Mr Justice Foskett’s judgment in Sharon Shoesmith’s judicial review application against Haringey, Ofsted and Ed Balls is due to be published at 12.00 today. It will be accompanied by some judicial observations. My own interest, of course, lies not so much in the outcome of the case itself as in the disclosure aspects.

Amongst my predictions for the year was that 2010 will see disclosure failures getting personal, with lawyers and their clients being named and shamed. It is not, I have to say, my weapon of choice in this battle – there are so many positive business reasons for getting the mechanics of disclosure right that it seems a pity to have to emphasise the costs and reputational risks of getting it wrong. The rules run to about five easily-understood pages; the technology is there to be used where it would help; the clients want their litigation run cost-effectively. All we see is people screwing it up in ways which results in someone – often the taxpayer – picking up huge bills for remedying easily-avoided defects. There are marketing opportunities here which make a much more positive message than mere fear of failure.

Wearing my marketing hat, the Conservative Party campaign leaves one open-mouthed with amazement, whatever one’s political affiliations.  We will be mining it for decades as an example of a product beginning with a strong market position and throwing it away day by day. It is not the off-the-cuff stuff which is letting them down – anyone can trip in the unremitting light of media exposure – but the lack of the clear, coherent messages which the times and the “market” require. Sure, any unequivocal message will alienate someone – one man’s reduction in the burden of the state is another man’s job loss – but there are votes to be won simply for offering clear unequivocal policies without compromising the message by trying to please everyone.

There was a nice comment last night on the way Gordon Brown retreats behind a spout of numbers when under pressure . Someone referred to them as “tractor stats”, invoking in two words the the whole Stalinist era of  Five Year Plans and state-led methods of production. Those of you with products to sell may care to look at your printed material and consider how much of it consists of tractor stats as opposed to clear identification of things which actually mean something to the lawyer with a job to do.

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