aside, not fully read.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Aside from the BLCC range, I’ve also become an avid fan of
George Bellairs’ Inspector Littlejohn mysteries — and Bellairs now ranks among my
very favourite authors. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Smallbone Deceased is a whodunit written in 1950 by Michael
Gilbert — who was a practising lawyer himself. The story is set in a London law
firm, Horniman, Birley and Craine, where a body is discovered in one of the
large deed boxes. It’s as good a place as any in which to hide a body (and it
certainly beats hacking the body up in the lavatories and depositing segments
of the cadaver into lever arch box files).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I particularly appreciated the book’s legal setting as well
as a number of elements of the story’s backdrop. But its appeal is by no means
confined to those with experience of legal practice; it’s a corker of a crime
novel and is written with a well-judged humour and wit (something that Alan
Melville didn’t quite get right in my view in his book, Quick Curtain).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m not going to review the Smallbone Deceased per se. There
are plenty of reviews of it out there and I’ve nothing particularly remarkable
to add. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But I <b>will</b> share some of my favourite excerpts. Being
able to download all of your notes and highlights from a novel in a couple of
steps is one of my favourite features of the Kindle. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, without further ado…<o:p></o:p></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">In reference to one of the recently deceased
partners of the firm (not the body discovered in the deed box by the way)… </span><b style="text-indent: -18pt;">“[he
died] as I am sure he would have wished to die—in harness. It scarcely seems a
month ago that I walked into his room and found him at his desk, his pen
grasped in his hand—[.]”</b></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
There’s many a time when I’ve been working
on a particularly fraught matter that I’ve thought I’ll die ‘in harness’, where
someone will come in the next morning and find me slumped over my keyboard —
cold, stiff and lifeless. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Get the violins out, people!</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
</div>
<ul>
<li><b style="text-indent: -18pt;">“It had been on my conscience a bit—but a
trust isn’t like a conveyancing or litigation matter that has to be kept marching
strictly along—and you know how it is. I was a bit rushed and the least urgent
job went to the wall.”</b></li>
</ul>
I think all of us in legal practice can
relate to that. In fact, shortly after reading the book, I paraphrased this
quote about the least urgent matter ‘going to the wall’ as an explanation to a
colleague as to why I hadn’t done something. It beats a bold-faced lie, I
suppose.<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<ul>
<li><b style="text-indent: -18pt;">“A man who hunted down facts with the
passionless pleasure of a butterfly collector and pinned them to his board with
the same cold precision.”</b></li>
</ul>
Every law firm boasts one of these
characters.<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">Describing a scene in the Law Society eatery: </span><b style="text-indent: -18pt;">“Their
nearest neighbours were two middle-aged solicitors, one of whom was eating
spaghetti and reading a law journal, whilst the other appeared to be amending a
draft contract on a diet of fish cakes.”</b></li>
</ul>
What an image! I’ve been guilty of slurping
(and spilling) soup over a draft contract on many occasions in the past —
although these days I tend not to eat at my desk.<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
On a related note, I tried a Sainsbury’s
taste the difference fish cake the other day — the first fish cake I’ve eaten
since my <a href="http://lawactually.blogspot.com/2008/06/june-update.html">home-made
attempt in June 2008 when I managed to give myself chronic food poisoning</a>.
Sadly, this latest fish cake was a real disappointment; it was basically a fish
cake shaped potato croquette; you wouldn’t have known it was supposed to have a
fishy theme at all. It was so bad, the other one was deposited without grace or
ceremony into our compost bin.</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -18pt;">In reference to a cat: “</span><b style="text-indent: -18pt;">He had long had his
eye on a particularly stupid pigeon which roosted in the plane tree at the
south end of the garden. He had noticed that lately it had formed a habit of
making its evening toilet perched on the lowest branch of the tree.”</b></li>
</ul>
We have a pigeon who loves to perch on the
sycamore tree in our front garden and make his toilet there — at <b>any</b>
time of the day.<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
</div>
<ul>
<li><b style="text-indent: -18pt;">“I hate the law. I loathe and detest all this
pettifogging round with words and figures, and hours and days and weeks spent
mangling bumph”</b></li>
</ul>
Don’t we all feel like this
sometimes? (In my case, <b>most</b> of the time.) And what a fabulous word:
‘pettifogging’. I was introduced to it through a George Bellairs novel, no
less. And it was used in the context of, yes, you guessed it — a lawyer.<br />
<div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><b>“He thought of the future. Ahead of him stretched unbroken reefs of trouble. Endless shocks to his nervous system; endless assaults on his gastric fluids; endless nights when fear of insomnia would prove more potent than insomnia itself.”</b></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
This might have been describing me!</div>
</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-80701605625535379232019-09-30T15:32:00.000+01:002019-09-30T15:32:13.166+01:00Is a career in law for you? 6 reasons why people become lawyers<br />
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Featured Post</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Long hours, constant learning, dealing with difficult
clients and often distressing cases, the prospect of loosing an entire case,
the constant pressure…why would anyone choose to become a lawyer? <br /><br /><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvQPVxyIAJBXSP9YGxNNmdIRJlFnEwcVK8uz6Y4hM6ts4mAH-3j64GbbYE8HqjqKyvPgj3z7u2u7VbXRKsYI3vlj_y7fzZZy-qu5q6DIMIJP2tjn1gzanGNe56SDbZ8BcAR0Rjcu1Fj9c/s1600/Working+as+a+lawyer.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="588" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvQPVxyIAJBXSP9YGxNNmdIRJlFnEwcVK8uz6Y4hM6ts4mAH-3j64GbbYE8HqjqKyvPgj3z7u2u7VbXRKsYI3vlj_y7fzZZy-qu5q6DIMIJP2tjn1gzanGNe56SDbZ8BcAR0Rjcu1Fj9c/s1600/Working+as+a+lawyer.JPG" /></a></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s amazing that despite all this, thousands of people every
year decide to take up a career in law and even more surprisingly – enjoy it! Ask
any law firm – check out <a href="https://www.lilawyer.com/no-fault-benefits-part-4-apip-and-obel/">lilawyer.com</a>
if you’re looking for legal representation – and they’ll tell you that working
as a lawyer isn’t just a job that pays the bills, it’s a vocation and a way of
life. Wondering if it’s the career for you? Check out these 6 reasons why
people become lawyers. Who knows? Maybe you’ll join them!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>The money</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ok, ok it sounds pretty cold. But for some people the
lucrative legal world is attractive simply because the salary reflects the hard
work you put in. The idea of earning a six figure income certainly an
attractive prospect, and if you choose to become specialised in a certain area
of law then you have the potential to earn even more and enjoy your job as you
do it!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>The prestige </b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All lawyer jokes aside, the world of law is a prestigious
one. It cries wealth, knowledge and an extended education. To be a lawyer is to
be within circles of other successful professionals and have links to the
elite. As a successful lawyer, <a href="http://www.abajournal.com/voice/article/10-rules-for-being-a-successful-lawyer">your
reputation will always proceed you</a> and there’s also a glamourous depiction
that goes with it. It’s a job that looks good and sounds good. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>You can help others</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The main reason people get into law, is that it gives them
the chance to help others. As a lawyer, you’ll meet people from all backgrounds
and all walks of life, and you’ll be the person they turn to for help and
justice. It’s an honour. Whether you’re helping someone through a domestic
abuse case, or you’re helping an estranged couple come to an agreement over
access to their children, you’ll work every day knowing that you’re making a
real difference to someone’s life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Challenge your brain</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We all know that heading to law school and then passing the
bar requires years of extended education and hard work. However, the work of a
lawyer means that <a href="https://www.hoganinjury.com/a-typical-day-in-a-lawyers-life/">you never
stop learning</a> and for some that means the chance to challenge their brain
and literally learn something new every single day. Not only that, but as no
two cases are the same, you’ll get to work on your problem solving skills and
work logically to get your clients the results that they deserve.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Comfort </b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The world of an attorney is a far cry from the sterile and
often dull working environment of the average office worker. If you enjoy a
plush office and all the perks that comes with it then you’d best start working
towards that law degree.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Role diversity</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From family law to personal injury, employment law, civil
litigation and even environmental law, there are so many law divisions you
could become an expert in. The possibilities are endless! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-56602478985621579492017-12-19T23:13:00.000+00:002017-12-19T23:13:14.338+00:00Best Christmas EVER!<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve been confounded by Asda’s marketing campaign for
Christmas 2017 which has been thrust under my nose every time I open a Metro or
turn on the TV for the last few weeks.
