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I knew a pretty decent defence lawyer who was also a good poker player. He tried to base his poker strategy mainly on stealing blinds and trying to read the opponent on being played back. He also read a lot of "body language reading" books etc to try and work out if witnesses at trials were lying. Though I'm not sure what good he thought that would do. Another friend said he decided criminal law wasn't for him, when, during a case it was obvious that, the prosecutor was lying, the police were lying, the accused and defence witnesses were lying and he wasn't even sure about the Sheriff.....

Anyway, on the topic, the concept of a trial (not in Scotland) is that massive variations in evidence lead to a binary guilty/not guilty. From "ironcast" dna and ten witnesses plus cc cameras to, what I suspect might be the majority, the police think this person commited a crime and have various bits and pieces of evidence and witnesses. So someone innocent and someone guilty can be put on trial with very similar evidence. Now a judge has seen this all before, many times, so does he apply "beyond reasonable doubt" the same way a jury would? I suspect not.   

Excellent post Mr Phil. Thank you.

Good to see you're back at it Kev and Tony is still a bandit..

Tiny trip report for anyone wanting to golf on holiday. Went to Gran Canaria for a fortnight. Stayed at a Lopesan hotel and played their 3 courses. Never been there before and although I booked a lot of golf wasn't expecting great things.

I've Played in Portugal, Spain and Tenerife lately and prices were more than Spain which I found great value in June but less than the the courses I played in Tenerife (which were probably the poorer ones on the island) and way behind Portugal.

These 3 courses were in fantastic condition. Yes they could do a better job making it a better experience, 8 minute gaps between 4 balls of retired couples makes for a slow round but hey your on holiday and a beer cart turns up. 3 different courses

Maspolamas everyone will love, totally flat has its traps but as a par 73 if you are going to get one this is it (here we go chirp - 79  ) .


Anfi Tauro is some kind of Disneyland of golf. feels like you are playing in the red rock desert, have a google quite nuts. Not sure if I love it or hate it, played with a couple of English guys and after 5 holes I think I was now called Rocky as that was all I hit . Second time we finished in near darkness and about 12 beers deep...

Meloneras, Standard first 9 like a lot of holiday courses but decently challenging lot more up and down and shape of holes. Then you hit the back 9 playing along the side of a cliff looking down on local ports hitting over huge drops into oblivion (if you can't hit it 150 then do what my partners didn't every time and move up a tee ffs).

All stunnning courses and the greens are as good as I have played on. Hardly used a pitch mark repairer, they were incredible. I've found a lot on holiday are really sandy and your ball makes a big hole but these took a ball, didn't run out like a links. Guys working like hell on every course and all the kit they were driving look out the box these are looked after so well, Seemingly Mr Lopesan loves golf.

Think I'll be back but think 12 games in a fortnight was maybe a couple too many, not that Mrs E ever showed signs of missing me

Sorry for the long post but these days the most fun I have is getting in a golf cart in a pair of ridiculous pair of shorts.

Thanks for posting that.

I was blissfully unaware of how the system has been so underfunded which is surprising as my wife is an NHS budget holder. I read the secret barristers book a couple of years ago and one of the things that jumped out was how the advice will be go to trial. Reason being that the system is so broken there's a good chance the prosecutor might not turn up given the mess of legal aid etc.

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As per usual there is a load of complete nonsense being written about this topic. Some of it is because the usual news outlets don't actually employ many journalists, and most of the few that still exist just trot out their Party line.

There are also people trying to hide their vested interests behind rampant bollo. From Tories pretending it wasn't their underinvestment that caused the problem, to Criminal Barristers banging on about the "right" to trial by jury, conveniently omitting to mention the massive difference to their potential pay.

I'm a former Solicitor (and, before that, a Barrister-at-Law). I have no vested interest. So here is my version of the reality of this situation.

There are 3 categories of Criminal Offences. Known as (1) Summary-only; (2) Indictment-only; and (3) Either-Way Offences.

The vast majority are (1)-no right to a Jury for those. Only a very few of the most serious offences are (2), which must be heard by a Jury. (3) are the key to change-these offences may carry big prison sentences, but typically do not.

Large amounts of Courts have shut. Because they were not making a "profit". Causing a massive logjam. Currently, if someone were to be formally charged with Rape today, the logjam means the actual Case will not Start until early 2030. That has massive implications. To give 2 obvious examples, large amounts of people will either be in Prison for 4 years for something they didn't do, or large amounts of the Guilty ones will be on the Streets for the next 4 years. Secondly, a considerable number of Guilty people will be found Not Guilty, because Witnesses will die/get dementia, and memories will fade or become less convincing. That's before factoring the marginal cases dropped and/or plea bargains agreed to due to time pressures

It always used to be a close call when advising people facing "either way" offences. On the 1 hand, Juries are more likely to acquit than Judges-simply because they haven't heard the same stories a thousand times before. On the other, people convicted by Juries get harsher Sentences than those convicted by Judges. However, it is now the case that severe delays mean it is more often in the Accused's interest to opt for a Jury Trial. That in turn causes a ripple effect on future cases.

The change is necessary. The Debate should be whether it is a Temporary or Permanent change

I'm not sure where the 58 came from - obviously it was a mere 47 years ago 

Just a quick reference to Eze's brilliant NLD hat-trick, the first one since Alan Sunderland's at WHL 58 years ago.

My best mate in the 1970's was a season ticket holder at White Hart Lane and we used to play golf at weekends. If spurs were playing at home he would often invite me to join him for the game after golf, that's how I happened to be at the game in December 1978. Arsenal won 5-0 that day thanks to the Sunderland hat-trick, Frank Stapleton, and last but not least, Liam Brady's memorable effort from about 20 yards with the outside of his left foot.

The best part of Brady's magnificent goal was that spurs fans had to relive it over and over as it was featured on the intro to MOTD for the best part of a decade.

I believe I heard yesterday that online bingo got some kind of tax-break from these lastest increases.

It seems ridiculous that bingo gets the tax-break and poker doesn't if that truly is the case.

I was really nervous leading up to the NLD and even watched most of the first half through my fingers and with butterflies in my stomach. Those two goals in the last five minutes of the first half settled me down considerably, and I managed to almost enjoy the rest of the game. I cannot really explain how much these games put me through the wringer. I'm sure other diehard footie fans will understand.

The Bayern game on the other hand, I was totally relaxed about. It felt like a glorified exhibition match with very little at stake qualification-wise, although having lost 4/5 of the last half-a-dozen times we'd played them, there was certainly a score to settle, especially with their #9 who has been a thorn in our side for a decade or more. It was was very pleasing to see us not only measure up but totally dominate them in the second half, as they are one of the top teams in Europe.

Looking forward to putting myself through it all again at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

It feels different this year and I'm definitely starting to believe in a cautious kind of way..

I'm shooting around 92/94 but every round has 2 or 3 blobs.

I think you have to click on the pic.

I know the feeling.

Had an 8 on the card but still got a point. 1st round in a while without a blob for me.