Podcast 26: Peter Crisp, Dean of BPP Law School on BBP’s new power to award degrees…

Today I talk to Peter Crisp, Dean of BPP Law School, about the new power to award degrees. Peter explains why BPP did not talk to The Today programme the other morning and explains BPP plans for the LLB and LLM. He also addresses issues raised by others critical of the new powers [...]

The Goldfish bowl….

The Independent today reported that barristers who step out of line and find themselves before the Bar Standards Board on serious misconduct issues will be named and shamed.
“Under the scheme, barristers and the charges they are facing will be published along with the date and time of the tribunal hearing. All findings of guilt and [...]

BPP declines invitation to be interviewed on BBC Radio 4…

The Today Programme (BBC Radio 4) has picked up on the story about BPP being given degree awarding powers, noting that BPP’s share price has risen 13% on the back of the news. Surprisingly, BPP declined an invitation to go on the programme ‘because they did not wish to be drawn into a [...]

Podcast 25: Nigel Savage, CEO, College of Law on the new degree awarding powers given to The College of Law and BPP…

Today, in the wake of the news that BPP Law School has been given degree awarding powers, I talk to Nigel Savage, CEO, College of Law about this news and about The College of Law’s own degree awarding powers and their first crop of new graduates.
As ever, Nigel Savage has robust and thought provoking [...]

Legal Education on the move…

Well… things are heating up. The Financial Times today covers the story about BPP being given degree awarding powers.
“Using language that is likely to outrage some academics in more conventional universities, he added: “We don’t have the baggage of traditional research, so we’re more focused on customer service.”
I have invited Nigel Savage and [...]

A new era in legal education?…

I repeat here, a post on the new Consilio Editorial Blog.
The Times reports: “BPP, the professional qualifications college, has become Britain’s first profit-making body to gain the right to award degrees. It will charge undergraduates course fees of up to £10,000 per year — significantly more than the fees paid by students at all universities [...]

What we have come to?…

I took a short break for lunch and found a copy of The Sun at a nearby table. Police in Manchester have been told to stop riding bicycles - in case they fall off and get hurt. (The Sun)
And we have another misbehaving judge story: Judge Roger Keen QC wouldn’t let [...]

Police Community Support Officers…

The writer of The 3Rs - Reading, Ranting & Recipes Blog visits my blog from time to time. She is a magistrate and an enthusiastic blogger. I enjoy reading her posts…. I also cook from time to time!
On Friday 21st she wrote about Police Community Support Officers - with passion and authority. [...]

Nineteen to the dozen and other matters…

So…it was all above board when I woke up this morning, bright as a button, but I did find I was back to square one on the work front, which added insult to injury. And, while often keen to go against the grain, at least I was alive and kicking. Turned [...]

A bit of rum, sodomy and the lash for the weekend, Sir?…

I’ve heard of the management technique ‘”giving someone a rocket up the arse” but it seems that this Taliban management consultant is taking the concept literally. Either that or the fun loving blokes on the left have taken up ‘Le vice anglais’ with a bit of extra ‘edge’.
Looking for a suitable reference to [...]

Google and other matters…

Gratified to discover (inspired to do so by Family Lore) from my blog stats - that those who type ‘How to become a gravedigger’ into Google are visiting my blog. I typed this rather bizarre question into Google myself and… lo and behold… Charon was a grave digger. (I was a grave [...]

Observations on a theme…

Late yesterday afternoon, shortly after 5.30, I went for a quick glass of Rioja at my usual filling station. Seated at a nearby table outside was a man in his mid to late forties who looked as if he had been an extra in the John Wayne film The Alamo. He was dressed in [...]

The presumption of innocence…

The McCann case continues to attract tabloid and broadsheet interest - the latest story is that the McCann’s are prepared to take a lie detector test. I wrote a few days ago about my preference for the old fashioned idea - the presumption of innocence - and said that I am none to keen [...]

On yer bike….

Doughty Street Chambers seems to be getting a bit of flack from the blogosphere following the imprisonment of Bruce Hyman for perverting the course of justice.
Victorian Maiden over at Ruthie’s Law, commenting on the press release Doughty Street Chambers issued yesterday, states: “as we are now told, Brucie was never actually a member [...]

Perverting the course of justice…

UPDATE: Hyman imprisoned for 12 months / Telegraph report

Bruce Hyman, former member of Doughty Street Chambers, is to be sentenced today and, if given a custodial sentence, will be the first barrister in 800 years to be imprisoned for perverting the course of justice.
My first coverage of this: “The Boys from the Bar stuff” [...]

Horse hair and lawyer brickies….

Edward Fennell in Times 2 reports on a new initiative by Addleshaw Goddard. Instead of putting their trainees into a classroom for a week, the trainees were sent off to Romania to build houses for the Charity Habitat for Humanity. This is worthy…. and certainly worthy of Matt Muttley, managing partner of Muttley [...]

Tergiversate…

Ter·gi·ver·sate [tur-ji-ver-seyt]
–verb (used without object), -sat·ed, -sat·ing.
1. to change repeatedly one’s attitude or opinions with respect to a cause, subject, etc.; equivocate.
2. to turn renegade.
It is not often one comes across interesting and unusual words in daily converstaion. But a friend of mine [...]

Stairlift to heaven….

The news that yet another rock band from my youth is to perform again has inspired me to go and buy the CD of Led Zep’s first album. I bought the original LP in 1969 when I was detained at a school in Perthshire, Scotland. I seem to remember the LP cost [...]

A sunny afternoon in West London…

Having done my ‘tabloid period’ (infra) I am seated at my desk in my office and learn, from The Independent, that a Polish computer programmer could be jailed for three years for linking a vulgar Polish word for penis (kutas) to the presidental website and, thereby, causing the presidential website to be ranked first [...]

There’s no proof!…

From DES BAROLO in Praia da Lush
CHARON QC hit back yesterday at ‘ludicrous and vile accusations’ being made in Portuguese newspapers that the England Rugby team can’t play rugby and that he drinks Rioja everyday. Devastated Charon, who has been named an ‘arguido’ by Portuguese police (called in to assist West London police [...]