I’m fricking sick of it. That
campaign, of course, is the one promising people (but presumably only those who
shop at Asda) the best Christmas ever. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLOgJkTVQXlKHqa3jbQ4pGUKAHL6Dc2P3x1ONKKLoS2sXZuVeVBI9v84oltFcL-8eLBKjPzpxI-vl-okal8WqKahcHqMp1FLQT7IgBUj5hkMN4JCsE77xPAZ1L7hvm_KUmLFRcuv9oazY/s1600/Asda+-+best+Christmas+ever.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="597" data-original-width="914" height="417" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLOgJkTVQXlKHqa3jbQ4pGUKAHL6Dc2P3x1ONKKLoS2sXZuVeVBI9v84oltFcL-8eLBKjPzpxI-vl-okal8WqKahcHqMp1FLQT7IgBUj5hkMN4JCsE77xPAZ1L7hvm_KUmLFRcuv9oazY/s640/Asda+-+best+Christmas+ever.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Yes - I've really cut this out from the paper and scanned it in.)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />Best. Christmas. Ever.
I mean - Christ... where do you
go from there?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />If Asda are right, future Christmases are going to have
scarily big shoes to fill.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />There’s enough ‘organic’ pressure exerted on people
throughout November and December to enjoy Christmas at all costs without
subjecting them to a marketing campaign that’s focused solely on adding to that
pressure. Come on, Asda - that’s just
cruel!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />I’m not particularly anti-consumerist around the festive
period. I’m really not. But I really hate the way that after months
of build-up and increasingly intense coercion to invest (in every sense) in Christmas
and all things Christmassy, from the evening of 25 December onwards, it’s dropped
like a scalding-hot turkey that everyone ought to be ashamed of. Before people have barely had time to whip
off their tacky paper hats or locate the Alka-Seltzer to ease their indigestion
from gluttonous helpings of Christmas lunch, the message comes down from on
high that Christmas is over, it’s time to move on and focus on stampeding out
of the house to the Boxing Day sales as a remedy for being cooped up with loved
ones for, what, a WHOLE fricking day. Hours
later, we’re then directed to shift our minds to New Year’s stuff, detoxing and
gym memberships.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />So, after months of being subjected to shedloads of Christmassy
shit, we’re then, in an instant, to pretend it never even happened?!? Well – I’m sorry. I’m just not playing that game anymore. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />I honestly believe that enjoying the <u>entire</u> festive
period is much better for our collective mental health. Why the constant search for the next big
thing? How about celebrating the present
for a bit? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />So, Asda, I’m going to enjoy Christmas, but I’m not going to
try to inflate it into something bigger that it can never live up to. And I’m not going to venture into one of your
cheap and nasty stores in any event.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />Try to come up with something a bit more sensible for next
year’s Christmas campaign, eh? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-27378526632414065772017-11-06T23:35:00.001+00:002017-11-10T09:36:43.367+00:00Christmas sandwiches<p>Since 2010, November has always brought with it the first opportunity since the previous December to wrap my chubby little chops around a Christmas-themed sandwich during my lunch hour. As you can tell, I'm something of a lunchtime gourmet when I venture into the office.</p><p>Imagine my delight when today, after two weeks of eagerly looking, I finally spotted the Christmas butties <s>neatly</s> haphazardly displayed on the chiller shelf in Sainsbury's Local. There was just one Turkey Feast left which I quickly discounted; I never fancy the 'last turkey' of <u>anything</u> in a shop. Thankfully, my greedy little eyes spotted a few boxes of turkey with pigs under blankets left, so I practically shoulder-barged out of the way the dithering shopper in front of me and made a grab for one. <p>I thought it would be a good choice with which to open my Christmas sandwich account for 2017. Turkey with pigs under blankets has been one of my go-to Christmas sandwiches for the last two or three years and it's always a safe(ish) bet (to the extent that any of them are).<p>I noticed that the box design has received an overhaul for this year; it now sports a bright pink exterior with a few seasonal stars (of Bethlehem perhaps?) which, I thought at the time, gave it a hint of cheeky sophistication and sass. (Incidentally - I've always been a sucker for nicely-presented tat.) So, as I mooched my way towards the self-service checkouts -- I mean, why interact with another human if you can possibly avoid it? -- I thought: “oooooh – this is going to be a belter of a sandwich”. Or, as I saw on a pub sign in the run-up to Christmas last year, "It's [going to be] like Christmas in your mouth!!". Whatever that means. <p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-S8n47XYbJXs/WgVyjtbAjqI/AAAAAAAAhCY/xLb8UDuHyHQ17IGtWVJqpg2b1z_lvViogCHMYCw/s1600-h/Turkey%2Bwith%2Bpigs%2Bunder%2Bblankets%2B%25282016%2Bedition%2529%255B6%255D"><img width="290" height="439" title="Turkey with pigs under blankets (2016 edition)" style="border: 0px currentcolor; border-image: none; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; float: none; display: block; background-image: none;" alt="Turkey with pigs under blankets (2016 edition)" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xQIeOZCioR0/WgVykjCXQGI/AAAAAAAAhCc/ItT0F4OWhB4VAgpvpYpK9z-R6eCYsltUwCHMYCw/Turkey%2Bwith%2Bpigs%2Bunder%2Bblankets%2B%25282016%2Bedition%2529_thumb%255B4%255D?imgmax=800" border="0"></a><p><sup>Note: this box is last year’s get-up. I couldn’t find a picture of the new one and I didn’t have the presence of mind to take a photo of the box myself.</sup><p>However, my excitement was short-lived. Once I got back to the office and finally made a start on my eagerly-anticipated lunch, I was disappointed. The sandwich wasn't sassy. It was stale.<p>The disappointment that hit me when I finally wrapped my chops around what turned out to be a miserable excuse for a sandwich is hard to convey. It's a truly galling experience when, after a fortnight of excited anticipation, you realise after the first gobfull that your supposed Christmassy sandwich is utter shite.<p>So, what was wrong exactly? Well - the sausages weren't flavoursome, the cranberry sauce was insipid being neither sweet nor sharp, the turkey was largely absent and to the extent it <i>was</i> there, was dry, the bacon was rubbery and un-bacon-like and the bread <i>might</i> have been fresh sometime last week, but it certainly wasn't today. Put frankly, it was wrong in just about every way a turkey, bacon and sausage sandwich <i>could</i> be wrong. And, to add insult to injury, I was left with a few pence of the tawdry excuse for meat stuck in my lower left third molar for the rest of the afternoon.<p>Trying to force that sandwich down was somewhat akin to, I should imagine, eating a curious assortment of flavourless cardboard pieces squidged lazily between two slices of stale bread. And it cost me £2.35.</p>
