Abercrombie & Fitch

New profile picture in place, a new article on Abercrombie & Fitch:

A very bad look – the lawsuit

Abercrombie & Fitch keep getting into trouble over their employee 'look policy'. Why do they even need one?

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Putting yourself on the line

Time was I'd only write about Law on the Comment is Free part of the Guardian, but I've done a couple of non-law articles, some of which haven't gone so well, but this latest one has received a positive response. It's odd, writing more personal articles, and one feels far more on the line, so it's great when they work out:

Our lost romance
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Comedy

What with Flight of the Conchords rumoured to be unlikely to produce a third series, and Peep Show having finished another series all too early (six measly episodes) high quality comedy seemed to have run a little thin on the ground, until a friend pointed me in the direction of Tim Minchin, whose work is very good both for the original musicality, and genuine amusement.

Tim Minchin's youtube channel. It's worth it.

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Back to writing

What's that? An article on human rights and welfare reform? Happy All Saints Day indeed, dear reader. I am no longer a pupil barrister, as of today, but there's nobody around at the Guardian with the power to change this at the weekend...

The crime of misunderstanding

People should have the right to clarity and simplicity in their dealings with the state, particularly when it comes to welfare

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This House Believes We'd Be Better Off If Women Ruled The World (video)

http://www.archive.org/details/cus_2009-10-08_debate_if_women_ruled_the_world (video)

Starring Cosmo Editor Louise Court (first prop), millionaire businesswoman Emma Wimhurst (second prop), campaigner and charity sector guru Louise Burfitt-Dons (final prop), Rupert Myers (first opp), 'The Apprentice' finalist and Radio host James Max (second opp), Conservative politician Edwina Currie (final opp), and stylish Union president Julian Domercq.

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This House Believes We'd Be Better Off If Women Ruled The World

From the website of the erudite, passionate, and charming Louise Burfitt-Dons, who has written up the debate last Thursday at the Cambridge Union:

"Possibly the fact that he had heard that very day of his promotion from pupil to a permanent seat in Chambers, Cambridge grad Rupert Myers, an experienced, international debater was in particularly feisty, challenging and witty mood. That did not help us! "

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Wendy Brooke-Smith paintings

A website for the excellent pictures of Wendy Brooke-Smith.

Mont Blanc '09

The trip to Mont Blanc begins this weekend. Follow all the action as and when it's updated here:

Mont Blanc '09

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This House Would Rather Be Gay

Possibly the most heated, most excruciating debate I have ever been involved in was this, in January 2009, when I debated against Libby Purves on the motion 'This House Would Rather Be Gay' - the debate tanks completely with the first opposition speaker and takes until my intervention at 1 hour 24 min and 30 seconds to be saved again.

Watch 'This House Would Rather Be Gay'

Starring: Libby Purves (funny), James Beattie (emotive), Balaji Ravichandran (bit het up), Stephen Green (absolutely crazy), Dr Glenn Wilson (good), Rupert Myers (won the debate for the opposition as it turned out), Olivia Potts (chairing and getting the flak)

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The end of things

Many friends are coming to the end of their time at University. Three years ago I wrote an opinion piece for Varsity on the subject of leaving, which I read again recently. It's still accurate, but it was orignally and rather awfully titled 'Love in a time of Pseudo-Intellectualism':

Life is about gleaning satisfaction from our inevitable failures, not about finding failure in our satisfaction. As another ‘year’ ends, we stagger off into the blissful obscurity of the real world and for many a little part of us dies, because University is about love; love of ideas, of situations, of buildings, of drinks, of friends, and that special sort of love we will look back upon and call the charming madness of youth. My grandmother once told me that we were all most open about ourselves at university –perhaps the big wide world instills in us all defences and barriers to honesty which prevent the magnanimous approach we have to strangers we meet at May Balls, parties, even in the street. Perhaps as we become more serious we hide away our private lives, and create a duality of existence which is difficult to overcome. We ought to remain as heady, as greedy for the pursuits of spurious happiness, but we know that growing up can often get in the way.

For this reason I say that University is about love, for what is love if not the meeting of two minds without the impediments that we will soon cultivate as we adopt ‘professional’ personae? Many will leave this University joyful and content, for others there have been tragedies, but for all there has been that overwhelming feeling of being in love with a place, a time, a person, a song, a fleeting moment of perfection. These are the things which give birth to the smiles which will form the wrinkles of our old age.

Passion has driven us through these three years. Not always passion for work, but passion for the extraordinary way of life that we have somehow sustained. We leave exhausted, hungry for new challenges, and a little heartbroken. A part of us will forever be at University, forever thinking that Sainsburys is just too far to walk at the moment, forever eager to continue the conversation until dawn.

