Blanc, On 12 02 95 you pointed to: ...an underlying problem, which is of not having a sense of freedom to stand up to the Dark Side. You have put your finger on perhaps THE problem: Why did we cast aside our sense of freedom? How may we re-ignite the spirit of freedom? I believe excerpts from a newsstory in today's Electronic Telegraph provide a hint regarding the first question: JOHN Major and Lord Taylor, the Lord Chief Justice, are to have informal talks at No 10 Downing Street in an attempt to avert a deepening rift between Government and judiciary. The meeting has been arranged following concern over the number of adverse court judgments against ministerial de- cisions and mounting opposition by judges to plans by Mi- chael Howard, the Home Secretary, to impose tougher man- datory sentences on habitual criminals. It was being emphasised in Whitehall last night that the in- formal meeting was intended to explore ways of improving relations. It was in no sense an attempt to put pressure on the judges. It emerged last night that Mr Major and Lord Taylor are like- ly to discuss ways of increasing the pay of the judiciary. Senior judges are said to be aggrieved that their salaries have fallen behind. In no sense is one part of the the State putting pressure on another part of the State... Through every sense, the populace is trained to appreciate the justice of not having a sense of freedom to stand up Except at the pay window. Cordially, Jim NOTE The URL of The Electronic Telegraph's website is: http://www.telegraph.co.uk The newsstory's headlined: "Pay and peace talks for judges." Its online filename is: 1judge05.html. It's dated 12 05 95. The story was written by: GEORGE JONES and TERENCE SHAW.