Alice takes a bite from the APIL

Followers of Obiter will know that the major debate swirling round the personal injury field is over the pronunciation of the anagram APIL (otherwise known as the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers).

At the association's awards in London last week, the celebrity hostess - television presenter of Watchdog fame, Alice Beer - gave a big boost to the traditionalist faction which opts for the pronunciation that falls in line with a piece of fruit to be found in the Garden of Eden, rather than the generally preferrred 'a pill' pronounciation.

Also of note at the awards ceremony were the remarks of one of the winners, Sheffield-based solicitor David Body.

Accepting the glass decanter in honour of his work with victims of Creutzfeld Jacob Disease, Mr Body jokingly recalled that 'most of the awards I've had in the past have involved wasted costs'.