Monday: arguing before the Court of Appeal

Regular readers of this blog will have picked up by now that as well as being Labour's Parliamentary candidate for the Hexham constituency, I am also a practising barrister as well as a not-quite-100% practising dad! On Monday, I was down in London arguing my first case before the Court of Appeal. The issue was a technical one concerning English land law, but it was an interesting and surprisingly enjoyable experience putting my client's case to three of the most senior judges in the land. In the end, the judges were all extremely pleasant, sharp in questioning but always fair and polite. I can't tell you whether I won or lost because they reserved judgment, but whatever the outcome is, I'm glad to have done it.

As everyone knows, there's always been a large number of barristers involved in politics - including one M. Thatcher and one T. Blair. What's interesting is how the two professions have evolved in tandem over the years. In the nineteenth century, advocates in politics and in law tended to be members of the 'declaratory' school of persuasion, ie, you got up, made a speech of varying long-windedness with relatively few interruptions, then sat down. Now in both spheres, communication with the intended audience has become less of a monologue and much more of a dialogue. By virtue of email, websites and blogs, politicians are never more than a few seconds away, and it's easy to strike up a conversation.

I think access to politicans is a good thing, which is why I've set out to be as easy to reach as possible - to the right you can find my real home address, my real mobile phone number and one of my real email addresses. It's interesting to note that the Tory candidate in Hexham isn't willing to provide on his blog a contact phone number, or a home address, or anything other than an email address specific to this election. I wonder why he's hiding from everyone? I suspect he owns a place in London but only rents up here. Perhaps he could let us know?