Last week’s meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Legal Aid, at which justice minister Jonathan Djanogly was available to answer questions, was packed out by lawyers (even though a few legal bigwigs, including Bar Council chair Nick Green QC, had to miss out because they were stuck behind a police cordon erected to contain protesting students). Happily, fearless Obiter was able to make it past the picket line, and noticed that the meeting’s mood was no less angry than that of the demonstrating students outside – though, under the stern chairmanship of Tory peer and former solicitor Lord Hunt, there was less violence. The noble baron did not tolerate anyone interrupting the minister, so would definitely not have permitted the burning of bus shelters or vandalising of police vans. Despite Green’s absence, the bar’s concerns did not go unconveyed to Djanogly. Sir Ivan Lawrence QC forcefully highlighted the plight of those criminal barristers who earn less than nurses, teachers and the police. Ironic, Obiter mused, that the latter were outside at that very moment engaged in a little light kettling.