Have updated Insitelaw to include material on both the LPC and the BVC which may be of interest to prospective and current  LPC and BVC students.  I have also collated my podcast interviews on legal education topics for these student info pages.

LPC information | BVC information

Daily Legal News - podcast now up on Insitelaw.

Also:  Pageflakes with most of the major UK Blawg updates on one page - CPD from the CPD Channel - New feature for students - LPC provider lists with grading reports and all Charon podcasts on legal education over the last year.

New Feature for law students
I have published (in my other guise as editor, proprietor and general gopher of Insitelaw)  a list of LPC course providers with links to SRA grading reports. Also provided is a list of my “Charon QC podcasts on legal education”  with leading practitioners, including Timothy Dutton QC and Mark Rawlinson, recruitment partner, Freshfields and the heads of leading law schools. We hope this page will be a useful resource for students. BVC and GDL providers will be published shortly and, thereafter, we shall list all the universities providing law degree programmes at undergraduate and graduate level.

Have a look at the Student Information page.

If you are a solicitor you have until the end of October to complete your CPD requirement - barristers have until the end of the year.

Solicitors have until the end of October and barristers until the end of the year to complete their CPD requirement. Why not save money, save time and do the courses online with CPD Channel. They have a bang up to date range of accredited courses - and they are easy to use.

Visit CPD Channel | Have a look at a Preview and try it out?

***

The CPD Channel is an enthusiastic supporter of Insitelaw and will be providing some rather exciting help for blawgers and practitioners shortly. I shall reveal all shortly.

The Daily News and Podcast is now back on Insitelaw after a short break during August. This time - as I am recording from a boat - we have some background sound effects, including swans and ducks.

Also: Do try out the Insitelaw Pageflakes page giving a summary of 75+ UK Blawgs on one page, updated automatically by RSS feed.

Visit Insitelaw for news, news podcast and Pageflakes page on news and blogs.
(We have two Pageflakes pages - one for news and one for blawgs)

The mysterious Editor of Blawg Review has tagged me, together with four others, to refer to five good non-law blogs and then select five law bloggers to do the same. I thought I’d keep it UK centric as other bloggers tagged by The Invisible Man - are from the USA.

Yes… I think I can do this without too much trouble, even if it does take me away from frittering my evenings away enjoyably - Twittering. As it happens, I read quite a few specialist non-law blogs - politics, cricket, ephemera… in fact, on a whole range of topics.  I prefer blogs, in some respects, to newspapers.  Blogs have an immediacy, an irreverence and, mostly, they are non-aligned.  There is no Waugh-esque proprietor a la Scoop in the shadows or languishing in a US jail.

I poured myself a generous glass of Rioja, lit a cigarette and sat back to think.  The tide is coming in and the boat rocked gently as the sun, making a rare appearance, fell in the sky over Chelsea. Who would I pick for my first non-law blog?

1. I’m interested in politics. I read Guido Fawkes - I do not agree with every post, of course, nor do I need to.  The posts are usually on the point - and the ranters, and general lunatics who make up a percentage of those who comment on his blog, are usually amusing (sometimes, unintentionally) and add colour and depth.  Yes - my first choice of a non-law blog (in choice, rather than hierarchical classification - I’m done with ‘medaling’) is Order Order by Guido Fawkes

A small, office safe, taste for readers from one of Guido’s recent posts:

Mrs Fawkes Do you really need to go?
Guido Well you know, important to keep in touch with the base, gain intelligence, schmooze contacts, gossip doesn’t just write itself…
Mrs Fawkes For 4 days and nights?
Guido Well, have been invited to speak at a few events on issues that are important, seems rude not to give back something.
Mrs Fawkes Try not to get arrested this time.

***

2.  I’m interested in anarchy and I am a Scot - so the choice of this non-law blog was pretty easy: “Meet the bastard family - we don’t pull any punches”.  I commend to you “Never Mind The Bollix”

Office safe it is not.  Well put together it is - and… it makes me laugh - perhaps it is the raw and very blunt Scots attitude and humour that appeals - but even if you can’t imagine the Scots voice - the writing is amusing and direct - a taste: ” David Tosser Blaine. I don’t think that Tosser is his real name, more like a stage name, but somehow it suits him.I see they are running a programme on Sky about the life and challenges of this monotone tosser this evening, and it struck me that he has to be one of the most annoying wankers in the world. Why is this numpty famous? Just hearing his whiney voice try and justify the stupefying pointless shite that he does makes me want to headbutt the wall.”

