The TV on the wall is reading your fate.

Its been a bit mad lately with work. I have been gadding about all over the place.

However I was back in a Central London nick on one of those 'hurry up and wait' type jobs and after gorging on fried food and tea I found myself stuck for something to read. I discovered a copy of one of the local freebie newspapers and was intrigued by the headlines 'Fast-track justice is virtually ridiculous...

Reading on.. it appears that a good chunk of the local solicitors are boycotting the 'virtual courts'. The reason being they are not happy to sit next to the 'accused' in a room whilst they are sentenced via video link as they fear for their personal safety if the dispensed justice causes their client to react violently....

ha ha ha ha ha ...yeah right!

I found a web page later with the link

I have spent hours and hours and hours over the years waiting for the Reps in assorted police stations to finish with their clients.They are more than happy to sit for hours with the less than er...'respectable citizen' alone in a room whilst they concoct..sorry that may be considered ill judged..whilst they discuss their clients options.The first thirty minutes are usually down to completing the legal aid forms any way!

I am not sure if the 'virtual court system' will ever really alleviate the backlog at Courts but I am sure the reasons for the local Solicitors to boycott it are not down to personal safety fears but more a realisation that a one visit 'all done and dusted in a session' scenario affects the repeat fees as it drags through the courts

Cynical?.. yeah damn straight.... but I think a fair spin on it!