The Joy of Six 1397

"I asked the Appellant why, in the light of this citation of non-existent authorities, the Court should not of its own motion strike out the grounds of appeal in this case, as being an abuse of the process of the Court. His answer was as follows. He claimed that the substance of the points which were being put forward in the grounds of appeal were sound, even if the authority which was being cited for those points did not exist." Matthew Lee looks at the problems the increasing use of AI are causing the judicial system.

Paul Kirkley fears British stories are in danger of vanishing from our TV screens: "ITV managing director Kevin Lygo has admitted it probably wouldn’t get commissioned now. Why? Because a miscarriage of justice against British postmasters doesn’t have sufficient global appeal to attract the foreign investment and international sales that are increasingly the topline requirements of any UK drama."

Kathryn Rix looks back to the Pontefract by-election of 1872, which was the first British parliamentary election to use the secret ballot: "In contrast with the unruly behaviour which had often marred previous elections, seasoned observers declared that 'they never saw a contested election in which less intoxicating liquor was drunk' and there were no allegations of bribery or other corrupt practices. So quiet and orderly was the town that 'it hardly seemed like an election'."

Teaching philosophy in prison is a rowdy, honest and hopeful provocation, says Jay Miller.

Koraljka Suton celebrates Quentin Tarantino's postmodern masterpiece: "One of the many reasons why Pulp Fiction is widely regarded as a postmodern classic, lies in the brilliance of its screenplay. In true postmodern fashion, Pulp Fiction plays with narrative structure, presenting us with three interconnected storylines told out of chronological order and centering on a different protagonist each."

"Ahmed is a technicolour player, an energy bath bomb with a textbook technique. The Spin has been lucky enough to watch him razzle-dazzle two hundreds in the flesh this year – both against Lancashire, one at Old Trafford, one at Grace Road, opponent-draining, sparkling innings so much better than the previous blind boundary biffing. He added another against Kent, another against Glamorgan and became the first Englishman to take 13 wickets and score a century in a first-class game since Ian Botham in the Jubilee Test of 1980, after taking Derbyshire to the cleaners with both bat and ball." Tanya Aldred argues that Leicestershire's Rehan Ahmed deservers a place in England's Ashes squad this winter.