Judge Judge is a poor judge of the internet

"The Lord Chief Justice made an outspoken attack on "modern technology" yesterday," starts a report by Ian Burrell in the Independent this morning, recalling the glories days of the bench. Those were the days when judges had not heard of television and had to be woken regularly after lunch to be reminded what it was.

More seriously, the report goes on to say:

Lord Judge called on society to bring "under control" those "who in effect peddle lies about others" online.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the current dispute, it is a fact that people are using the net to tell the truth about others. What the Lord Chief Justice (Judge Judge, as he used - gloriously - to be called) is demanding is that the law should prevent them from doing so.

He is not alone among lawyers in making impossible demands. The report also quotes Nick Armstrong of Charles Russell LLP as complaining that social media "has (sic) of late been used as a vehicle for gossip..."

If he wants to see legislation against gossip then he really is demanding the impossible.

Mr Justice Cocklecarrot is 124.