It is this love that will remind us of Cambridge, be it the bumps or survivors photos, be it in the people we spend our lives with. It is the love of numbers, shapes, organisms, rules, and dreams which we will spend our lives forever indebted to. Just as the bright side of failing is what you did when you weren’t in the library, the joy of leaving is that you were ever here. That you ever could walk confidently through the gate at King’s without being stopped, that you were ever offered a Big Issue in poetic form, that you know so many brilliant and extraordinary people is the reason this is all worthwhile, and the reason it will be difficult to pack up and go. The point of Varsity articles as I have always seen them is that they give a platform upon which ordinary people may strive to say extraordinary things. I can’t really do the latter half of that. I can ask you all to stop and think about just how much you love the people you know, and how much your lives have been changed by that amazing and mysterious facet of human nature. For my part, I have loved and adored it all, even the bits I really wouldn’t have said I did at the time. Live boldly, escape the shadow of your Cambridge days with even greater heights, try valiantly to be as honest and open as you are now, and remember all the love in this time of pseudo-intellectualism.

The Speeding Judge

http://www.clivejames.com/point-of-view/speedingjudge

I can't beat this, I won't try. Listen to it, don't read it, and join me in imagining that after a long career I might be able to retire and do this sort of thing (the Clive James bit, not the speeding)

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The Times of London

Doubling the number of quality daily newspapers I have written for, by finally moving beyond the Letters page in The Times with this article about picking an inn of court was by far and away the best thing to happen last week, but it wasn't much of a crowded race for the top spot...

"The loyalty of members is heartfelt: in the sometimes lonely and always challenging early years there is nothing as encouraging as going before a panel of judges and senior barristers who award you money towards your training. For many students, that day is the first real confirmation from independent and experienced legal sources that they have a good chance of making it in their chosen profession. "

Inner shares the best church, too, which isn't something I really considered when I wrote it.

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In defence of Ruperts

News Corporation have 'translated' the name of J. Fritzl's defence lawyer as Rupert Mayer, a discovery which prompted a bit of Opinion from me:

Defending the indefensible:

It's easy to criticise Josef Fritzl's lawyer, but a man with the strength to play devil's advocate deserves our respect

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Leave it to m'learned friends

I don't come up with the titles, I promise, but my second piece for the Guardian is available here

"Representing yourself in court may save some money – but it will probably lead to disaster"



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Picking an Inn of Court

I've been asked a number of times how anyone chooses their Inn, most recently by someone on the CPE course who was on the lookout for a scholarship. Since it is a source of confusion for many, this is what I wrote to her:

There isn't a huge amount of difference between Inns of Court - they all offer beautiful environs in which to study, attend compulsory dining sessions, and train in advocacy as a student & then pupil. The sizes of the Inns vary, as do the architectural styles, but they are more alike than different.

As a student, the most important factor may well be money: all four Inns offer scholarships and support to members, but there are differences in how these are organised.

My Inn, Inner Temple, offers scholarships and exhibitions on a dual analysis of merit and means testing, other Inns operate with more emphasis to one or other of those criteria. The best way to learn about this is via the Inn websites, and by talking to the education and training departments.

Different Inns take varying numbers each year, and size may be an important consideration: there is something of the numbers game to this, taking the amount awarded each year and dividing it by the total number of possible students in contention. Gray's - a smaller Inn - looks good on this approach.

Inner Temple was very strong in debating when I was there as a BVC student- the extra-curricular aspect may influence potential members, though as most committees change annually, the strength of societies is subject to change.

Like picking an Oxbridge college, there's very little in it until you select an Inn, and then you become quite biased. Inner has great people, a really excellent advocacy training program, and good food, but I'm not an objective judge, and I've never heard a bad word from members of any of the Inns about their own. Taking a look around to get a feel for them all is perhaps the most important thing to do.




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Citizen myers

You may be wrong to read any great political significance into the choice of news broadcaster, and I would encourage you to avoid any such analysis, but don't let that stop you from visiting me at: guardian.co.uk/profile/rupert-myers






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The standard of proof in care proceedings

I wrote this before Christmas, it's just a brief look at that old chestnut, the balance of probabilities. Almost any area of law, however settled, however trite, becomes more complex in application, and opens itself up to potential alteration...



When it is not in our power to determine what is true, we ought to follow what is most probable

-Descartes



Introduction


This article tracks the recent fluctuations in judicial interpretation of the civil law standard of proof, particularly in care proceedings. A classic formulation of the balance of probabilities was given by Denning in 1947i where he said that the standard would be fulfilled when the evidence of a particular fact is such that the tribunal can say about whether it exists, ‘we think it more probable than not.’


The use of probability as a guide in civil law, and the founding of judicial decisions upon expectations drawn from what is always a partial knowledge of the facts, has led to confusion in the past about what the application of probability requires. Recently the courts have tried to stamp down on a run of decisions which sought to clarify the issues, but instead made them more complicated.



The complications:




1. Gravity of allegations

Ten years after Denning’s definition of the balance of probabilities, Lord Justice Morris addressed what the court saw as the problem of the increased gravity of certain allegations, whilst trying to apply the civil test to fraud in civil proceedings.



