Modesty prevents Obiter from revealing the number of Valentine’s cards he received this week, save to say that the postman was breathing a little more heavily than usual when he left Obiter Towers on Monday morning.

However, Obiter has no such reservations about disclosing the number received by others, and indeed can reveal the identity of the most-loved government minister. That accolade goes to doyen of British politics, justice secretary Ken Clarke, who got thousands of cards this week - though, to be fair, the ones to which Obiter is referring were from lovers of legal aid, rather than lovers of Ken.

Justice for All campaigners delivered sackfuls of Valentine’s Day cards to the Ministry of Justice at noon on Monday, to mark the end of its consultation on legal aid reforms, which they claim will deny half a million people access to justice. But whether the justice secretary’s love of legal aid quite matches the levels of passion felt by the Justice for All supporters is doubtful. This could be one love affair that does not have a happy ending.

Still on a Valentine theme, Obiter was taken aback to receive an email on 14 February from south-east firm Thomas Eggar, boasting: ‘Top law firm marks Valentine’s Day with divorce law new hire.’

Remind one again why the public regards solicitors as money grabbing rather than caring professionals?