Two items in your 5 July issue have prompted me to do what I have never done in the 41 years since I was admitted – write to the Gazette. On page 12 you printed a letter applauding the Supreme Court for applying article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights to prevent the extradition of a Polish citizen accused of dishonesty offences, on the basis that she has young children.

On page 19 you printed a report of the case itself, in which the Supreme Court heard from (in that and a related case) no fewer than 16 counsel, seven of them Queen’s Counsel, and all publicly funded. While not descending to a Daily Mail-style rant, one can be forgiven for enquiring whether the expense to public funds of this (and on a lesser scale no doubt, the previous hearings in the divisional and magistrates’ court) is remotely proportionate to the issue, and sensible given the imminent withdrawal of public funding from so many deserving litigants.

Professor Alfred Noakes, Glossop