Rather than asking of the evidence whether it showed that the alleged facts were more probable than not, Morris LJ went on to suggest that more serious allegations required an adjustment to the civil test:



Though no court and no jury would give less careful attention to issues lacking gravity than to those marked by it, the very elements of gravity become part of the whole range of circumstances which have to be weighed in the scale when deciding as to the balance of probabilities. ii



His circumspection amounted to a filtering of the civil standard by suggesting that the probability of a fact existing was to be reduced by the gravity of the allegation the fact went on to support. This judgment, whilst an understandable reaction to serious circumstances at first blush, was given despite the self evident truth that findings of the probability of a fact, on the basis of evidence, cannot be determined by the outcome of that fact-finding exercise.




2. Flexibility

Lord Scarman considered Morris’ bending of the rule in a case concerning the summary removal of an immigrant on the ground that he had obtained leave to enter by fraud or deceptioniii. Lord Scarman was reluctant to say that the criminal standard of proof should apply:

I have come to the conclusion that the choice between the two standards is not one of any great moment. It is largely a matter of words. There is no need to import into this branch of the civil law the formula used for the guidance of juries in criminal cases. The civil standard as interpreted and applied by the civil courts will meet the ends of justice.



He then cited Bater v Bateriv in which the Court of Appeal ruled that, although it was a misdirection for a judge in matrimonial proceedings to say that the criminal standard of proof applied to allegations of cruelty, it was correct to say that they had to be proved beyond reasonable doubt.



Lord Scarman went on at page 113:



It is not necessary to import into the civil proceedings of judicial review the formula devised by judges for the guidance of juries in criminal cases. Liberty is at stake…. The reviewing court will therefore require to be satisfied that the facts which are required for the justification of the restraint put upon liberty do exist. The flexibility of the civil standard of proof suffices to ensure that the court will require the high degree of probability which is appropriate to what is at stake.



In those two passages, Lord Scarman made significant inroads into what had been a relatively clear principle. Adopting Morris LJ’s concerns, he ruled that a ‘high degree’ of probability is required in cases with a potentially serious outcome, where the difference between the civil and criminal standards – a linguistic rather than actual difference – is made flexible in the pursuit of justice.




3. Inherent likelihood

Chief Justice Bingham, in a 2001 casev involving civil proceedings concerning a sex offender, ruled that:




The civil standard of proof is a flexible standard to be applied with greater or lesser strictness according to the seriousness of what has to be proved… in such a serious case as the present, the difference between the two standards is, in truth, largely illusory.



The key element to the approach of Bingham CJ was the suggestion that not only should some higher standard apply where the gravity of the charge was sufficiently great, as seen above in section 1, and that flexibility should be afforded depending upon seriousness of outcome of the case, as seen in section 2, but that the seriousness of what has to be proved, the gravity of the facts in issue, has a bearing on the standard of proof.


This had for some time been an emerging piece of the picture; Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead in re Hvi had looked at the way particular allegations may sit somewhere on a spectrum of gravity and probability:


Built into the preponderance of probability standard is a generous degree of flexibility in respect of the seriousness of the allegation… this does not mean that where a serious allegation is in issue the standard of proof required is higher… only that the inherent probability of an event is itself a matter to be taken into account when weighing the probabilities…. The more improbable the event, the stronger must be the evidence that it did occur before, on balance of probability, its occurrence will be established.


This approach ignores the difficulties of assessing on the inherent likelihood of any particular fact, and may lead to a reliance on the court’s intuition, an intuition which says that more serious events are less likely than more trivial events.




Returning to the balance of probabilities


Re U

Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss was at the vanguard of a return to simpler times in re Uvii in 2004. In the interim, many more than just the cases mentioned above that had sought to blur the lines:


We understand that in many applications for care orders counsel are now submitting that the correct approach to the standard of proof is to treat the distinction between criminal and civil standards as ‘largely illusory’. In our judgment this approach is mistaken. The standard of proof to be applied in Children Act 1989 cases is the balance of probabilities.


Butler-Sloss upheld the general guidelines of Lord Nicholls, and made clear that Lord Bingham was considering applications under a different statute.



Re B

The attempt at a judicial full-stop came in the House of Lords in June of 2008 in Re B (Children)viii. Lord Hoffman referred to re U and underlined it:


I think that the time has come to say, once and for all, that there is only one civil standard of proof… Lord Nicholls was not laying down any rule of law [in re H mentioned above]. There is only one rule of law, namely that the occurrence of the fact in issue must be proved to have been more probable than not. Common sense, not law, requires that in deciding this question, regard should be had, to whatever extent appropriate, to inherent probabilities. ix




Time will tell if this passage assumes autonomous importance as the ‘re B common sense requirement’ and has the effect of sustaining the problem of inherent likelihood.




