Constance Briscoe

[limitedperiodonly]

I've left it a couple of hours for someone else to start a thread because I'm a bit of a shy one but I can resist no more.

I don't know what to say. I am flabbergasted by her poor judgement.

I'm going to be beside myself tomorrow waiting for her sentencing and Max Clifford's.

The weave question might sound silly but:

What makes a good weave? Why does CB's look so bad and the likes of Naomi Campbell's look so good?

She seems to have a different set of priorities to most people.
Truth comes way down her list.

Is she perhaps more interested in winning?
Or her ego totally took over.

Re the weave, I would suggest that it depends on money and how much hair you have underneath it ie the more hair you have, the harder it is to 'fit' the weave well and make it appear natural.

Equally, there 6 or 7 different ways or techniques that one can choose from and in my experience, the cheaper the weave the worse it looks.

www.onycbeauty.com/services.php?beautyidsub=1

This gives some info.

In terms of CB, her weave doesn't look as if it ever fitted particularly well, it's not been styled for a looooong time, is dry and just hasn't been maintained. It's made from synthetic hair, ass against human hair and so wouldnt last as long or lend itself to much/over styling using products or tongs etc.

Really?! This is a woman (albeit a woman who has done wrong and is being rightfully punished), who was abused as a child and repeatedly called ugly..... and here we are criticising her for her hair?

Criticise her for her crime, commend her for her achievements, comment on her downfall. But her hair?!

I agree with Milo. The weave wasn't good to start with (synthetic, wrong colour, just plonked on) and has been left on too long.

They're all pretty bad though, in the sense that if you keep doing it you lose your hair.

No one's forgetting the other stuff. And no one (apart from you) is equating it to or comparing it with her actual crimes. It is just a light-hearted aside from another thread.

It has always been odd though, that CB, affluent, high-achieving, was so disheveled (I saw her at the time of the libel trial, it was not an unfair description then, and she only got worse) and it did lead me to wonder what was going on with her.

I do get very exercised about weaves (what's so bad about our own hair that we are prepared to do stuff like that to hide it) but in a wider political sense. And I am not suggesting a bad hairstyle is a reason to condemn CB.

"""There has been an investigation into why so very many ethnic minority law firms breached solicitor professional conduct rules compared with whites and a report issued. It's a very hot topic at present."

Has that been reported at all? That's quite shocking. And surprising."

I don't think a anyone who's had much contact with small ethnic minority law firms (or accountants) would be surprised TBH, sadly.

Just my own personal experience (20 years of it) but I worked in a field where bribes were often offered, in a multiracial area, until about 3 years ago and I was never offered one by a white professional. There were undoubtedly straight "ethnic" firms too, not at all saying they were all crooked, but it was much more prevalent than among white British/West European professionals.

As Angela said, no one has forgotten the crime or her upbringing (although I'm not so sure I'd automatically link the two) and yes, it was light hearted re the weave.

pommes It was a flippant comment which went towards her judgement in other areas, like, er, being a judge which I think, you'd agree, is mightily poor.

I think I've covered that and I'm pretty sure that angela has in her summing up.

LOL Limited. I have photos to prove that over the years my judgement re hair has been diabolical. I think my professional judgement has been basically sound though

You should have learned by now though that's it's not possible, on MN, to talk about any woman seriously and mention their appearance at the same time without getting a severe ticking off. That fact that it's done in RL without comment everyday but not even a whisper of it is allowed here does make me laugh.

ClubN, same here. The only people who have ever offered me bribes have been from Asia. Mind you there is more than enough corruption in all cultures too - including those allegations of selling land in small subplots scam where the case just collapsed due to the low fees the state now pays for the barristers. www.judiciary.gov.uk/Resources/JCO/Documents/Judgments/r-v-crawley-others.pdf

CB should not have lied. Do buy her books though - they are really worth reading, very good indeed and what an awful childhood. I cannot imagine it is made up even if some evidence were not accurate. There was enough evidence that was.

I agree that her history and her crime shouldn't necessarily be associated. However, I think it's distasteful for 'lighthearted'' comments to be made about the hair/appearance of a woman who spent thousands of pounds altering her appearance, as a result of childhood abuse by a mother who bullied her for (in her mother's opinion) being "ugly".

< ignores overuse of the word 'appearance' and posts anyway >

Gosh, yes, I certainly agree with that.
How many people on mumsnet commented on the hair of Chris Huhne during his trial?

ClubName - you have (perhaps unintentionally) supported my point, if CB were a man we would not be discussing her hair........

Sorry OP, I will stop derailing your thread now

Well, we might, depending on how bad it was I'm not saying it's right just that in RL such comment doesn't provoke such outrage.

You are right. It doesn't provoke such outrage in real life but, perhaps, it should? However that's a discussion for an entirely different thread.

Actually, I hadn't commented on her hair, only on the comments about her hair! I can genuinely say I hadn't noticed her hair - I had to have another look at the pictures to work out what the fuss was about. And I still don't think it's that bad. Which probably says something about my own standards re appearance...

how could someone in her position lie? it really defies all understanding

With regards again to Thrillseeker's link, I thought Professor John's remarks about cultural capital were especially pertinent.

Nursing has a similar issues with disproportionate amount of BME nurses (particularly those from overseas) being sanctioned by their professional body.

However, I think this has a lot, lot, less to do with issues of competency, culturally influenced or otherwise, then issues of most certainly racism* and also not knowing how to "play the game" when dealing with professional bodies. Knowing who to talk to, what to say and how to say it are hugely important in determining what level of sanction you face. I am sure the same applies for solicitors too.

*Racism is most certainly alive and well in the NHS www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-20210842

That link about the disproportionate number of BME firms represented in cases of alleged dishonesty didn't necessarily show dishonesty.

It showed potential dishonesty, but also the difficulty of people who are not from a traditional legal background - white male, middle and upper-class - trying to establish themselves and how they might have to set up their businesses - particularly as sole traders.

Complaints don't mean dishonesty.

I would applaud anyone who isn't from that kind of background in setting out on that path. Constance Briscoe isn't that kind of person.

I say that as a white, originally working class woman.

<a class="break-all" href="//Iwww.google.co.uk/search?q=banana+clip+hair&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=eNBjU-jzMcqFyQG1qYGQAw&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1680&bih=949#facrc=&imgdii=&imgrc=O8oQAZtxjj0_hM%253A%3BaVOixPZHAKc8dM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.tiffanywigs4u.com%252Fimg%252FAsp_HHP_BananaClip.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.tiffanywigs4u.com%252Faspenhumanhairpieces.html%3B260%3B236" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">btw my hair used to look like this

it's not a million miles from this

I'll try it again if anyone's interested in how I looked in 1987

I have often discussed Chris Huhne's hair. And I'm told he is a man.

We certainly need to work on ensuring people from all classes and cultures know exactly what the rules are and make it a matter of pride that they never bend them in any way.

The thing is, Pommes, that given the collapse in her credibility, the claims made in those books can't necessarily be taken wholly at face value now. It is notable that not one of her siblings supports those claims (though that is as consistent with being the scapegoat outcast she says she was as with the accusations being wholly or portly untrue).