Late starters - Your alarm call, m’lord

Anyone involved in our court system listening to early-morning radio reports on Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik’s trial might be forgiven it they pulled up mid-stride, aghast at what they heard from Oslo.

In what must have seemed a message from another, unfathomable universe, it appeared as if the Breivik court sitting was to begin at 8am but then the cheering, heart-settling realisation that Norway is an hour ahead of us pushed that seditious idea out to 9 o’clock.

That’s not too bad, just an hour-and-a-half before our m’lords face their disgruntled public. Two-and-a-half hours would be too bizarre even for us.