Crusted Port is an unusual style of Port these days. It should be made from Vintage Port quality wine but, unlike Vintage Port, is a blend of many years rather than just one. The year on the label just indicates when it was bottled. Still young, this 2014 from Neipoort is really quite drinkable.

Since everyone is doing this: Vintage Port. I appreciate the 1980s were a golden decade for general declarations and secondary years but block planting, advanced meteorological work, temperature controlled lagares & regulatory reform all make it much better today.

NG@ng1978.bsky.social · 5h ago

Cars. Often had to go into the garage for one reason or the other. These days even cars over ten years old seem to be in quite good nick. Consumer products more generally. You will definitely get at least five years out of it. Usually more.

This is a very interesting point. We know the British state is basically incapable of building more prisons yet sentencing policy almost always treats them as an unlimited resource.

Will Lowe@conjugateprior.org · 10h ago

One such unconsidered budget here is available prison space. Perhaps people might be asked two types of question a) Should sentences for offense A to be x2 or x5 longer than B, which will leave this many spots for offenses C-Z and b) should there be more prison spaces? 2/5

One of the reasons we are struggling to find enough prison spaces is that sentences have increased sharply in length over the last couple of decades. One of the difficulties, I think is that the inflationary pressure on sentences is everywhere within the debate about crime, from all sides.

We are also sometimes surprised that prisons accidentally release people they shouldn't. And also fail to release people who should be.

Joanna Hardy-Susskind@joannahs.bsky.social · 13h ago

I can’t believe ‘here’s your prison sentence, you will serve half, but your co-defendant who got a bit longer for something a bit worse will do two-thirds, but one of you can go home early on curfew and that one will now do a third and the other a half’ hasn’t worked out for us.

Within the debates about academic plagiarism, I see a lot of discussion about Turnitin. They seem to suggest its use in the UK is routine & uncontroversial. Have all the arguments against it, particularly about copyright, just been lost? As a student unionist at the time, we were furious about it.

Wine-sky: I have come into possession of a 8-bottle horizontal wine rack like the one below. You shouldn’t judge a wine by its label, but I feel I ought to buy some pretty bottles for it. Assuming my budget doesn’t stretch to 8 bottles of Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque Rosé any suggestions?

Something that troubles me about a lot of this discourse is the idea that the seriousness of the offending cannot be determined by the sentence length & therefore it is necessary to treat someone with, say, a 6-year sentence for sexual assault differently to a 6-year sentence for rape.

PM to tighten early release rules but men jailed over PC Harper’s death can be freed

Rapists, child abusers and groomers will not leave prison early but some of those serving sexual or violent offences will now leave after half their sentence

theguardian.com

I am a big fan of mad "must inform a constable" provisions. There's one in s.49(3) Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 where it is a defence to the offence of possessing nuclear weapons if you inform a constable "as soon as reasonably practicable" after you find out that's what you have!

Plod@policemanslot.bsky.social · 2d ago

UBS did similar when reporting $2B fraud by a trader. They spent all day in meetings trying to find a carpet big enough to brush it under. After that failed the Chief Compliance Officer walked into Bishopsgate Police Snt at 1am to report it. Which must have been a tad unnerving for the night duty DC

Seeing the flood of posts arguing about COVID-19 on my feed again made me realise something: I think this is the first year where I haven't seen a case in the family court where the breakdown of the relationship arose from the lockdowns. The impact on family life was huge.

I missed Uncommon Instrument Day myself but was happy to run into these musicians in Sherwood Forest today playing some wonderful music on what I think is a unique bellows-blown double-chanter bagpipe. Great stuff. www.myalpyper.co.uk/bagpipes-med...

Myal Pyper at Arundel Castle

YouTube video by Peter Trimming

youtube.com

I have some questions about the fancy wine room shown in pictures 12 and 17. Why the cheap wine rack on top of the units? Why the wildly coloured glasses? Why the unopened bottle of Amaretto? And why is the bottle standing in pride of place a £9.95 Rioja [according to a reserve image search]?

Chris Dale@chrisdaleoxford.bsky.social · 4d ago

I don't mind the exterior too much, given the crap which gets built around here, but one can draw conclusions about both the client and the interior designer from the fittings and the drab grey that was so fashionable 3 years ago. www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/9...

It is interesting just how many things currently depend on a single UK supplier.

The Heraldry Society@theheraldrysociety.bsky.social · 4d ago

A notice from The Heraldry Society concerning William Cowley the UK's last commercial parchment and vellum maker.

I really enjoyed this article. I barely drink any eaux de vie—I guess there isn't much tradition if it in the UK—but it has encouraged me to see what is available.

Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 5d ago

Fruit spirits: the taste of a place, bottled ft.trib.al/Z6yX1rF | opinion

I am so sad I am not at home today and so can't use this as an excuse to share a picture of a random instrument!

Kristin Naigus 🎙🪈@fieldofreeds.bsky.social · 5d ago

Happy Uncommon Instrument Awareness Day!! Which is every day in this household. nationaltoday.com/uncommon-ins...

I fear there is probably a dangerous personality type associated with those of us who read Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable for fun...

