Bon Vivant

Patricia Atkinson explains the joy of being a winemaker in the Dordogne.  

On the morning of 3 September as your alarm clocks roused you from your beds for another day at the office or in court, over here in South West France I had already been up since 4am. It was the first day of my vendange (grape harvest) and the culmination of a year’s hard work in the vines. 

16 October 2009: “One of the signs of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.” — Bertrand Russell 

I have become very concerned about swine flu or Influenza H1NI, to use its proper name. First, I dislike the name: it sounds rather “dirty”. I prefer geographical names, such as Spanish Flu, which have a dash of romance to them. Guadalajara Flu would sound much better in my view. However, this is not my real concern. It is the way in which anyone who succumbs to the illness, or indeed nearly any other politically inconvenient medical emergency, is said to be suffering from “underlying health problems”. 

Nigel Pascoe QC shares his personal highlights from this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. 

Aficionados of Fringe theatre will recognise two useful tips: scour the Traverse programme and see what Guy Masterson has on the stocks. This year he had ten shows under his belt, acting in one and producing and/or directing the others. Austen’s Women was the ideal warm up to what was my fifteenth year in Edinburgh. Rebecca Vaughan, demurely changing in front of her dressing table, gradually progressed to her ball gown, taking a dozen or so characters in her stride. Enchanting stuff and excellent characterisation. Then Masterson himself in a very atmospheric two-handed thriller: The Sociable Plover was remote bird watching with a difference; homicide, to be precise. Unsurprisingly, it has already been a television film. Masterson is always worth watching and his pedantic and scary psychopath did not disappoint, splendidly supported by Ronnie Toms. 

Max Hardy reviews The Legal Mire, a fundraising event for the Kalisher Scholarship.  

Not withstanding the manifold challenges that face the criminal Bar enduring reassurance can be drawn from the ever growing numbers wishing to join its ranks. Those who embark on the daunting path that leads to the Bar do so because they acknowledge the value that barristers can and do add to society. The spiralling costs associated with making a bid for the Bar will be well known to younger practitioners but by way of example a place on the BVC at City Law School for 2008–2009 costs £13,250. 

16 September 2009: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Henrietta, than are dreamt of in your philosophy”—Hamlet, Act I (adapted). 

What is it about the Bar? You only have to see someone, or even think about them, to find you are involved together in a case. No sooner had Henrietta Briar-Pitt launched her misguided exocet and Alexander Twist trimmed and tacked, at our chambers’ meeting, than I found we were all conjoined in litigation. It might not be a form of telepathic magnetism yet to be discovered by Stephen Hawkins nor proof that there is a creator, but it surely exists. 

Overcoming a multitude of visa problems, teams of lawyers with a passion for cricket from twelve mostly Commonwealth jurisdictions gathered in Cambridge on 26 July for an eight day tournament, culminating in a grand final at the Brit Oval in London on 4 August. The sporting element of the programme was complemented by a seminar at Churchill College on 30th July at which recent developments in international criminal law and sports law was discussed. The seminar was supported by the International Committee and Outer Temple Chambers and chaired by the Master of the Rolls. Speakers included Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, Sir Desmond de Silva QC, Mark Gray, partner at DLA Piper, Paul David of the New Zealand Bar and The Hon Mr Justice Mukul Mudgal, Justice of the High Court of Delhi. 

Dear Editor 

Can I thank Sunil Tailor for the very interesting article on fictional barrister sleuths which appeared in the August issue of Counsel (“The Crime Writers” pp 24-26). I’m sure it will have encouraged readers to search Amazon to supplement their holiday reading. 

14 August 2009: Do what we can, summer will have its flies — Emerson 

“Getting on Board”, a charity who places professionals on the governance board of local organisations, has seen a surge in applicants from the Bar. Paul Rand explains what new trustee volunteers can expect 

Martin Bowley QC reviews the 2009 season