This is not a political blog, although politics inevitably creep in to discussions of matters legal. I have followed politics since I was at school, although I was never elected to anything. The current situation beggars belief, and I imagine that today's crop of journalists will shake their heads in their old age, and say "but you should have been there in the summer of 2016; everything seemed to happen at once. " I am now even more convinced that my belief in the iron Law of Unintended consequences is the right one.
I have had to cut back on my sittings of late, as I am awaiting an operation to give me a new knee joint, and although I can get around in the courthouse it isn't always easy. As I am due to retire from the Bench in late October I have excused myself from getting to grips with some of the more complex innovations that have recently been introduced, such as iPads on the bench. I own a couple of iPads and I am comfortable with using them, but inevitably any government-issued software is over-engineered and the last thing from user-friendly.
My court has a few boxes that contain the iPads as well as charging them overnight, but those JPs who wish to use them have to submit to training as well as an elaborate procedure to keep them secure. It is worse for judges of course, but then they are paid £130k and more to cope.
Given my impending retirement, I cannot summon up the enthusiasm to get stuck in to this 21st century stuff (albeit the technology is a decade old).
I am trying to avoid becoming what old Army types call demob-happy so I shall concentrate on justice before bureaucracy.
Welcome back. Was getting worried.
ReplyDelete"JPs who wish to use them have to submit to training" What training?
ReplyDeleteLike most colleagues who have the excellent Ambay SG app I am bemused why MoJ chose to reinvent the wheel, all be it an octagon, when a fully functional and user friendly software is available on the market.
Hope the operation goes ok 😊
You are quite correct Phil that the Ambay product is far superior to the 'official' guideline app which isn't working on the court Ipads anyway. But of course, we DO need the pads for the Court Store functionality which also is a bit ropey but once we go completely paperless will be the only way of seeing PreCons and the IDPC stuff.
DeleteBS - hope your knee op goes swimmingly and feel better soon!!
And did you know that the "over-engineered" software on the iPads doesn't work? Scandalous!
ReplyDeleteGood God!your entire readership has been worried sick by your extended absence, fearing the worst. And it turns out you have nothing more than a dodgy knee. Who do you think you are - Douglas Bader? Man up, BS
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