August 2011
- Posted on August 31, 2011 by Louise RestellWhen I was at school I very distinctly remember being told that ‘the world was my oyster’ and I could be whatever and whoever I wanted to be. I imagine that similar messages intended to inspire young women are given out today – I will certainly be encouraging my daughter to reach for the stars (not necessarily literally). What they didn’t tell me, as possibilities raced through my mind, was that I could do whatever I wanted, but I shouldn’t expect to get paid as much as a man.Read more...
- Posted on August 30, 2011 by Louise RestellNormally I associate the 1980s with the Thatcher government, the miners’ strike, the Falklands war and alarming fashion decisions. I often forget it was also the decade that saw the end of apartheid in South Africa and the Berlin wall. But watching the Arab Spring spread across the Middle East has reminded me that these international events had as big an influence on me as did events on my own doorstep.Read more...
- Posted on August 25, 2011 by Louise RestellThere are quite a lot of things I admire about the French. They make great cheese and damn fine wine, which they drink sensibly and often. They have ensured their beautiful capital city is not overshadowed by horrid skyscrapers and they are, on the whole, pretty stylish. I also like their devil-may-care attitude to anything they don’t approve of and I even have a grudging respect for their trade unions as they fly in the face of laissez-faire economics.Read more...
- Posted on August 19, 2011 by Louise RestellLawyers don’t always get the best press, but every so often even I have to concede they deserve some good PR. This week the Law Society launched a national pro bono helpline for victims of the recent riots. To those of you who aren’t lawyers (and I’m not, but I spend an awful lot of time around them) that means free help and advice. This is undeniably a good deed and a far more useful response to the riots than anything the government has so far come up with.Read more...
- Posted on August 16, 2011 by Louise RestellI've spent quite a lot of time being not very nice about solicitors. Over the years I've been working in the legal sector, first at Which?, then at a national law firm and for the Law Society, I've branded them arrogant, patronising, out-of-touch and overpriced. However, despite this general antipathy towards the profession, I have never been a fan of the Solicitors from Hell website. Not surprisingly, neither is the Law Society. So at least that's one thing we agree on.Read more...
- Posted on August 14, 2011 by Louise RestellNo-one could fail to be moved by the words of Tariq Jahan, the father of one of the three men mown down by a hit and run driver in Birmingham last week. His reaction to his son’s death, killed as he tried to protect his community from rioters, was both poignant and extraordinary. He said he believed people could stay calm and could live together. The police said his words had played a significant part in helping to quell further unrest.Read more...
- Posted on August 9, 2011 by Louise RestellThere are lots of things that make me proud to be British, at least there were until yesterday. I feel pretty ashamed at seeing yobs and hoodlums looting and rioting, laying waste to people's homes and businesses for nothing more than a shiny pair of trainers or an iPod. It's particularly depressing when seen alongside the recent protests across the middle east.Read more...
- Posted on August 4, 2011 by Louise RestellBritain, we are constantly being told, is broken. It's not just the economy, although that's certainly pretty broken. It's not even that our politicians, journalists and bankers are morally bankrupt, although some of them certainly are. No, one of the main reasons Britain is broken is because we are in the fervent grip of a compensation culture.Read more...
- Posted on August 1, 2011 by Louise RestellSo, surprisingly, it turns out Amanda Holden is the key to the future of legal services in the high street. Ok, so I exaggerate, but, as reported on Legal Futures, she was positively glowing with enthusiasm about the QualitySolicitors tie-up with WH Smith on ITV1's This Morning last week. She told the presenters “You can walk into WH Smith… there is a list that is now recommended by the public, for the public, of solicitors who are kosher, who are not going to rip you off and who can help you. And it’s completely free, you get advice free and then you can get any information you need.”Read more...