<p>Let's hope things improve when I try a 2017 version of the Turkey Feast. Because one thing's for sure: I won't be giving the pigs under blankets a second chance this year.</p>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-32571787713799586872017-03-31T23:44:00.001+01:002017-03-31T23:54:35.361+01:00Blogger’s new templates: Contempo, Soho, Emporio and Notable<p> <p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VOr_CoJ6yMk/WN7bvkBhRvI/AAAAAAAAgf8/NjIGyIvnwFQ/s1600-h/blogger%252520soho%252520theme%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="blogger soho theme" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="blogger soho theme" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fQgR2bj3nq0/WN7bwYVffmI/AAAAAAAAggA/rO8qWcgD5lM/blogger%252520soho%252520theme_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="434" height="253"></a>For a while now, I’ve been increasingly conscious that the design of Law Actually has become a bit long in the tooth. I’ve occasionally tinkered with the look and feel of my blog over the last few years, but there’s been no escaping the fact it was based on a (now pretty primitive) blogger design from six or seven years ago. The last major refresh I’d made to the design was in <a href="http://lawactually.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/updated-blog-theme.html">2012</a>. Yikes. <p>I made a few minor changes earlier this year when I suddenly remembered I used to do (and quite enjoy) something called blogging. Don’t look at me like that: apparently, blogging simply isn’t such a big thing any more. Despite, the need for a visual change, I rather sadly recognised that it was well beyond my web design skills to produce something half-decent myself. Although blogger templates are available from third parties, they tend to be infested with problems – including advert placements and other awkward elements which are difficult to remove or modify. After a few very disappointing attempts to find a free blogger template from elsewhere, I gave up. <p>Given that Google hadn’t released a new blogger template since 2011, I figured something new might be coming before long. Despite a bit of digging on the <a href="https://blogger.googleblog.com/">blogger blog</a> – that’s almost mind-bendingly recursive, isn’t it – I didn’t find any indication of when this might be. <p>I was truly delighted, therefore, when, earlier today, I visited blogger to check out my recent visitor stats and saw that Google had made a range of stunning new themes available. <p>The new theme categories – called <a href="https://blogger.googleblog.com/2017/03/share-your-unique-style-with-new.html">Contempo, Soho, Emporio and Notable</a> – are all stunning, modern and functional. I’ve tried a bunch on Law Actually and I had a really tough time deciding which to pick. That really speaks to the quality of options to choose from – all for what is, let’s not forget, a service that Google makes available for free. I’m no Google fanboi – heck, I use Bing in some sort or perverse act of contrarianism (or is it self-harm?) – but there’s no denying they do some good stuff from time to time. <p>In the end, I went with a slightly modified version of the white Soho design. The acid test was my wife’s reaction when I first showed her the new theme: “wow, that a looks a bit more modern”, she said. <p>Enough said, I think. </p>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-24428732583027117782017-03-16T20:29:00.001+00:002017-03-16T20:29:31.963+00:00When is close of business?<p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5ly-wDV5v7M/WMr1qKz4wlI/AAAAAAAAges/wEUba7YbKlc/s1600-h/Close%252520of%252520business%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img title="Close of business" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="Close of business" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UUhpkp2Gbtc/WMr1q11_H7I/AAAAAAAAgew/3kq5SFsfMiA/Close%252520of%252520business_thumb%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="363" height="238"></a><br>Ah – ‘close of business’. What a phrase. At least it’s not quite as bad as ‘close of play’. <p>These curious expressions which are frequently bandied about in offices throughout the western world are intended, of course, to mean the end of the working day. (Whatever the hell that is – particularly in today’s world of taking work home, answering work emails late into the evening and sleeping with a smartphone under your pillow. No wonder we’re all quivering wrecks.) <p>A recent case considered this very issue. No – not the quivering wrecks thing – but when ‘close of business’ occurs. The case, for those of you who might be interested, was Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (In Administration) v Exxonmobil Financial Services BV [2016] EWHC 2699 (Comm). <p>The claimant, Lehman Brothers, provided equities and bonds to the defendant, ExxonMobil, under a securities agreement. ExxonMobil sent a default valuation notice to Lehman Brothers, which, to be valid, needed to be received by 'close of business' by Lehman Brothers on the relevant day. The notice was sent by fax and was received by Lehman Brothers' London office at 6.02pm. <p>To determine whether the notice was valid under the agreement, the court had to consider when ‘close of business’ occurred. Lehman Brothers argued that 'close of business' in London was 5.00pm – meaning the notice had arrived too late and should be deemed to have been received the following day. ExxonMobil contended that 'close of business' was 7.00pm – meaning the notice was in time and therefore valid. <p>The court accepted ExxonMobil’s contention that, as the claimant, the onus was on Lehman Brothers to establish when the close of business had occurred for the purposes of the agreement. Crucially, Lehman Brothers adduced no admissible evidence on this point. Silly them. <p>The wording of the contract was such that the validity of the notice turned on the precise meaning of the term 'close of business for commercial banks in London’. From a contractual certainty standpoint, this still isn’t great, but at least it’s a bit narrower than ‘close of business’. <p>Lehman Brothers argued that this phrase meant 'normal business hours' as worked by ordinary businesses and high street banks. The court acknowledged that 'commercial bank' was not a term of art in English law, but accepted ExxonMobil's argument that, in the modern world, commercial banks closed at about 7.00 pm. The judge emphasised, however, that this was a finding of fact limited to the instant case. Consequently, it was held that, for the purposes of the agreement, ‘close of business’ meant 7.00pm. The valuation notice was therefore valid. <p>On use of the phrase ‘close of business’ generally, the judge said this: <blockquote> <p><i>[T]he term “close of business” on a particular day or date is a useful term which is used in many different contexts, including court orders. The present context is as to the time of receipt of notices in a standard form financial contract. Where the intent of such a contract is to impose a definite cut-off time in this regard, it can do so expressly [by stating a precise time.] The fact that the contract does not state a time, and uses the term “close of business” instead, gives a useful flexibility, and should deter arguments based on the precise time of receipt, which may make little commercial sense.</i></p></blockquote> <p>That’s an interesting point, but, as a school admissions officer might say, ‘you have to draw the line somewhere’. And when you’re dealing with contracts, it’s generally better if everyone knows where that line is going to be drawn. <p>From the perspective of contractual (and therefore commercial) certainty, there is simply no substitute for precision in the drafting of contracts. Close of business for one person might be very different to another person’s stance. The idea that use of a rather woolly phrase would help to deter quibbling over whether an action had or had not been taken in the required time makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. It didn’t exactly work in the present case, did it? But I take the court’s point as to it <i>possibly</i> helping in a day-to-day commercial pragmatism kind of thing. Maybe. <p>But here’s the acid test: if I saw that phrase in a contract I was reviewing, would I let it pass, or insist on it being substituted for a specific time? <p>The latter, you say? Yep – you’re damn right. Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-41031922146163686442017-03-05T23:11:00.001+00:002017-03-05T23:11:23.514+00:00All aboard the booger bus<p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-pD3a4ULyKJg/WLybF3avBjI/AAAAAAAAgd0/gO9rX_MQf8k/s1600-h/bogey%252520boy%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img title="bogey boy" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="bogey boy" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-d_XGYgoV0MU/WLybGkd0MqI/AAAAAAAAgd4/B_gIxcXB2ls/bogey%252520boy_thumb%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="376" height="245"></a> <p>Yep – it’s all a-happening down in Bristol.