***

3.  I’m interested in good writing with attitude - so it just has to be Ms R - A Woman of Experience.

I’ve talked many times on the phone with Ms R.  I have even done a podcast with her.  I have never met her.  Her blog is a must read if you like attitude, women’s thinking and direct.  She is an Australian.  I don’t think she plays cricket…. but she can and does write.   I’ll give you a small taste:

“Ms R’s experience of parties indicates that there are certain people and events that need to take place at any party, before it can truly be regarded as a classic.

Specifically:

There will be a minimum of two couples arguing which will end in tears. In one case the couple will be engaged, a union that is very fragile and based on the fact that they are the last of their circle (Home Counties from matching insignificant public schools) not to be married. He’s not that into her and she knows it but she wants a big wedding and this may be her last chance. Damn it, she deserves it. All this is about to go down the pan when the woman he’s been screwing around with at work is invited. She had an inkling of this and finds out when…”

4.  I like the word ‘eclectic’ and I enjoy this eclectic blog - Nourishing Obscurity.

It is written by a writer - I have not met him - who uses many different names.  When I looked today he was calling himself ‘Lord James Bigglesworth Prat-Higham’.  This treasure trove mixes politics with art, with literature, with madness - and I can smoke many cigarettes browsing.  Try it.

It is difficult to give a taste of this blog - you just have to dive in…. anywhere, really.  You will, I am certain, find something to amuse, provoke and even interest you.

***

And finally….  but by no means last….

5.  I like to know about things I have no direct experience of - The City…. how it works, how they think - do they think… and if they do… what do they think about.  Capitalists@Work usually has a point of view on this.  I read this blog most days - you might like to try it.

There may well be other City and financial blogs with greater following - who knows?  But I am sure this will reward a visit. US visitors, particularly, may find this blog of interest.

***

SO… WHO DO I CHOOSE AS THE FIVE LAW BLOGGERS TO TAG?

A rather difficult choice - but I sat back, the sun now safely doing work in another of the world, sipped my Rioja and had, as is often the case with Rioja - a Damascus moment.

I  invite the following to share their thoughts on non-law blogs.  They may well be busy - but that is life.

Carl Gardner, author of the Head of Legal blog | Geeklawyer to ensure balance and sensitivity | Dan Hull of What About Clients? / Paris? for his eclectic knowledge of a wider world | The White Rabbit - ineluctably | Simon Myerson QC, author of ‘Pupillage and how to get it.

I do hope the gentlemen selected forgive me for adding to their workloads - but…. I am on a boat, getting mildly over refreshed and well…. you just seemed to come into my mind - mea culpa.

I have not burdened John Bolch of Family Lore - “he did it” on a previous meme (and, it has to be said, on Twitter) and has been busy writing a book for lay people on how to do their own divorces - wonderful apostasy on a grand scale!  You’ll wreck the legal world, John.

After realising that I was spending a ludicrous amount of time visiting many tens of blogs each day to update Insitelaw - I have set up a Pageflakes page just for UK (and other) Law blog feeds.

On one page - see at a glance who is writing… and what they are saying.  I have set the feed to read the three most recent posts on each blog.

The order is, to some extent, based on my visiting patterns - but I have checked all the blogs on my blogroll, included those that are active - although some active blogs do not appear to have RSS feed capability or, if they do, Pageflakes could not find it.

There are also some excellent non-law blogs at the foot of the page.

I will add to this page - please let me know if I have not included you - I will rectify asap.

***

Pageflakes page just for UK (and other) Law blog feeds.

Inspired to join Twitter by Nick Holmes of Binary Law - I did and found myself conversing with a number of UK Blawgers late of an evening…. perhaps, it has to be said, not quite in the way Nick intended… nor Twitter was designed for.

It has, also, to be said that law is rarely discussed and the exchanges between a number of us are, perhaps, surreal.  This suits me fine and is most enjoyable.

I am delighted that one of the Twitterers, @Infobunny,  was able to capture ‘a part of my character’ … and the glass of rioja…. so accurately in plasticine.

