STRAW MEN

One of the first decisions Jack Straw will have to make in his role as lord chancellor and justice minister is whether a team of morris dancers from his department can call themselves the “Lord Chancellor’s Men”. According to a report in The Times, a Ministry of Justice private secretary has sent a two-page “submission” on the matter to allow a decision to be made at the very top. It states that the morris side dance is in the Cotswolds tradition and in the Bampton style, which involves “the use of handkerchiefs and sticks”. It reads: “There do not appear to be any legal/ statutory constraints on you in granting this request. The decision is therefore one for your personal judgment.”