Even among junior circuit judges the average age has actually gone up slightly from 59 to 60. Labour Research said that one of Labour's election pledges was to modernise the judiciary to equip it to deal with its role in the next century. The authors said this was particularly important in view of the new powers the judges will gain in the implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998.The survey's findings will be disappointing for the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg, who launched a programme this March to make judicial appointments fairer. These included a "transfer of resources to ensure officials are able to dedicate more time to developing equal opportunities policies". Other changes included arranging for lay members to be involved in the initial shortlisting of candidates as well as in the interviews themselves. High Court posts have also been advertised in the national and trade press.Lord Irvine said: "The appointment of judges has always been considered one of the most important responsibilities of the Lord Chancellor.

One of my priorities is to modernise the appointments process. I am committed to creating an open, effective and accessible system where everyone who is eligible for appointment and who wants appointment shall have a fair chance to secure it."Since then Lord Irvine has announced a new programme, that allows lawyers to spend a day "shadowing" members of the judiciary to get a better insight into a judge's role.Lord Irvine said: "This is an exciting and challenging time for the judiciary, with the changes brought about by civil justice reforms and the incorporation of the European Convention of Human Rights into United Kingdom law. I therefore want all eligible practitioners to have the confidence to apply."He added: "Appointments must and will be made on merit - irrespective of ethnic origin, gender, marital status, political affiliation, sexual orientation, religion or disability."These are not mere words They are firm principles I will not tolerate any form of discrimination.". CLAUDE MONET and Jackson Pollock have both demonstrated their capacity to pull in huge crowds. Now the National Gallery is hoping that a unique collection of Rembrandt self-portraits, which goes on show there next week, will be the summer's blockbuster art exhibition.

The 17th-century Dutch master has largely escaped the hype that preceded the Monet exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts and Pollock at the London Tate Gallery. But art critics have already united in praising the show, which opens next Wednesday. Rembrandt was a prolific painter of his own image, and the National Gallery has assembled dozens of paintings, drawings and etchings that record the evolution of his career. In his own lifetime, the works were scattered around the world; sold or given as gifts, or lent to his students. They were gathered from private and public collections in Europe and America.The National Gallery, whose Ingres exhibition was another of the winter's successful shows, is hoping that Rembrandt By Himself will prove a crowd- pleaser.A total of 813,000 people saw Monet in the Twentieth Century during its 12-week run, making it the country's most popular art show. So great was demand that the Royal Academy opened its doors for an unprecedented all- night session the day before it ended in April.The Pollock retrospective, which closes on Sunday, has also been a big money-spinner, thanks both to ticket sales - it has attracted an average of 2,000 visitors a day - and to the associated merchandise such as T- shirts, posters and mugs.Although Rembrandt will move to The Hague in September - to the Mauritshuis gallery, which has organised the show with the National Gallery - numbers here are expected to be swelled by Dutch art lovers reluctant to wait.About 20,000 French tourists saw Monet in London, with half of the tickets sold in France, although a major exhibition of his water lily paintings has now opened in Paris.Rembrandt painted himself at least once a year, and the show - 30 paintings, eight drawings and 29 etchings - traces his progress from youthful insecurity through successful and self-confident middle age to painful confrontation with his own age-ravaged features.The centrepiece is a painting from the mid-1660s that hangs in Kenwood House, north London, and is regarded as one of the most remarkable self- portraits of all time.After the death of Rembrandt's wife, Saskia, in 1642, the number of self- portraits declined sharply.

Those that he painted in that era were more sober and less elaborate than their predecessors.The impending exhibition includes paintings by Rembrandt's pupils, some of which were once wrongly attributed to the master himself.The self-portraits have been lent by collections including the National Museum in Stockholm and the National Gallery of Art in Washington.. NEARLY TWO THIRDS of Britain's homeless women are living on the streets because they have been the victims of domestic violence. Research done by the Centre for Housing Policy at the University of York showed that women only used night shelters or hostels as a last resort, because most believed they were violent and unsafe. Although the number of people sleeping rough over the past 20 year has decreased, the proportion of women has increased. More than 10,000 people sleep rough in England over the course of a year and it is estimated that 10 per cent of them are now women "Women have become the hidden homeless. For years research about the nature and causes of single homelessness has focused on men because there are more men on the street," said Shaks Ghosh, the chief executive of Crisis, the national charity for single homeless people."As a woman myself I am appalled that this already vulnerable group is being further let down at times when they desperately need additional support and often remain invisible to those in a position to provide support," she said.The study, Out of Sight, Out of Mind? was based on interviews with 77 homeless women from Brighton, Liverpool, Bristol and London. The findings showed that 63 per cent of women between 30 and 49 years old cited domestic violence as the main reason for their homelessness. And 43 per cent of the women had slept rough more than once.Nearly a quarter had been living in a hostel for over a year but many women avoided them, so that their partner could not find them.