Baroness Hale, in the same case, went on to deliver the lead judgment:



The standard of proof in finding the facts necessary to establish threshold under s31(2) or the welfare considerations in s1 of the 1989 Act is the simple balance of probabilities… the inherent probabilities are simply something to be taken into account, where relevant, in deciding where the truth lies…As to the seriousness of the consequences, they are serious either way… As to the seriousness of the allegation, there is no logical or necessary connection between seriousness and probability. x



Conclusion


The Judgments of the House of Lords in Re B go a long way to stemming the confusion caused by recent cases. At law, the civil standard of proof in family proceedings is unambiguous, but practical problems will always remain where judges are asked to apply their understanding of probability - inherently a question of imperfect mathematical judgement - to a myriad of facts, uncertainties, and opinions. Where expert witnesses are called upon to give their own appraisal of likelihood, the process becomes doublyxi fraught.


Despite the caution that there is no logical or necessary connection between seriousness and probability, questions of inherent probability will always exist within proceedings, and serious allegations will undoubtedly be subject to more evidential scrutiny than trivial matters: Lord Hoffman’s requirement of common sense, as an adjunct to the rule of law, will always result in tensionsxii. As Joseph Bertrand asked, ‘how dare we speak of the laws of chance? Is not chance the antithesis of all law?’ xiii


i Then Denning J in Miller v Minister of Pensions [1947] 2 All ER 372, a case concerning war pensions at paragraph 2.

ii Hornal v Neuberger Products Ltd [1957] 1 QB 247 at paragraph 266.

iii R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Khawaja [1984] AC 74, [1983] 1 All ER 765

iv [1950] 2 All ER 458

v B v Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Constabulary [2001] 1 All ER 562 at pp 353-354

vi re H (Minors)(Sexual Abuse: Standard of Proof) [1996] AC 563, at 586 d-h

vii re U (A Child)(Department for Education and Skills intervening) [2004] EWCA Civ 567

viii [2008] UKHL 35

ix Paragraphs 13 to 15

x Paragraphs 70 to 72

xi The stage of evaluating probability is applied by the expert and then the judge, both susceptible to the types of misapplications highlighted in this article, rather than meaning that the uncertainties are themselves doubled.

xii Tensions as between: the balance of probability, the more likely than not test; and ‘common sense’ as a back door to the gravity, flexibility, and inherent likelihood problems that have arisen in thecases mentioned.

xiii in Calcul des Probabilites



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Video Part II

- I just found this youtube clip entitled 'Rupert climbing into the hot tub in black tie '

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Videos Part I

This House Believes Entrepreneurship is a Powerhouse for Social Inclusion October 18th 2007

Starring: Nicholas Boys Smith, Greg Parston, Ranald Clouston, Ali Al-Ansari, Rupert Myers, James Robinson, Roland Foxcroft

Film available here

This House Believes that The Multicultural Experiment has Failed
October 16th 2008

Nigel Hastilow, Bruno LeMaire, Rupert Myers, Sir Bernard Crick, Karen Chouhan, Tariq Ramadan, Adam Bott

Film available here


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Top 10 things to do to become a Barrister

A rough guide to starting your career

I wrote this for a member of chambers who is giving a talk to students this evening by way of a handout with a graphic behind it. I thought someone might find it useful.

1. Be sure you want to do it - becoming a barrister is hard, and requires a lot of time, money, and effort. Talk to friends, family, and think seriously about whether it’s right for you.

2. Do mini-pupillages - get a copy of the Chambers directory, or go online, and organise time with a set of chambers near you to get an idea of the sort of work at the bar.

3. Research - it’s no good watching Ally McBeal. Read books like ‘Learning The Law’ or ‘The Law Machine’ to get a really thorough idea of a barrister’s role within the justice system. Read the papers, and get your hands on The Times’ law supplement.

4. Learn the law! Either by doing a qualifying law degree, or completing the CPE after another degree at University.

5. Work hard - the bar is fiercely competitive, and the standard is high. For the same reasons that you want to be a barrister, there are many hundreds of other people trying to get there too. Work hard, and explore outside interests and hobbies to a high standard.

6. Join an Inn - the sooner, the better. Once you’ve set about becoming a barrister, you must join one of the four Inns of Court. Take a look around, talk to their education & training departments about scholarships and training.

7. Do the Bar Vocational Course. By the time you come to do this after your law degree or CPE, you should know what the score is: this is a year long course which teaches you the basic skills of the profession. Read more at http://www.bvconline.co.uk/

8. Get pupillage - this is the year-long period of work in a barrister’s chambers split into two six month periods... in the second of which, you’ll be on your feet in court.

9. Secure tenancy - the final hurdle is to secure tenancy with a set of chambers at the end of pupillage. Tenancy is not an automatic guarantee from pupillage, and some barristers have to move chambers or ‘squat’ until they are taken on.

