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@Simon Cockshutt 21 March 2018 20:33

The problem with the court of appeal judgement is that it could be interpreted as you say, i.e. the court of appeal felt that was an appearance of bias but didn't want to make this finding (although they severely criticised the judge) to avoid the cost of another hearing (although considerations of the cost of a rehearing are not relevant, and the court of appeal themselves rightly criticised the judge for suggesting otherwise). Another possible interpretation that some people will make, rightly or wrongly, is that the court of appeal felt that there was the appearance of bias but didn't want to make a finding of such to avoid acknowledging the possibility of the appearance of bias. Neither of these cases are in my view satisfactory or commensurate with justice being seen to be done, as any conclusion other than that there was the appearance of bias is hard to accept. The problem with the judgement as it stands is that the decision made is not, in my mind, a logical conclusion of the narrative.