In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
a stately pleasure-dome decree,
where Alph, the sacred river, ran
through caverns measureless to man
down to a sunless sea,
so twice five miles of fertile ground
with walls and towers were girdled round.
and there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
where blossom’d many an incense-bearing tree.
And here were forests as ancient as the hills,
enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
The famous poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge has been (and still is) interpreted in many different ways – but it has been in my life since my schooldays; the meaning developing, the pleasure it brings changing – and I thought of it tonight, the last night of a strange year, a year I am glad to see pass into time.
Have a good New Year…. I am staying in tonight at The Staterooms – a bottle of Rioja is open and I have poured a glass. I am listening to Verdi and see no need to go out 🙂
I may return for a final post this year… but I am composing for the 7th January. At the moment I have cannon to the right and cannon to the left and a lot of horses riding towards destiny. Seemed a good metaphor tonight. Whether it will survive the cold January light…. for publication on the 7th… who knows?
***
Have a good 2008.
I survived the night after my bout of bird ‘flu and walked down to the Hothouse Cafe for espresso and a read of the papers. This morning it was – The Mirror and The Independent. It was still dark, but it usually is at this time of year when I go for breakfast.
WAC?… as I am sure they would like to win . I have voted… Unfortunately… it is only possible to vote once. Vote before 2nd January deadline… but as you may well be unable to do so on 1st January because you will be at the gym, not smoking, not drinking, not doing anything unhealthy… you may have to vote before 1st January: 
Issac Newton was born on the 25th December (under the Julian calendar then in use), a birth celebrated by fellow UK blawger and rational man, 
Without in any way wishing to upstage The Queen, 
I was alone at The Bollo with a lot of other alone people…. We shared wine… the wind made it extremely difficult to smoke outside…and… I just could not watch My Fair Lady and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang…
Today I am talking to 
First up is the extraordinary story in The Guardian about historian David Starkey’s astonishing attack on HM The Queen. Starkey states that the 
culture” The Guardian reports that when Starkey was showing The Queen around an exhibition he had curated she seemed more interested in the late arrival of her drink – ‘gin and dubonnet’. Starkey is also dismissive of “sad … hysterical, self-abusing … extraordinarily destructive” Diana. Curiously, Starkey seems to suggest that Prince Charles ‘might be the monarchy’s best hope for survival’.
investment bankers. I will rest easy now, and will now enjoy my Christmas mince pie and one glass of Rioja, knowing that the Saudis and Singapore government are sending emergency aid to banks stricken by axis of evil economic terrorists who have destabilised the global banking network with their lending to the sub-prime market
A resourceful German restauranteur has come up with 
dead birds. There was some talk of my cousin, Cardinal Charoni di Tempranillo, coming over this year – but he picked up an ASBO after a Christmas Church office party last year and is not allowed back in Britain until next year. My brother, Professor R D Charon, has decided to write a treatise, as he 
calls it, on ‘Jurisprudence in a modern, corrupt and morally bankrupt society’ and has gone to Scunthorpe as a ‘retreat’.
about the security guard who, although cleared by the 
Britain will be closed for the next two and a half weeks because of Christmas. I have therefore decided, with some reluctance, to spend more time with my blawg and take a break from the onerous responsibility of writing about matters legal. Holed up in my Staterooms (I have a mince pie in the fridge and sufficient stock of Rioja in the larder for the great day and the Queen’s speech). I’ll be writing throughout the Christmas period – but not about Law. For those of you who need to do a ‘bit of law’ over this period there are websites out there, or you could look at some cases on the HM Court Service website or visit the websites maintained by the newly named regulatory bodies: SRA / BSB. I can also recommend 
I must make it clear that I know nothing about football. The new England manager/coach does know a lot about football – but he doesn’t spika da English too good. He says he will learn it in a month.
In the meantime, newly elected Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg states earnestly: “Renewed ambition for the Lib Dems, renewed ambition to reach out to the millions of people who I know share our instincts and values but do not yet vote for us.”
In a statement to the House tonight, Jack Straw told MPs that the government has now lost Gordon Brown. The courier company contracted to deliver Brown to Portugal to sign the EU Treaty, after delivering him late, has admitted they have absolutely no idea where he is. Police are calling off their search for 25 million HM Revenue & Customs records and are now scouring rubbish dumps to find the Prime Minister.
A friend sent me this the other day… I posted it and then took it down, intending to put it in my Saturday review…. but I could not do a Saturday review… so here it is. Catherine Tate, I am told. You may not have seen it….
I was not able to do a Saturday review…
Charon QC 