Jacob Gifford Head
@giffordhead.co.uk
Barrister & mediator.
Things I like: legal history & legal oddities; music & musical instruments; Mesopotamian history; & Portuguese wine and Port.
My professional website is: http://www.giffordhead.co.uk
Please email rather than DM!
Forgive typos.
Things I like: legal history & legal oddities; music & musical instruments; Mesopotamian history; & Portuguese wine and Port.
My professional website is: http://www.giffordhead.co.uk
Please email rather than DM!
Forgive typos.
I'm afraid I don't know the brand. I was given it by Dirk Niepoort years ago when he came over for a tasting of rare Ports. The only other mark is "Reg No 1353".
It should be really nice with a double lever mechanism but I find it less comfortable to use because it is just folded sheet metal.
It should be really nice with a double lever mechanism but I find it less comfortable to use because it is just folded sheet metal.
November 9, 2025 at 11:27 AM
I'm afraid I don't know the brand. I was given it by Dirk Niepoort years ago when he came over for a tasting of rare Ports. The only other mark is "Reg No 1353".
It should be really nice with a double lever mechanism but I find it less comfortable to use because it is just folded sheet metal.
It should be really nice with a double lever mechanism but I find it less comfortable to use because it is just folded sheet metal.
Ocarina collectors clearly have more money than the flageolet collecting crowd. Pity since I'd have quite like the French flageolet by Noblet, even though it is missing a beak (and the vendor has put the body section on the wrong way round; the holes are for your thumbs.)
November 8, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Ocarina collectors clearly have more money than the flageolet collecting crowd. Pity since I'd have quite like the French flageolet by Noblet, even though it is missing a beak (and the vendor has put the body section on the wrong way round; the holes are for your thumbs.)
Effigy of Keir Starmer for burning...
November 8, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Effigy of Keir Starmer for burning...
Edenbridge Bonfire Night.
November 8, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Edenbridge Bonfire Night.
A belated Bonfire Night means I can finally open this year's smoking Bishop.
Usually 5th November is accompanied by the last bottle of the previous December's batch, but I switched to making it in January this year so I could use Seville oranges instead of sweet ones.
Usually 5th November is accompanied by the last bottle of the previous December's batch, but I switched to making it in January this year so I could use Seville oranges instead of sweet ones.
November 8, 2025 at 4:32 PM
A belated Bonfire Night means I can finally open this year's smoking Bishop.
Usually 5th November is accompanied by the last bottle of the previous December's batch, but I switched to making it in January this year so I could use Seville oranges instead of sweet ones.
Usually 5th November is accompanied by the last bottle of the previous December's batch, but I switched to making it in January this year so I could use Seville oranges instead of sweet ones.
This is what I bought! (Except for "Music in Bali" which accompanies a book about Balinese music.) Mostly Balinese because I'd had a few lessons with a Balinese Gamelan group in the UK before our trip so was interested in that.
November 8, 2025 at 2:07 PM
This is what I bought! (Except for "Music in Bali" which accompanies a book about Balinese music.) Mostly Balinese because I'd had a few lessons with a Balinese Gamelan group in the UK before our trip so was interested in that.
I think I would go the other way, choosing a single blue and wanting everything painted in it.
November 8, 2025 at 12:34 PM
I think I would go the other way, choosing a single blue and wanting everything painted in it.
I’m not massively into fountain pens, unfortunately! People would get quickly bored of the 4 Kaweco Sports that I keep. (The fifth is a pencil).
November 7, 2025 at 1:15 PM
I’m not massively into fountain pens, unfortunately! People would get quickly bored of the 4 Kaweco Sports that I keep. (The fifth is a pencil).
Every single time I open a bottle of this Port the cork explodes. Yet do I remember for next time? Never!
Moral of the story—always use Port Tongs....
Moral of the story—always use Port Tongs....
November 6, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Every single time I open a bottle of this Port the cork explodes. Yet do I remember for next time? Never!
Moral of the story—always use Port Tongs....
Moral of the story—always use Port Tongs....
I went to visit Plzeň in the Summer where the community put up this huge and very obvious Great Synagogue in the 1880s which isn't atypical for the late 19th Century.
November 6, 2025 at 6:24 PM
I went to visit Plzeň in the Summer where the community put up this huge and very obvious Great Synagogue in the 1880s which isn't atypical for the late 19th Century.
