Ramblings

[liadnan]

Caught the end of University Challenge when I turned on the tv just now for Dead Ringers: not that I usually take any interest in it but rather pleased to see that Corpus just thrashed the pants off Trinity College Cambridge. Must remember to annoy my former supervisor (ex-TCC) when I see him next.

I'm just back from acccumulating 1 1/2 CPD hours, not to mention a fair tank of wine and some suspicious crisps, at a seminar on the Proceeds of Crime Act and the Money Laundering Regulations (implied subtitle: how to cover your backside the minute you get a smidgeon of a hint that your client (or indeed your opponent's client on some readings of the legislation) may in fact not be as honest as the day is long, if you don't want to be on trial for a criminal offence yourself). Vaguely depressing evening, save for the criminal QC who tried to convince us all we weren't all going to be on a charge for failing to ring NCIS and tell them we think someone in the case may have stolen a magazine once 20 years ago. Some mild amusement was to be found in the spectacle of a former chairman of the bar stating that "with all due respect" (indeed I'm not sure he didn't use the phrase "greatest" or "utmost" respect*) he considered part of the the judgment of the President of the Family Division in the currently leading case to be "utter rubbish", and also that he expected to see us all in Pentonville.

Currently reading Michael Innes, Hamlet, Revenge: it may well only be me who has been ignorant of this until now but I'd encourage any fan of classic detective fiction, particularly, eg, Dorothy Sayers or Margery Allingham, to have a look.

*It's a rather hackneyed joke, trotted out with the expected response of a polite chuckle at any advocacy seminar, that "with all due respect" means "you are obviously a complete moron and I shall therefore explain this very slowly and clearly", while "with the utmost respect" roughly translates to "you are such an incredible cretin I am having difficulty picking my jaw up from the floor and am considering whether I need a lobotomy to communicate at a level you can comprehend". I've used any variant of the phrase only once, and in my defence I was sorely provoked. ("With the utmost respect, a very brief glance at s.138 of the County Courts Act 1984 will reveal that my learned friend is incorrect". I don't think I'd have risked it if I hadn't been utterly certain I was correct and if my opponent hadn't already tried it on twice.)

Comments

[itchyfidget.livejournal.com]

Did you catch the grim University Challenge spectacle of a team hearing a snatch of the Happy Mondays and saying it was Portishead? *shudder*

[liadnan]

Nooo. Please tell me that wasn't Corpus.

[itchyfidget.livejournal.com]

Do you know, I don't recall which team. I was too busy recoiling on the sofa ;)

[nicnac.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about the covering your back thing. I once had a meeting with a potential new client, who walked into the office with a slightly grubby hessian bag containing £20k of notes, and asked me to "invest it somewhere for him."

I couldn't get him out of there fast enough.

[badgerolove.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed - sorry to spoil the ending, but we won the entire competition. (My friend Nick is on the team - the one with the colourful hair and jumper.) We didn't confuse Portishead for the Happy Mondays, but we did confuse them for Massive Attack - still, that's more acceptable.

[liadnan]

Fabulous.
Portishead for Massive Attack is rather more acceptable, yes.

[dr-lovely.livejournal.com]

Oh really ? Corpus won ? Am very pleased. More ammunition to bait naughty Cambridge husband with. Hurrah.

[frankie-ecap.livejournal.com]

Am pleased I'm not the only Innes / Stewart fan out there. Me pa has all of them, should you wish more.

Indeed, I once had a summer job in the building that is the original of the tower from which the missile that kills Professor Pluckrose is thrown in The Weight of the Evidence. (Appalling sentence, sorry.)

However, I have no idea how to distinguish Portishead from Massive Attack from the Happy Mondays, so I guess my credibility is destroyed.

[liadnan]

Yep. All gone.