VERY SPECIAL
Out with the scissors. The Lord Chancellor, reacting to the latest Bank of England base rate rise of .25%, has hiked the Court Funds Office special account rate by a stonking 1.5%. As from 23 August 2023, the rate is now 6.00%. Those special losses are looking particularly attractive as they generally earn interest of one-half of the special account rate—except for trainees, as they smash their calculators against the wall in trying to work out how much to claim for the crash helmet which was battered three years ago. The base rate could be in for another overhaul on 21 September 2023.

THE MODERN NON-MOL
The Family Division president has replaced the non-molestation practice guidance issued on 18 January 2017 with fresh guidance, a nod to controlling or coercive behaviour, and what he describes as an example of a simplified ex parte order. This stops at the ex parte hearing and runs to fractionally over two pages as against