10. Enjoy it! Many people have brilliant careers at the bar, and thoroughly enjoy themselves. Others use the first class training of the law and of the bar to go on to other things. It’s not the easiest career route, but if you like a challenge, it might well be for you.

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Some of the most entertaining things to do on the internet

I've been trying to compile a list of some things which are worth doing on the internet, I mean really enjoyable wastes of time which rarely, if ever, become dull. Some of the following exist in a grey area of copyright legality, which is pretty shocking, frankly.

1. Watch The Colbert Report : Stephen Colbert's always-witty and fast paced show which airs in America on Comedy Central. The author of the best selling 'I am America and so can you' started off life on John Stewart's Daily Show, which is also well worth a look.
   
   
2. Youtube videos of Flight of the Conchords - New Zealand's fourth most popular digi-folk paradists. Just timelessly funny, really.
   
   
3. More Youtube Videos, but this time of Mitchell & Webb's absolutely hilarious 'Sir Digby Chicken Caesar' which is possibly the best sketch invented in the history of the world.
   
   
4. Angry Alien Productions' remake of famous films as 30 second shorts entirely consisting of rabbit animation. Some of these are sensational.
   
   
5. Tesco invades denmark.
   
   
6. This explosion.
   
   
7. And this explosion. Ok, perhaps this is a bit of an 'explosion-biased' list, rather than a definitive one. Try this Blair/Cameron comparison, instead.
   
   
8. Woody Allen's Moose Joke - possibly the best joke, ever.
   
   
9. The AV Club's DVD Commentary Tracks of the Damned - a painfully good review of DVD commentary tracks which accompany shocking movies.
   
   
10. NASSA - The 'Old Negro Space Program' : last, but certainly not least.
    

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Amusing

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Giles Coren

Giles Coren is one of The Times' better writers. I'd like to say he's the best, but he never writes about anything serious, and so is a peddler of extremely amusing, but shallow articles (where he really messes up, is when he tries to write comic pieces on more serious subjects, like his recent Oxbridge article, which was of Clarksonesque banality.) His review of El Bulli is such a good piece of writing that I had it on my wall at school, as inspiration for the quality of the words chosen. It took me a while, but I found it again online here.

A new medium for Coren's perspicacity is the email, it seems, and more precisely the flame email. I've entered hot water myself for this in years past, but never with such glistening offensiveness. I'm not going to repeat them here, but this article contains two gorgeous examples of a man annoyed, which reminded me only too cheerfully of Ed Reardon's week:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jul/25/pressandpublishing.thetimes


Update: One of the emails in full is here.
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How to get it

From polling data sets 150 times the size of those in the last election, to medical data, to how google copes with the information superhighway, to the large hadron collider, to the understanding of space, this set of Wired Magazine articles on The Petabyte Age is required reading for anyone who wants to get it, and understand how the world is coping with the massive surge of information available to us. Phenomenal stuff. (Pictures from CERN)

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Astonished

Landing in Sydney after a long and quite calm flight (21, Smart People, The Other Boleyn Girl, Drillbit Taylor, Definitely Maybe, Street Kings - all decidedly second rate movies) I have recently discovered that the organisers of EUDC in Tallin have found my lost things! After the excellent party in the old factory, I had started to give up hope of finding my coat and notebook (a treasured driza-bone and moleskine that I have had for many years), but Helina Loor, the omniscient Convener, had emailed me to say that they have been located. This came after several days at the competition in which various people had told us that there was slim chance of ever seeing these objects again. I am astonished, and glad that these objects will find their way back.

The sheer luck of this is only beaten by the chance meeting with Jaan in the Old Town. I never thought I'd get to the stage where you can walk through a random foreign city and bump into people you know quite so soon in life.

Here in Sydney it's hardly a question of bumping into people, and more one of coming back into the family unit. Everyone is off to bed now, whilst I try to stay up for the final of Wimbledon by reading 'Devil May Care.'

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Tallinn - an extension argument

It's hard to look back on Tallinn as anything but a great experience. Inner did reasonably well, clearly not amazingly, but we participated with gusto, and acquitted ourselves. Kathryn and I came 60th, with Tom & Dev only a short distance behind. In such a large, international competition, we can go away happy, we think.

Tallinn was fun. The city was quiet, the food challenging, but the experience of being there at the competition was one which won't leave any of us for many years.

Debating is pretty odd, and to get to the top you have to embrace a way of thinking which the legal teams couldn't quite manage, but debaterland invited us in, and we learnt from it. It's a pity that we leave without some of the things we went there with, and I really hope that the Estonian lost property systems do get back to us.

Ultimately, debating is about taking philosophical and theoretical arguments, and attempting to rationalise and support them in a very limited, pragmatic and practical setting. Whilst the world worries about Mugabe and the US elections (to name but two issues) debaters are coming up with snappy seven minute speeches on the power of symbols, and arguing motions which would never be considered in a parliamentary environment. There's a disconnect there, but it's one we all came to enjoy.

