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Anon 00.10. For heaven's sake get some sleep!

More seriously I'm concerned at a continuous drip of criticism of DJJ for rudeness and bullying. This is easy under a cloak of anonymity - but I watched Ray Tynas, with whom I got on, at his worst. So I'm not so naive as to think it doesn't happen.

The problem from the DJ side is, I suspect, serious listing pressure, failure of parties to id issues, maybe DJ inexperience of the topic in hand (I still cringe at my first AR trial - I wasn't rude), personal worries (they are human) etc etc. Also no-one talks to them if it's possible.

Judging is a lonely business. The bar still makes contact with barrister judges, and can and does tell them if they're going bonkers. Solicitor judges, esp if they've moved to a new area have no such safety net. I asked two practitioners, whom I'd come to trust, to look after my sanity after I was appointed. Once one had, justifiably, to come and tell me to buck up. Not proud of that , but it worked.

So ask your judges to give talks, get to know them. There can't be many monsters these days.