“Infobunny Did it”… and I  am delighted with the result.  I am immortalised in plasticine… a ‘morph’….   Regular denizens of late night Twittering who ‘follow on Twitter’ will understand the significance of the “Did it” reference - a reference beyond me, tonight, I’m afraid, to even begin to explain.

So… we now have our articulate, incisive, Home Secretary, having brushed up on Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, putting the knife into Cyclops with her letter informing him to expect a crimewave as our economy goes to Defcon Five.

I am, however, reassured by this from, of all places, WalesOnline.co.uk: “A LEAKED letter from the Home Secretary suggesting that the economic downturn will lead to rising crime levels is a “statement of the blindingly obvious”, a Home Office minister said yesterday. Tony McNulty said it was clear that crime “may well go up” in the UK during the country’s economic slowdown.” I couldn’t really be bothered to read the rest of it… I’m sure that it was worthy appeasing stuff.

While I understand that The Home Secretary fancies the odd kebab, and will happily trudge around the back streets of London looking for one while talking to Police about their pay -  another of New Labour’s dedicated followers of fashion was pictured wearing a stab vest in the company of some fairly burly coppers, reassuring us that all is good in the State of Denmark.  I believe it is Deputy Leader Harman QC.

Meanwhile, we are reassured that Britain will, indeed, fall into recession shortly, The Chancellor has told us that things have not been been so bad for sixty years, British holidaymakers escaping to Europe for holidays while they can are facing a £/Euro exchange of 1: 1.22 and a ’spokesman at No 10′ tells us that the prime minister has ‘full confidence’ in Darling - and here is rather a good cartoon…. so… only a matter of time until Darling gets shuffled off?

The great Brown recovery continues with a freeze on Stamp Duty if you can find a house to buy below £175,000.  There may well be houses in remote parts of the country at this price - but in London, the South East, the Labour heartlands where votes for Labour really matter?…. possibly not.

Anyway…. Conference season is about to start.  Should be fascinating this year. And it is only the 2nd of September…..there just must be more to come.  September is one of my favourite months for politics.  US politics?… fascinating…. but…. our politics at the moment… a car crash in slow motion… now is the time for the politicos to earn their money and John Lewis list expenses….   I am going to buy some popcorn and watch with interest.

***

I am grateful to Simply Wandered for alerting me to ‘Wi-Ri’… downloadable rioja via rioja dongle… my problems net connection wise and rioja supply are ended.

The silly season is ending and I have started to update with links to what is happening on a range of blogs and I have updated the professional news sections.

I have plans to develop podcasts - the daily news podcast resumes tomorrow morning - and there will be new materials and sections appearing as developments done over the summer come to fruition.

I am keen to develop the reporting side on Insitelaw - always grateful to bloggers and others who wish to promote specific posts from their blogs or who would like to contribute to the content of Insitelaw in other ways.

Visit Insitelaw

Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance

Dongled up and I am able to return to blogging, collecting emails, doing the magazine, podcasting and hunting for information and news online.  I am impressed with these dongles - fairly fast, seem to work well and the added advantage of being usable wherever I happen to be with the laptop.

Delighted to receive John Bolch’s Family Lore ‘Best post of the Month Award’ - for the nonsense I write about West London Man - who will be returning to a PC screen near you very shortly.

Although not one usually for awards - I do get pleasure from receiving a fellow blogger’s award  - particularly for posts not involving any law. So… as they say, John…. much obliged.  The virtual rioja was excellent.

Normal service is being resumed.

With the move out of West London, the bank holiday, the Russian threats to blackmail Europe with oil and gas and being net less for three days - quite apart from the lack of legal news - I have nt had much time to keep Insitelaw fully up to date.  From tomorrow morning normal daily service shall be resumed - and, hopefully, the dongle will cope with the uploading of the daily news podcast as well.

They say that storms are on the way. I may have to batten down the hatches on the boat and spend the day drinking naval rum.  If this does happen, be sure, I shall do my bit and even if I have to lash myself to my chair, I shall be posting. A view from the boats - taken on an old mobile camera as my decent camera is in store until I decide where I am going to settle.

A bit of legal news…..

