Elephants and judges

The last time I met Logan was at dinner plus wine and he passed me a book to read It was “I have to move my car” by David Pannick It turned out to be an entertaining bedside fun companion. Consisting of short tales of crazy judges and lawyers, you pick your choice as you go along and understand why the subtitle of the book is “Tales of Unpersuasive Advocates and Injudicious Judges”. We have been entertained by scandals involving our despised judiciary but we have had nothing like the first story, the story of a judge who was found guilty of using a penis pump while on the bench. I was pleased to discover that I am like Lincoln who thought that the role of a legal adviser was to discourage litigation. At first meeting the client thinks, why the hell did they introduce me to this coward of a lawyer? But as you get known they stop thinking that way.

The koel has come back after a few days absence, singing his sad song, perched on a tree right opposite me. I wonder where he went the last 3 days.

You must have heard of the astonishing Susan Boyle. In 1991 she sang that wonderful song “Cry me a river” but no one took any notice. I wonder whether she will survive her initial popularity

The Daily Mail of UK has exposed the elephant painting of Bangkok as manipulated by their masters tugging at their ears to guide their brushes These men are geniuses at survival We were so sorry to see their elephants begging for food in the streets of Bangkok. KH went under the belly of a baby elephant because that brings good luck, they say. When the government banned them their mahouts thought up this gimmick to earn money for their upkeep.

Lang Lang is being criticised for doing acrobatics when playing the piano but some critics say he is bringing in the crowds. In opera it’s stripping that is coming on stage, the latest being the singer taking it all off at the end of the “Dance of the Seven Veils”. I remember in the late 80's in Oxford at Leslie’s place when the TV which was on had naked girls at an orgy of the usurper’s in Boris Godounov. More music news. The John Lennon of South Korea has infuriated his govenment by praising the launching of a rocket by the North Korean government as an act of sovereinty and self defence. The Americans are disliked you can see. The latest is the great Zimmerman declaring that he will never perform in the USA ever again.

US lawyers are the envy of our lawyers who only ask for 30% from accident victims. Over there they ask for $11,000 per hour in contingency fee cases
Willie Gary, a Florida attorney whose personal Boeing 737 has an
18-carat gold bathroom sink, wanted Motorola to pay him $11,000 an hour
for his work on a lawsuit against the company, something unheard of..