</p> <p>From the <a href="http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/bristol-woman-8216-puked-in-street-8217-after-man-wiped-bogie-on-leg-on-first-bus/story-30166426-detail/story.html">Bristol Post 27/02/17</a>: <blockquote> <p>A woman [called Sian, it seems] claims she was physically sick in the street after a passenger on a First Bus wiped a bogey on her leg. <p>Shocked and disgusted, she got off the bus and told First Bus she "puked in the middle of the street" in a complaint made on Twitter. <p>She said she wasn't sure if the incident was an accident or intentional but branded it "gross" in a series of outraged tweets. <p>"Some guy picked his nose next to me and left a boogie on my jeans," she wrote. <p>Responding to the complaint on social media, First Bus West of England said the incident should be reported to the police as an assault. <p>Sian said she would not be taking the matter any further as it was "just a boogie", instead asking for some complimentary bus tickets. <p>Her request, however, was rejected</p></blockquote> <p>Well – booger me. Poor Sian. Not even a complimentary ticket to ride the bus and have another opportunity for a passenger to, y’know, wipe snot all over her. Sian – you’re a glutton for punishment. <p>Let’s face it: anything can happen on public transport. I was on a late-night train back from a client meeting in Leeds several years ago, when, towards the very end of the journey, I heard a curious loud rustling sound. It sounded much as though somebody was trying to scrunch up a sheet of <s>baking parchment</s> greaseproof paper. It happened a few times and I didn’t think anything of it until I suddenly became aware of everybody in front of me scrambling back in earnest. This was followed, almost instantaneously, by a wave of very strong smell – something like spirit alcohol mixed with something I couldn’t quite place. <p>It quickly emerged that a young chap – he looked roughly in his mid-teens – had tried to consume his bodyweight in spirits and was now retching it up in the carriage. The rustling/scrunching sound was the contents of his stomach hitting the floor. Nice. <p>Suffice it to say, I, like my fellow passengers didn’t hang about, and was out of my seat in a flash and moving towards the back of the carriage like a scalded cat. The kid, thankfully, decided to get off at the next stop, but not before being admonished by the unimpressed train crew. <p>It’s a train journey that I won’t forget. A bit like <a href="http://lawactually.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/flying-cow.html">this one</a>. <p>I wonder if Michael Palin would be interested in reconstructing it for one of his ponderous railway shows… <p>Interestingly, this isn’t the first snot-related-possible-assault themed post that I’ve ever posted. <a href="http://lawactually.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/man-charged-with-battery-after-blowing.html">Remember this</a>? </p>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-42501922587806671202017-02-19T17:21:00.001+00:002017-02-19T17:27:07.367+00:00Law Actually is 10 years old today<p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_Ea_5Vpgfq4/WKnUDhVYOQI/AAAAAAAAgcA/u5KHChzSI4w/s1600-h/Law%252520Actually%25252010%252520years%252520old%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="Law Actually 10 years old" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="Law Actually 10 years old" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-XXeoDmCiHqM/WKnUEDoeCMI/AAAAAAAAgcE/jfR_n11gqUU/Law%252520Actually%25252010%252520years%252520old_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="375" height="247"></a> <p>Yes - really. <p>I’ve posted quite a few birthday blog posts over the last – well – decade and, looking back, I always seem to start them by saying that I can’t believe Law Actually has been going so long. (See here, <a href="http://lawactually.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/happy-birthday-law-actually.html">here</a>, <a href="http://lawactually.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/happy-birthday-law-actually.html">here</a>, <a href="http://lawactually.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/happy-birthday-law-actually.html">here</a>, <a href="http://lawactually.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/another-law-actually-birthday.html">here</a>, <a href="http://lawactually.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/happy-birthday-law-actually.html">here</a>, <a href="http://lawactually.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/law-actually-7-today.html">here</a> and <a href="http://lawactually.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/law-actually-is-eight-years-old.html">here</a>.) <p>Well, now this blog has reached double figures, I really <u>can</u> believe it. It feels like ten years. <p>I started Law Actually as a bit of lark; a creative outlet from the travails of studying law. It was probably my contrarian and rebellious streak coming out, plus a procrastination device to distract myself from preparing for seminars. <p>Ten years later, it feels like I’ve seen it all come and go in the blogosphere. (And I’m getting an increasing number of grey hairs to prove it.) The web and the world have moved on considerably since blogging was considered de rigueur. Now it feels like it’s something more to be ashamed of than celebrated and the sense of community in the ‘sphere has long since disappeared. I think I’ve grieved long enough over that loss. Life and things move on. I get it. <p>One thing I’ve found over the years is that I enjoy blogging more when I take it less seriously. People blog for all reasons, but mine is a sort of creative catharsis. I used to get as much (if not more) pleasure from playing in Photoshop creating a graphic to accompany the text as I did from the writing itself. I think my skills on both fronts have improved appreciably from those early days. <p>I’m conscious that I’ve subjected my readers and this blog to a lot of crap during the last decade. A few years back, it was little more than a bawdy-house for SEO where you couldn’t turn around for all the sponsored links and posts. Apologies for that. Sometimes blogging felt more like a chore than a pleasure in those days. <p>I’m going to make no predictions as to what the future will hold for me or this blog. But if I hang about in the blogosphere I want it to be on a no-strings, casual basis. If I post, I post. And if I don’t – well, it’s not the end of the world. <p>There are a lot of memories tied up in the thousand or so posts I’ve published. I’ve often found a lot of pleasure looking back through my archived posts; they stir up at least as many memories as a diary could have captured. And that’s pretty special. <p>So, thanks, Law Actually. In a bizarre sort of way, you’ve been a good, comforting friend over the years. And I’m really glad you’re here. <p>Have a great birthday. You deserve it. </p>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-20784162829866198622017-02-16T22:30:00.001+00:002017-02-16T22:30:46.023+00:00Nissan Micra driver reconceptualises traffic laws<p>(By which I mean, the driver decided to drive on the left but on the wrong side of a dual carriageway.) It’s easily done. </p> <p>Ahem.</p> <p>From <a href="http://www.cornwalllive.com/watch-the-moment-a-car-is-spotted-driving-the-wrong-way-down-the-a30/story-30135642-detail/story.html">Cornwall Live 14/02/17</a>: <blockquote> <p>Shocking footage has captured the moment a Nissan Micra driver was caught on camera driving the wrong way down the busy A30 at rush hour. <p>[Bus Driver Jimmers] Thomas told Cornwall Live: "This little car bumbled past obliviously. I was very lucky to meet it by a layby where the road was wider, it's unbelievable that nobody was hurt." <p>He added that the car had a chance to pull in, but didn't seem interest in stopping. <p>[Wannabe highway cameraman] Jason Griffiths also posted this scary video with some strong language from this morning to Facebook [.]</p></blockquote> <p><iframe style="height: 239px; width: 504px" src="http://players.brightcove.net/1275380505001/rJjlPOKH_default/index.html?videoId=5322756071001" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> <p>But my favourite response was from Tweeter Adrian Edwards who commented: <p>"OMG just had a near death expeireance we were driving up the A30 and suddenly there was a purple micra coming down the wrong way in the fast lane we only just missed it as there was a van in front of us had ivy in the car too shit me up big time I'm shaking !!!!!" <p>And just to prove it, here’s a screenshot of the tweet. <p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-tuA6iqrq3ks/WKYoEi6wQDI/AAAAAAAAgbI/Pj2R_03CaLQ/s1600-h/shit%252520me%252520up%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img title="shit me up" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="shit me up" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--UaMyHqmK8A/WKYoFeuvYPI/AAAAAAAAgbM/MW2ft8cAQEw/shit%252520me%252520up_thumb%25255B5%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="488" height="182"></a></p> <p>Mr Edwards was left so ‘shit up’ (or should that be shat?), that his attention to punctuation deserted him. But that’s pretty much the norm for virtually all exchanges on social media these days. I think we were better off in the days of ‘textspeak’.