Chickens appear to be coming home to roost. The Times reports: “The trial of a teenager accused of murdering the Liverpool schoolboy Rhys Jones could be delayed after he was left without a senior barrister because of a government limit on legal aid. The trial was due to start on October 2 but the 17-year-old defendant does not have a QC, and his solicitor and junior barrister are working without pay because of new rules restricting those who can take on legal aid cases. If a QC cannot be found, the defence could apply for the case to be stayed.”

And a quick trip to RollonFriday where their journos report “A 78 year old German woman misunderstood baggage instructions at Stockholm’s Arlanda airport and put herself on the baggage chute instead of her luggage, believing them to be the check-in instructions. Bless the old bag.”

So here I am… sitting on a boat on The Thames…. My internet not working, no purveyor of dongles open where I could buy a dongle to connect and, even if the internet café was open, it was raining… serious rain, with lightning.

So…. What did I do?   Fortunately, I had a bottle of vino rosso to hand and the nice people at 118 118, contacted via mobile, told me that they would send me a text to let me know who won the 4th One Day International at Lords between South Africa and England.

I needed to know this – there are only so many times one can read The Observer and as all my books are in store I had, as my old man used to say, my thumb up my bum and my mind in neutral.  Quite why this was one of his favourite sayings I have no idea – but he used to say it quite frequently when he was ranting about inefficiency or uselessness on the part of those he came across.

I am pleased to be able to report that 118 118 were as good as their word.  I received this text about 128 seconds after requesting it – I know… I timed it. I had little else to do.  Text read: “England made it four wins from four in the one-day series against South Africa with a seven wicket win at Lords.  Thanks. Yor118 Team!”

Most impressed  by the “Yor” and pleased that we appear to have discovered a bit of cricket form under KP who the South Africans persist in calling a South African when it is obvious to anyone that the man is as English as a geezer in a Pearly King suit on a London double decker bus cruising the streets of Beijing.

Knowing the result of the cricket, I was able to settle back in my chair and felt inspired to pen a piece for my ‘Postcard from The Boat’  – a piece you are reading now if I have been able to get to the internet café or buy a new dongle.

Bored reading the 118118 text message endlessly, I then went out onto the deck to smoke a cigarette and watch the tide come in.  It was drizzling – but having read The Observer several times, I was able to put it to good use as a makeshift umbrella by putting it on my head like a small tent.

The view was good…. tide rising, lights smudged by rain and the low rain clouds making everything darker than normal…. very autumnal.

Charon, to use the mildly absurd third person, is now off to begin his search for his “Dongle”… well he will be after a decent breakfast at a local cafe in the morning…

Postscript:

My eye was caught by an advertisement on the back of The Observer Magazine or ‘colour supplement’ as we used to say when I was young.  It was an advert for BUPA.  The headline ran: “With a Bupa Premier Health Assessment you can have up to an hour to chat with a doctor.”

Well…. I am sure that some will benefit from shelling out to find how well they are (or otherwise)…. But it did strike me, in these recessionary credit-crunch times, that The Law Society is missing a trick or two…. What about “With a Law Society approved Legal Affairs Assessment you can have up to an hour to chat with a solicitor.” ?  and…., unlike BUPA who throw in the cup of tea…  “We’ll not charge more than the going rate at a City law firm for a cup of tea.”

Despite coming up with a brainwave to buy BTOpenzone credits to use hotspots - I found one right at the top of the boat - after paying the money to BT when a full signal was received… somewhat mysteriously there signal disappeared soon after.  It may come back!

So… no posting - going for a glass of wine.  Hopefully will organise new router or dongle tomorrow..

Minor hassle - my internet connection dongle does not seem to work - I shall therefore have to post, for the time being, using an internet cafe nearby…. I shall do so later today, hopefully

So…. the plan now is to give a whole raft of officials powers to give out fines and marshall us into some Beijing Olympic cadre style of civil obedience and responsibility. The Evening Standard reported today that Town Hall staff are to be given power to hand out fines.  This is a rather worrying plan being developed by The Home Office.  On the assumption, and I cannot be sure, that civil servants have not taken over during the Summer, this must be the product of the febrile mind of our Home Secretary.

The idea - called “The Community Safety Accreditation Scheme” - is that a third tier level of ‘unaccountable policing’ will be brought into play.  I quote from The Evening Standard article:

“More than 1600 civilians ranging from shop security guards, park wardens, housing officers, charity workers, dog wardens and football match stewards have been made part of the ‘extended police family’ under the legislation.”

