If something takes your fancy, feel free to use the comments to talk about it and see how people react. I might even be one of them.
Later......
Crikey! What a lot of comments. Pity it got a bit waspish in parts though. You know who you are, and so do I.
I have well over 1000 emails to go through, so I shan't get back to anything like normal for a day or two.
By the way; I don't speak Spanish, but you would have to be pretty thick not to work out what it says on the PIN machine after you have keyed in your number:-
NUMERO SECRETO CORRECTO
I think that I can get that one, Manuel.
Enjoy your break wherever it takes you.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely break BS...I'm trying to see if I can sneak off over the Olympic period...courts in my area will be a nightmare!!
ReplyDeleteI saw a man standing in my back garden this morning.
ReplyDeleteI opened the window and said, "What are you doing mate?"
"Sorry," he said, "I thought you was in Spain?"
"No," I replied. "I leave at 6am tomorrow."
"Okay," he said, jumping over the fence. "Have a lovely time."
"Will do," I smiled.
What a nice guy.
Do you know of these? Very useful in the UK.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Devices/Huawei/Black_MiFi/Black?content_mode=Huawei/Black_MiFi/BlackIde
Unfortunately they are very expensive anywhere outside the UK. Free wi-fi is much cheaper... for the cost of a cup of coffee you get on line.
DeleteThe only problem is that it is a bit of a nuisance carrying an iPad around all holiday in the hopes of finding a free connection.
I suggest either a Sony tablet P (the one that folds) or a wife with a large handbag.
In the event thay you don't have a wife, placing the Sony in the front of your Speedos may help procure female company...
The saving In time no longer spent by officers in police forces around the country seeking out signs of soggy liberalism, and to the cardiac units to which your army of angry, armed and antagonistic police commenters seem sometimes to be psyching themselves up to be taken to as a stroke or heart attack victim, will be immense. The rest of us will (mostly) miss your wry take on life in the capital's courts and your quotes from the Daily Mail. Have a good break!
ReplyDeleteAnother pompous self important arse!
DeleteOh dear, even while BS is away, they're still looking to vent their spleen (not enough skulls to crack, I suppose).
DeleteOne might have hoped that an innocent post on a holiday would not have provided an excuse for commentators to snipe at the police, but it seems they are unable to bottle their spite even for a couple of weeks. A pity but not unexpected.
DeleteEnjoy your holiday, though it appears police hating is a full time job ;-)
Tang0
Is it any wonder there is no respect for magistrates from either felons or the police? This blog is infested with those whose motive for being a magistrate appears to be nothing more than the kudos of putting JP after their names and getting a story for the next dinner party.
DeleteInterestingly, I have never seen a female magistrate commenting on here. As some of you will know, it takes more to get them aroused.
Police commentators express their frustrations about the failing justice system in the hope that someone will listen. They are wasting their time here. I have yet to read a story on this blog regards administering effective justice. One day............
Must be off now. Those skulls won't crack themselves.
"Interestingly, I have never seen a female magistrate commenting on here."
DeleteHow do you know?
Could it be perhaps that you are less all-knowing than you think? :)
...And "Jessica JP" could of course be posting under a false name...
DeleteYes, I may just be Biker trying to score another point. ;)
DeleteCurses.
DeleteAnd I would have got away with it if it hadn't been for you pesky JPs...
All that Brontosaurus's comment about women proves is that he's a bit of a dinosaur
DeleteBrontosaurus is a bit of a dinosaur? Brilliant!
DeleteI think he is saying you are a bunch of old pontificating donosaurs irrelevant to women and the modern, real world.
Half of all magistrates are women, and women have always played a leading role in the magistracy since they were first appointed. The MA's forum has as many women as men commenting (though perhaps not as frequently as men). I don't see a similar balance in other parts of society (let alone in the police).
DeletePerhaps I need to spell it out more clearly. I understand there are lots of female magistrates and your point scoring against the police is noted. Female magistrates don't, of course, have to roll around on the floor with violent drunks. Etc. The magistracy is a far more attractive proposition for women from that perspective. The point is, female magistrates don't seem to find this blog of any interest. I have suggested why. My point is exacerbated if women do find solace in the MA's forum.