</p> <p>And what became the driver of the offending Micra, you ask. <blockquote> <p>Police said a 58-year-old woman from the St Merryn area, near Padstow, was taken into custody.</p></blockquote>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-15859860513423379062017-02-14T22:51:00.001+00:002017-02-14T22:51:13.914+00:00We noticed you’re using an ad-blocker. Oh really?<p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-YOSI9xdk_xY/WKOJ3QC5M8I/AAAAAAAAgao/lVsFtZUvADQ/s1600-h/block%252520those%252520ads%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="block those ads" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="block those ads" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jiGeDDFdRxc/WKOJ4J0EqGI/AAAAAAAAgas/Qq5JgDFQ-3U/block%252520those%252520ads_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="378" height="246"></a><br>Like any self-respecting web user, I’ve used ad-blocking extensions for years now - since at least 2006. There are some sites so peppered with ads that browsing them without an ad-blocker just isn’t viable (I’m thinking in particular of some F1 sites I like to check frequently). Some sites are so bad that if it came to a choice between visiting them without an ad-blocker, or not visiting at all, I’d pick the latter, frankly. <p>Intrusive web adverts are annoying. There’s no getting around that. Equally, though, I’m not so away-with-the-fairies that I don’t recognise that a lot of this nice stuff we’re used to accessing freely on the net has to be paid for by someone, somewhere. Ads are the obvious way of doing that, but the dynamics of this model have changed hugely over the years and are becoming, by degrees, harder to sustain. (So I hear anyway.) <p>The use of paywalls is becoming worryingly commonplace – both across web content in general and streaming media in particular – and this approach flies directly in the face of some of the key founding principles of the web. And in this increasingly confused and scary world we live in, I think the need for the web to respect the principle of giving information freedom is more important than ever. <p>In the last couple of years, an increasing number of websites feature code to check whether visitors have ad-blockers installed. Where an ad-blocker is detected, the visitor sees a message of thinly veiled emotional blackmail or, increasingly, out-and-out pleading, asking the visitor to disable their ad-blocking functionality or to whitelist the relevant website. Some sites even prevent you from reading the article until you do one of these two things. <p>Most news agencies have used this tactic for some time, but other types of sites are now following suit. Even the ten-a-penny technology sites which regurgitate already regurgitated non-news, FUD and trite observations are doing it. I know. You wouldn’t think they’d have the nerve to try to guilt-trip visitors into viewing ads. <p>Almost invariably, I ignore all pleas of whitelisting. The one exception I made was for the Guardian’s website. Hey, I have to get my do-gooding, left-wing libertarian kicks somehow. <p>The bottom line is that web ads need to be more palatable and less intrusive. If there weren’t so many of them and if they weren’t so damned distracting and annoying, visitors would be less inclined to block ads in the first place. It’s a bit like the situation a decade ago when copyright holders were rightly lampooned for over-charging for their content, not doing enough to make it easily-accessible to customers in innovative ways, while struggling to understand why many users were choosing to download content unlawfully using peer-to-peer file sharing software. Thankfully, we’ve seen a lot of progress on that front (think: Spotify, Netflix and Amazon Prime, for example). <p>Back to web ads. The ones which get most on my thrupnies adopt the shock ‘n’ awe approach in which banner ads abseil down from the top of the screen, bumping the page content asunder in unnerving jolts, with the lower page content then being flanked by further ads. As these then load, the page content re-renders again so your eyes are bouncing around the page trying to catch up and you’re quickly reduced to a quivering nervous wreck. It’s a bit like expecting web users to browse the web high on crystal meth. It’s unacceptable and it’s disrespectful to the site’s visitors. And it’s no wonder use of ad-blockers has skyrocketed in recent years. <p>So, please, ad-makers and sites which feature them: try and be a bit more subtle and less annoying. Else the chances are your ads being unblocked are pretty much nil. And if that happens, we’ll all end up losing in the longer term. Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-31104778919291410122017-02-07T23:20:00.001+00:002017-02-07T23:20:55.336+00:00Safer internet day<p><br>Yep - it’s here again. <p>I see I was cautiously positive <a href="http://lawactually.blogspot.co.uk/2008/02/safer-internet-day.html">when I mentioned SID in post back in 2008</a>, but I think there was a distinct undertone of scepticism if I’m frank. <p>But, nine years on, far from slipping into oblivion, it seems safer internet day is well and truly ‘a thing’. <p>I guess that’s good news. It’s not going to work miracles, but it’s a start. It’s an opportunity to get people to stop and think about what they’re doing when they use the internet – which can only be a good thing. But let’s not kid ourselves: there’s a huge amount of work needed to help people help themselves when making decisions about their online conduct. And that’s by no means confined to children. <p>I had a butchers at the <a href="https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/2017/safer-internet-day-2017-quiz">safer internet day quiz earlier</a>. Hopefully, the majority of kids will regard the ‘correct’ answers as blindingly obvious. Or is that being recklessly optimistic? <p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lo-ec0XCNAk/WJpWMWWZ_LI/AAAAAAAAgZ0/N-NGXR9UkFc/s1600-h/safer%252520internet%252520day%252520quiz%2525201%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img title="safer internet day quiz 1" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="safer internet day quiz 1" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y9sWSLd4Ho8/WJpWNA-jp0I/AAAAAAAAgZ4/OvQ3ZuOZ42E/safer%252520internet%252520day%252520quiz%2525201_thumb%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="555" height="141"></a>The theme with many of the answers seems to be: if in doubt, run and tell an adult. That’s not bad advice, but it’s crucial that young people are made to feel involved in the decisions behind safe online actions so they can understand the reasoning behind it and start putting that to use in the future.</p> <p>There comes a point when telling kids to ask an adult isn’t going to cut it. <p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4PFzIi4phnQ/WJpWNh6l4qI/AAAAAAAAgZ8/3N7NobnHkUA/s1600-h/safer%252520internet%252520day%252520-%252520quiz%2525202%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img title="safer internet day - quiz 2" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="safer internet day - quiz 2" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FjRoC7Fsp9s/WJpWPB4RPhI/AAAAAAAAgaA/NTjU_zLHO2Y/safer%252520internet%252520day%252520-%252520quiz%2525202_thumb%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="529" height="130"></a></p> <p>Getting kids to flip their perspective on a situation and appreciate that online conduct can have just as direct and serious ‘real world’ consequences as offline actions is central to successfully tackling the problem. Sadly, on this latter point, people seem to be just as ill-informed now as there were when I dubbed it the <a href="http://lawactually.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/facebook-jurors-and-veil.html">fallacy of the virtual veil</a> nearly ten years ago. And that’s pretty depressing.