Spiders are fascinating animals. Refined hunters with a fine sensorium. Her eight (rarely six) eyes miss next to nothing. In addition, they have an organ that absorbs the vibrations of their environment. And they are master builders. Individual threads weave them into a net from which there is no escape, should their prey have been inattentive and caught up in it. With this tool, spiders help to balance ecosystems. They are virtually a natural control organ.
So, who likes, can interpret a lot in the spider brooch of Lady Brenda Hale. As President of the United Kingdom's Supreme Court, she and her eleven fellow judges - two women and nine men - had to decide whether or not the compulsory break imposed by Boris Johnson on the British Parliament was legal. Was not it, was the unanimous verdict. It's a historic decision and a disaster for Johnson.
Well, it may be that Brenda Hale was thinking something this morning as she pinned the big spider brooch to her dress. After all, the British PM is not known for being prudent. His modus operandi can be called rude. Shaking is his specialty. She and her colleagues have responded by providing a tear-resistant safety net for the democratic process. We certainly can not know it for sure.
But it is clear that Hale could have chosen from a small zoo, because the lawyer - graduated as best in class in Cambridge - has a colorful collection of animal pins. In her jewelry box are also two frogs, a butterfly, a millipede, a dragonfly, a beetle, something that looks like a moth, a fox. She could have opted for the gingerbread man, the spider web, or the silver flame.
Today, on this day so important to British democracy, it should be the spider. That's why the British press is somewhat over the moon. The "Evening Standard" describes the brooch as "utterly badass" and the "Huffington Post" celebrates Hale as "Queen of Justice". The "Guardian" feels reminded of the right Queen and the moment when she wore a brooch for Donald Trump's state visit given to him by his predecessor Barack Obama.
Lady Hale demonstrates the potential for vast novelistic sub-narratives offered by a correctly chosen brooch. What a tangled web we weave, indeed. #Prorogation pic.twitter.com/BVmmm9i3Zc
- Anne Louise Avery (@AnneLouiseAvery) September 24, 2019Also on Twitter, the 74-year-old lawyer is celebrated for her appearance. Resourceful wheelers have now set up t-shirts with printed spider brooch on eBay. Ten pounds the shirt.
Whether or not there has been a "secret" message, one thing is clear: the highest-ranking judge in the history of the British judiciary has a strong sense of taste.