DeleteI was female last time I looked. And do get that chip off your shoulder...greasy potatoes are not a good look on anyone.
DeleteI wasn't female the last time I looked.
DeleteBut I still don't quite understand how you reach, and (worse) then support, the assertion that the forum contributors are mostly male.
I mean it's not as though the names give a clue, is it Brontosaurus?
People like Brontosaurus are why we use anonymous nyms.
Delete'Nice Buttons' I might have but it gets tiresome if every time i post to Inspector Gadgets blog people use it to discount the very real concerns about his attitude to the job.
Bon voyage!
ReplyDeleteGood Luck to you...nice luggage.
ReplyDeleteWell, as for subjects, how about this new bit of legislation coming up then? Nick Herbert wants us to sit in community halls and on our own in police stations and all night aka the riots( which were all handled by DJs and not us) - deafening silence from the MA.
Time to resign from them if they sit and wait and don't do something, me thinks.
Heigh ho...have a Tio Pepe for me.
Until there is a consultation paper these are just rather vague thoughts about possible changes. It makes much more sense for the MA officers to have quiet discussions about this than making public statements, I think.
DeleteNot for nothing are such things called condocs...
DeleteThe MA has consistently failed to protect justices from, what one colleague who works in the MoJ says is the abomination that is the DJ system. Not because magistrates need or deserve protection but because justice is better served by a tribunal of three 'peers' instead of one deciding matters of fact and sentencing. So many voices are raised to preserve the jury system and yet are so quiet on the injustice of a single DJ sitting in judgment.
ReplyDeleteWhat a load of self centred bullshit.
DeleteI might have missed something but do not Circuit Judges and HC Judges sit on their own deciding sentencing a great majority of the time.
in reality only something like 10% of cases get anywhere near a trial and by all means have a tribunal for 'fact' but sentencing- if the argument that a tribunal is firer then the whole sentencing system must be unfair( apart from a bench of Magistrates)- that patently cannot be right!
Not necessarily, and aren't you rude?
ReplyDeleteThe truth sometimes is a little unpalatable.
ReplyDeleteAre you two different people, or a poor soul afflicted with a split personality? A pseudonym would assist.
DeleteJessica, can't agree. The MA's job is to be in there and lobby, that's what lobbying organisations do: influence policy before it gets to the table.
ReplyDeleteYet again, they are waiting for that iceberg.
The MA just flounder around and react...really just a glorified operation for having parties...(ouch, I felt that brick)
Lobbying is least effective when conducted through a megaphone and you shout about what you are doing, you then force people to defend positions you might have persuaded them out of. Far better to engage in quiet diplomacy as a first stage and avoid public confrontation. By such means the MA defended our allowances very expertly; compare that to the supine behaviour of the NBCF. I thought you wanted the MA to react to Nick Herbert, now it seems you don't. I'd be interested to hear about these parties the MA have, they seem to have passed me by!
DeleteMegaphone diplomacy seems to have won the Battle of the Cornish Pasty.
DeleteWhat a pleasure to read such a measured and "aware" analysis of the true nature of the discourse between Government and the MA, and how the latter can best hope to influence opinion, not by strident grandstanding, but by persuasive behind the scenes analysis and argument. Likewise, entirely in agreement about the past behaviour of the NBCF. One can only hope that the early indications of a more robust defence of the interest of the magistracy at large shown by the new chap in charge are borne out. It would be hard to do worse than his predecessors; hopeless in the extreme and clearly more concerned about their personal kudos than the place of the magistracy in the judicial landscape.
ReplyDeleteA shame that its notable success is fighting for Magistrates' Allowances. Important to many yes, but there are far more serious issues which it fails to tackle.
ReplyDeleteOh well...if you all think that's what the MA are doing...that's a delight. Note sure how 'aware' we are...and sorry, you do have to grandstand. That's what politics is all about.
ReplyDeleteWhat is this 'stealth pr' - say nothing and hey, see how it works?
