Mostyn to retire early
Mostyn to retire early
High Court judge talks about the effects of Parkinson’s
The High Court judge Sir Nicholas Mostyn, 65, is to retire in the summer, some three years after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
He discussed the effects of neurological condition in the first of a series of podcasts recorded with a group of former BBC broadcasters, all of whom have Parkinson’s themselves. It’s the first time a serving High Court judge has been given permission to take part in a podcast that’s not directly related to the law.
The first podcast in the Movers and Shakers series was released yesterday. One of those taking part is
— who writes about the background in his excellent Rory’s Always On Newsletter.
As a well-known QC, Mostyn acted in a string of high-profile divorces. He was appointed to the High Court of England and Wales in 2010, sitting the family division and now also in the administrative court.
Mostyn first noticed the symptoms of Parkinson’s in 2019. He can no long take notes during hearings so the courts and tribunals service has provided him with a full-time judicial assistant. In typically Tiggerish style, he still horse-rides, skis and plays golf with great enthusiasm.
I have edited a short extract from the first podcast and you can hear the extract by clicking the ► symbol below. Mostyn is the main speaker. Listeners will recognise the voices of others around the table (and there is a full cast-list at the end of this blog).
A judge writes
Mostyn told me:
With the wisdom of hindsight I now know that the extremely vivid, terrifying and sometimes acted-out nightmares I began experiencing about seven years ago were likely symptoms of Parkinsons. At the time I reasoned that they were the product of ageing and stress.
In August 2019, while on our annual family holiday, my son said to me: “Dad, you really need to get that tremor checked out.” I have found a letter from my GP to a neurologist written in October 2019 which says:
“He mentioned whilst he was with me that he had noticed over the last six months that he was developing an increasingly significant tremor. On examination this does appear to be most likely to be a benign essential tremor which is affecting both hands but it does affect his little finger markedly more than the rest of his hand. It does not affect his handwriting or fine movements although he becomes more aware of it when he is carrying out fine movements.”
The neurologist certainly hedged his bets:
“I have put it to Sir Nicholas Mostyn that he does appear to have a rest tremor. The concern of a rest tremor is it is the first sign of an extrapyramidal syndrome such as idiopathic Parkinson’s disease… The differential diagnosis is a dystonic tremor or an atypical benign essential tremor. These do become more common with age and therefore these remain a possibility. The important issue is that there is no benefit in earlier diagnosis of Parkinson’s… I think we need to be alert of the fact that it could be the early signs of Parkinson’s. Therefore I would like to make a further diagnostic assessment in six months’ time.”
The symptoms got worse. I underwent a DaTSCAN on 26 May 2020. The report was laconic:
“Appearances are most suggestive of idiopathic Parkinson’s disease or Parkinsonian syndrome”
So that was that. By then the tremor had become very pronounced in the right hand with overflow to the left. I was also experiencing great fatigue as well as the nightmares. My handwriting (an essential function as a judge) had gone to pot.
My researches told me that Professor Ray Chaudhuri is one of the top Parkinsons neurologists in the world. He took me on in June 2020. His drug regime has enabled me to carry on working fully with adjustments made by and through HM Courts and Tribunals Service to enable me to do so. I was provided with a full-time judicial assistant (I am now on my sixth) to take a full note of the proceedings. I only sit four days a week as judgment-writing now takes a lot longer. For that I use voice dictation software which is excellent but it has its limitations (a complete stand-off with proper nouns, for example) and there are always many errors which need to be corrected.
The human resources caseworker at HM Courts and Tribunals Service, Steve Blackmore, together with Mrs Justice Theis, until recently the senior family division liaison judge, could not have been more concerned, sympathetic and determined to facilitate me to do my job properly; and they, in combination with the professor, have succeeded. The system has really worked well in my case.
I have been enabled to remain a prolific judgment-writer. Someone asked me how many reported judgments I had written since April 2010 when I was appointed. The result was 310! The rate has not gone down since I was diagnosed. With an average judgment length of 12,000 words, we are talking about 3.6 million words or six Wars and Peaces (is that the right plural?), or half a War and Peace each year. It is this output that HM Courts and Tribunals Service have enabled me to continue producing.
I remain physically active, playing lots of games. I am wring this from France where I am on a skiing holiday with two of my grandchildren.
However, I have decided to retire in July, nine years earlier than the statutory senility age of 75. I am not doing so because I fear that I will not be able to do my job properly — if I started to think that was the case I would retire at once. I am doing so because I do not know the rate at which this condition will progress or to what bodily or mental state it will take me.
Even allowing for ever-increasing and varied medications — and for my uber-Tigger-Pollyanna personality — I have to be realistic enough to recognise that at some point, perhaps soon, I will find myself seriously impaired. I therefore want to maximise my chances of at least a few good retirement years and it is in order to try to bank them that I am going early.
I am sure that the Court of Appeal will think it a very wise and responsible move on my part!
There is no Parkinson’s dividend, save that as a result of my relationship with Dr James Parkinson I have met a wonderful group of fellow “sufferers” (I think this description of our status should be retained) and we have had great fun putting together the podcast. I have also much enjoyed raising funds for Parkinson’s charities (my children and I raised a sizeable sum cycling to Amsterdam last year).
Cast list
The others taking part in the podcast are:
Rory Cellan-Jones: The former BBC technology correspondent was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2019 after a viewer spotted his hand shaking during a live broadcast. He is on a mission to find out how science can treat the condition and has researched and written widely on medical trials and advances.
Gillian Lacey-Solymar: Gillian used to co-present the BBC Business show Working Lunch. She has also been a management consultant with McKinsey and lectured on entrepreneurship at UCL. She was diagnosed 11 years ago with Parkinson’s, aged 48, but says her symptoms — tremor, pain, spells of brain fog and loss of balance — are partly offset by enhanced creativity and a heightened awareness of the natural world.
Mark Mardell: Formerly the BBC’s North America editor and presenter of The World This Weekend, Mark was diagnosed after experiencing symptoms he could not then explain. He says: “weak of voice, slow of gait, I am determined to convince others that however much I seem to have become a doddery old git I am still me inside, still determined to live life to the full.”
Paul Mayhew-Archer: Best known as co-writer of The Vicar of Dibley and Esio Trot with Richard Curtis, Paul has also written My Hero and Office Gossip. Diagnosed in 2011, he has campaigned and fund-raised tirelessly for research into Parkinson’s, taking his highly-successful stand-up comedy show Incurable Optimists around the country.
Jeremy Paxman: Legendary inquisitor on BBC shows including Newsnight, BBC Breakfast, and University Challenge. Jeremy was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2021 and has made a revealing documentary on his experiences.
Talking and writing about the finite nature of life can be the very opposite of morbid. Add to that “doing, diarising and planning” AS THOUGH into infinity.
Whilst anxious in no way to offend those of a settled faith, I would like to add that- as an agnostic- every morning on awakening I light a candle. I speak figuratively: the one time I thought it a good idea to do so in a bedroom I had had to beat out the flames in a bed and breakfast. I say no more about that startling experience which ONLY LATER had had its humorous side. The couple whose home I had -ahem!- slightly re-arranged were remarkably understanding about it.