“Desiderata” is a really nice poem attributed to Max Ehrmann and starts off saying: “Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence…”

Well, okay. That may work for some people, but it doesn’t work for me. That’s because there’s simply too much one can no longer afford to be placid about. Sometimes you have to take a stand. Sometimes you need to speak out – even if what you have to say may not be popular in all circles.

Here, I publish my own thoughts and opinions, many of them focusing on legal issues. I am not a lawyer, but law is my passion, even though it took me the best part of my life to come to understand that.

Having started my working life as a policeman, moving into sales and then into IT, in 2008 I came to the stark realisation that as successful I had been, what I was doing was making a [good] living, and that’s it. It took a life-altering event to come to that realisation, but as unpleasant as it was at the time, and as much as it has cost me in the process, I am so glad that my life now has a purpose other than enriching myself.

I don’t have the money, or time to study law through a formal institution. Consequentially, have self-studied many aspects of the law. Some people think I have done a good job – some don’t. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles. I’m not in this for self-gratification.

More importantly though, I don’t think I have what it takes to be a lawyer. That’s because in my experience and with all but a very few legal professionals I have met, being a good lawyer means that you also have to be a good liar, devoid of  any conscience and moral compass.

If that sounds cynical, well it’s my view that there’s nothing wrong with having a healthy level of cynicism.

I hope you enjoy reading my opinions. If they make you uncomfortable or annoy you, that’s okay with me too. After all, I will not “go placidly”.