Are Judges Up to It?

Judges are not very highly regarded by the general public for most of the time and, for the most part, it's their fault. Often, they seem to be operating from another planet and few of them escape the charge of arrogance. The primary duty of judges is to uphold the law and, also, to see that anyone going through the courts gets a fair trial. Anyone charged with a criminal offence will, one way or another, get a defence team - even if the quality of that defence will depend on individual wealth. When it comes to civil matters, treatment by the courts depends entirely on wealth. No matter how strongly anyone feels that they have been wronged, the reality is that law is so impossibly expensive that no ordinary - or even mildly wealthy - person can seriously contemplate legal action through the courts. But this last week has been a particularly bad one for judges.

First there has been the farce of the super-injunctions imposed by various judges to protect the seedy activities of a string of show-biz and football personalities. Put simply, these over-rich, arrogant and somewhat pathetic characters have handed over buckets of money to lawyers in order to obtain super-injunctions that bar everyone from knowing anything about their nefarious activities and even bar us from knowing that either they or their injunctions exist. These men - and, so far, it seems that they are all men - have cheated on their wives and families - in some cases repeatedly - and although these people have lives and fortunes that depend on the publicity surrounding them, they wish to pick and choose what we will be allowed to know so that their shadier antics remain hidden. Of course, in these days of twitter, facebook and the like, secrecy has no future. These super-injunctions have been disintegrating like so much confetti, while ludicrous high court judges have been paddling away trying, Canute like, to stem the tide. The Prime Minister has acknowledged that the whole business is crackers and is trying to decide what to do about it. It is providing us all with much amusement, of course, but I do have a great deal of sympathy with those persons who were at the top of the lists of people that these super-injunctions were intended to keep un-informed; ie the wives and families of this bunch of miscreants. They are now looking naive, sad and humiliated while trying to come to terms with the truth = even though they may have suspected much beforehand. Surely, one of the worst cases has been that of Chris Hutcheson, the father-in-law of swearing and abusive cook Gordon Ramsey, who has, apparently, another family, completely separate from that into which the said cook has married - plus a selection of added misteresses. We now find out that Gordon Ramsey had known about this for some time, yet didn't think it necessary to tell his own wife that her father was a bigamist - or was he? Did he marry any of the women with whom he had children? I detest the swearing cook who seems to think that not even a spud can be peeled without swearing at the f***ing thing but now he has sunk even lower in my estimation.

While we were still laughing at the judges denying that Ryan Giggs had ever had an injunction granted or that he even existed and that, in any case, the injunction was still in force, they started waffling and spluttering about gagging Parliament. The last time anyone tried that was James II, I think, in 1686. Then, Friday brought the news that the judges had taken leave of their senses yet again as the Court of Appeal concluded that the notorious Sharon Shoesmith, the former director of children's services at Haringey, was unfairly sacked from her job on the instruction of the then Children's Secretary, Ed Balls. This incident followed the death of 18 month old Baby P, Peter Connelly, who had been neglected, abused and, ultimately, killed by his mother and her partner. The social services department had been monitoring the conditions surrounding the child and he had been seen 60 times by a string of social workers, medics and policemen without anyone actually doing anything to stop the abuse. Sharon Shoesmith was in charge and was paid the staggering sum of £133,000 per year for her expertise and alleged abilities - only £10,000 per year less than the prime minister - and yet the failures for this child were catastrophic. Now, Ms Shoesmith - who does not do blame, she tells us - will be entitled to claim compensation of £500,000+ for wrongful dismissal. She says that she accepts the responsibility for the failings of her department but not the blame. I remember the time when President Richard Nixon was taking the same approach to the much less serious matter of the Watergate affair. But he didn't survive that nonsense and so should not Ms Shoesmith. It is clear that Baby P can claim no compensation. We understand that both Haringey Council - who presumably would have to foot the bill for any compensation payments - and the government intend to appeal - and so they should. When this goes back to the Court of Appeal or the House of Lords, I hope their lordships will provide some guidance as to the circumstances in which a responsible person has to accept the blame.

