Judge Judge and Lamb Bhuna

Imagine if you can: you're sitting in court, minding your own business, thankful that you actually did learn your shorthand, when the craving for a Lamb Bhuna comes over you.  You can't leave the enthralling case that has, seemingly, been going on for an eternity, because your editor wants every snippet of fair, accurate and contemporaneous news that he can get, but your craving for a 'Ruby' is getting stronger.  Now it's easy, tweeting 'Lamb bhuna, pulao rice, a chapati and a tarka dhal: I'll collect it at 8pm', won't get you into trouble, because tweeting in court is alright for now.



Journalists following the Julian Assange bail hearing asked whether they could tweet, and the advice given was at first contradictory.  In the Westminster magistrates' court it was OK, but at the High Court it wasn't.  Now, however, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Justice Judge (I kind you not, Major Major eat your heart out), has given the green light.  His ruling is:

"A consultation relating to the use of live, text-based communications will be conducted shortly. Those who will be consulted include the Judiciary, the Secretary of State for Justice, the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Bar Council and the Law Society, the Press Complaints Commission, the Society of Editors in addition to interested members of the public via the Judiciary website.
Pending the outcome of the consultation, this interim guidance should be considered by courts, litigants, their legal representatives and the media if and when any application is made to the court to permit the use of live, text-based communications. If any difficulties arise in respect of the use of such communications, or the outcome of the consultation becomes known, it may become necessary to issue a formal Practice Direction.."

In other words, it's OK for now and we'll let you know if that changes.  In court Judge Judge said, "The use of an unobtrusive, hand-held, virtually silent piece of modern equipment for the purposes of simultaneous reporting of proceedings to the outside world as they unfold in court is unlikely to interfere with the proper administration of justice."

Result! Now, where's that Lamb Bhuna?