WHERE'S MY MONEY?

When Steven Baggott of north Lincolnshire firm Mason Baggott & Garton was reading through the contents of the draft general criminal legal aid contract, his eye was irresistibly drawn to the section on payment rates.

Eagerly he turned to page 215, hoping for news of a long-delayed pay rise, only to find that the page was, erm, completely blank.

'Is it now official policy that we are to be paid nothing?' he sighs to Obiter with a world-weariness that implies he would not be surprised if it were.