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Restaurant Cars to Manchester

Way back in 1993, John Major decided to privatise the railways. It was the last of the great industries nationalised by Labour after WWII that was still in state ownership. The rest had been sold off along with water companies, telephones and the rest by Margaret Thatcher's privatisation obsessed government in the 1980s. "Selling off the family silver," said the Earl of Stockton [Harold Macmillan]. Now, John Major wondering what to do next, anxious to distract the Tory Party from their obsession with Europe and wanting to look busy, decided that selling off the railways would be a grand scheme to mark the peak of his Premiership. This obsession with wanting to do something, to write themselves into the history books is a sickness that gets to many politicians at some time or other in their careers. They plough ahead when Sir Humphrey Appleby's recommendation of studied inactivity would be a preferred approach. The whole railway privatisation scheme was completely mad, of course, and anyone who had more than a passing acquaintance with Thomas the Tank Engine would have realised the end result would be a disaster. So it has proved. The railway system doesn't work very well; services have got worse; fair structure is incomprehensible; and most oddly, the system requires much bigger subsidies than it ever did when it was state owned. Of course, bit by bit it is being re-nationalised - even if we are not supposed to say so.
Like so many [all?] big businesses these days, the customer exists only to finance the operation so that they can pay the staff - some of them with massive salaries and bonuses. Many years ago, a friend of mine condemned a hotel in Bedfordshire on the grounds that it was expensive and he was left with the impression that the only reason he was allowed through the doors was because he had come to pay. The railways are a bit like that. They are also, apparently, the most expensive in Europe to run. Today, Friday 20th May 2011 marks a critical step in the running down of the railways. For it is today that the 19.33 train from London's King's Cross to Leeds will be the last train on the whole of the rail network to be equipped with a Restaurant Car. It seems unbelievable but, incredibly, it is true. From now on, food will be served only to First Class passengers and this will be in the form of an airline type meal on a tray. It was suggested by Michael Williams that the bureaucrats and accountants who run the railways see trains as no more than aeroplanes without wings. All the romance has gone out of travel. No longer do we have the flying boats connecting to the Empire and stopping off over-night in Kenya and Singapore with small numbers of passengers transported in luxury with room to move about. Are there any trains like the old Orient Express? The Pullman service is long gone in Britain - even if a group of enthusiasts is trying to resurrect and preserve the old Brighton Belle.
I rarely use the trains these days. They are fantastically expensive and the old-fashioned courtesy and service have gone. I use to travel regularly to Manchester [in the 1970s on the much derided British Railways] taking the 8.00 am train from Euston to Manchester Piccadilly. This train always had two Restaurant Cars and they served breakfast in two sittings - there was plenty of time in the 2½ hour journey to Manchester. The breakfast was available to all passengers 1st and 3rd Class, and cost, if my memory is correct, 15/- [75p]. It was a sumptuous meal that provided calories enough to get through the whole day. There were eggs [fried, scrambled or poached], bacon, sausages, black pudding, tomatoes, beans, mushrooms, fried bread [lovely on a cold February morning], lots of toast and jam, honey or marmalade. And as much tea or coffee as you could drink. There were options of haddock or kippers or boiled eggs or, for the anorexic wanna-bes, there was the cheaper "continental" breakfast. Those who arrived at Euston to board the train early[ish] would find a seat in the train, mark it with a coat or book and go immediately to the restaurant car. Passengers would be invited to the second sitting at about the time we reached Coventry. In the evening we could return - all business completed - on the 18.00 train from Manchester Piccadilly arriving in London at about 20.40. This splendid train had three Restaurant Cars. The dinner on this train was a four course affair and having decided that you had the appetite you would find your seat in the Restaurant Car and stay there all the way to London. Again all passengers could eat here. The price was 25/- [£1.25]. Even then, it was extraordinarily good value and made travelling by train a pleasure. With your friends, companions, business colleagues or even strangers you could find the journey passed in no time. The food was excellent, the service of the best and they offered a good selection of wines and beers. Many times I enjoyed day trips to Manchester even though it was a 17 hour day.
Now they have the Pendolino. A wonderful train, but why can't they have an old fashioned, yet wonderful Restaurant Car service? But the price. If I want food now, I have to travel 1st Class and a 1st Class return from/to London/Manchester costs the incredible sum of £399.00. I can fly to California for that much money. They may think of trains as aeroplanes with no wings but removing the wings does seem to cost an awful lot of money.
Once I travelled back from Birmingham to London on an early evening train that was not well-filled and there were but a handful of passengers in the single Restaurant Car. One of these was Shaw Taylor, best-known at the time for the Police 5 programme - a forerunner of Crimewatch - that he presented on ITV. Again the food was wonderful but above all, I remember the delicious plaice - the best I have ever tasted - and offered in seconds and thirds because they had so few passengers that day. That happened 35 years ago but I can still savour that excellent fish. Why are the managers of today's railways so lacking in any sense of history, romance or real urge to serve the public. Brunel, Gresley, Stanier, Bulleid will all be turning in their graves if their spirits are able to view the atrocities that their noble railways have become.
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Manu Tuilagi - A Big Man