</p>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-81346882403916833072016-11-04T21:55:00.001+00:002016-11-04T21:55:03.935+00:00The Nuts and Bolts of Workplace Injury Rights<p>Featured Post <p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-QBLq39yPQ_8/WB0DtPP54PI/AAAAAAAAfAU/HTdvBNEVL3A/s1600-h/Workplace%252520injury%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="Workplace injury" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="Workplace injury" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NNWgeME4wKk/WB0Dtm7RxwI/AAAAAAAAfAY/p-lDP76SMAk/Workplace%252520injury_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="348" height="228"></a><br>We recently talked about what you should do if you find yourself injured at work. In the minutes and hours that follow your injury, there are a number of things you must make sure get accomplished. These include documenting the accident and speaking with a qualified legal representative. It’s good to prepare to do these things before you ever get injured, in fact. Being prepared can make terrible situations like these go much more smoothly. <p>But there is another bit of knowledge that will be helpful if you ever find yourself injured on the job. There are certain pieces of legislation that guarantee your rights, should you ever be hurt while working for an <a href="http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/626/151175.html">employer</a>. If you know your rights, you’ll be a lot more certain of getting beneficial resolutions to your <a href="http://www.compensationclaims.co/accident-at-work-claims/">workplace injury claim</a>. We’ll briefly cover a couple of these specific rights in the following. It’s important to note that there is a lot of diversity from state to state when it comes to workplace injury laws. The following are nationwide characteristics that you can generally rely upon wherever you happen to be injured at work, despite the specific laws found in your state. <ul> <li>You always have a right to leave work to see a doctor for treatment of your injury. </li> <li>You have the right to put forward a formal claim about your illness or injury. Your case will be seen in a workers’ compensation court or an industrial court run by the state. </li> <li>If you go to the hospital after an injury and are released, you have the right to go back to work. You can’t be sent home. </li> <li>If you are so badly hurt or ill that you can’t go to work, regardless of the duration, you have the right to disability compensation of some kind. This will vary a lot state to state, but there will always be some kind of compensation available to you. </li> <li>You can appeal an employer’s decision regarding your worker’s compensation claim. You can also appeal the ruling of the compensation court. </li> <li>You have a right to legal counsel and representation throughout every step of the injury claim, compensation, and appeal process. </li></ul> <p>There are some states that are more generous towards injured claimants than others. It’s important for you to understand the general political climate of your state with regard to workers comp claims. This is especially true if you have a risky job, one where you come in contact with sick people, or if you perform any kind of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manual_labour">manual labor</a>. It is useful for every American worker to be equipped with this information. <p>It is also helpful to know to whom these rules do not necessarily apply. If you are self employed or are marginally employed through various non-traditional means, you won’t be able to hang your hat on any of these rights. If you are likely to be injured at your work in a role such as this, it is worth your while to consult with an injury lawyer ahead of time to understand your specific rights in the event of an injury. <p>We hope this helps, and that you will enjoy many injury-free years at work!</p>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-59761530640744929802016-10-17T12:27:00.001+01:002016-10-17T12:27:01.829+01:00How to Act in Your Best Interests If You Are Injured at Work<p>Featured Post <p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-omBZTrmxmHE/WAS1gl--W7I/AAAAAAAAe9U/MLCHe6mNd34/s1600-h/injured%252520at%252520work%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="injured at work" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="injured at work" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-tNwTN7IHO2Y/WAS1hRSDRYI/AAAAAAAAe9Y/XgtM-SfMvfo/injured%252520at%252520work_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="395" height="260"></a><br>One of the worst things that can happen to a person is to be injured at work. Even though there are rights and laws in place to put you in the best possible place during this trying time, these laws won’t act <i>for</i> you. It’s important to do everything you can to fight for yourself. Here are a few ways to get through a workplace injury with the best possible outcome. <p><b>1) </b><b>Immediately Talk to HR and File a Claim. </b>A Human Resources officer should be in touch with you as soon as you are hurt. If this doesn’t happen, contact them. When contacting them, ask to file a claim and make sure you investigate the matter to your heart’s content, knowing that they’ve told you everything you need to know to make your case. Turn in documents immediately, getting help if you are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2955482/">incapacitated or hospitalized</a>. Don’t delay. If your business is small and without dedicated HR, it’s important to go one step further. <b></b> <p><b>2) </b><b>If You are Injured on the Job, Get a Solicitor. </b>No matter who you are, but especially if your employer doesn’t have an HR team to help you file your claim, you need legal representation on your side. When you are injured, you are likely <a href="http://www.emergentvillage.com/when-diy-is-the-best-option/">not at your best</a>. You might be on pain meds. You might be away from home for long periods of time. You may see your income delayed. A solicitor can help put everything right and get you the restitution that you need. It is good to contact a solicitor as soon as you are hurt. Sometimes employers have been known to act in their interests, rather than in the interests of an employee. If you solicitor doesn’t specialize in workplace injury, ask them for a recommendation of a colleague who does. Don’t stop until you are satisfied that you have good counsel. <b></b> <p>3) <b>Follow Up With Your Claim.</b> It is important that you don’t forget about managing your claim. When you are injured, take pictures of the injury, the job site where it happened, and get signatures from witnesses. When you are hospitalized, similarly document that. Keep track of expenses and lost work time. When the claim is filed, call daily about its progress to all relevant parties. An <a href="http://www.astonknightsolicitors.co.uk/areas-of-practice/personal-injury/accidents-at-work">accident at work claim</a> takes time to process, but you can likely accelerate it by keeping track of this yourself and having your solicitor help too. <p>Many people who get injured at work find that when all is said and done, they missed out on the aid that they were due. This is a terrible outcome, especially for people who may experience ongoing health difficulties following the initial injury, as well as earning tumult. To put yourself in the best position following workplace injury, it is important to be vigilant and to fight for yourself. This is not to say that representation shouldn’t be one of your first moves; it should. But you need to make sure they you are aware of how things are progressing, so that your rights are recognized. </p>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-57440286871755984422016-09-29T15:55:00.001+01:002016-09-29T16:14:33.872+01:00Social Media Contributing To Divorce Rates<p>Featured Post<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4faJlsF-bjk/V-0rb0fLMFI/AAAAAAAAe4I/XKm3JnSUkD0/s1600-h/social%252520media%252520divorce%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img title="social media divorce" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="social media divorce" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-W-QAukEwDB0/V-0rcXEnW1I/AAAAAAAAe4M/hjhM8dhvfFY/social%252520media%252520divorce_thumb%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="358" height="236"></a> <p>Manchester based Family Law solicitors Carter Law have noted a correlation between the use of social media and the incline of divorce rates.</p> <p>In 2014, a <a href="https://www.onlyyouforever.com/social-media-is-destroying-your-marriage/">study</a> revealed that marriage happiness and quality shared a negative trend with the use of social media and spouses in 1 out of 7 marriages admitted to contemplating separation as a result of social media creating issues in the relationship. <p><b>How Is Social Media Causing Issues In Marriages?