One law for rich and another for poor

Sir John Thomas, the Lord Chief Justice, says 'one law for rich and another for poor' as he tells court penalty imposed on Philip Edward Day should not still be outstanding.

The country's most senior judge has criticised the fact a tycoon's £450,000 fine for damage caused to ancient Cumbrian woodland has not yet been paid. Sir John Thomas, the Lord Chief Justice, said the penalty imposed on multi-millionaire Philip Edward Day should not still be outstanding.

"It seems to me there is one law for the rich and another for the poor," he told London's Appeal Court. The judge made his comments after he discovered that the money had not been paid within a 112-day time limit.

Mr Day, 48, who is originally from Stockport, owns the Edinburgh Woollen Mill chain and is estimated to be worth around £300 million.

He was fined £450,000 and ordered to pay the £457,000 costs of his prosecution at Carlisle Crown Court in August last year. And all of this? To improve access for pheasant shooting!

Read more here about the arrogance of Day and his attorneys: 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11276110/Judge-criticises-multi-millionaire-tycoon-over-unpaid-fine-for-illegally-felling-trees.html 

A Turn Up for the Books

And so it was. I visited the Brighton Garden Centre this morning to stock up on wild-bird food to find that they were selling most items at half price. Needless to say the selection was limited but I managed to acquire Fruit & Berry Suet Pellets for £2.99 (usually £5.99), Natures Feast Wild Bird No Grow for £2.49 (usually £4.99), 4 x Finest Suet Balls for £0.99 (usually £1.99) and a pre-filled Feeder with Sunflower Seeds for £1.99 (usually £3.99). This certainly was a turn up for the books as I tend to purchase a considerable amount of wild-bird food during the course of a year.

The Garden Centre appears to be turning over more space to franchises; the company Viners now has a significant presence with a range of their cookware and cutlery and a shoe company (forget the name) has taken up space as well. Not sure how successful this will be as the Edinburgh Wool Mill outlet was here for a while but closed down earlier this year (much to my wife's disappointment!) Is a garden centre an obvious place to look for shoes?

Mind you, I had better not tell my wife.....

Pottering around Sussex

To potter: to move about without hurrying, in a relaxed and pleasant way. Lovely verb. As we are not now travelling tomorrow to Copenhagen Ros and I will be pottering around Sussex. Tomorrow we will travel by train from Brighton to Rye in East Sussex. Rye, one of our favourite places to potter, the medieval gem of the Cinque Ports and one of the best preserved medieval towns in England.

I shall be having a potter around one of my favourite independent bookstores - the Martello Bookshop in the High Street and my favourite stockists of Barbour country wear: The Golden Fleece in Lion Street. Ros will be melting the plastic at the Edinburgh Wool Mill shop and we will enjoy a good ol' fish and chip lunch at Marino's Fish Bar, the best of its kind in Sussex, in my opinion. And I shall probably manage a pint or two of real English ale at The Queen's Head public house.

Sounds like a good potter to me....