I watch Rugby Union and Rugby League on TV and enjoy it very much. But I can't say that I am an expert and I can only remember the names of a few players. Until last week-end I had never heard of Manu Tuilagi but I was impressed with his aggressive performance last Saturday when he turned out for Leicester against Northampton in the Aviva Premiership semi-final derby. His aggression got somewhat out-of-hand when he laid into Northampton and England winger Chris Ashton by throwing three punches to the head, which left Ashton needing stitches to a wound above his left eye. Chris Hewett in The Independent says that the punches were, in the world of rugby, no worse than nicking the beer money. Nevertheless, the incident was caught on camera from three angles and though we were impressed, Tuilagi will appear before the RFU disciplinary committee. He seems sure to be banned - probably for 3 months. Chris Ashton is making light of the incident; worse things happen on a rugby field, where you expect to get knocked about a bit - even if not quite in this manner.
There has been a lot written about Manu Tuilagi in recent days; certainly, he has raised his profile, somewhat. He was born in Samoa, where five of his elder brothers played rugby. Some played in England as well as representing their national side. In reading the write-ups, what has staggered me is Manu's age. He is 20 years old today. He is a mountain of a man weighing 17 stones. Some of his brothers still live in England and there is an established family connection with Leicester. Manu came to England on a visitors visa and out-stayed that by a couple of years. In 2010 he was threatened with deportation but an organised campaign got him permission to stay. He has now sorted out all the paperwork and can stay indefinitely and play for England. Clearly, the family have extremely powerful genetics for making rugby players. If Manu had been an out and out hardcore bodybuilder it is doubtful if he could have built a more solid mature, muscular physique than this. But I suppose if he had been a bodybuilder, he would have grown huge because his genetics are awesome and genetics will beat everything. He must be a glorious prospect for an international career. I certainly wouldn't like to collide with him on a rugby field and, if last week-end is anything to go by, I wouldn't like to upset him either.
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A Good Dentist

As he grew older Mark Twain took to reading the Obituary columns in the newspapers and if he wasn't mentioned there he knew that he could carry on for another day at least. Of course, famously, on one occasion he heard of a report of his death and he was stimulated to send a cable to Associated Press informing them that "Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated." I don't suppose that I will get an obituary written about me - not even in a local newspaper. I am slightly less famous than the great American writer. But when I do read the Obituaries - even being secure in the belief that I will never read my own, one way or the other - I am amazed at how often I have never heard of the obituaree. It's the same with the daily lists in newspapers of birthdays. I don't expect to have heard of everybody - no matter how distinguished in their field they had become - but I do think I should have heard of the organisation to which their fame was linked. No such luck. There are numerous organisations I have never heard of and whose purpose is not explained by the title. How about the Female Association [or FA]. What is this about, I ask? Except - one assumes - that it excludes men. Then there is the Grand United Order of Oddfellows [GUOOF] and what am I to make of the Concatenated Order of the Hoo-Hoo, whose head is, apparently, the Grand Snark of the Universe? But in yesterday's Obituary columns there was a piece which most be unique, extolling the qualities of a recently demised dentist. Doctor Michael Nee was, we were told, one of the best. He was said to be a very good dentist. I have no idea; was he good with teeth or did he just have a god bed-side manner? Did The Independent have his obituary ready, on file? Of course, I had never heard of him and although the writer of the obituary obviously regarded Dr Nee very highly, I was left feeling very glad that I had never met him. For starters, he was exceedingly rich; he had a practice in Harley Street - he was richer than I thought; he and all the members of his family were superb skiers - yes, he was very rich; he took numerous holidays - he was indeed rich; and, finally, he was a great and "joyous" golfing companion. That was the last straw for me. I hate golf, golf courses and golfers. Golf Clubs are where the Tory Party plays; where the aspiring social climbers gather; where boredom becomes a blessed relief. David Mills regarded Dr Nee with great affection and I ought not to have taken such a dislike to someone I never met and who, until a few hours ago, was entirely unknown to me. But an obituary for a dentist. There is something not right about it - even if he was exceedingly rich.

