Magistrates are feeling unloved. Some one hundred courts have been closed and their workload has plummeted, with tens of thousands of cases that used to go before the courts now dealt with by police, with cautions and fixed penalties. So it is not surprising that morale is low. John Fassenfelt, the new chairman of the Magistrates? Association, says: ?They are feeling unappreciated. Everywhere I go I hear the same story.?