Well...since you asked...
Larkin’s “This Be the Verse” got a outing in Lord Justice Wall’s judgment in Re R [2009] EWCA Civ 358.
(It’s also been cited but not read a couple of other times, including once concerning whether French Connection UK could register the trademark FCUK.)
Larkin’s “This Be the Verse” got a outing in Lord Justice Wall’s judgment in Re R [2009] EWCA Civ 358.
(It’s also been cited but not read a couple of other times, including once concerning whether French Connection UK could register the trademark FCUK.)
![124] I resile from nothing which I said in Re L. In the present case,
however, I propose to express myself in similar terms, but more forcefully. I
do so because, in my judgment, the damage in the present case has gone well
beyond that foreseen in Re L. Indeed, as I read the papers in the instant appeal,
and, in particular, the report and the oral evidence of Professor Zeitlin, and
listened to the careful arguments addressed to us, I was powerfully reminded
of the first four lines of Philip Larkin’s poem This be the Verse:
‘They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.’
[125] The rest of the poem seems to me to say more about Philip Larkin
himself than it does about the human condition, but these four lines seem to
me to give a clear warning to parents who, post separation, continue to fight
the battles of the past, and show each other no respect](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:drwvh7wngwjgf5qv6vhppp5a/bafkreihp564pzoufiipyikozkjeaamd65buoxzugl4jhyt7apommr7k6ve@jpeg)
November 6, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Well...since you asked...
Larkin’s “This Be the Verse” got a outing in Lord Justice Wall’s judgment in Re R [2009] EWCA Civ 358.
(It’s also been cited but not read a couple of other times, including once concerning whether French Connection UK could register the trademark FCUK.)
Larkin’s “This Be the Verse” got a outing in Lord Justice Wall’s judgment in Re R [2009] EWCA Civ 358.
(It’s also been cited but not read a couple of other times, including once concerning whether French Connection UK could register the trademark FCUK.)
Some might say that this would have been sufficient evidence at any point before 2025...
November 5, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Some might say that this would have been sufficient evidence at any point before 2025...
Since I am doing legal annoyances today, can anyone point me to where (and why) the custom has developed of the court referring to closed & open headings under the closed material procedures as “CLOSED” and “OPEN”, typed as such.
The Justice and Security Act 2013 doesn’t do it.
The Justice and Security Act 2013 doesn’t do it.
November 3, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Since I am doing legal annoyances today, can anyone point me to where (and why) the custom has developed of the court referring to closed & open headings under the closed material procedures as “CLOSED” and “OPEN”, typed as such.
The Justice and Security Act 2013 doesn’t do it.
The Justice and Security Act 2013 doesn’t do it.
Something unusual for me tonight: Pineau des Charentes. It's kind-of a fortified wine where Cognac is blended with grape juice: the inverse of most fortified wines where the spirit should be flavourless & the wine dominant. This is an aged one & is gorgeous with the grapes sweetening the spirit.
November 1, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Something unusual for me tonight: Pineau des Charentes. It's kind-of a fortified wine where Cognac is blended with grape juice: the inverse of most fortified wines where the spirit should be flavourless & the wine dominant. This is an aged one & is gorgeous with the grapes sweetening the spirit.
I particularly enjoyed this.
October 31, 2025 at 1:04 PM
I particularly enjoyed this.
Looking through my professional indemnity policy, I was rather intrigued to encounter this exclusion.
The mind boggles at the underwriters insisting that the risk of covering a barrister for disciplinary proceedings “directly arising” out of nuclear combustion is so high it needs to be excluded.
The mind boggles at the underwriters insisting that the risk of covering a barrister for disciplinary proceedings “directly arising” out of nuclear combustion is so high it needs to be excluded.
October 30, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Looking through my professional indemnity policy, I was rather intrigued to encounter this exclusion.
The mind boggles at the underwriters insisting that the risk of covering a barrister for disciplinary proceedings “directly arising” out of nuclear combustion is so high it needs to be excluded.
The mind boggles at the underwriters insisting that the risk of covering a barrister for disciplinary proceedings “directly arising” out of nuclear combustion is so high it needs to be excluded.
Particularly impressive for him to do this twice. That's true commitment to pessimism.
October 29, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Particularly impressive for him to do this twice. That's true commitment to pessimism.