Footpath fouling, cycling on pavements, dropping litter etc etc are to be clamped down on. It was bad enough when the government brought in a group of people, not trained to full police standards (and not paid police rates) to shamble about in grey shirts and police kit, including antistab vests - and not get involved in anything likely to cause danger to themselves or, presumably, the public.   I’m sure those employed as PCSOs mean well, and know the way to the local Tesco, but as a front line force to deter crime - it really is pretty laughable.  I recall seeing, in West London, three PCSOs pop into a high street cafe for buns and tea.  I happened to be at the cafe at the time. They drank the tea and ate their buns with exemplary efficiency, paid and shambled off to wander down the High Street looking for Lex Luther, Ernst Stavro Blofeld and The Joker. They looked like amateurs and I just could not see even a pre-hoodie potential knife carrier of five being even vaguely concerned by their presence.

Now we’ve got the next load of worthies, no doubt to be given Dad’s Army style armbands or bright yellow Hi-Viz jackets (possibly even with “USELESS” written in blue lettering on the back),  drifting about dishing out fines to swell the coffers of government and local government alike.  More real Police?  Is that so difficult? - or too expensive?

Now that the bloviators and hyperventilators of the press, television and other media have gorged themselves on Team GB and told us how marvellously China did in producing the games, how the world must open its arms to China and how Britain will go on to produce an even better games in 2012, it was reassuring to read a bit of critical analysis.

Spuggers?
Lest anyone think that as I rioja (*) my way through what life there is remaining in the egg-timer of my life and have turned into a grumpy old git, nothing could be further from the truth.  Team GB did well. It was a tremendous achievement and I very much hope that the athletes get some credit of practical benefit, other than geegaws, baubles and knighthoods, to assist them with their sport and their lives.  When one reads, courtesy of the tabloids, that an olympic athlete on average earns £25k and internationally renowned shopaholic fuckwits who can’t even qualify  for (let alone win) the European football fest earn millions one begins to wander about sporting interest and value for money. It seems, also,  to my jaded eye, that hordes of worthies, journalists and politicians are lining up to bask in the glory while the athletes modestly accept the plaudits, don’t let it go to their heads and get back to doing what they enjoy most in life - sport at a high level. Lords Coe and Moynihan appear like Shakespearean witches, stirring the bubbling cauldron of success,  to demand your money… and, quite possibly, lots of it. Would “Spuggers” be the right word for extorting sports cash?

As Will Self (In The Standard) and Martin Samuel (The Times) have pointed out - China drew on vast human resources used to complying with government edict - they even bussed hordes of people around to fill empty seats - and there was a very real human cost in terms of mounting and paying for the games.  The press did not get entirely free and open access.  77 requests were made, according to Samuels, for designated protest events and these were all declined and, it is highly likely that the regimented politically controlled society of China will return to normal fairly shortly.  One civil rights activist of my acquaintance, who shall remain nameless until he decides to express his views in print himself, mused that where once great sporting records were broken, lives would be broken by the execution of criminals and other state undesirables.  the Bird’s Nest stadium may yet hear the sound of loaded gunfire and the roar of a different crowd as executed criminals fall to the grass where once javelins landed.  To be fair…. it is believed that China is now beginning to use mobile lethal injection units rather than firing squads - but executions will, no doubt, be resumed in the not too distant future for the terminal education of those who dissent.
***

Meanwhile, we are encouraged to look forward to 2012.  I just can’t summon the energy to do so….. and that logo is just bizarre.  Talk about a broken society metaphor?

Well… I haven’t had a decent rant or ‘expression of irritation’ for some time…. but there we are.  I can now relapse back to normal.

Footnote: (*) If the BBC can drone on and on about ‘medalling’ during the Olympics and turn nouns into verbs, I can talk about ‘riojaing’ - and I don’t charge a licence fee.

Do your own divorce?…. If you want a divorce (or are involved in a divorce) but you are neither eligible for legal aid nor able to afford to instruct a solicitor, what do you do?  Well - buy John Bolch’s excellent book on “Do Your Own Divorce” which he is promoting on his Family Lore blog - available online. This is a good example of a practising lawyer turning into an author and self publisher.  I have read most of the book now and while I am not contemplating marriage to give the book a try, I found it readable, informative, clear and, most important - practical.

