Dear Reader
A man who doesn’t approve of Bed & Breakfast owners being banned from banning gays…. a shield muncher with ‘form’ who enthused about the “Kill a burglar” law reforms… is promoted to the rank of Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice – a man who, through no fault of his own, knows no law. It may not be long before Mr Grayling fails to understand just how complex our legal system is.
I will be delighted if he doesn’t mess this up – and proves to be one of the greatest Lord Chancellors we have had. The list of ‘great’ Lord Chancllors is not a very long list. I suspect that a 140 character tweet would do the job for that list?
Say what you like about Lord Irvine – a ‘real’ Lord Chancellor – when he was taking time out from selecting wallpaper – I can’t recall much of any use that he did. In fact, to be honest this sunny afternoon, I can’t be bothered to remember anything he did. And as for Sir Saint Thomas More,
This is one of his views…
“Ask a woman’s advice, and whatever she advises, Do the very reverse and you’re sure to be wise”
So… not much evolution in the last few hundred years, it appears, at the pinnacle of our political mind?
Mind you… another Chancellor, Adolf Hitler – not a Lord Chancellor, of course – once said
Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it”
Let us hope that Lord Chancellor Grayling learns tolerance and inclusiveness. He may well have until 2015 to discover these basic human qualities? The good news? It is unlikely that Mr Grayling will be made a Saint – unlike his illustrious predecessor Sir Saint Thomas More. But, you never know with this government: They hand out honours with P45s.
Mr Grayling is now at the political pinnacle of our ABS/Legal Services Act driven legal system (Thankfully, no longer in charge of appointing judges – but still retains ‘powers’). This Saturday’s excellent episode of The Thick Of It – available, for the time being, on iPlayer – may give you some comfort in these dark days. Some wonderful lines. My favourites:
“You used a lot of words today… it was like a Will Self lecture”
“Sorry, darling… got to go… I think the bailiffs are coming to take away my will to live.”
(I am sure that I will have opportunity – perhaps without the ‘Darling’ – to use the latter line)
If you have the urge to read something vaguely sensible on this most ‘unusual’ of appointments – Joshua Rozenberg does the business in The Grauniad:
Chris Grayling, justice secretary: non-lawyer and ‘on the up’ politician
“Grayling’s main qualifications for justice minister are that he is perceived to be right-wing and once shadowed prisons”
Anyway… enough of the absurd unprovoked ‘ad hom’ attack on Mr Grayling, who, I am confident is a nice chap and plays a decent game of golf when he isn’t out looking for burglars ….. have a good rest of a very sunny weekend. The winter of all our discontent may well be coming very soon….would next Thursday suit you?
Best, as always
Charon
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Sir/St Thomas More as well as the last non-lawyer until Grayling to be Lord Chancellor is also the last Lord Chancellor to be decapitated. Would it be too much to hope …
ps I’ve always thought it a bit odd that him thinking burning heretics at the stake for – well – heresy was an okay thing to do didn’t stop More making it to saint ….
NO! BAD GRAYLING!!
YOU MAY NOT BRING BACK BURNING AT THE STATE!!!
Freudian type – STAKE not STATE!
I keep quiet now