Since we are all discussing what to call your relatives this afternoon, may I flag up the real issue is whether you prefer Coke upon Littleton’s Table of Consanguinity—with a bemused chap in the centre wondering what is going on—or Blackstone’s—which reduces it to an unfathomable diagram?
October 28, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Since we are all discussing what to call your relatives this afternoon, may I flag up the real issue is whether you prefer Coke upon Littleton’s Table of Consanguinity—with a bemused chap in the centre wondering what is going on—or Blackstone’s—which reduces it to an unfathomable diagram?
Surely this is precisely the scenario when we all break out Coke upon Littleton?
October 28, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Surely this is precisely the scenario when we all break out Coke upon Littleton?
You should see their cider!
But it looks like they are doing some rebranding with Alsacian bottles. (The "Chapter 55" is apparently made with 55-year-old vines which is quite cool for England.)
But it looks like they are doing some rebranding with Alsacian bottles. (The "Chapter 55" is apparently made with 55-year-old vines which is quite cool for England.)
October 28, 2025 at 7:22 AM
You should see their cider!
But it looks like they are doing some rebranding with Alsacian bottles. (The "Chapter 55" is apparently made with 55-year-old vines which is quite cool for England.)
But it looks like they are doing some rebranding with Alsacian bottles. (The "Chapter 55" is apparently made with 55-year-old vines which is quite cool for England.)
Biddenden Vineyards in Kent was one of the pioneers of the English vine revival. They started planting Ortega in the 60s & must be one of the few English producers to have a stock of "old vines". This 2018 is really enjoyable: huge aroma, good fruit, complexity & acidity.
October 27, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Biddenden Vineyards in Kent was one of the pioneers of the English vine revival. They started planting Ortega in the 60s & must be one of the few English producers to have a stock of "old vines". This 2018 is really enjoyable: huge aroma, good fruit, complexity & acidity.
I was so excited about this that I forgot to check that the double flageolets would fit. They don‘t. The diameter at the biggest point is just a bit too large. It’s a real shame since otherwise they fit perfectly in one drawer. Oh, well...
October 27, 2025 at 2:33 PM
I was so excited about this that I forgot to check that the double flageolets would fit. They don‘t. The diameter at the biggest point is just a bit too large. It’s a real shame since otherwise they fit perfectly in one drawer. Oh, well...
PS. I am also pretty sure you don’t need an Irish Passport in the same way that you don’t need a British Passport. A birth certificate will do.
www.gov.uk/prove-right-...
www.gov.uk/prove-right-...
October 27, 2025 at 1:06 PM
PS. I am also pretty sure you don’t need an Irish Passport in the same way that you don’t need a British Passport. A birth certificate will do.
www.gov.uk/prove-right-...
www.gov.uk/prove-right-...
Ever since I started collecting flageolets, I have struggled to find somewhere to store them. They are thin but also quite long, so most filing cabinets, music chests & collectors' cabinets don't work. Last weekend I found this 11-drawer cabinets which is perfect. It's taken so many years to find!
October 26, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Ever since I started collecting flageolets, I have struggled to find somewhere to store them. They are thin but also quite long, so most filing cabinets, music chests & collectors' cabinets don't work. Last weekend I found this 11-drawer cabinets which is perfect. It's taken so many years to find!
Also, I agree with Cobb LJ at ¶49 about these “deeming” provisions but would go further: they are contrary to principle and need to stop appearing in orders. Especially since they are never deployed against any other party to proceedings other than the parents. 3/3
![This summary treatment of the threshold criteria was
barely adequate (if it was indeed adequate at all: see Re B (A Child) (Adequacy of
Reasons) [2022] EWCA Civ 407; [2022] 4 WLR 42), and I have misgivings about the
parents having been ‘deemed’ to accept the evidence on account their non-compliance
with a procedural step. This was not, however, the focus of this appeal.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:drwvh7wngwjgf5qv6vhppp5a/bafkreif4udzbpwfcynkj22dsgca6ffy6satyuqrs2jd25brrcznwjts3bq@jpeg)
October 23, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Also, I agree with Cobb LJ at ¶49 about these “deeming” provisions but would go further: they are contrary to principle and need to stop appearing in orders. Especially since they are never deployed against any other party to proceedings other than the parents. 3/3