I feel like that guy who wakes up an insect – not at all myself and slightly freaked out. I have just caught myself researching zumba classes…This is not me at all. Perhaps my new fitbit is sending signals to my brain and is making behave in hitherto unthought of ways – I’d better get my tinfoil hat out – I’m certainly not taking off my lovely fitbit which cost me a bomb, I am looking forward to finding out how many hours sleep I get tonight (it would be far too rustic to simply take away the time I wake up from the time I went to bed).

I can’t blame the fitbit for not prioritising the blog though (it only arrived today). That’s partly laziness and partly being too bloody busy with sad, difficult, messy cases (can someone send me a happy, smooth running, easy brief soon please?), with fighting dragons, and with other things like the CPConf2016 conference organised in conjunction with The Transparency Project last week, Transparency Project stuff generally and a host of other things falling into the category “things I should have said no to”.

It’s 11pm and I have aspirations to be zumbaing by 9am, so I’ll be quick.

CPConf2016 was ace. I enjoyed it very much – my only wish is for more social workers to attend next year to ensure balance – there was a lot of (legitimate) complaint about the state of social work, but I think more than that is required for balance. You can read a write up of it here – I will publish the powerpoints etc on the Transparency Project blog in due course.

McKenzie friends – Transparency Project response is here (it incorporates my views). In short, it’s complicated.

What else of note? Some more shockingly dire cases. This one, excellently covered by Suesspicious Minds is just awful awful awful : Child Questioned On Forty Four Occasions About Alleged Abuse By Father. It’s everything that does go wrong too often but all in one case. I have seen all these things in cases I have covered, but to see them all clustered together in this way in one case, and the same mistakes repeated by so many professionals is just depressing. How can this happen? And what does happen to this sort of case if it doesn’t get bumped up to a High Court judge and if the parties don’t have representation? Don’t answer that, it’s rhetorical. THIS people is why we need lawyers in family cases.

For an upcoming event, how about this public debate : Is our child protection system too risk averse? 21 July, Bristol Family Court, hosted and chaired by HHJ Wildblood QC. Should be good – I’m told that so far there are quite a few professionals who have signed up – it would be good to ensure that some members of the wider public attend – so if you think it sounds interesting do book. Places will go quickly.

Finally, expect a thing by me in The Guardian shortly. I’ll link to it when published.

Anyway, gotta go or my fitbit will tell me off. Possibly it will give me electric shocks until I comply…

PS the fitbit is intended to motivate me in my training for the Bristol Half Marathon in September. You are REQUIRED to sponsor me (no excuses please) as I am knackering my knees and risking an aneurism several times a week all for the sake of raising some funds for The Transparency Project. You may pay your fee make your donation here.