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With an hour before the flight

Ha ha ha... Inner have woken with almost no time to pack, eat, and get to the airport before our flight. This is the only downside of the superb party in the art gallery last night, a photo of which I've found (above)

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Analysis etc.

So Oxford won the final in first prop (Oxford teams were propping and first opping the motion on whether we should ban soviet and nazi symbols with KCL in second opp).

JLM gave a fantastic speech, a truly awe inspiring tour de force of the main issues, but it wasn't enough to drag victory away from an Oxford first prop team who really owned the debate in every serious sense. First Opp did a fine job, and one which went unrecognised in the popular vote.

The after party was excellent - first at a hotel and then in a national art gallery. The organisers did a fantastic job of showing us a good time.

If anything ruined it, and that would be hard, it would be the behaviour of Daniel Warrents, the only person at the European Championships who has been anything but friendly. What's worse is that Daniel comes from Cambridge, and how someone who was that offensive this evening ever got into Cambridge is beyond my rudimentary understanding of the admissions system. This isn't the place to go into a discussion about how or what he said, but I still can't quite understand how someone can hold such disgusting views without the intellectual curiosity or common human decency to question why or listen to arguments which might support an alternative understanding. Most debaters, though they exist in debaterland, have that interest and passion for comprehension which prevents the sloppy thinking which led to the statements I heard from DW this evening. I am left with a sour taste in my mouth, which I can only hope that the hotel nightclub manages to expunge (a key word in the debate which was charged with ambiguous meaning)

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The big night

After a calm morning of full breakfast and our 'waterboarding' game with floats which got ADF, Tom and myself kicked out of the pool, it was time to iron shirts and don ties for the final. Kathryn and I have fashioned a sign, showing Inner Middle Lincoln's and BPP's support for KCL tonight - look out for us going BSM (Dev's term, the third word is Mental) in support. The whole shooting match will be live on EUDC Tallin's website, the link to which is below the youtube video below...


Tonight, whatever the outcome, we go crazy in Tallin.

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US Supreme Court decisions

This house condemns the Supreme Court's ruling on the definition of the second amendment in the Heller case today would make an exceptional final debate tomorrow. As it is, I think (hope) that it will be a debate on Zimbabwe, since it's almost impossible to believe that the organisers (who have picked great debates on the whole) will change their pick at this stage.

A ban on handguns in Washington DC is ruled unconstitutional, in a landmark ruling by the US Supreme Court. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7474924.stm

Inner Temple have been a great team this week - Tom, Kathryn, Dev, in previous days Nye, and I have had a superb time. Izzy, ADF, Katrina, James, Peter, and many others have added to the joy of being out here and participating in this excellent competition.

It's odd thinking that I'll never debate competitively again. On the one hand, it was not fun to have a bit of bad luck and hit some rooms with tricky judges, but on the other it's been an interesting journey, and debating has taught me a great deal. The quarter final was everything good about debating - sharp and humourous discussion - but the semi final was another one of those debates held in debaterland where some things require analysis and argumentation, whilst other things remain commonly held and accepted arguments. The line between what judges will accept as fact, and what requires examples, and support, is worse than hard to discern: what will sink or swim depends almost entirely on the room, and who the judges are.

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Economics?

This afternoon's semi-final was a great motion: This house would scrap income tax. Unfortunately most of the people speaking couldn't quite nail the problems that the discussion raised. I expected a nice discussion of Nozick, and maybe some analysis of the veil of ignorance, but instead we got some confused arguments about natural justice, some better arguments about property rights, and a lot of confusion about inflation, demand, supply, and that sort of thing.

Estonia has really grown on me - it's small but well formed. The food is still difficult to deal with, but tonight we had some fantastic ribs whilst supporting Spain in a packed beer house filled with Russians.

We've become the barmy army of loud, heckling supporters who noisily support Louis and JLM, who are now in a final against three Oxford teams. In the semi finals, of 16 debaters, one was female. There are no women in the final 8. Debating has real problems there, and whilst there are excellent female debaters, they don't seem to be pushing into those final rooms (with the exception of Leiden A, whose first speaker in the quarter finals was sublime)

Last night's awesome party has left us all pretty tired. Ahead of the final round tomorrow, we're going to relax by playing cards before bed.

