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18 February 2012

Posted by DMC on 19 February 2012 in Diary |

I’m pleased to report that my blog appears to be working perfectly well after the fright. I had a couple of days ago when the whole thing was wiped out. Richard did a great job in recovering all the data. Regular readers will notice that it is in a slightly different template from before, but is fundamentally the same. I must admit I preferred the earlier template – the colours were more attractive – but I am very grateful for small mercies. One thing which is different about the current version is that if you go into the archive and click on a particular month, you will see that the daily entries only appear as an abstract, i.e. only the first few lines. To pull up the entire entry double-click on an abstract, otherwise everything else appears to be the same as before.

I heard yesterday that my second grandson Sebastian has won an Academic Scholarship to his public school. We are both very proud of him – well done Seb. In effect, this means a reduction in fees which is very welcome when you have three children to educate. It’s also nice for Seb and will no doubt boost his self confidence, particularly as brother Fred got an Academic Scholarship at the same school a year or so ago.

My good friend and contributing editor to the update of my book Arbitration Practice and Procedure, Interlocutory and Hearing Problems had a letter in The Times yesterday, which I found quite amusing. He wrote:

Inns and Outs

Sir, Students’ choice of Inns of Court (Feb.15) has nothing to do with architectural aesthetics. Tradition has it that their motives are reflected in the following lines of doggerel.

Middle for the rich man

Inner for the poor

Lincoln’s for the scholar

Gray’s for the bore

DR JULIAN CRITCHLOW

Tregaron, Ceredigion

As a member of Lincoln’s Inn, I cannot but agree with him.

Douglas Gordon came round this morning for a coffee, having missed out the other day, as the result of being stuck on a train. Wife Cecilia, very considerably decided not to come with him as she had a mild cold and did not want to risk me catching it. I think most people have got the message about coming here with cold but I ought to ask the Papworth people what happens about my respirator, if I really do catch a filthy cold and I cannot breathe under the mask. I suspect they will suggest that I sit up all night which will not make me very happy. I’m also going to ask them if there is such a thing as a small mobile version that I can take with me in the ambulance when I go to the golf club on Tuesdays or to Lord’s for the cricket. I do occasionally get very breathless and suspect I could easily hyperventilate, particularly if I was aware that I had no respirator available. I know a l post title ot of it is in the mind and I should be able to just calm down but panic can take over, particularly if you are struggling to breathe..

The situation in Syria is becoming farcical. Night after night we are shown clandestinely pictures of the Army firing into the crowd of thousands of protesters. Heaven knows how many they have killed already. Without Russia and China agreeing, the United Nations seems powerless. We have to sit by and watch hundreds of innocent people being slaughtered. I know it is a dilemma in interfering with the sovereign rights of the state, but there must come a point at which it is totally unacceptable to stand on the side lines and I suggest we have certainly reached that point now.

To get away, for a few moments, from the horrors in on what is happening in Syria, click here and see this amazing encounter with wild gorillas.

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