Brendan made exactly the same argument -- that it's what the music called for -- that he made when defending his illegal American Smooth lift back when Kelly was his partner.

Len didn't like it then, but now he was all "You have to break eggs to make an omelette, and sometimes you have to break rules to make a routine complete."

Is Len just an inconsistent hypocrite,
or has he mellowed over the years,
or did he feel compelled to disagree with Craig,
even though he knew Craig was right,
or is he biased in Lulu's favour?

I thought this too.

In the past he has been very harsh with Brendan over illegal lifts.

My gut feeling is that he just wants to disagree with Craig - I don't think the other judges like the fact that Craig's opinion is more highly regarded these days than any others.

I thought the routine was good and I liked the lift - but they should still have been penalised for breaking the rules.

Has Brendan been watching too much 'Strictly Ballroom'?

I think it was because it was Lulu! Aliona would still have got ripped apart for it!

Karen said on ITT that they could still have done the lift but kept one of Lulu's feet on the floor, a bit like Kara and Artem last year, I suppose, and Len knows this so

Brendan admitted on ITT that Craig was right to penalise them and he added that the other judges should have done so too!

The one consistent thing about Len is his inconsistency.

I do remember the old days with fondness though, when he wasn't forgetting to take his tablets.

I suppose the flitting backwards and forwards across the time zones means that somedays he takes 2 and others none at all

My thoughts exactly.

And that he called Brendan a donut if he broke the rules

But didn't Len say that he might have got an extra point without the lift?

He did say that on ITT, didn't sound like he'd given it much thought though.

Len also failed to mention Robin and Anita's lift, so he's obviously just not that bothered.

You can argue it both ways - but, as you say, the same judge can't argue it both ways.

There's all sorts of contradictions in the marking at the moment. Chelsee tries the steps and gets criticised for rushing them at warp speed - other people hardly do any steps at all, or do them at pre-train speed, and get more marks. Other people get marked depending randomly on whether the judges like their choregraphy's story and whatever its impact on the actual dancing steps.

Len's only consistency is his lack of paddles below 5 and his compulsion to use his 7.