The Justice of the Peace [magistrate`s] Blog:

There are some occasions in a Magistrates` Court after a prosecutor has opened a case with a description of the facts  when, however serious  the matter  is, one has an underlying mental scene of such a farcical situation that it is difficult to suppress a smile.  I suppose this is the basis of much comedy; Monty Python and Not The 9 o`Clock News come to mind.

It is reported in the Rochdale Observer that a man attempted to tease a dog in the yard next to where he was standing by putting his genitals through the fence separating man and beast. Perhaps the financial penalties he suffered and being placed on the Sex Offenders` Register for five years will teach him to keep his best friend where it should be and not to use it to tease man`s best four legged friend.

The obsession of our legislators with altering our patterns of behaviour by often using photography instead of human beings is well known and probably irreversible. It is when behind the wheel of a car that the normally law abiding citizen comes into contact with authority. This is not a new phenomenon. It was one hundred and two years ago that a constable was given the right at his discretion to demand the name and address of a driver; plus ca change........

Oh! How the mighty are fallen. The London Evening Standard reports that drivers can avoid speeding tickets by changing lanes.

I won`t repeat here; the article speaks for itself but I will take one quote;"Police chiefs were last night forced to urge drivers not to exploit the shortcoming by trying to evade the cameras."

Isn`t it ironic? These cameras are police, judge and jury and offer very little opportunity and sometimes insurmountable difficulties to defend against for those so accused as many hundreds of thousands of us have discovered. Instead of apprehending and punishing severely that proportion of drivers which continually flouts the law for drivers and driving a whole population is caught in a seine net of digital computerised photography. Some humility on the part of those responsible for this beautiful fiasco would be welcome.