Rivalling bankers for greed
YOU can understand why some lawyers offer a “no win, no fee” service. It is because they can’t lose.
They probably want to take on cases where there is little chance of success and the charges they make when winning a case are more than sufficient to cover their costs in cases where the verdict goes against them.
In a recent action a law firm won a £13,000 uncontested claim for a plumber but they put in a bill for £74,000.
No wonder Master of the Rolls, Lord Newberger and two colleagues on the bench raised their eyebrows when the case came before them in the Appeal Court.
He said: “This is not a particularly exceptional case. It is therefore to be hoped that the changes which are in the process of being enacted will help ensure that costs become more proportionate.”
Let us all hope so too, for this example underlines what many people suspect . . . that the legal profession must rank alongside banking for sheer greed.
Contractor Aaron Large has given a twist to the saying about pouring money down the drain. For him they are places where treasure can be found.
First the 28-year-old father-of-two from Essex found a £20,000 Rolex watch in one he was cleaning. Then he discovered an identical watch in a drain 100 yards away.
Hours later two more watches turned up in the first place and they will be his property if no-one claims possession.
The mystery is why anyone should dump them there in the first place. Who would have thought that the humble drain could prove to be a veritable Aladdin’s Cave?
According to a computer programme Northampton would escape damage if the Russians drop the world’s largest nuclear bomb on London.
Does that mean that we have nothing to worry about? Hardly life would not amount to much if a large part of the South East was raised to the ground.
If such a bomb fell on this country, I don’t think the Russians would be responsible . . . they are not stupid.
The damage would surely come from say Iran whose fanatical leaders do not value human life and would have no regard for the consequences that would follow their actions.
Somehow their nuclear ambitions must be curtailed. Probably Israel will provide the answer.
OH to be a top civil servant! A Sunday paper revealed we, the public, foot the bill if they ladder their tights or snag their suits while at work, even if it is their own fault.
The bill runs into thousands of pounds and they can even claim for battered old shoes and items that are simply “lost”.
If private employers were obliged to do the same they would soon be out of business.
It is about time that these well-paid public servants were taken from their privileged world into the real one.
Email to a friend
Print this page- BREAKING NEWS: Tributes paid to Niamh Curry as brave five-year-old loses battle against cancer
- BREAKING NEWS: Pensioner dies after collision at Northampton shopping centre
- Man tied to tree and beaten on Northampton Racecourse
- BREAKING NEWS: Woman’s body found after ‘suicide’ in Northampton hotel room
- BREAKING NEWS: Seven-year-old boy dies following house fire in Northamptonshire
- Staff strike at Northampton school over academy plans forces closure
- Northampton binmen at ‘breaking point’
- Saints’ stadium plans get support as long as traffic issues solved
- Eastern European pupils helping school standards across Northampton
- Exclusive: PM David Cameron says Northamptonshire Police Commissioner role is “a big job for a big local figure”
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Northampton
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.