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Quarter finals

After last nights excellent party (I am writing on a confusing cyrillic keyboard in Tallin University where I cant find the apostrophe) in a disused factory (It looked like a soviet era smelting works) we had the quarter final this morning. We were supporting Louis and JLM, with Rosie and Fred in another room. The debate was excellent, with the ESL team Leiden A in an eloquent first prop for the motion This House Would Ban the broadcast of messages from terrorists. We were cheering first opp. but the standard of debate was high (fear as a tool, giving tools to the enemy). What it lacked was a bit of structural discipline, since the messages affect two key groups in very different ways, and it could have been clearer how fear and inculcation operate- the elephant in the room was human rationality, and it wasnt very well explained by either side... they tended to dodge a discussion of just how fear operates to hamper our actions, and how we become fearful. That said, it was a riproaring start to the day, with such particularly joyful lines as

Osama Bin Laden doesnt convert the masses with his Christmas broadcast, not even Obama can manage that

Sadness at Nyes absence and the lack of Inner teams breaking, but we are muddling along as spectators, watching some rather excellent ideas being elucidated before our eyes by very animated and competitive young people. On the main page of the EUDC website is a little film of me debating...

http://www.eudc2008.eu/

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The unbearable lightness of not making the break

There is an unsettling casual attitude in the Inner B team.. after two SHOCKING decisions today by ESL judges who do not understand such complex arguments as equality before the law, and why violence is generally bad, we cannot break. A short update before our final two rounds... this morning we were both quite excellent, but in rooms with poor judges. Such is life. Our thoughts are mainly with Nye, who has flown home. Tonight, tomorrow, and for the rest of the week we quit our sobriety and drown our fury.

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Estonian Food

In a word, Estonian food is dire. Every morning we hit the hotel dining room for a big breakfast of all the usual fried food, beans, muesli, fruit, yoghurt, cold meats, and so forth, because we know that everything else they give us during the day will be poison.

Day one lunch consisted of a greasy risotto dish without any accompanying fruit, veg, or anything with another flavour. Dinner was another paper plate, this time of bad chinese noodles.

Day two lunch was an improvement - a sort of irish stew thing with an unknown meat - but dinner more than made up for the lunch. We were taken several miles on foot to an irish pub, where we were given over-boiled potatoes and pork steak, with a pint of lukewarm concentrated orange juice.

This has to be set against the background of a great level of friendliness, enthusiam, and cheer of our hosts, and their beautiful city. Estonia's great, really, but the food and the nightlife are in need of transformation.

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Day one of debates

Day one debate titles (we need to average second or above in the first seven to get through to the break rounds):

1:This house would require people to work in return for welfare payments.
We were 1st Opp and took second.

2: This house believes that sporting bodies should punish teams when their players commit criminal acts off the field. We were 1st Prop and took second.

3: This house would use military force where necessary to deliver emergency aid. We came third having been stuffed royally by the first prop in front of us defining the motion as going into Burma with ground troops to deliver aid. My speech was rather mental in places, but it really had to be to defend such a daft prop (I said that we walked into Iraq without opposition in 4 days, and they were waiting for us, whereas the Junta were not as sophisticated and were also having to deal with a natural disaster, so we'd probably have it even easier, to which James Prior shot back quite flawlessly that we'd be walking troops into a country whose government would then (on my logic) crumble, leaving us stuck holding the baby and looking quite a bit like an invasion force, and we're not too hot at that). I would have propped air dropping food into Zimbabwe, but then I'm not a moron.

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Estonia: There's a reason you've never heard of it

Last night's opening party was held in an open-air museum of Estonian life, which would have been a good idea if it hadn't been raining constantly all day. Still, Inner Temple made the best of it, with three trips walking around the bonfire backwards for luck, we set off for our own stone skimming competition down on the water, before wandering through the woods to look at windmills and thatched huts.

We returned to the hotel to sit in the bar drinking hot chocolate, before heading upstairs to an executive suite to watch a film. The opening celebrations over, the hard work begins today with the first debates happening this morning - after a decent (and sober) night of sleep, we're raring to go.

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Breakfast in the olümpia hotell tallinn

The European championships are being held in this hotel, or rather we're staying in it & debating at Tallin University. The lifts are filled with anxious young people talking about the motions at past competitions. So far we're all pretty sleep deprived, having hit the town yesterday for the (absolutely rubbish) Spain v Italy match. We found an out-of-the-way and rather traditional little Estonian restaurant for dinner, where dishes consumed included Hunters Sausages (little sausages in burning brandy), pike with horseradish sauce, peppermint chicken, red caviar, torsemeat (we still don't know what that is), and an unusual garlic bread made from rye bread and large chunks of garlic.

The weather has turned today, and we head off for the initial day of registration and talks before debating starts tomorrow.
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Tallin day 1

Kathryn and I wandered Tallin after our gruelling flight, and found a place where you can sculpt marzipan. Our edible dinosaurs are exceptional.

Tallin is sunny, and the old town is extremely scenic. Art is sold from the ancient walls of the castled centre, and the markets are filled with textile products, amber, and pottery.

We went to the cathedral, and watched the ring-exchanging ceremony in part of an orthodox marriage, which was touching and simple, but with the ornate backdrop of the glittering gold walls.

