In the dog days of 2011, when all there is to do is eat cold turkey and chocolate (but not necessarily at the same time), I thought it time to give the old blog a make over. I was a bit jaded with the old blue and grey colour scheme and wanted something minimalist that would fit in with the other two blogs I write – Troubleahead and UK BlawgRoundUp. I like the cleanness of the white background, contrasting with black writing. I’d also got fed up with seeing my mugshot in the sidebar. I might get a new photo done in due course, but for the time being I’m going with the stripped down bare basics look. The old theme – Persephone – didn’t provide much design flexibility and altering the borders round photographs proved beyond my coding skills. The problem was the text font was very hard to distinguish from the background colour: not so anymore.
Category Archives: jobsworth
Conviction: How the Law Failed One Man
Miscarriages of justice might not have been in the news quite so much just recently, but a new film on that subject is out this week: Conviction, starring Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell. It’s about an innocent American man called Kenny Waters who is sent to prison for a murder he did not commit and it will, no doubt, raise concerns not just about the American legal system and lawyers, but legal systems everywhere. Heaven knows in this country we have nothing to be proud of on this subject.
Just Done It For Cancer Research
Just About to Cross the Finishing Line
Yes, on Saturday I ran 10k for Cancer Research at Hatfield House. I made it round in 58.25 minutes without needing oxygen (well, apart from that freely available to everyone) or having to stop for a pee or a fag (I don’t do the latter in fact) or, heaven forbid, to walk. Not bad for someone the wrong side of 40 and not the most assiduous of trainers either (I blame all this blogging). 1549 other people ran along a great course through lovely countryside.
Keep on Running
I blogged last week on my forthcoming run for Cancer Research on 9th October at Hatfield House. Time for an update.
Why I Blog
August marks the anniversary of when I started blogging. Two years have zipped by since I put fingers to keyboard and, if I may, whilst on holiday and trying not to think about work, I’d like to take a look back and get all personal.
Jobsworth is having an identity crisis!
Having written this blog for almost two years I’ve just discovered that I’m not the only Jobsworth out here in cyber-space. There’s another one who tweets under the name of Jobsworth. Mr J P Rangaswami, who writes a very interesting blog called “Confused of Calcutta” on the subject of information and privacy in the digital age, and tweets on a wide variety of topics, has noticed some confusion when I tweet posts on this blog, because WordTwit sends out “New @ Jobsworth …” . This has caused a (very) few people to query why he’s started tweeting about UK employment law. I tweet in my own name – @michaelscutt but blog as “Jobsworth by Michael Scutt” on employment law and on UK legal services deregulation as “There may be Trouble Ahead“. To hopefully avoid any further problems I’ve amended WordTwit to now tweet “New @ Michael Scutt at Jobsworth“.
News from Jobsworth
I haven’t blogged much on here recently, partly because of being busy at work but also because I have been setting up two other blogs and a podcast.
The first blog – ukblawgroundup – I’ve mentioned on here before. This is the name of the blog carnival for UK Lawyers which reviews the UK legal blogging scene. The next edition is published on the 31st March, with submissions due by 17th. Peninsulawyer will be hosting it.
Do Jobsworths wear moustaches?
Bob Ainsworth, the Defence Secretary, has come under fire for not only being a political lightweight out of his depth in one of the most important offices of state, but also for wearing a moustache (well, we are approaching the silly season). An article at www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/men/article6709864.ece suggests that a moustache often signifies the wearer is homosexual or, of more importance to this blog, that it is a symbol of ”the constipated mentality of an inept, small-town jobsworth”, being the impression that Mr Ainsworth’s “facial furniture” gives to some. I make no comment on that.