“The thing that’s wrong with the French is that they don’t have a word for entrepreneur”
George W. Bush, President of The United States.
UPDATE… I am grateful to Raymond P Ward, a US lawyer and well known blogger, for pointing out that President Bush did not actually say this… See here – the origin of the story is interesting!
Today, I begin my review of the week with two amusing posts by fellow law bloggers.
First… in the United States corner – we have Dan Hull of What About Clients? writing about the French: Link for story and quotation
“The French are designed by God to seem as provokingly dissimilar from the British as possible. Catholic, Cartesian, Mediterranean; Machiavellian in politics, Jesuitical in argument, Casanovan in sex; relaxed about pleasure, and treating the arts as central to life, rather than some add-on, like a set of alloy wheels.”
Cutting through the French line… in the finest traditions of Admiral Lord Nelson at Trafalgar…we have Corporate Blawg… responding to Dan Hull’s original post.
“The British are designed by Darwin to seem as provokingly dissimilar from the French as possible. Protestant, Practical, Productive; cynical in politics, Aristotelian in argument, experimental in sex; intense about hedonism, and treating the arts as peripheral to life, being more focussed on science, global responsibility and the issues that make humanity prosper rather than celebrating being part of a catatonic clique of inward-looking patriots.”
Good stuff, gentlemen. Salut! As I am a Scot with republican tendencies (but waiting for the return of a Jacobite King…?)- “To the King across the water.”
I have been busy podcasting in the last week or so: Podcast 5: Dan Hull on US Lawyers and the work life balance, Podcast 6: Toby Davey, Barrister 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square on being a barrister, his work as an Immigration judge, wine and fireworks and Podcast 7: Dr John Birchall on Writing good English for law, business and other professionals.
It has been a strange week: We learned that Pakistan cricket coach, Bob Woolmer was murdered, The Great Train Robber, Gordon Brown, cut 2p off the rate of income tax (The Tories wailed as Gordon trampled over their wicket), It snowed / sleeted in London, The Lords rejected proposals to abolish juries in fraud trials, A council took a local farmer to court over accusations that his pigs scratching their backsides caused damage to protected trees… and finally… teenagers who skip school or college face a £50 fine and a possible criminal record under plans to increase the education leaving age to 18
So to the world of blogs….what are they up to?
Tim Kevan, Barrister Blog has an interesting post on the difficulties of telephone hearings, Batgirl is pondering about the difficulties of finding time to blog and anonymity, Justin Patten, Human Law has an interesting comment about conflict resolution in the UK, John Bolch, Family Lore has a wry dig at the DCA (Rightly, in my view) about their response to the legal aid protest by lawyers last Monday, Geeklawyer’s blog has been restored to health (with a new look) and he returns to form with pre-occupations about Ruthie’s birthday – but he was also gracious enough to ‘pimp my podcasts’, Lawyer 2 Be wrote a very interesting piece on diversity at the Bar, Legal Beagle is back and writes about ‘Turbulent Times’ at the Criminal Bar, Legal Scribbles has given his last Land Law Tutorial until October and has some useful advice for students who are about to face the examiner.
Lo-Fi Librarian continues to provide useful material and sees the lighter side as well with the information that “Juries are more likely to find less attractive defendents guilty than they are the prettier ones.”
Pupil Blogger reflects on Kids in court, sitting in the front row, reserved for Silks. Nearly Legal has a very useful piece on ‘the Age Bar’ -a useful read for all mature students contemplating a career in the law, Legal Spy is thinking about getting an even bigger BMW to irritate the senior partner! and Binary Law has a very useful post “Does IT matter?”
Finally… a blog I always read – despite the fact that I know little about criminal law – simply because Bystander JP always has interesting material about the human condition – as he sees it, daily, in the Magistrates Court. This week, he sentences a young man to his first prison sentence. I quote: “This chap was a young man who had been given every possible non-custodial disposal and had failed them all. You name it, he’s got it – drugs, drink, family problems, illiteracy, the lot. As he was taken down he called out “I’ll get worse”. He could have a point. – The Magistrate’s Blog
UPDATE 15.30 hrs: … I am now at the Bollo watching the cricket…. rain delayed play – so viewing Australia and blogging, as may be apparent from the above. All I wish to add, for Dan Hull, who was kind enough to comment on this post: ….is Cry God, for Harry, St George and England for today we march against the French… again!
Bon chance…
C-I am in NYC now–just read all this–and I like the hell out of the CB guy….most Americans don’t have the guts or passion he has. Not to worry, I have loved Paris (I go there as much as I can, Julie McGuire willing ) and things French for a long time now and will continue to provoke us all with posts about them.
Your blog is so first-rate these days that you are shaming us all. Keep up that humiliation, and savor the brutality of it all, as I would.
I loved meeting you and yours in London. Was an honor, sir.
Dan Hull
Dan…. I am enjoying the cricket, the Rioja – and the lunacy of political life in Britain…. very much enjoyed your French post – and Corporateblawg’s response was very good!
It was a very real pleasure to meet you, Dan – your podcast has had an astonishing number of downloads both from the blog and our Magazine, Consilio. I have a feeling we’ll meet again!
I find blogging liberating – a good way to spend part of my time on a Saturday while watching the cricket!
Look forward to hearing about your enjoyment of Paris… et al