Better Shred Than Dead

Data protection is taken seriously in the Courts' Service (apart from little glitches such as having the JPs' yearbook printed in a prison) so at the end of the recent meeting of a committee that considers training and appraisal reports on magistrates we handed our sheaves of paper to the secretary to be shredded, as per usual. "Fraid not" she said. "The shredders have been taken away and confidential waste has to go into plastic sacks to await collection by a commercial shredding firm". "Why?" we asked. "Health and safety" she replied. Apparently shredders present a danger to any man wearing a tie, so out they have gone. A colleague who is cynical even by my standards expressed the view that any man stupid enough to dangle his tie in a shredder would be no great loss to HMCS, nor to the human race for that matter.