</b> <p>Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter <b>make affairs easily attainable</b>. Ex partners, new colleagues, someone you met in a bar last year are all available to contact at the click of a button. The <b>affairs can be solely digital</b> too rather than physical, meaning communicating with a person who you find attractive online or via text and not informing your spouse. Platforms such as Facebook and Instagram also allow people to <b>maintain contact with potential back-up plans</b> if their relationship was to end, making it a lot easier to move on from their spouse. <p>Social media is also making <b>catching partners out</b> a lot easier. Partners can log in to their spouses Facebook account and uncover affairs in different ways from exchanging of messages, tagged photographs or location check-ins. A separate study revealed a shocking <a href="http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/new-study-says-social-media-plays-big-role-in-potential-divorces/">58%</a> of people admitted secretly knowing their spouses password, and accessing their accounts without their knowledge. <p>Facebragging is also adding to the increased rate of divorces. This is when people use platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter to brag about how ‘perfect their life is’, resulting in other couples comparing their marital life to an ‘ideal’ illusion enforcing envy and thoughts questioning their marriage. Some couples even force each other to outdo their facebragging friends and can run up debts to fund luxurious holidays in competition of other married couples. <p>Partners’ spending too much time on social media is also a leading cause for social media destroying marriages. Spouses who use social media more than 1 hour a day are more likely to argue with their partner about their social media habits, according to a recent <a href="https://www.hg.org/article.asp?id=27803">study</a>. When a partner spends too much time on social media it can make their spouse feel undermined and can make them become jealous of the amount of time being spent on the accounts, time which should be spent with them, making them question “Why am I not interesting anymore?”. Some people may see social media as an escape from reality if they are facing relationship problems, which inevitably causes more problems. <p>In conclusion, the higher the use of social media, the further issues in a marriage. When was the last time you were with your spouse and you didn’t check your phone? <p>Alana Mustill – <a href="http://www.carterlaw.co.uk/services/family-law-solicitors/">Carter Law Solicitors</a>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-91652191118466849722016-09-23T16:53:00.001+01:002016-09-26T12:55:55.944+01:00What a Motor Lawyer could do For You<p>Featured Post <a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zzPbza1dMNs/V-VP30D5stI/AAAAAAAAe24/VTsn4S_lzD0/s1600-h/motor%252520lawyer%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="motor lawyer" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="motor lawyer" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2B_9RucHfo4/V-VP48mLP5I/AAAAAAAAe28/cYKGZuE8fMs/motor%252520lawyer_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="321" height="195"></a><br>Every year, in the UK, around 1.5 million motorists are fined, or prosecuted for committing motoring infractions. The list of offences you can commit while driving includes speeding, driving without insurance, using a mobile while driving, failing to comply with traffic signals, and several other infractions. <p>Given the fact that most people speed at some point while driving or make minor errors there is a tendency for drivers to accept blame automatically. People know that they make mistakes while driving, so many just assume they are guilty of the offence, and, therefore, feel obliged to take the punishment. <p>This is understandable, laudable even. However, is just accepting the fine, points or driving disqualification wise? The simple answer is that in most situations taking this approach is actually not a good idea. <p><b>Traffic authorities make mistakes<br></b>Unfortunately, when it comes to motoring offences the authorities can, and do, make mistakes. Every year, lawyers uncover thousands of examples of motoring fines and notices being issued because of flawed, or compromised, evidence. In those situations, those accused of offences can usually avoid being wrongly prosecuted, or fined. Using a motor lawyer will help you to avoid being unjustly punished. <p><b>Accumulated points can lead to licence loss<br></b>However, the biggest reason for defending yourself when accused of a driving offence is the negative effect not doing so can have on your life. Given the fact it is all too easy to make genuine mistakes while driving and accumulate enough points to lose your licence not challenging offences, as they come up, is often unwise. <p>Especially when you consider that potentially you only have to get caught speeding a few times in a three year period to end up with more than 12 points on your licence. When that happens, you are well on the way to losing the right to drive. Clearly, not being able to drive has a negative effect on your life. For example, as can be seen from <a href="http://hub.unlock.org.uk/knowledgebase/convictions-employment-law-2/">this page</a>, losing your licence can make it extremely difficult to keep a job, or find a new one. <p><strong>Motoring lawyers protect you</strong><br>Given the potential serious consequences of motoring offences, it makes sense to seek the advice of a firm like <a href="http://www.motoringoffencelawyers.com/">motoringoffencelawyers.com</a>. These specialist lawyers know that you can often legally avoid paying the fine, taking the points, or losing your licence. <p>A good motoring offence solicitor has a working knowledge of the technology and equipment that are used to gather evidence of offences. They know the law and procedures inside out. <p>Armed with this knowledge, they can identify where mistakes have been potentially made, and help you to launch a successful appeal. Should they not be able to find any errors, and you end up in court they can still mount an effective defence. This usually means you will be found not guilty, or will receive a lesser sentence, when appropriate. <p>With the help of an experienced motoring lawyer that covers your area you can greatly reduce the negative impact driving offences will have on your life, and that of your family. Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-89608608475909140592016-04-30T23:56:00.001+01:002016-04-30T23:56:58.178+01:00If only I could find my training shoes<p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-va8GxSEuepE/VyU4F10VlMI/AAAAAAAAdyI/PpE2Y8Nmli8OW1mS_Pw9zaOCQE4AvuKQgCHM/s1600-h/Parkrun%2B-%2Bjogging%2Bfor%2Bthe%2Bhell%2Bof%2Bit%255B6%255D"><img title="Parkrun - jogging for the hell of it" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="Parkrun - jogging for the hell of it" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-yaLenjOra44/VyU4Gda1fUI/AAAAAAAAdyM/tazbiNarPT0y0vaj8yBQftLn4TNAJ2YPgCHM/Parkrun%2B-%2Bjogging%2Bfor%2Bthe%2Bhell%2Bof%2Bit_thumb%255B4%255D?imgmax=800" width="368" height="246"></a><br>I’m not a runner. I can’t think of anything worse than deliberately choosing to go out to pound down a pavement in my running gear, crippled with a stitch, sweaty of groin, moist of brow, with that hot coppery sensation of burning lungs struggling against cold air. (Ah – the memories of P.E. at school. What a joy it is to have escaped that misery.) <p>However, I don’t live a million miles away from where this Parkrun malarkey has been taking place. I’m astounded at the extent to which the public seem to have got their knickers (or should that be leotard?) in a twist over this. <p>What I’ve really struggled with is why the public has reacted in the way they have. The parish council never said to Parkrun, or its members, that they couldn’t run in the park. They simply said, you can either pay a nominal fee for running together as a group – to cover hogging the changing facilities, showers etc. – or you’ll have to run in the park as individuals. <p>Personally, as a pedestrian who chooses to use my legs and feet as God intended, i.e. by walking, I’m not a huge fan of being swarmed by a large group of red-faced and sweaty individuals as I walk down the pavement or through a park. Single runners or those in twos (or even threes) are much less intimidating. <p>I’m all for encouraging society to get (or keep) fit and if huffing and puffing round a park is your thing, so be it. But if you want to do it in a huge group at the same time, and that group hogs the facilities paid for by parish council funds, don’t get all high and mighty about the prospect of being asked to pay a nominal fee. <p>As Dan Jones neatly summarised in the <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/dan-jones-fuming-about-a-1-fee-to-run-in-a-park-just-jog-on-a3226216.html">London Evening Standard</a>: <blockquote> <p>[…] Parkrun […] encourages people to do something which, if had they any gumption, they could do for themselves: put one foot before the other and don’t stop until you feel quite ill. <p>[B]ecause we live in an age of communal bleating and acquired victimhood, [the prospect of Parkrun being charged] has caused an outbreak of toga-tearing and hiccupping grief across the country, oxygenated by that symposium of the feeble-minded which we collectively call social media. <p>[T]he childish over-reaction in this instance masks a basic unwillingness on the part of adults to act proportionately or independently. Run for a fee in the park, or run for free elsewhere. It isn’t a big deal. <p>Either way, get a f***ing grip.