Perhaps you are on the inside? All we see from the fields is the MA just waiting to react...and have no cogent view of what we should do as justices beyond being 'local' and sitting more out of hours on which none of us have been consulted.
Still, I'm cancelling anyway so can only wish them well. They don't represnet my views, though...
I am not at all convinced that the MA should model its conduct on the way politics is often done, and I was not talking about PR, I was talking about getting results, not getting in the Daily Wail.
ReplyDeleteThe MA necessarily has to be reactive in many cases, such as in commenting on new legislation, or responding to the steady stream of consultations. On the future of the magistracy it is anything but reactive, having commissioned a series of seminars on "The Magistracy in the 21st Century" with Keele University. To quote: "The Magistrates’ Association has been concerned for some time that there was no clear blueprint for the future of the magistracy and community justice into the 21st century."
In addition, the MA Policy Director has co-edited a book on "The Magistracy at the Crossroads" in which a number of distinquished commentators set out their views.
Adapting the MA's structure for the future is also being considered under the title of "Empowering the Membership"
The MA has effectively accepted that justice has become and will continue to be less local, and if you can point to more out of hours sittings being MA policy I should be amazed.
I am not an insider, I just read the magazine and look at the website; I recommend it.
There does seem to be a tendency in all voluntary organisations for there to be an inner core who devote a lot of time and effort to the organisation, and a wider membership. Some of the inner core resent the fact that it is always the same few people doing the work, and the lack of assistance from the wider membership. Some of the wider membership consider the inner core to be a self-regarding and self-perpetuating clique, very likely getting some sort of benefit for themselves out of what they are doing. So do not worry, Anonymous, you are not alone, thousands of people in all sorts of voluntary organisations feel just the same as you do.
ReplyDeleteHi Jessica. You're right. Those who are aggrieved always seem to find it much easier to simply walk away rather than to become active and fight for the change they want to see.
ReplyDeleteBack in my Branch Sec days I gave the AGM a full year's notice that I would be standing down at the following AGM (Didn't feel I could do the job effectively after my planned move to Spain), but as late as three weeks before the following AGM I was still being asked for assurances that I would stay on if they couldn't find someone; nobody, it seems considered their contribution worth making.
"Those who are aggrieved always seem to find it much easier to simply walk away rather than to become active and fight for the change they want to see."
DeleteBut after being identified as 'aggrieved' (i.e., opposition), isn't it an arrogance for the powers-that-be to expect support (i.e., membership dues) from those whose views they won't accommodate ?
Since the HMCTS exclude magistrates from their Board, where is all this diplomacy suppose dto be focussed ?
DeleteWhoah...whoah...payasoru and jessica...let's call a halt here. You are border line...well, a touch insulting.
ReplyDeleteBefore you leap one me..I am on the inside. I have been on MA committees for years and have slaved and struggled to get my members heard. I have made a huge contribution but found it a wasted effort.
And I am also a comunications professional and if I acted for my clients in the way you suggest with this 'diplomatic silence'..I wouldn't have any
So, great that you are such utter converts. That's fine.
And by the way, the MA publicly have said they support out of hours courts and you sitting in village halls...so do look a tinsy bit furthur than the website. If you read all these articles you point to you will see that what the MA support above all is 'local knowledge' and not professionalism, case management or any of the other skills we birng to bear.
I bow out now. Best of luck.
And sorry about the typos/spelling...broken finger and keyboard don't work...
ReplyDeleteApologies, Anonymous (the one who wrote the comment above).
ReplyDeleteI am sorry you feel insulted, Anonymous, that was not my intention. I accept you have struggled on the inside but have been disillusioned, however I think you are now seeing the ghosts of the past, and where you get information on MA policy that is not on the website rather baffles me. The articles I pointed out are discussion documents of course, not policy. If you just look back at the past two sets of minutes of the Courts and Court Practice Committee you will note strong support for the Stop Delaying Justice programme, that aims to improve case management and a call for full and effective consultation with magistrates at local level about specific proposals for flexible courts.
