The Off Topic Topic

[Josquius]

I've got so much respect and envy for the Bristol University pediatrics professor who is on the JCVI. Everytime there's an announcement about the vaccine program he pops up on the BBC to discuss it from his holiday home in Haute Savoie where, as far as I can see, he's been all year

I'd settle for permission to have a home home in haute savoie.

[Tamas]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll-9Otg8p14

Professional cornhole 

This was on ESPN the other day and I couldn't believe it.

was it on The Ocho?

[The Larch]

I've got so much respect and envy for the Bristol University pediatrics professor who is on the JCVI. Everytime there's an announcement about the vaccine program he pops up on the BBC to discuss it from his holiday home in Haute Savoie where, as far as I can see, he's been all year

I'd settle for permission to have a home home in haute savoie.

You'd move to somewhere French speaking?  It is a gorgeous place, mind you, if you like mountains.

[Josquius]

I've got so much respect and envy for the Bristol University pediatrics professor who is on the JCVI. Everytime there's an announcement about the vaccine program he pops up on the BBC to discuss it from his holiday home in Haute Savoie where, as far as I can see, he's been all year

I'd settle for permission to have a home home in haute savoie.

You'd move to somewhere French speaking?  It is a gorgeous place, mind you, if you like mountains.

Likely have little choice in that. At least in haute savoie you've cheap houses and fewer people. :p

[The Larch]

I've got so much respect and envy for the Bristol University pediatrics professor who is on the JCVI. Everytime there's an announcement about the vaccine program he pops up on the BBC to discuss it from his holiday home in Haute Savoie where, as far as I can see, he's been all year

I'd settle for permission to have a home home in haute savoie.

You'd move to somewhere French speaking?  It is a gorgeous place, mind you, if you like mountains.

Likely have little choice in that. At least in haute savoie you've cheap houses and fewer people. :p

I wouldn't be so sure about cheap housing, I was told that lots of people there work in Switzerland, so the area has a relatively high cost of living for France.

[Sheilbh]

Amazing story from Australia - from an Australian AP court reporter

Karen Sweeney
@karenlsweeney
Aug 3
WORST NIGHTMARE.

Someone just accidentally unmuted themselves while calling a barrister a "fuckwit" in the Supreme Court.
Lawyer: "Perhaps the person who said it can identify themselves. It was a male voice."
Judge: "I'm not sure much is gained by that. Don't take it personally. Obviously whoever said it didn't intend it for your ears."
Lawyer: "It's my first time ... being called a fuckwit while I'm cross examining a witness."
Judge: "It shouldn't have been said in a way that was audible to you."
Lawyer: "I would appreciate an apology from the person who said it before I continue."
For those asking, there was no apology and the speaker hasn't been identified. In part, I suspect, because he immediately died after realising what he'd done.
Also, I'm sorry to disappoint the significant number of people speculating that it was the judge, but it wasn't the judge.

[Valmy]

You should only ever imply the opposing council is a fuckwit, even in private.

[HVC]

despite the protestation, it was probably the judge

I also liek how the lawyer was acting like a fuckwit while demanding an apology

[Valmy]

I mean crap like this Sheilbh, here they are selling a "ground floor flat" in this building for 300k:

Don't you guys have 1 Pound homes in long abandoned ghost villages? Or is that only a continental European thing?

[DGuller]

  The judge's "you shouldn't have been called a fuckwit in that way" strikes me as somewhat passive aggressive.

[Sheilbh]

I mean the judge is right - nothing to be gained by identifying whoever did it. And I imagine similar or worse has been written on the post-it notes that lawyers circulate in court

[HVC]

The judge's "you shouldn't have been called a fuckwit in that way" strikes me as somewhat passive aggressive.

i agree with your message, just not your method of communicating it

[The Minsky Moment]

I mean the judge is right - nothing to be gained by identifying whoever did it. And I imagine similar or worse has been written on the post-it notes that lawyers circulate in court

I disagree. I think most judges would come down much harder, especially if it happened in the middle of an examination in a criminal case.

[The Brain]

A lawyer should have been able to weave it into legalese. "...a number of offenses under the Act in question - fuck wit, failure to..."

[Sheilbh]

I disagree. I think most judges would come down much harder, especially if it happened in the middle of an examination in a criminal case.

But what's to be gained? It's clearly an accident - probably an instructing solicitor accidentally unmuting - I'm not sure there's much point in humiliating them. They'll already be dying from embarrassment and it feels like the barrister's being a bit of a diva. It's not up to them to decide they won't continue until they get an apology

From the report - little bit confusing - it sounds like someone from the prosecution during a pre-sentencing hearing so no jury:

Deportation possible over hat-theft death
Karen SweeneyAAP
Tue, 3 August 2021 3:28AM

The man who robbed a stabbing victim and his dying brother faces deportation from Australia after Border Force investigations revealed he's not a citizen.

Chol Kur is awaiting sentence for the robbery of brothers and best mates Maaka and Nate Hakiwai, who were attacked while waiting for a bus in Melbourne's northwest in September 2019.

Nate was wearing a crusty old Philadelphia '76ers cap, but it caught the eye of Kur and a 17-year-old boy who were driving past with a carload of friends.

Kur, now 21, asked the driver to stop so he could "drill" the brothers. He demanded Nate hand over the hat and when he refused the pair scuffled. The younger boy held Maaka in a headlock.

It was then that Joshua Horton ran from the car and stabbed Makka in the chest and Nate twice in the leg.

Maaka's injuries proved fatal and Horton was found guilty of manslaughter.

Kur, who stole the hat even after the brothers had been stabbed, pleaded guilty to a robbery charge.

Prosecutors notified Kur's lawyers this week that Australian Border Force made inquiries about Kur's citizenship after a pre-sentence hearing and determined he was a permanent resident.

His barrister, Richard Edney, has asked for more time to make submissions about Kur's immigration status on the basis he could be deported if he is sentenced to more than 12 months behind bars.

Kur was due to be sentenced last month for his part in the attack but was found unsuitable for a community corrections order.

Mr Edney challenged that finding in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, criticising the report-writer's note taking.

While she had included verbatim quotes in her report she had not made notes of those during discussions with Kur.

She told the court the comments, including claims Kur said he liked assaulting people, stood out to her and she hadn't needed to write it down to remember it.

Mr Edney remarked he doubted even a New York Times journalist could have written the quotes in the report without notes.

The online hearing was briefly derailed when, during the cross-examination, an unknown man accidentally unmuted himself to laugh and call the barrister a "f***wit".

Mr Edney tried to have the matter investigated.

"It's my first time ... being called a f***wit while I'm cross examining a witness," he said.

"I would appreciate an apology from the person who said it before I continue."

The individual didn't identify themselves and Justice Andrew Tinney declined to take the investigation any further, urging Mr Edney not to take it personally.

"It shouldn't have been said in a way that was audible to you," he said.

Justice Tinney also found that Kur likely did make the comments recorded in the report and accepted the findings.

He'll hand down his sentence at a later date.