The harbingers of doom gather as the credit-crunch brings into focus the rising/falling fortunes of lawyers and law firms. There does seem to be a spate of articles appearing contrasting the fabulous earnings of some lawyers, yet hinting at dark times to come. Perhaps, as the season changes from summer to the early suggestion of autumn, the pundits, the journalists and commentators are turning their attention away from sightings of great white sharks off the coast of Britain, away from the Olympics and David Cameron’s interest in Gavin and Stacey, to more serious matters.

By way of illustration… in The Times today there are two articles.  The first has the headline “Lawyers make billions but the good times are ending” by Alex Spence and, the second, also written by Alex Spence,  ” Law firms feel pinch as companies slash legal spending”

We learn from the first Alex Spence article that: “The top 100 commercial law firms earned combined revenues of £13.96 billion in the past financial year, according to a report published today, an increase of 14 per cent on the previous year. Collectively they made £4.35 billion in profits, an average of £473,000 for each equity partner”

And then…. Spence tells us that “According to Legal Business magazine, the highest paid partners at Slaughter and May, one of the City’s oldest and most prestigious firms, earned £2.4 million each last year”

There is a bit of comparative mumbo jumbo with other magic circle firms… but Slaughter & May enjoys the focus with Spence noting that S&M is ‘notoriously reticent about its earnings..fiercely protective about reputation and heritage’ - a rather interesting footnote about the fact that S&M partners lunch together ‘every day’ in the partner’s dining room and then…. a bit to highlight the contrast in fortunes between the large and small… a note that equity partners at leading personal injury specialists Thompsons are only trousering £83,000.  I do seem to recall reading in one of the tabloids, it may have been The Sun, that the average wage in credit-crunched Britain is £23,000.  The Spence article notes that law firms take longer to feel the impact of economic downturn…. ‘but the impact was starting to be felt’.

Spence ends with the portent of doom “Law firms are beginning to look at one of their costliest overheads — their staff — and ask questions.”

Alex Spence then goes on to excite us by writing a second article bearing the same date of publication in which he states “Law firms are feeling the pinch as Britain’s top companies, under pressure from the economic downturn, slash their spending on outside legal advice”  Spence goes on to say that companies are finding it cheaper to hire their own in-house lawyers rather than give work to external law firms.

It seems that  in-house lawyers, according to The Times, “earn less than their counterparts in private practice, with a junior lawyer likely to earn between £65,000 and £120,000 a year plus benefits and bonus.”

Spence notes that companies have been finding it difficult to hire lawyers.  This is hardly surprising given the yawning chasm in the earnings of in-house lawyers compared to those in private practice… but… this may well change as law firms start asking questions and firing expensive staff overhead.

We shall see if these portents of doom are realised. It may well be time for some to have a Damascus moment and talk of work-life balance, to talk of opportunity to practice law at the sharp end of corporate enterprise, rather than remotely through the offices of a law factory, to talk of a long held wish, after building up expertise in a top law firm, to use their skills more directly for the good of Great Britain PLC…. that there is a wider agenda for the modern lawyer of today etc etc etc.  It may well be that these thoughts are music to the ears of company HR departments and the managing partners of law firms alike.  Time will tell.

Is Gordon Brown Bonkers? - is the buzz going around Westminster according to Guido Fawkes.  I’ll leave you to investigate further should you wish to do so - but I will take one quote from the Guido post.:

“When Kay Burley asked him this week would he still have the PM’s job at Christmas his reply was “Of course, because we have got to get on with the job… We have got to get on with the job. People want us to get on with the job. Getting on with the job is the most important thing at the moment.” He snapped at the Mail on Sunday “I’m happy to talk to you because you are here… I have given you special time. That is very good of me. You are very fortunate.”

Perhaps we shall yet see Brown wandering around Dover doing a King Lear impersonation?

With the passing of the Bank holiday and summer gently easing into autumn - the politicians will start to return, putting away their beige jackets and Boden casual wear, and the Conference season will be upon us.  Britain will gradually get back to work.  On that note I admit to taking a break over the last week and most enjoyable it was… but I am equally delighted to be returning to reading interesting news, and doing other work.

Normal service to be resumed this week…..

