It is no surprise that the Bar Council was so keen to hold onto the QC rank when you read what seems to be an entirely straight, non-ironic homage to criminal law silks as the cover story in the latest issue of Counsel, the magazine for barristers. Oddly entitled 'A sibilant of silks' (sibilant means hissing, and is perhaps not the perfect collective noun in this context), it explains that 'silks in crime are a joy to behold, riding to the sound of the guns. Resplendent in their upmarket gowns and imperious stares, they bestride the courts like colossi'. Author Chas Maclean Cochand - who appears not to be a QC but clearly would like to be - continues in much the same vein throughout his piece, describing a long complex criminal trial as 'like the deployment of the British fleet before the battle of Jutland... For battleships read Queen's Counsel or silks, the top echelon of the bar, formidable in cross-examination and able to punch huge holes in the smoke and enemy positions'. One starts to wonder whether he is actually having fun at his colleagues' expense when he goes on to speak of 'majesty in motion as the QCs juggle courts on different circuits, sittings, training, trials and Tuscan villas with complete aplomb', and concentrates on how they wield their mobile phones 'like gunslingers'. But it is hard to tell, especially after he roars to his conclusion: 'There are no dinosaurs amongst Her Majesty's counsel. They face the new century with light of battle in their eyes, sure in the knowledge that no one can resist or do without the "big guns". I certainly find comfort with one in front on me.' And to think people consider that some barristers struggle to connect with clients on their level.