An unearthly hush fell over the 300-plus diners in the packed room. The chime and clink of glasses was stilled. Nobody laughed or heckled. It was what literary types like Obiter call a pregnant pause. The occasion was the black tie dinner at the annual weekend school for local government lawyers, at York University; and it was the raffle prize of a round of golf that had put the assembled lawyers – previously enjoying a rowdy and raucous evening – into catatonia. No one wanted it. The first winner sent the prize back into the draw. The second and third winners shook their heads and did the same. The fourth, to the relief of everyone, accepted it with good grace. But it left Obiter wondering. Are local authority solicitors so busy fighting salary cuts and increased workloads that they can no longer take to the fairways with their mashie niblicks and suitably lurid trouserings? What of the camaraderie of the 19th hole? Are they putting work before putting? Or do local government lawyers (unlike their personal injury colleagues) simply not play golf?