iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

The GLP, quite apart from constitutionally being a dictatorship of its great helmsman, is so often so authoritarian in its idea of what is good. An entirely unregulated NGO that enjoys witch-sniffing for complaints to make about other people and organisations that do have regulators

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Perish the thought that some children might have something they enjoy in London at Christmas without the GLP interfering

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The primary data processing purpose for which they collect names and emails is for solicitation of donations (see the privacy policy)

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I don’t think you are naive. It was extraordinarily foolish, risk-taking and sordid behaviour for a man in his position

Barbara Rich @barbararich.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

In the early 1990s there was for quite a long time some graffiti on a wall in Goodsway, near present Granary Square, which read “the DPP crawled here” referring to a career-ending incident of kerb-crawling involving Allan Green, then DPP, in October 1991

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I think that scepticism is justified. Most applications to revoke lasting powers of attorney are made to the Court of Protection by the Public Guardian after investigating concerns raised by someone. The Public Guardian has not sought the revocation of this LPA

Barbara Rich @barbararich.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Thanks! I hope they find it helpful

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One thing we simply don’t know in this case is who certificate provider for the LPAs was. Their role is an important safeguard against abuse of people creating these instruments. I’ve read nothing of any prospective challenge to their validity on grounds of lack of mental capacity or undue influence

The OPG and the COP can call for reports from an attorney but generally there is much less supervision and accountability than for a deputy, which is how the system was designed, and, for the vast majority of the enormous number of LPAs created and registered every year, works fine

She’s an attorney not a deputy, though, so no obligatory annual accounts. But according to the media, multiple complaints have been made to the various agencies since spring 2025, and none of them have found any reason to take urgent action towards seeking a revocation of the LPA

And it’s also true that both the Public Guardian and the Court of Protection have backlogs and delays in processing which put a stressful burden on everyone involved, but both can and do act rapidly in a genuinely urgent case. Most applications to revoke LPAs are made by the Public Guardian

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The Public Guardian could send a Visitor to report, for example

Yes. Unfortunately the story is catnip to the constituency which mistrusts all state agencies, all of which can and do fail, of course, but how likely is it that neither the Public Guardian nor social services would have taken more vigorous and urgent steps to bring a genuinely clear case to court?

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Thanks! No end in sight for the sensationalist claims, unfortunately

There’s so much that the public simply don’t know here, including the nature and extent of any cognitive impairment. The one objective peg is that in January 2026 he was being deprived of his liberty on the Cheshire West legal test, which implied that he then lacked capacity to make care decisions

People do sometimes move from one care setting to another for perfectly justifiable reasons, though, eg worsening symptoms of later-life illness or some other objective unsuitability of a placement. I think it’s necessary to recognise how little the public know of the full picture here

Thanks, glad you found it helpful

It is very sad, but I would be wary of accepting everything that has been put into the public domain by people estranged from or with long-standing hostility towards his wife

Thanks! I’m glad it was helpful

Barbara Rich @barbararich.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

There’s been a lot about it in the Telegraph and the Times and to some extent on the BBC, less elsewhere. It is all very sad for them all

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Barbara Rich @barbararich.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The Lost Explorer - Sir Ranulph Fiennes and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 I have written about lasting powers of attorney, deprivation of liberty, and the powers of the Court of Protection in connection with the “disappearance” of Sir Ranulph Fiennes bleakhouserevisited.substack.com/p/the-lost-e...

bleakhouserevisited.substack.com

The Lost Explorer

The ‘disappearance’ of Sir Ranulph Fiennes and the Mental Capacity Act 2005

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This was prompted by stories in the media about Sir Ranulph Fiennes. Neither I nor the BBC commented on any specific details. I think people should be wary of doing so, and not leap to judgement on partial facts about the conduct of his wife acting under a welfare lasting power of attorney for him

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They are rank, ridiculous, shameful antisemitic conspiracy theories, but from a purely semantic point of view they were all obviously conspiracy theories about the judicial appointments and not about Joshua Rozenberg’s commentary on the appointments

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The fact that the three heads of division in the High Court: Vos, Sharp and McFarlane, all decided to retire this year at around the same sort of age and well under 75 speaks for itself as to the unsuitability of 75 as a retirement age for full-time judges

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It’s a much more routinely demanding life than being a practising lawyer, including taking on leadership responsibilities and being exposed to the public in ways that are stressful and potentially harmful. And with a retirement date of 75 which is far older than many people wish to carry on f/t work

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Who doesn’t enjoy a good scratch of an itch before putting some salve on it

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I’m think many are ignoring it because they haven’t even bothered to read the biographical summaries which make this clear

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I’m posting this comment by @joshuarozenberg.bsky.social from his Substack. I agree with the points he makes here

I think raising the retirement age to 75 again was regressive and a deterrent to otherwise strong applicants who reasonably want a different lifestyle in their late 60s and early 70s, for the reasons and in the ways that George has described

It’s full-time or nothing except for the handful who had to retire at 70 before the retirement age was raised to 75. Some of them now sit part-time until their 75th birthday and that seems to work well for all concerned

The comments really couldn’t be clearer in indicating that they are about the process of making judicial appointments and not about Joshua Rozenberg as a commentator. I simply don’t see how they could possibly be read in any other way

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Today - 25/09/2026 - BBC Sounds

I was on BBC Radio 4 Today this morning at 7.41am talking about lasting powers of attorney and deprivation of liberty safeguards and authorisations for adults in a care setting www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

bbc.co.uk

News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

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How can you possibly construe the words “All white men and one white woman, probably all #Zionist supporters” as “just a go at Rozenberg”, not that that would be in any way more sane or justifiable than spouting the same conspiracist nonsense about the judicial appointments to the High Court

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Here’s the crackpot antisemitism, or some of it, by the way

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You’ve obviously given this far more careful and knowledgeable thought than many people. I hope they read your posts on the subject

To say the least. And especially at this time of year it’s pleasant to listen to the Razumovsky quartets and think of Beethoven walking in the Vienna woods, composing in his head

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I don’t know. It is a bit surprising. There are a lot of eligible women practising at what used to be called the Chancery Bar

Two things about this 1. Some of the lack of diversity discourse is unfair to these individuals. There’s no reason to think the JAC wouldn’t have selected a more diverse range of people if they had applied and met the criteria 2. There’s some crackpot antisemitism in some of the replies and quotes

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And that’s a block, you contemptible conspiracist

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I’d put in a mention of opus 131 as well

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