ReplyDeleteHowever, best of luck to you as well, outside the MA.
As someone who rather proudly can boast that I was thrown off the MA forum boards for telling some inconvenient truths I am afraid that my utter disdain for it as an organisation knows no bounds. The current 'leaders' are showing themselves to be no different from the 'ancient regime' and no amount of 'challenging from within' is actually tolerated if it would risk upsetting the status quo. Sorry Jessica JP - on this we will have to agree to disagree.
ReplyDeleteI know of no-one who has been "thrown off" the MA forum, let alone for telling truths, however uncomfortable. Indeed there are one or two I sometimes wish would be thrown off! So far as I know, the only people who have left the forum are those who have left the MA (and one who refused to put his real name).
DeleteAs for the whole business about village halls etc., I am baffled. This seems to be an amalgam of various snippets of ministerial puff and exaggerated speculation. What matters are things such as professionalism, case management, robust reasons, etc. Why else did the MA put forward the Stop Delaying Justice initiative? Why all this aggro? I'm not only distressed that anyone could find what payasoru, Jessica JP (or indeed I) wrote offensive, as that was so very clearly not the intention, but also frankly mystified. I never thought I'd invoke "our Dave" as a rôle model, but it might not be such a bad thing to chillax a bit.
I am indeed one of those you refer to I was not awere that anonymous comment was not permitted since it allowed me to register as such and clearly I was a Member as I wouldn't have been able to access the members area without being one. But by then I had been subjected to some abuse for daring to criticise the 'Dear Leaders' including being told therefore I was no longer welcome. I have never been back to the MA website since and feel I have missed absolutely nothing.
DeleteSo in fact rather than being thrown off for telling inconvenient truths, you were thrown off for not complying with the forum rules because you wished to remain anonymous, and you got upset because other members disagreed with you.
DeleteI have no problem with disagreement, differances of opinion are healthy!
ReplyDeleteYou wouldn't enjoy the MA Forum either then...
DeleteWhatever do you mean? The MA forum has plenty of lively debate.
DeleteOh dear...well this is all quite healthy as a debate but you might want to
ReplyDeletea) see what statements the MA make in the media and are quoted on: which do suggest support for community halls and out of hours you'll find
b)find me one media piece promoting all those robust case management skills on which I WHOLLY agree but the MA only put this on their own website and don't promote it in the media. Pleaser find one place where they do.
The issue is that their communication is all over the place. Yes they should promote what we do well....er..they don't. That's why I'm leaving along with several of my colleagues.
Forgive that broken finger.
I noticed in an earlier post that you explained that you are a communications professional. In that case, you are probably as aware as I am that the chances of getting a 'good news' story into any media outlet (other than [some] local newspapers and subscription publications for particular interest groups, whose editorial policy is to print press releases verbatim) is virtually impossible.
DeleteCourts sitting in Tesco's toilets is news, even if untrue; cases being effectively managed is not, even if true.
To paraphrase, "Don't believe everything you don't read in the paper."
Unless it is toilet paper and says 'Now wash your hands'.
DeleteLove it!
ReplyDeletea) Is again a masterpiece of non-specific claims of what the MA has supported. I suspect they are deliberately non-specific because actually Anonymous is referring to some rather incautious remarks made in a personal capacity by the the former Vice-Chairman some two or three years ago now which did not then and do not now represent MA policy.
b) Is on the other hand a demand for a specific media report on robust case management.
How very even handed!
But since he asks, a quick Google search brings up:
BBC - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17690404
Law Gazette - http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/in-practice/practice-points/the-stop-delaying-justice-initiative
London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association - http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/in-practice/practice-points/the-stop-delaying-justice-initiative
No, not all coverage is favourable and it did not make it into the red-tops, is that a suprise?
mo·not·o·nous /məˈnÉ’tnÉ™s/ Show Spelled[muh-not-n-uhs] Show IPA
ReplyDeleteadjective
1. lacking in variety; tediously unvarying: the monotonous flat scenery.
2. characterizing a sound continuing on one note.
3. having very little inflection; limited to a narrow pitch range
I think that says it all