What is the 'it'?

The blog of the book

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  • Walking backwards into the future

    A couple of days ago Number Two Son messaged me (as they say). He is an engineer; I’ve never known him to be especially alive to the nuances and quirks of the English language. He had a question: should he be using “backwards/forwards” or “backward/forward”? He caught me while I was out on a walk,… Continue reading

  • I got them old CLR side title blues again

    Quality control at the Commonwealth Law Reports has always been admirably high. But occasionally they do get something wrong. If your judge were to refer in a judgment to the case of R v Quinn; Ex parte Consolidated Foods Corporation (1977) 138 CLR 1, and if, in proofing that judgment, you were diligently to follow… Continue reading

  • In defence of the semicolon

    Recent media reports – no, I’m not going to link to any; it only encourages them – would have you believe that the semicolon is about to go the way of the dodo. But, to borrow the supposed words of Mark Twain, reports of its demise might be greatly exaggerated. Admittedly, examples of bad semicolon… Continue reading

  • Pseudonymously yours

    Riddle me this, Batman: when is an anonymisation not an anonymisation? Answer: when it is somebody’s name, and it only looks like an anonymisation. Exhibit one: “SKA” or “Ska”? The latter is a dance craze from Jamaica that was popular in London circa 1980. You may have heard of Madness. (See above.) Or The Specials.… Continue reading

  • Katie (or is it Katy?)

    When I saw that the High Court yesterday granted special leave to appeal in a matter titled “Taylor v Killer Queen LLC”, my heart skipped a beat: are the Justices taking on a case in which Roger Taylor, the drummer of Queen, is suing some hinky antipodean Queen tribute band? The answer, unsurprisingly, is “no”,… Continue reading

  • I seem to have a problem with definitions

    At the end of January we had a couple of days in Sydney. The purpose of the trip was so that I could speak to the new intake of judges’ associates at the Federal Court about proofing judgments. But we packed in a decent amount of fun before that. A train journey! Art! Food! Ferries!… Continue reading

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  • The hyphen ninja

    Mugga Way, this morning. I have questions. Is it a school for learning how to be a secret ninja? “High Court judge by day, ninja by night.” (Be afraid.) Or is it the school that is secret: a secret school for ninja? (If it is the latter, they really ought to rethink their strategy: putting… Continue reading

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  • Without a paddle: the third part

    There comes a point in any self-respecting spy novel, usually about two thirds of the way in, where the story kicks into overdrive. John Le Carre’s books are perhaps an extreme example of this. The painstaking, methodical teasing out of backstory, intrigue, and the setting up of whatever is to be the main action falls… Continue reading

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  • “Without a paddle” revisited

    In case you were wondering (see previous entry), after a brief and (perhaps) dignified pause I managed to force myself back to “Karla’s Choice”. Possibly as a result of having put it aside for a bit too long, possibly because outside of work I am not the world’s most attentive reader (lol), but also possibly… Continue reading

  • Without a paddle

    Here we are in January, one of the rare times of the year when my head should be well clear of judgments, grammatical forms and spelling mistakes – a time that I can set aside for, amongst other things, reading for pleasure. And yet. Last night I was sitting on the couch, making good progress… Continue reading