Flash Point [antikvár]

Prefatory Note In a book which I wrote some years ago about the law I said, 'There is no point in concealing the fact that London solicitors work in certain well-known and well-defined areas; nor would much purpose be served by giving these fictitious names.' This did not appear to upset anyone, and I hope that the same tolerance will be extended not only to the lawyers of all branches, solicitors, barristers, magistrates and judges, who feature in this book, but also to politicians and the press. The mention of the holder of an office has no reference whatever to any particular holder of that office, past or present. All the characters in this novel are entirely imaginary. It should also be noted that both the major political parties have their headquarters in Smith Square, Westminster. The law, with its customary contempt for scientific fact, has decided that 24 June is midsummer day. It was half past six and I was on my way home from work. The long-range weather forecasters had told us it was going to be the hottest summer of the century, and it was getting off to a good start. When the train crawled out of Liverpool Street the carriage was full and the heat was overpowering. As the journey went on people got out and I was able to move into a comer by the open window and catch some of the breeze which came off the Essex saltings. It had been quite a day. When I joined the Law Society, as an assistant soUcitor, four years after qualifying, all my friends said I was mad. Maybe I was. I realized there would be snags. Most of the people I dealt with would be older than myself, and would be suspicious of a young man who had abandoned the hard slog of practice for a seat in the bureaucracy of the law. What I had not appreciated was how awkward solicitors could be as a bunch. It's the same with doctors. Take them singly and they're nice enough. Lump them together, in some sort of professional organization, and you'll find out how quickly they discard their bedside manner and behave like a herd of bullocks. Ask anyone who works for the BM A. I was one of eight solicitors in the Professional Purpose Section, which is the largest section in the Society. It's important, too, being the one which has the most immediate contact with the members. Laurence Fairbrass, the departmental head, taught me a lot about human nature. We'd had a fair amount of human nature to cope with that midsummer day.