</p></blockquote> <p>Well said. Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1154146541957373385.post-50680062779833788112016-04-25T10:17:00.000+01:002016-04-26T10:18:41.465+01:00BHS - circling in the drain<p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Ick5n8Y93X8/Vx8yZtS2hTI/AAAAAAAAdxE/lGO2sAXDl0I/s1600-h/BHS%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="BHS" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="BHS" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GadmqBUigKE/Vx8yabjldnI/AAAAAAAAdxI/R2kjaJYryaY/BHS_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="416" height="144"></a> <p>In the background at work today – one of the perks of having duel screens and nobody sitting behind me - I’ve been following the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2016/apr/25/pound-obama-brexit-bhs-german-confidence-live?page=with:block-571e1fb6e4b0c06db4196e2b">Guardian’s live commentary on the unfolding BHS administration crisis</a>. <p>Following and grimacing, that is. <p>Here are some excerpts. <blockquote> <p>[The Guardian’s] financial editor Nils Pratley has some stern words of advice for Dominic Chappell, boss of BHS owner Retail Acquisitions […] <p>Nils notes how Chappell is “crassly missing the required tone” when he writes in an email to staff: “I would like to say it has been a real pleasure working with all of you on the BHS project, one I will never forget.” <p>“No, Mr Chappell, BHS was never a “project” for the staff. It is how they earned their living and made plans to fund their retirement,” writes Nils.</p></blockquote> <p>Exactly. This isn’t just an academic talking point for 11,000 people – it’s their livelihoods. <p>Which reminds me. As a student nearly ten years ago, my partner had a troubling (yet fortunately brief) experience working for BHS in the run up to Christmas, a job which culminated in her standing in the store front, trying to tempt disinterested shoppers with cheese-flavoured popcorn. What’s worse is that it was all a tragic misunderstanding and the job she thought she’d been offered was upstairs in the office tinkering with spreadsheets and pushing paper around. <p>When I revealed to her this evening that I’d mentioned ‘popcorn-gate’ in a draft blog post, she (quite rightly) shot back at me noting that I wasn’t without experience when it came to flip-flopping between student jobs like some sort of walking disaster. That’s generally known as ‘PC World/CarphoneWarehouse/Marks&Spencer-gate’ in our household. <p>Still, I always managed to <a href="http://lawactually.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/ill-but-not-forgotten.html">fall on my feet</a> – however ill-deserved it might have been. <p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/apr/25/bhs-marks-and-spencer-john-lewis-department-stores">Mary Dejevsky neatly observes</a> that the writing has been on the wall for BHS for some time now: <blockquote> <p><i>Comparisons are made with Woolworths – another out-of-date, out-of-time, high-street fixture that folded in 2008. And to be honest, if you even so much as crossed the threshold of a BHS in the last couple of years, you could sense that death was probably close.</i></p></blockquote> <p>Never has a truer word been spoken. You could practically hear the death rattle. I’ve wandered through a couple of branches of BHS in the last year or so, usually as a cut through or to kill time when all else had failed. On both occasions, it was eerily quiet save for the odd disillusioned member of the grey-haired brigade wandering aimlessly and – you could tell – with absolutely no intention of making a purchase. The décor and goods were tired and half-heartedly displayed. It was more akin to a half-assed pop-up store selling cheap calendars in readiness for the new year. It wasn’t just dreary – it was depressing. <p>BHS has fallen into that dangerous middle ground that department stores often occupy these days – trying to be everything to everyone. The sad reality is that it simply wound up being nothing to anyone (save for the poor staff, of course). <p>Once a respected stalwart of the high street and particularly favoured by oldies, BHS has failed dismally to establish itself as anything other than a soulless section of the high street. Now it’s the kind of place that any consumer under 60 only finds themselves in as a result of a mistake or a sudden rain shower. The brand has spent the last decade or so slowly being consumed by blandness and irrelevance. <p>And that’s such a shame. <p>Back on Oxford Street, [the Guardian’s] <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2016/apr/25/pound-obama-brexit-bhs-german-confidence-live?page=with:block-571e1fb6e4b0c06db4196e2b">Damien Gayle</a>, has been sounding out more shoppers on what went wrong at BHS. <blockquote> <p>“What’s BHS - is that a sandwich?” asked Jason Knight, 21, as he and his friends drank coffee outside Starbucks. He appeared to only be half joking. <p>But his friend Amy West, 23, was at least aware of the retail chain’s existence. Had she ever shopped there? <p>“I have, when I was a kid though, my nan used to take me there. Me and my nan used to pop into the shopping centre and she used to say: ‘I just have to go into BHS’.”</p></blockquote> <p>And no doubt that was to spend a penny. <p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jAiuX22_RXU/Vx8yakdD31I/AAAAAAAAdxM/4O_TNGrfZ3A/s1600-h/public%252520toilets%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="public toilets" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="public toilets" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-OYfcQ8syl90/Vx8ybAb4GuI/AAAAAAAAdxQ/HfE522jjBdI/public%252520toilets_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="381" height="287"></a> <p>What else do younger shoppers have to say about BHS? <blockquote> <p>Jasmin Steiner, 20, and Holly Hicks Holcroft, 18, [pictured] were also browsing Carnaby Street’s boutiques. </p></blockquote> <p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-T_dKQhj903o/Vx8ybetOixI/AAAAAAAAdxU/51usp0bAMJk/s1600-h/clip_image001%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img title="clip_image001" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="clip_image001" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ltVJy-6_vcE/Vx8yb6s24-I/AAAAAAAAdxY/6g2dkGhDoBs/clip_image001_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="392" height="235"></a> <p>Asked how they felt about BHS’s financial troubles, Hicks Holcroft replied: <blockquote> <p>It doesn’t really bother me - it’s no Woolworths. Bring on change. <p>“ I can remember going there with my nan. It was that sort of shop that you go to with your nan and your parents. <p>“It’s a shame I guess but it’s making room for more stuff.”</p></blockquote> <p>How heartless. <p>By the way, Holly, did you get that hat from BHS? <p>Pity. You could have taken it back. <img class="wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-berightback" style="border-top-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-right-style: none" alt="Be right back" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kkdXN6-n55I/Vx8ycK7HnsI/AAAAAAAAdxc/MhI2rGftkO0/wlEmoticon-berightback%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800"></p>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14213997438656217771noreply@blogger.com1