Carnival's revving up

Stay safe and have fun if you're going.

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.

iMom futures

A short sci-fi for modern times.

All credit for this work goes to Omeleto

This is not the most complex of offerings, but it's worth a watch.

If you enjoyed please remember it's media, also remind Donald Trump. 

Own goal

After trying to pull down an unwelcome statue in response to equally unwelcome real world events in Charlottesville now someone has been arrested for trying to blow it up.

Please remind me what it was the Taliban tried to blow up...

Meanwhile Trump has decided to about turn and send troops into Afghanistan.

Talk about offering an own goal America...

Perspective

Many of you will already know about the terrorist attack on La Rambla in Barcelona, the youngest of the victims was reported to be just eight.

Barcelona is a truly beautiful place with a welcoming spirit and a creative culture.

Why anyone would want to attack it indiscriminately is beyond me.

Strange contrast

Yet within days of this lectures are reaching me about increasing regulation of online bullying.

While I do not agree with all the online abuse that has become a larger and larger feature of our everyday reality.

I am cautious of an over reaction.

The suggestion was that online abuse would lead to a Charlottesville situation.

Scars

I realize mental abuse builds up in a person and can too be truly damaging. 

Only, you can turn a computer off, you can ignore the comments, you can delete the e-mails.

I would rather focus still be focused on more traditional bullying, which leaves faces bruised and families missing a loved one.

Erasing history

The events in Charlottesville have brought world attention to the far right in America.

Yet now there are reports of a statue being torn down in the area by anti-racists.

Leaving me absurdly siding with Donald Trump on this particular point.

By all means condemn what has happened in Charlottesville, call people to account.

Only don't just start tearing down all remenants of painful history.

There are statues of people everywhere who a modern generation may have cause to question.

One day a school kid may point up at one of those statues and ask you to explain it.

What are you going to say to one of those children in years to come?

Yes  there was a statue, but we were angry and we tore it down because we don't like to remember any history we find difficult...

There are museums to the Nazi and Soviet eras, with good reason.

Malala has gone to Oxford

Not much else to say really.