Come in the Water 

We got to see The Bar Brothers again at the Deaf Institute in Manchester last week – outstanding once more. This if from my favourite album of last year “Sleeping Operator”. (Joe Grass on pedal steel is a fine solo performer in his own right). Watch out for the headphone chaos halfway through.

Doldrums 

We remain on tenterhooks over the dual contract JR. We are not idle however and are frankly glad to have had a little time to consider some rather alarming appeal matters. In the meantime some of you continue to persevere with your Award Criteria answers – I persevere with trying to understand how one can […]

Rainy Day Song 

We kicked off  live music for 2015 last Sunday with Justin Townes Earle (who doesn’t really do videos – “who would play them?”). He was supported by Andrew Combs who had a set of beautiful old style country songs. We bought the album from which this comes which is, in my view, over produced and […]

Old & Tired 

A former boss was once asked by a Government minister; “Do you think you have been doing his job for too long?” It is a question I often ask myself – usually with an affirmative answer. Today I am dealing with issues relating to 3* top notch firms. Back in the days of franchising they […]

The Party Line 

Belle & Sebastian’s 9th studio album is out on Monday and will be fighting with The Decemberists for CD time. If anyone can come up with a more B&S title for an album as “Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance” now is the time to shout up.

Remember SQM 

Many of you are following our and TLS advice and continuing to work on your Duty Bids – essentially the free text answers to Tiebreak questions and the Award Criteria. I know because I am reading them. We have also reminded people, through the alerts service,  not to let SQM/Lexcel accreditation slip off your radar. […]

Make You Better 

I preordered “What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World” by the Decemberists yesterday from which this is a great opening release comes. (Good video too)  

Thumb Twiddling? 

One personal impact of this ridiculous stop start Duty Contract procurement process has been to mangle our holiday diary. We even missed out of a “free” trip to Portugal! So as the cheering subsided on the stay of the current bid round, a cartoon light bulb went on over my head. Why not use the […]

Happy New Year 

This is our 18th New Year. Lets be positive – in over nearly 2 decades the resilience and determination of the Legal Aid profession has been unshakeable, your continuing commitment to providing access to justice unquestionable – even in the toughest of circumstances. This is truer than ever this year. So all the best for […]