S. Kramer@libraryephemera.bsky.social · 6d ago

Were you a child who read The World Book Encyclopedia for fun?

If you'll forgive the serious comment about a jokey post: legal terms and the legal year only apply to the minority of cases in the High Court, Court of Appeal & Supreme Court. In particular, in criminal law, the Courts sit year-round, including on a Saturday in the case of Magistrates' Courts.

Marie Le Conte@youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 6d ago

seeing a barrister friend who's just informed me that tomorrow is apparently the end of the legal year, what delightful phrasing, looking forward to criming again from Saturday onwards

Since everyone is still discussing Emily Wilson's The Odyssey review can I ask about this passage? Greek was, I think, the first alphabet with vowels but I don't really see how that impacted Homer. Especially since there was a long history of vowel-less alphabets before. Any suggestions?

The British public really does take for granted the permanent collection in the British Museum. Almost every room contains works of such importance that they could be the centrepiece of an expensive museum in their own right.

Philip Stephens@philipstephens.bsky.social · last wk.

All the hyped hype about Bayeux tapestry viewing at BM seems to miss fact that this wonderful artefact has been readily on display in Bayeux for past 40 years .. yes it’s the same tapestry ..

"AI might be able to ... draft a contract..." The Prime Minister endorses the transfer of money from non-contentious to dispute resolution lawyers and I, for one, am all for it... [There may be a small conflict on interest to disclose!]

Rachel Coldicutt@rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · last wk.

So one of the problems of announcing policies via social video is that you end up saying stuff like this

At the moment, for the purposes of Council Tax, residential property is valued as at 1 April 1991. I think, in order for this to work, you’d need to re-value all English residential property: a huge task. Was that carried out in 1991? Or were the initial 1991 values those from older rating lists?

Dan Neidle@danneidle.bsky.social · last wk.

It's being reported that Andy Burnham might replace council tax and stamp duty with a 0.48% annual property tax. We'll have a complete report on this tomorrow, including an interactive map showing the impact across the country.

Yet more court time and resources being taken up with this matter which should be being dealt with by the regulator. How many hearings have there been now? And, because of the elaborate nature of contempt proceedings and the right to appeal, I dare say there will be many more.

Legal Futures@legalfutures.bsky.social · last wk.

Menon contempt hearing stayed for jurisdiction challenge zurl.co/5b0Gx

It is 2026. We have put a man on the moon. Yet we still don't have a universal scale for what 🌶, 🌶🌶 and 🌶🌶🌶 means on a menu.

You are made Mayor of London for a day. What fantasy large transport infrastructure project are you going to be drawing on your map of London to the alarm of the officials? Me? Revive the central London double-decker trams including the reopening of the full Kingsway Tramway Subway.

Jo Kibble (Political Animal)@politicanimal.bsky.social · 2w ago

This, from @londoncentric.media rings very true. It’s of a piece with the Livingstone-era City Hall legend that coloured pencils were banned from the mayor’s office because left alone with them he’d draw Crossrails 3-9 on his map of London.

This all seems very sensible but it does make me smile that, some 200 years after the Hamburg Temple, and some 100 years after Jewish Religious Union, the latest development in Progressive Judaism is reported as being the use of Hebrew rather than Aramaic...

@rabbiromain.bsky.social · 2w ago

It's always sad when a couple divorce & the high hopes at the wedding are finally buried. That's why Progressive Judaism has just issued a new form of egalitarian religious divorce alongside the civil divorce, recognising that end and offering a new start: www.thejc.com/community/pr...

Many of the speakers at this event were, sadly, the usual suspects grinding their axes but I think it is worth listening to RK-JKCs about the real harm of threatening a barrister with imprisonment, after the event, for things he said in a closing speech which was not interrupted with any objections.

Shoaib M Khan@shoaibmkhan.bsky.social · 2w ago

"Tales are being heard across the country of barristers changing speeches, because criminal bar members have become uncertain and scared of what they can and can't say, scared somehow they might themselves be facing a charge of criminal contempt": Criminal Bar Association Chair, Riel Karmy-Jones KC.

I think it is quite remarkable that the Claimants thought this ruse might work, especially on appeal...

Legal Futures@legalfutures.bsky.social · 2w ago

CA condemns sting that saw solicitor disclose privileged information zurl.co/ijMF6

I was quite pleased when the Judge told us that he would give judgment at 2pm today. I thought I might get a chance to visit the new @batecollection.bsky.social. But look at the opening hours! 😔 I wish more people would be interested in musical instruments...

The new PM promises "good growth in every postcode". Does that mean increasing the size of the House of Lords (SW1A 0PW)? Or maybe the Commons? (SW1A 0AA). Perhaps an extension on Buckingham Palace (SW1A 1AA)? A revival for Girobank wouldn't go amiss (GIR 0AA). And what about XM4 5HQ?

I suppose, for all its faults, one area where the Bar has progressed further than academia is that the people who tell the Judge they will be 30 minutes in submissions and then drone on for an hour or more are not limited to certain genders, ethnicities or ages...

Charlotte Lydia Riley@lottelydia.bsky.social · 2w ago

senior male academics giving a conference paper, after being shown the "one more minute" sign