Jonathan Pidduck of Folkestone-based firm Gambrills has sent in a poem he submitted to the Daily Mail.

'I am proud to say they have rejected it,' he says.

No surprise, considering...

Over the years, I've noticed thatThe Daily Mail's not keenOn lawyers who do legal aidAnd all that sort of thing.

The headlines scream of 'fat cats'Who are printing their own lootWith cartoons there to representPlump cats in pin-stripe suits.

Yet most work done on legal aidIs charged at cost; it's true!It's cheaper than a plumber's rates,(Though drier, I'll grant you).

But no one wins, I hear you say,Except the lawyer whoDeals with the case; those plump felinesIn suits of stripy blue.

The NHS optician willCharge to the public purse.As will the council gravediggerWho follows by the hearse.

They do a job for moneyGive a service to the needy.Just because it comes from public funds,That hardly makes them greedy!

But I speak of these solicitorsTo bury, not to praise(To continue the analogyWith those who dig out graves).

So maybe on reflection,Your remarks are justified.And those nasty grasping lawyersShould cast avarice aside.

They should model themselves on others;From the tabloid world perhaps.Rupert Murdoch, Robert Maxwell,And such altruistic chaps.