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Strauss-Kahn Can't

Over the last 3 years we have got used to the world financial disaster engineered by highly paid bankers and we have come to realise that the governments of the Western World will do absolutely nothing to exert control over their incompetence. This week negotiations are under-way to grant yet more money to bail-out Greece. To what purpose? If Greece wishes to borrow money from normal commercial sources the government will have to pay about 25% in interest charges. Why? Because nobody believes for one moment that Greece will ever pay off the debts and sooner or later the country will default. Then half the money will be written off. Greece may even leave the Euro. Then we can move on to Ireland. By 2015 it is estimated that Ireland will owe Euro 250,000,000,000. In effect this means that every man, woman and child in Ireland will owe about Euro 50,000. Like Greece, there is no chance whatsoever of their paying off such a debt and, in the meantime, the interest rate they will have to pay for any commercial borrowings will rise and rise. But, like Greece, they will be given more support until they too collapse, overcome by the realities of economics and gravity. Then there is Portugal and possibly Spain - and then the new countries in Eastern Europe. And so it will go on until the vast heap of bureaucratic rubbish that is the European Union will go bust. Until then, the countries of Europe will carry on - like the USA - passing on the debt to the future for someone else to sort out.

And today, just to cap things the MD of the IMF has been remanded in custody in the USA after allegations of a sexual attack on a chamber maid in the very expensive hotel in which he was staying in New York over the week-end. Mr Dominique Srauss-Kahn should have been in Berlin today before moving on to Brussels to take part in meetings to discuss the financial mess that he and his cohorts have managed [and are managing] to create but that will not happen. He has been remanded in custody because the judge believes that he would do a runner if released on bail - no matter how high the bail was set. I think the judge is right. I am sure that he has countless millions salted way in some tax haven or other so the loss of his bail money would not matter. He was expected to stand in the French presidential elections next year but that will probably not happen. I cannot say definitely not since we live in a world where Jacques Chirac could get away with his dodgy history and be President of France and Senior Belisconi in Italy can do just what the hell he likes. The trouble is that all these super-rich people believe that they have the right to do what they like and will always be protected by their money - or a super-injunction. After all compared with these masters of the Universe, what does an ordinary chamber maid in a New York hotel matter? I think Mr Strauss- Kahn is about to find out.

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Blackpool Can Survive

Yesterday ought to have marked the end of the football season since it was the day they played the English FA Cup Final. But it was not the last day. In fact, in spite of the FA Cup Final there were four Premier League games as well. Why this nonsense? It's because of the European Cup Final being played at Wembley at the end of the month. UEFA - that celebration of all that is good in football - demands that the field to be used for this final is left unused for two weeks beforehand. So the FA Cup Final has to be played on 14th May. Of course, over the years the normal season has become longer and longer with the ever increasing number of games to be played and there will be more Premier League games next week-end.

The FA Cup was won by Manchester City - now said to be the most valuable club in the world. Value, of course, is measured by how much money the owner has to spend on players and in that sense the owner of Manchester City does have a fairly large pocket. Inevitably, we are reminded of Oscar Wilde and his definition of a cynic as someone who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing. Manchester City won by only 1 - 0 over Stoke City, who were taking part in the FA Cup Final for the first time ever in the club's history. Most of us wanted them to win - we all like the underdog - but the pressure of the occasion got to them and they played nothing like the team that trounced Bolton Wanderers 5 - 0 in the semi-finals. But Stoke have had a good season and are well placed in the middle of the Premier League. We must all wish them well for the future.

Manchester United drew at Blackburn and this was enough to give them their 19th League title. It still wasn't enough to make Alex Ferguson talk to the BBC. He is a great manager of footballers but he does still have the built-in truculence of a tiny tot who has lost his rattle.

Meanwhile at Bloomfield Road, Blackpool were beating Bolton Wanderers by 4 - 3. It did not matter much to Bolton but the three points may help Blackpool survive in the Premier League. I hope they do - they are such an attractive side running on peanuts by Premier League standards - but because Wolves beat Sunderland away, Blackpool are left with the task of beating Manchester United away in their last game of the season. Manchester will be fielding a weakened side because Alex F wants all his best players available, uninjured for the Champions League Final the following week, They will need everything to beat Barcelona. There was something fitting about Blackpool beating Bolton 4 - 3 on Cup Final Day in what was a great game of football; probably one of the best games in the whole Premier League this season. Echoes of 1953 and all that.

