The Daily Telegraph newspaper reports that training will include issues such as unemployment, housing and drink and drugs. A senior judge commented that the programme aims to make sure judges are ‘fully aware of what is happening on the streets of Britain’.
In several famous cases, judges have been left bewildered by popular phrases or individuals. In 1990, upon hearing that Paul Gascoigne was a well-known footballer, Mr Justice Harman replied ‘Rugby or Association?’ before later asking ‘Isn’t there an operetta called La Gazza Ladra?’
Mr Justice Popplewell also demonstrated an unfortunate lack of popular knowledge when he asked ‘What is Linford Christie’s lunchbox?’ To which the sprinter – who had brought a libel case against a journalist – had to reply: ‘They are making a reference to my genitals, your honour.’