Why are there seven days in a week? The Biblical answer I suppose is that Genesis tells us that God created the earth and all that is in it in six days and on the seventh day he rested. The Babylonians had seven days in their calendar and the lunar rotation takes 28 days and the… Read More: Seven day wonder »
One of the best loved stories of recent years is Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman with its music by Howard Blake. In case you are not familiar with the story (and surely everyone has heard the main theme tune Walking in the Air) it concerns a little boy who makes a snowman one day. Unable to sleep… Read More: Snowman theft armless say police »
There is an old saying which suggests that you should be careful what you wish for! I was asked recently to come up with five top tips to keep down the cost of e-disclosure for an article in SA Law’s Stay Alert! newsletter. As a former litigation partner at Eversheds, I have seen my fair… Read More: Five things to wish for »
“The adage that dead men tell no tales has long been disproved by archaeology… So begins a fascinating article in the magazine Science Daily – Teeth Of Columbus’ Crew Flesh Out Tale Of New World Discovery 20th March, 2009 We are all familiar with television cold case programmes, such as Waking the Dead where Trevor Eve and… Read More: Waking the dead »
The party season is upon us already. Having concluded a week of festivities celebrating my birthday recently and fresh, if that is the right word in the circumstances, from the Millnet 15th birthday party at the top of the Millbank Tower with fireworks courtesy of the Mayor of London (thanks Boris!), my thoughts are increasingly… Read More: Vox stellarum »
What have the following in common? A 1987 album track by George Harrison A song by Bryan Adams A 1969 album by the Temptations Battlestar Galactica A mobile phone company based in the Isle of Man A crime novel by James M Cain A skyscraper and shopping mall in Shanghai The answer is that all… Read More: Seventh heaven on cloud nine »
I am occasionally asked about EU data privacy laws and how they impact on the discoverability of European documents in US litigation. Denise Backhouse, associate in the eData group at US law firm, Morgan Lewis & Bockius, has written an article on this very subject for Guidance Software (who provide EnCase e-discovery software for her… Read More: Data protection »
Lawyers are used to logical thinking and reasoning. After all, most of them will know the duck test: if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. Conclusions are reached by a process of inductive reasoning. Don’t go away! I promise this piece… Read More: A duck’s a duck »
Former Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, once quipped that a week was a long time in politics. After a string of events which were calculated to make a lesser man blanch, Wilson was phlegmatic. He had spent most of his life climbing the greasy pole which is politics and he obviously felt that he needed to… Read More: Squaring the circle »
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is a concept with which most people are familiar, even if they do not know its origin. The concept appears in the Old Testament, the Koran and the Talmud and probably elsewhere as well. It is even referred to by Jesus in the Sermon… Read More: We are all believers now »