The debating starts on Tuesday, which means that we have another day to spend as we choose. After the early flight, I may spend some of it catching up on sleep...
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Unwitting heroism in villany

My letter in The Times on Saturday (below) provoked an illuminating private reaction from people who know Mr Davis well. It seems that maybe he is not the noble and selfless man of principle that his actions could suggest, and that there is more than a hint of vanity to his quixotic by-election. I stand by the belief that it could still be a good thing - the value of the stand as a gesture may lead people to question their desire to see liberty removed piecemeal from our way of life:

Sir,

David Davis’s stance should be seen as a triumph for conservativism in highlighting the difference between being tough on crime and tough on liberty. The rate of increase in the length of time that suspects can be detained before charge over the past decade has been alarming. It is thanks to the brave act of a politician who has clearly realised that there are commonly held misconceptions surrounding the value of these measures, which need to be addressed, that we can hope that in future the words of Magna Carta and its descendant principles will remain so much more than symbolic.

Rupert Myers
London WC1

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Ok

So that really didn't stand the test of time (my last post.)

Clinton's lagging campaign hasn't quite given up, or at least she hasn't actually said in public that she has been defeated. A final act of gracelessness? Another attempt to undermine Obama's chances in '08? After a long, gruelling campaign, my bet is that Hillary wanted the chance to compose valedictory remarks which would reflect well on her, and ensure that her exit from the stage is a temporary one. The words won't come easily, and it will be something of a turnaround for her to praise Obama unreservedly. Perhaps until a few days ago, self belief stopped her campaign from realising that it had reached the end of the runway without taking off.

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on London

Originally written on April 27th

London is wet and miserable today, and so I have sought refuge in the library of my law school (BPP), a quiet but unprepossessing piece of modern architecture which is predominantly filled with solicitors in training for their placements at city firms. These people wander around in close-bunched clumps, clutching their well-thumbed copies of the companies act 2006,and dressed as if they were contractually obliged to shop at Jack Wills by their firms. Those of us on (what we all believe to be the harder) bar vocational course dart around, papers and polystyrene coffee cups in hand, looking a little dismissive of our law school surroundings, and far less polished.

Yesterday, with the sun beaming down on London for the first time (properly) this year, the city was very different. I went from Bloomsbury up through Covent garden, Leicester square, Trafalgar square, Westminster, and to the Peter Doig exhibition at Tate Britain.His works are wonderfully creative, and evoke the wilderness of theimagination in vivid colour. In a moment of Sunday afternoon pretension, I would say that his approach is a perfect example ofJean-François Lyotard's theory that art is a means by which the transmutation of energy from the artist to the viewer is achieved: standing in front of these giant patterns of colour and light is an exciting experience. After that, I went through south London to borough market. From there, north, through the desolate tower blocks and shining office lobbies of the city at the weekend, before arching west again through Smithfield market and Farringdon, until I was back in the familiar surroundings of WC1. In all, it was a long afternoon circumnavigation of the city, stopping from time to time to read from Andrew Gimson's excellent 'the rise of Boris Johnson' -whose mayoral campaign I have been volunteering for recently as a telephone campaigner. I have recently come to think thathe deserves his chance. The London mayoral election is a dismal swamp, but a choice must be made, and the candidates are who they are.

Since Easter, I have taken up the offer of my first year's training in East Anglia. This is perhaps why I have suddenly felt the urge to explore London more fully - until that point I had been very happy existing in the small rectangle encompassing Russell Square down to Temple tube station, with the odd walk to the National Gallery and the British Museum. Since discovering that my time in the city will onlybe this year, I have been to Stockwell, Camden, and Camberwell... the city's night bus system, if attempted in a less than sober frame of mind, can lead to some discoveries. London is not a 24 hour city, to my disappointment. Large sections of it - past midnight - close down. Only the night buses and the odd kebab shop provide transport and sustenance to the confused and narcoleptic traveller.



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Figuratively

Mitt Romney spoke proudly during his speech "Faith in America" of seeing his father "march with Martin Luther King." Days later, he repeated the statement on MSNBC's Meet The Press:

"My dad marched with Martin Luther King."

Then this from the Detroit Free Press:

Romney's campaign said his recollections of watching his father, a civil rights supporter, march with King were meant to be figurative. "He was speaking figuratively, not literally," Eric Fehnstrom, spokesman for the Romney campaign, said.

So Mitt Romney's father figuratively marched with Martin Luther King, since there's no actual record of it, and MLK never marched in Grosse Point, which is where George Romney was for this claimed event.

It's astonishing how such an event could be imagined entirely out of the blue like that. Figuratively marching in the sense that Mr Romney might have marched with Martin Luther King, given the chance. Figuratively in the sense that Mitt didn't actually see it at all.

The candidate has recently defended the incumbent's foreign policy record:

"The president is a person who is deeply devoted to this country. He is not a person who acts out of arrogance or a bunker mentality."

Even an arrogant, bunker mentality (as Mike Huckabee has called the Bush approach) beats the fantasist every time. Could a president Romney invade a country for their figurative nuclear weapons? I hope, literally speaking, that we never get to know.

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