Author Archives: Legal Eagle

Crabs in a bucket

July 4, 2009 – 12:44 pm

In comments on my post on Michael Jackson, Su mentioned the “crabs in a bucket” syndrome that affects race relations in the US - the notion that those who were trying to escape from bad circumstances undermined others in the same predicament to further their own escape. Such a vivid metaphor for anyone who has [...]

Posted in Human/Civil rights, Law, Public Policy, Racism | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

Don’t blame it on the Blankie

June 29, 2009 – 9:41 pm

When I was a little girl (say 2 or 3 years old), my Dad used to sing Don’t Blame it on the Boogie to me, but he refashioned it as “Don’t Blame it on the Blankie“. My security blanket had the very imaginative name of “Blankie”. Apparently I would wail and say, “No-o-o-o-o-o! Don’t blame [...]

Posted in Media, Popular culture | Tagged | Comments (27)

A rose by any other name

June 23, 2009 – 6:14 pm

What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet…
(Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, 1594)
Or not. I remember when a friend’s husband was employed by a large telco, he was asked to change his Islamic sounding name to “Michael” when taking calls from customers. Being a very easy-going fellow, [...]

Posted in General, Racism, Society | Tagged , | Comments (61)

Things that make me proud

June 21, 2009 – 10:48 am

Jim Belshaw wrote a post listing 5 things that make him proud, and has tagged SL and I to do the same. I’m not going to write a list, mainly because I’m terrible at lists. I struggle with memes.
The main thing in life that makes me proud is family: my children, my husband, my sister, [...]

Posted in Breastfeeding, Children, Feminism, Personal, Politics | Tagged , , , , | Comments (12)

Anonymous no more…

June 18, 2009 – 9:02 pm

I can’t believe there is a case called The Author of A Blog v Times Newspapers Limited [2009] EWHC 1358 (QB). But there is.
“The Author of A Blog” cited as the claimant was the pseudonymous author of a blog known as “Night Jack”. He was a police officer whose blog provided an inside view of [...]

Posted in Blogging, England, Internet, Law, Media, Privacy, Society, Technology | Tagged , , , , | Comments (26)

A cunning plan…

June 4, 2009 – 4:18 pm

I’m not a fan of the reality TV genre. It’s lazy television. It makes me want to come out in hives half the time. How can people embarrass themselves like that?
It looks like reality TV might be going the way of the dodo in France. A French court has ruled that being a reality TV [...]

Posted in Law, Media, Popular culture | Tagged , , , | Comments (19)

Predictably enough…

May 31, 2009 – 3:55 pm

President Obama has appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the US Supreme Court to replace David Souter. Predictably enough, elements in the Republican Party have questioned her appointment. The criticisms are not of her gender and ethnicity per se, but of certain comments she made at a talk in 2001 about the gender and ethnicity of judges:
Newt [...]

Posted in Feminism, Law, Society | Tagged , , , | Comments (13)

Eight Random Things About Me Meme

May 22, 2009 – 10:04 pm

Saint has tagged me for one of these memes.

Thinking about this meme has led me to realise that I’m not very random, although my mind does go all over the place all the time. But my mind is always drawing links between disparate topics, albeit sometimes of a bizarre nature. Well, perhaps everyone else thinks [...]

Posted in Personal | Comments (11)

Ooops, too many zeros…

May 22, 2009 – 12:13 pm

In the Sydney Morning Herald today:
A New Zealand couple who fled the country after receiving millions of dollars in a banking error may have had a 16-day head start on police.
It also emerged the couple may now be in China, and that other family members were also missing.
The unnamed couple, believed to be Asian man [...]

Posted in Fark!, Law, Restitution | Comments (18)

Happy Birthday to Us

May 19, 2009 – 6:54 pm

I just realised that our joint blog is now over one year old.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!
Personally, I’m delighted with the results, and I hope you are too.

Posted in Site News | Comments (19)