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Inspiration & Icons

Another survey of students has been carried out; this time it was in an attempt by GE to discover the reasons why these students went into engineering.. They were asked to draw up a list of the scientists and engineers who had been most important to them in inspiring them to go into engineering. Asked to identify who they considered the hero or icon in their field, they came up with some odd - to me, at least - results. This was a survey of 900 British undergraduates, so I would expect some weighting towards the UK. This was the result :

1. Isambard Kingdom Brunel, 2. James Dyson, 3. Steve Jobs, 4. Nikolai Tesla, 5. Bill Gates, 6. Frank Whittle, 7. Isaac Newton, 8. Albert Einstein, 9. Charles Rolls & Henry Royce, 10. Thomas Edison.

The list is odd but the most staggering thing to me is the inclusion of James Dyson in 2nd. He designs vacuum cleaners for God's sake. It may be, of course, that James Dyson is seen as someone who has made a lot of money and in these days that is important. And if we think Nikolai Tesla deserves a place, why is there no space for Michael Faraday? Considering it is a British list I am amazed at several omissions. George & Robert Stephenson built the first railways in the world and surely their influence on civilisation was second to none? And what about Thomas Telford [roads, bridges, canals], James Brindley [canals], Nigel Gresley [Flying Scotsman, Mallard], Reginald Joseph Mitchell [Spitfire], A.V. Roe [aeroplanes] and so it goes on. How can Newton and Einstein be below a vacuum cleaner designer? We are in Lloyd Webber territory here. We live in an era of celebrity where being famous is more important than actually achieving anything very much; where Andrew Lloyd Webber is worth millions while in an earlier era, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in poverty. We are in a time when casino gambling investment bankers are paid millions every year for their expertise and we endure economic depression to keep the experts afloat.

Would I include Steve Jobs and Bill Gates on the list? Bill Gates, yes, Steve Jobs, no. My full list?

1. George & Robert Stephenson, 2. Isaac Newton, 3. Albert Einstein, 4. Michael Faraday, 5. Isambard Kingdom Brunel, 6. Frank Whittle, 7. James Brindley, 8. Thomas Telford, 9. Thomas Edison, 10. Bill Gates.

Is my list reasonable? I don't know. I could change my mind tomorrow.

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No to AV Disaster

I have been in the North for a couple of weeks, so you have been treated to stunning silence. But now, I must comment on the election results. In the Local Elections, as expected, the Liberal-Democrats have done badly being blamed almost completely for all unpopular government policies. This is very unfair - particularly to Nick Clegg - and is made worse by the fact that in England the Tories have actually gained a few seats. These have been the worst local election results in Lib-Dem history and they have lost a third of their councillors - in some areas losing every single seat on councils. The Tories even took the truculent Lewes off them. Surprisingly, in Brighton, the Greens made great gains and now, although short of an overall majority, they are the biggest party on Brighton Council. The only Green in the House of Commons is, of course, a Brighton MP.

Yet more exciting, was Alex Salmond's triumph in Scotland. Now, for the first time, the Scottish Parliament has a single party with an overall majority. The party gained 12 seats - from Labour and the Lib-Dems. Interestingly, the Scottish Parliament is elected by a system of proportional representation and, such systems are, the anti-AV camp told us, guaranteed to give us continuous coalition governments. Alex Salmond has done a generally very good job in Scotland and he and his party deserve their success.
The referendum on the AV Voting System was lost by 69% to 31% with a turn-out of 41%. It means that only 28.5% of the electorate actually voted against AV but on the same basis, only 12.5% voted in favour. This, surely, is a terrible result. We have a system of selecting our MPs which works fine when there are only two parties but the rest of the time produces un-justifiable results. At the election in 2005, Tony Blair had a comfortable working majority in spite of the fact that he had no more than 36% of the votes cast and was actively supported by only 24% of the electorate. Now, England has the most unacceptable of all electoral systems by maintaining first past the post. England does not have its own Parliament. Ours is a Parliament of the whole of the United Kingdom in which sit representatives of Wales Scotland and Northern Ireland who can vote on matters that affect only England. We in England cannot vote on any matters in the Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish Parliaments. We have already had the nonsense of John Reid, a member of Tony Blair's government saying yes to charging tuition fees in England, while knowing full well that students from his own constituency in Scotland would not pay any tuition fees. Our parliamentary representation is selected by first past the post, while every other part of the UK has a Parliament selected by some form of proportional representation. Now that the Alternative Vote system has been rejected by voters throughout the UK, we will be stuck with this system for years unless some really outstanding unintended consequences hit us in the near future. Why has the electorate done this? Is it simply done to spite the now mightily unpopular Lib-Dems? If so the country will live to be able to regret at its leisure.
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