SkyNews is broadcasting live the hearings at the UK Supreme Court. As the site says, "The Court normally sits between 10am and 4pm" UK time, which means that most of Canada will have to get up very early to enjoy this show. At the moment (10am ET), however, I'm watching something called Scottish Widows plc (Respondent) v Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (Appellant) (Scotland) – UKSC 2010/0178. (Perhaps it's been recorded and is being re-played.) The court and the hapless barrister are fumbling for perhaps fifteen minutes as the lawyer tries to direct the court to the correct tab in his materials; a crazy amount of switching back and forth between pages and tables. (A Judge: "I seem to have lost my tab 59." Counsel: "They get jumbled up from time to time.") Not law's finest forensic hour, even though it is a tax case.
Note how unprepossessing the courtroom is and how the judges are wearing simply business suits. Apart from the bewigged barrister, the whole has the appearance of a bureaucratic committee hearing in Brussels:
Yes Simon, but remember that they weren't gowned as judges in the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords (the predecessor of the UKSC)- while counsel of course were.
There are actually several courtrooms in the Supreme Court's building, the old Middlesex Guildhall on Parliament Square. The largest one is a bit more ornate.