Regular readers will know that Diary used be a little harsh on judges.

After a Soviet-style re-education programme, all that started changing. The official line at MJ Towers became one of qualified support for hard-working legal big-wigs who, Diary was programmed to recall, were ‘providing a vital public service in clarifying difficult law and not simply lining their pockets with scarce public cash' by concluding the bleedin' obvious.