A BACKGROUND OF PRIVILEGE , M'LUD .sx Just one in 26 judges are women , and four-fifths were educated at Oxford or Cambridge .sx Labour Research analyses the background of Britain's judiciary .sx When Judge Clarence Thomas was elected to the Supreme Court of the USA , all of America , and indeed the world , knew that it was happening .sx Yet , in the same week that Thomas was declared elected , Lord Justice Browne-Wilkinson became the newest member of the House of Lords , the UK's equivalent of the Supreme Court .sx As one of the 10 most senior UK judges , Browne-Wilkinson will exercise an enormous power over the lives of UK citizens .sx He will be the final arbiter of the law .sx His views will determine the guilt or innocence of all who appear before him .sx Yet the UK public knows nothing about Browne-Wilkinson , or indeed any of our judges .sx They are appointed by the Lord Chancellor , Lord Mackay , after internal and secret investigations within the legal profession itself .sx Inevitably those who are selected reflect the views and prejudices of the judicial hierarchy .sx They share their background and education .sx They drink in the same clubs and enjoy the same sports .sx The UK judiciary is one of the most powerful of all the old boy networks .sx Labour Research has examined the background of the 10 judges who make up the House of Lords , the 28 judges and three senior officiators in Court of Appeal , the 82 High Court judges and the 404 Circuit Court judges - a total of 527 .sx The findings are compared with a similar survey carried out five years ago ( see Labour Research , January 1987) .sx The survey's main findings are :sx black-square there are fewer senior female judges than there were five years ago ; .sx black-square there is no change in terms of the privileged backgrounds enjoyed by today's judges ; .sx black-square judges are not getting any younger :sx 165 are over 65 , including nine of the 10 House of Lords judges and 15 of the 31 from the Court of Appeal ; .sx black-square a sizeable proportion have been involved in politics , one in 16 having held or stood for political office .sx There are 10 judges in the House of Lords , the highest appeal court in the UK .sx Six of the 10 come from families which were titled or otherwise exceptionally privileged .sx All went to public schools and nine of the 10 went on to Oxford or Cambridge .sx One did not make it to either of these two privileged institutions , but not for lack of an appropriate family background .sx Lord Bridge , whose father was a commander in the Royal Navy , was sent to Marlborough public school before war interrupted his education .sx The youngest law lord is a mere 61 years old - Lord Browne-Wilkinson who was elevated to the House of Lords just last month .sx The oldest , at 74 , is Lord Bridge , who has been in the House of Lords since 1980 .sx Their overall average age of 69 is four years over men's state retirement age .sx In fact Browne-Wilkinson is the only one under 65 .sx Under the House of Lords is the Court of Appeal .sx It has currently 31 judges including the Lord Chief Justice , Lord Lane , the Master of the Rolls , Lord Donaldson , the President , Sir Stephen Brown , and the newly appointed Vice Chancellor Sir Donald Nicholls .sx The oldest was born in 1918 and the youngest in 1934 .sx Their average age is 66 .sx Less than half ( 15 ) are aged under state retirement age .sx Of the 31 , 25 went to Oxbridge colleges , with Cambridge leading slightly at 14 against 11 for Oxford .sx Two have stood as Conservative Party candidates ( see table ) , including the only woman on the Court of Appeal , Dame Butler Sloss .sx Their fathers include four army captains , two doctors , one Lord Chief Justice , Lieutenant Colonel , a QC ( senior barrister ) and a CBE .sx Even at High Court level there is a remarkable number of judges aged over 65 .sx In all a quarter of them fall into this category .sx The oldest is Mr Justice Hodgson , born in 1917 , who was appointed a High Court judge in 1977 .sx ( It may be the case that the title of oldest judge should actually go to Mr Justice Leslie Boreham , appointed to the High Court nearly 20 years ago .sx However , a certain coyness seems to prevent him from revealing his age in his biographical details .sx ) .sx Five High Court judges went to Eton , as did four from the Court of Appeal and one from the House of Lords .sx The next most popular schools are Shrewsbury and Charterhouse ( five judges each ) and Winchester , Marlborough , Haileybury and Ampleforth ( four each) .sx Claiming three old boys were Radley , Harrow and Oundle .sx In all , 70 of the 123 judges from the High Court and above went to public school .sx When it comes to choice of university their backgrounds are even more similar .sx A remarkable 82% went to either Oxford or Cambridge .sx Even within these universities they continue to congregate together .sx Nineteen judges , including seven of the 31 Court of Appeal judges , went to Trinity Hall , Cambridge and eight went to Brasenose , Oxford ( including three from the Court of Appeal) .sx In case it might be thought that change is on its way with a new generation of judges coming up , Labour Research checked out the 404 circuit judges beginning their judicial career .sx The results were disappointing .sx There is no information on 22 of the 404 judges , but of the remaining 382 over a quarter ( 112 ) are past state retirement age , including nine selected in the last five years .sx Despite the fact that the rules suggest they should retire at 72 , 19 are that age or more .sx Two - thirds ( 240 ) went to Oxford or Cambridge .sx Unlike the system of selection in the USA , there is little to be discovered about the personal lives of the UK judges , other than what they themselves choose to reveal .sx What they show is a tendency to gather together in the same clubs and to spend their free time engaged in a narrow range of leisure pursuits .sx Generally these are sporting rather than cultural activities .sx Only one in six enjoy music , one in 15 like the theatre , and a mere eight of the top 123 enjoy reading .sx Top sporting pursuits are golf ( 22 ) , sailing ( 13 ) , fishing ( 13 ) , and cricket ( 10) .sx Shooting , once popular , seems to be on the wane for the tops judges .sx Only eight now claim it as one of their sports , with at least a couple , Mr Justice Nolan in the Court of Appeal and Mr Justice Harman in the High Court , no longer listing it as a pastime .sx Mr Justice Harman spends his time fishing and watching birds .sx This is the same judge who confessed that he didn't know who Bruce Springsteen or 'Gazza' were .sx He also in court recently refused to recognise the term 'Ms' , saying women fall into only three types - " wives , mistresses and whores " .sx After a hard day's golfing or sailing it's time for the judges to relax in their clubs .sx Still firm favourite is the traditional legal bolthole , the Garrick , boasting nearly a quarter of the senior judges among its members .sx Next in popularity is the exclusive cricketing haunt , the MCC .sx The club whose members until this year refused to admit women , hosts 15 of the top judges , including two from the House of Lords .sx But discrimination in their clubs' entry rules is perhaps of little concern to judges , since all the evidence shows that discrimination , on the grounds of both gender and race , is rampant within the legal profession .sx The Labour Research survey shows there are only 20 women judges out of the 527 surveyed , a miserable 4% and an increase of only three over the last five years .sx There is only one woman judge in the Court of Appeal and one in the High Court .sx The Labour Research survey of five years ago revealed three female High Court judges .sx As for black judges , the situation is even worse .sx In 1986 Mr Justice Mota Singh , a circuit judge , was the only black judge in the country .sx Five years on , still a circuit judge , he remains the only one .sx A Law Society internal committee in early 1991 produced two reports on discrimination in judicial appointments , highlighting two main problems .sx The first was that there was too much reliance by the Lord Chancellor's office on taking the word of other judges and no clear job specification existed to say what was required of a judge .sx The other problem was that there was a bias in appointment towards barristers rather than solicitors , where there would be greater opportunity to select from a more varied background .sx The committee proposed the setting up of appointment panels staffed by lawyers , judges and lay people and the use of established selection methods .sx Researcher Sally Hughes , who produced one of the reports , The circuit judge - a woman's place , actually found that the chance of women sitting on the bench had declined since the 1970s .sx The publication of the Law Society reports and an article by barrister Geoffrey Bindman , which said that the current method of word of mouth appointment was discriminatory , led the Lord Chancellor to take the almost unheard of step .sx He commissioned a barrister to prepare a legal opinion on the issue .sx Perhaps not surprisingly , the opinion backed up the Lord Chancellor's view that there was no discrimination .sx One of the most surprising results of the Labour Research survey is to find how political the judges are .sx Contrary to the popular view that our judges are somehow above politics , a number have pursued political ambitions at some time in their career .sx The survey reveals 32 judges with political backgrounds .sx Although it is not always possible to determine their political affiliation , they include two Conservative MPs and one Labour MP .sx Of those who indicate their politics there are seven Conservatives compared to three Labour ( see table) .sx The overwhelming majority of judges come from the ranks of barristers who have been appointed as QC ( Queen's Counsel) .sx These appointments are made every Easter .sx The Sunday Telegraph recently described how one unnamed barrister had eventually been appointed :sx " he had , he confided , cut down on all that nasty crime , kept well away from unsavoury people like IRA bombers , cultivated a couple of High Court judges to champion his cause and increased his earnings .sx " .sx And indeed the traditional background of the judges , in addition to that of schooling and family , is that they are likely to have been a prosecutor or alternatively working in a non-criminal practice .sx EURO-SUMMIT :sx THE ISSUES AT STAKE .sx This month's well-trailed European summit is of critical importance to the Labour movement .sx Labour Research explains why .sx The decisions taken at this month's summit of European Community leaders at Maastricht in the Netherlands will have enormous effects in the years ahead .sx Labour Research explains what is being discussed and answers some key questions .sx What is being discussed at Maastricht and why is it important ?sx .sx The Maastricht summit is the culmination of a year of negotiations on two separate documents - a Treaty on economic and monetary union and a Treaty on political union .sx The two documents together propose changes in the relationship between the European Community and the individual member states on a range of issues - from government spending to environmental policies .sx What is broadly being proposed is that more decisions should be taken by the Community as a whole and the summit is being asked to agree this .sx This makes Maastricht important because once this shift in decision-making has happened it will be very difficult if not impossible to reverse .sx Two treaties are being discussed at Maastricht .sx What does each one say ?sx .sx The draft treaty on economic and monetary union ( EMU ) deals primarily with the measures needed to introduce and maintain a single currency - the ECU - for the whole Community .sx This will start in 1997 provided at least seven countries agree and are close enough to one another economically in terms of inflation , interest and exchange rates and in the relationship between government income and expenditure .sx States which are not economically strong enough to join EMU in 1997 , probably at least Greece and Portugal , will have 'derogation' until their economies are close enough to the rest .sx