The death of the court reporter

With local press funding disappearing at a rate of knots someone is fast disappearing alongside, the court reporter.

British courts are very different to American ones on one important point.

No recording devices are allowed inside.

Public justice

The OJ Simpson trial...

Couldn't have happened here in the same way.

This means the only way to find out quickly what has been going on in the courts is to actually read court reports.

Valuable work

There was a time when a court reporter was a major feature of most local papers.

Ensuring justice was seen to be done, one of the principles on which our system hangs.

Court reporters still exist, but are dwindling in number.

They do one of the journalistic jobs I most admire.

While on the box

As they are cut to beyond the bone I find myself looking at the Judge Rinder show in a different light.

Sure, the show is entertainment, it is not the justice system as such.

However, increasingly it is offering an open forum to prompt reflection of fairness and justice where we hear less and less of the story unfolding behind the court room doors.

It is not a substitute, but if this is the way we are headed, perhaps it's needed.

Flooding? Get over it.

It's flooding, storming and hailing and so the government thought, let's cut the Environment Agency.

This piece of news from Unison suggests the beginning of a comedy sketch:

Council officer: "Flooding?

You might need the, oh no sorry, it's gone."

Member of the public: "What's gone?"

Council officer: "It's part of the Environment Agency, can't remember what it was called now, it would have been handy, probably..."

Member of the public: "Th-an-ks..."

Sorry, comedy is not my strong point, but this news is somewhat bordering on the absurd, don't you think?

I am watching the shores of this isle be buffeted beyond belief and they're cutting the agency whose job it is to handle this kind of emergency...

Words fail me.

Thanks, but no thanks, Osborne

So we've had a budget in the UK.

There wasn't really going to be any good news coming out of the budget.

The government are settled on, what seems to me, to be a slash and burn mentality.

Cut public services that will work, not

The increments offered to the public sector are going.

No disrespect meant, but I was once a Civil Servant many years ago and they were hardly huge yearly hikes, it was equal to being bought one glass of house wine when paying for a £60 meal.

It pretty much kept pace with inflation and not much more.

Educate them in poverty

They are attacking education budgets.

Politicians love to put emphasis on education, rightly, it is the keystone that we build nearly everything on.

So, how do you square that with slashing the money going into education, exactly?

Is this do as I say but not as I do?

Really, I'm confused.

Foreign aid and spying is fine though

They are sending more money on projects abroad, I'm not sure how that helps our deficit; I'm using their logic here.

While continuing to make sure we're spying effectively on where all the money is going...

Presumably.

Not impressed

So far all the government appears to have achieved of any value is legalising gay marriage, well done, I guess, but it could have been done years ago, it just required everyone to grow up a bit.

So, get married, but don't expect much money left for a decent wedding.

Registrars are Civil Servants too I believe.

Crunching child benefit numbers

200,000 people are alleged to have voluntarily opted out of child benefit just recently.

To me that speaks of a great deal.

It says to me that people are public spirited enough to recognise that they may not need to claim it in a difficult financial climate.

I would suggest that it also hints at the fact that the families in this country are getting more financially secure, definitely no bad thing.

Being mean

But it also suggests to me that means testing is not necessary.

There is the hint that all you need to do is make people aware of the strain that the benefit causes and persuade them to forgo it if they do not need it.

Sure, perhaps I have my head in the clouds.

But I know the government is trying to cut the fiscal debt and strangely putting a load of people to work means testing a benefit means more money ploughed in, which instead could be used to raise the benefit to strengthen the situation of those who do need it.

Years of Kilroy

We have had are head ploughed so full of Jeremy Kyle and Kilroy Silk that we no longer have respect and compassion when talking about benefits anymore.


We're so busy talking about "broken Britain" that we have no time for talking about beautiful Britain.

Our obsession with "messed up families" has made us blind to embracing diverse and post-modern living arrangements.

"There's nowt so queer as folk" and that's actually quite wonderful.

So quit with the cuts, repeal them, it will only break not build.