I rarely sit in crime, but would have thought that the Lord Chief might have better said nothing. I get that the action by criminal barristers will cause disruption, but the judiciary and the Bar have to rely on each others' goodwill and I fear that he has greatly damaged this

I hear many of my colleagues have all suddenly and independently (co-incidentally at the same time as McFarlane and the Lord Chief) decided that in person hearings are in vogue. Remote hearings will help tackle the backlog & enable me to wear red trousers. What's not to like?

I have had some good news professionally - I will be the Judge for the third and fourth placed play off between the losers of Depp v Heard and Vardy v Rooney. I have a nasty feeling that all four will lose and it will make my task more difficult

Just one problem with this story - Harry Corbett (father of Matthew and creator of Sooty) and Harry H Corbett (Harold Steptoe) were two different men - msn.com/en-gb/health/medical…

Thrilled to see the list of new Recorders. I love to see their happy, enthusiastic faces like the first day at school. They can't even imagine the cynicism that will sweep over them after years of hearing submissions my 4 year old granddaughter could improve on

He came. The jolly chap in the red robes. But moving on from the Lord Chief attending the judge's Christmas Party, will Santa visit us tonight?

Gave @MandyinListing a Barry Manilow CD & bottle of gin in the not so secret Santa today in the hope that I avoid being duty Judge over Christmas #mostyndidntbother

News reaches me about a judge in the south who needs to be nicer to counsel: she was astounded that sitting to 5:30 was considered late & not as that understanding when counsel said it was his child’s first birthday & he wanted to go to her party #welbeingatthebar

I shall be sitting in an actual courtroom rather than a virtual one next week for the first time in 14 months. Just one problem: what on earth have I done with my suit trousers?

Email from a former Crown Court Judge in Sussex today who resigned his post last year. It said: “Don’t you think it’s unfair that HMCTS cut me off financially after I resigned to become financially independent?”

Many congratulations to all those taking #silk this year and good speed to those looking at any name on the list and thinking: “well if s/he can take silk, I’ll give it a go”

Miss Lengthorn, I’m amazed that HH Vera Mayer has a sofa in her sauna. I thought only Mostyn had such luxuries

Ahh Mr Foster, I often use a sentence that starts with those words when addressing counsel. The sentence ends with “get to the bloody point”

I tend to find that barristers who are arses to their instructing solicitors have big, white, empty spaces with no writing in them - called a diary

Just don’t try pink hair in my Court Miss Tanner. People will think you caught a glancing blow from one of my famous flying red books