So… it is Sunday on a Bank holiday weekend. The Notting Hill carnival is underway… reggae reggae sauce, courtesy of The Dragon’s Den, Red Stripe, curried goat,  whistles, floats, exotic outfits, dancing policemen - a national treasure I shall not be attending, having been to five over the past fifteen years.

Instead, I find myself on a boat on The Thames, realising there is no legal news of any consequence and, thereby, I am free not to shoehorn much law in without guilt. So what has been “occurring” as David Cameron would say, jumping on yet another populist bandwagon (Observer article I happened to read)?

Nick Holmes, founder of infolaw, author of the Binary Law blog and fellow enthusiast for the net as a medium of expression and publishing - has started up an idea called The Free Legal web.  yes… there are going to be difficulties.  Have a look.  It is a great idea.  Even better - become a contributor.  I fear, however, that my musings on this blawg will be of little value to this project - but I shall have a go to see if I can contribute in other ways.

Blawgs are in the news… well… to be more accurate, not that many blawgs are - but serial blogger, ranter and the man who did set up UK Lawblog Conferences  - Geeklawyer - has been in The Times in a piece by Alex Wade.

UK LAWBLOG 2008 15th SEPTEMBER

The first UK Blawgers conference, last year,  was set up by Geeklawyer and Ruthie - and was an enjoyable event.  This year the tone is different - no talks - straight to the pub to talk of many things.  There may be short five minute ‘lightning’ presentations, the odd podcast - and, for my taste, this format is all the better for the informality. Blogger or would be blogger… let Geeklawyer know if you plan to attend by commenting on his blog post… or, perhaps… just turn up.  Venue details are here.  Come along…  all liability is, naturally, excluded.

And so… to matters of Government.

The Labour government continues to persuade the British electorate of the benefits of ID cards with another command performance.  Hot on the trail of 25 million records being lost by H M Revenue & Customs, Northern Ireland driver details, various military and intelligence secrets left on trains inbound to Waterloo by spooks and military people - the kebab fancying Home Secretary,  Jacqui Smith, has now been able to point the finger of shame at a contractor entrusted by her department for losing the records of “40,000 serious criminals”  (The Telegraph).  Apparently, these details were on a USB memory stick.

The Telegraph reports: “Home Office officials are now in discussions with the Information Commissioner about what steps it may need to take to protect those whose privacy has been jeopardised. The Commissioner said last night that “searching questions must be answered” before it decides what further action to take.”

The Information Commissioner has already warned that Britain is ’sleep walking towards a surveillance society’.  In The News of The World this morning I read that local councils, who appear to be developing a taste for misusing ‘terror legislation’,  are now spying on people to see if girlfriends / boyfriends are staying overnight - to enable them to ’swoop’ on those who claim a discount on council tax because they live alone.

Meanwhile… Prime Minister Cyclops is in in Beijing - arriving after we had won most of our medals so as not to jinx yet another sporting event - looking just as uncomfortable in front of the cameras as he does holidaying in Suffolk wearing a beige jacket.   Team GB has done well.  It is pleasing that we got more medals than the Australians - my only real interest in the games.  Boris will be collecting the Olympic flag today and, mercifully, the newspapers and other media will be able to write about rather more interesting things…  China will be able to get back to being a beautifully run authoritarian state, and , hopefully, we won’t have to watch Lord Sir Sebastian Bore on our screens for a while.

I’ve just popped on to Twitter. One of the Twitterers had written: “Who thinks we’re going to bugger something up at the closing ceremony - especially after Boris said it would be a safe, risk-free affair?”

To my shame, I read it rather differently - misreading the word ’something’.  Mea culpa.

I’ll write again later, for I plan several parts to my Postcard over this bank holiday weekend,  - but now… I have to go for a glass of Rioja….

I shall, however, leave you with this from the BBC live online coverage of the games:

“”A beautifully organised Games all around, then Boris appears, jacket undone, looking like a drunk who gatecrashed the party, what an embarrassment.”

Best wishes as always….

Kelvin Mackenzie in The Sun has an amusing story about chef Marco Pierre White.  Apparently Marco Pierre White, in the throes of divorcing his wife, has taken to watching their wedding video - in reverse.

He likes to see his wife take off the ring, leave the church, get into the car and disappear.

I enjoyed that story.