Obiter is concerned that the centuries-old position of Lord Chancellor is not being accorded the deference it merits.

First came Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf's description of the current occupant, Lord Falconer, as 'that engagingly friendly and cheerful chappie'.

Then in a House of Lords debate last week, Lord Lamont asked him whether the government would 'consider siting the new Supreme Court in the Millennium Dome' (a theme also explored in our letters page).

When told that it would not, Lord Lamont asked: 'Is he aware that I was just trying to save him from having two monuments to his folly? But he prefers to have two follies as a monument.' Hansard then records the reaction of the rest of the House of Lords in a style worthy of a Gilbert & Sullivan opera: 'Noble Lords: Oh!' Later in the debate, Lord Millett started a question with: 'My Lords, may I be naive enough to ask the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor a question in the desire to obtain information?' Ouch.