Pink Tape

a blog from the family bar

Bellamy’s Britain

Few people know that before becoming a prominent family judge His Honour Judge Bellamy could be found “wummaging awound in the undergwoaf” giving judgment on rainforests and the life cycle of moss and fungi. Few people know this because it is not true. (“Well, gwapple me gwapenuts!” I hear you mutter). However, it is true [...]

No Apologist

I’ve posted a lot of material on this blog lately which is critical of prominent individuals who themselves campaign for reform of the family justice system. I’m increasingly conscious that this may begin itself to look like some form of campaign against them or that I may create the impression that I am some kind [...]

Losing the Thread – Hemming and Mumsnet

Twitter recently alerted me to the existence of an interesting discussion thread on Mumsnet concerning adoption and care and John Hemming (Hat tip to @carlgardner, who in turn got his heads up from @thesmallplaces). I have also found another equally interesting thread concerning and involving Hemming. As a preliminary point let me say that I [...]

Family Courts without a Lawyer – A Handbook for Litigants In Person

  The Interim Report of the ongoing Family Justice Review notes that, “Adults find the system confusing and characterised by legalese whether they are involved in public or private law…In private law, it is difficult for adults to navigate the system on their own. Two anonymous respondents to the call for evidence highlight this. For one, “it [...]

Oh Hemming!

It is the most de rigeur of popular expletives. What the Hemming has he been up to now? Need I waste my tippy tappy fingertips on typing an explanation? Thought not. So, I will just point out this excellent post of Carl Gardner’s on Head of Legal, and juxtapose it with a tweet from Fathers4Justice [...]

Care Proceedings & Learning Disabled Parents

Abigail Bond is a family barrister practising from St John’s Chambers in Bristol*. She is the author of “Care Proceedings and Learning Disabled Parents – A Handbook for Family Lawyers”, recently published by Family Law (Jordans). The handbook is an interesting read and a useful guide to common aspect of care work which all too [...]

Talking Past One Another

Bloggers generally ask questions, invite comment, engage in discussions, listen to other viewpoints. Some journalists and newspaper websites do likewise. But not all. There has been much written (including by myself) about the journalism of Christopher Booker (Telegraph), in the wake of judicial criticism of his writing. I have written two posts: “Brought to Booker” [...]

Walking Talking Living Doll

Health warning: Enormo-post. Most legal eyes this week have been on the various Legal Walks taking place in London and elsewhere, to raise funds for Law Centres and Pro Bono legal advice (and in Bristol it was an Access to Justice Walk). Not satisfied with that, half of my chambers seems to have participated in [...]

Jugular

A friend of mine (Thanks JA) drew my attention to some very apt observations of Munby J (as he then was) in a case called R v LSC (ex parte Bateman), which remind me very much of a lecture by Lord Hoffmann I attended as a pupil – in which he extolled the virtues of [...]

Booker v Bellamy Round 2

Ding Ding! Christopher Booker is clearly still smarting from the smackdown contained in HHJ Bellamy’s recent judgment in the case of Re L (A Child: Media Reporting) (don’t believe all that “He was doing me a favour anyway” bravado). He hits back in this article. He couldn’t resist. Perhaps it would be more constructive for [...]

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  • About

    A blog in which I ricochet from too serious to too flippant, and alternate between a bit clever, a bit interesting and a bit ranty: Pink Tape neatly functions as both a blog about family law and a therapeutic escape valve for me. >>more




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