Walks

Spoiler: we end with walks covering Legal London.

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The media caravan has moved on from the Supreme Court, and attention is now focused back on Parliament. This piece picks out a handful of paragraphs from the High Court's judgment as referred to in my earlier article. These paragraphs might provide some enlightenment set against the political rhetoric that is now again in full flow. 

My reading of the Supreme Court judgment is that the judgment does not contradict or qualify any of the statements in the paragraphs referred to below.

More popular media heat than light has been generated by the High Court's decision on 3rd November. This article attempts to report objectively and in plain terms what the Court said by way of key points. It does not take sides in the Brexit debate, nor comment on any political issues arising from the judgment. 

Background

The case was heard in the High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division, Divisional Court, on 13th, 17th and 18th October.

They say that August is a dead month for news. Still, a few commercial and private client lawyers might have choked on their Bouillabaisse upon hearing of HMRC's announced consultation on a proposal for sanctions against those who "design, market or facilitate the use of tax avoidance arrangements which are defeated by HMRC".

In the Today Programme after the announcement, the focus was on financial advisers and on accountants as the lined up target "middlemen".

The Cleveland Street story is not one of London's best-known scandals. 19 Cleveland Street, on the edge of the City of Westminster, is now part of the footprint of a new block of flats. The original house is long gone.

Just around the corner was once the Central Middlesex Hospital. Up the road is the former workhouse that Charles Dickens reputedly had in mind for Oliver Twist's fruitless request for seconds. The name of the road is taken from the Duchess title given to Charles II's mistress, Barbara Villiers.

From one extreme to another. A few weeks back six of us ate at Caravan in the Kings Cross Regeneration area. The restaurant styles itself as offering "Well-travelled food and mighty fine coffee, in an old grain house."

It was worth travelling to enjoy the experience, mixing with the 20 and 30 somethings in a relaxed, efficient environment with its minimalist fit-out. Jest you may over exposed brickwork and pipework, but it does work.

Court 73 at the Royal Courts of Justice in The Strand is tucked away in the North-East end of the complex, and is London’s High Court for civil litigation.

If you had reviewed the Courts Lists online or in the RCJ hall during the latter part of last year, you would have seen against Court 73: “Inquest into the death of Mark Duggan”.

Oh cricket lovers, put aside the agony of Nick Compton’s 2nd Test innings against New Zealand, described on Test Match Special as like the last Act of Macbeth, and consider the daftness and goodness of a game on 29th May 2013 between The Wisden XI and The Author’s XI.

At the midway point between Open House 2012 and 2013, it seems timely to feature one of the jewels in the Open House crown.

Embassy buildings come imposing and impenetrable. Even standing outside one can be intimidating.

However, this building had an early name that was nothing if not prosaic. “The Independent North Mansion” was the title of 49 Belgrave Square, one of Thomas Cubitt’s creations in his Belgravia masterpiece.

The New Year brings a new venture for the Colin Walks London global empire, a collaboration in which I will be supporting London Street Games in the launch of a guided puzzle in the City of London.

The task of the intrepid puzzlers is to solve a mystery posed by the contents of Mrs Eliza Kruge’s notebook. To reach a solution they will be helped by the recollection of five ghosts, once notable figures in London’s history.