Sometimes I think people forget what the law is for. There are lawyers, I am afraid to say, who think the law is there so they can make a living, a very good one in some cases. Government ministers seem to think it is either a drain on the public purse or a means through which liberal trouble makers can block or upset their policy initiatives. And some newspaper columnists seem to think it’s only for the educated.
Read more...Would you rather represent yourself in court or perform your own appendectomy? It sounds like a fairly straightforward question and at first thought, and quite possibly second and third thoughts as well, most of us would plump for representing ourselves in court: there is, arguably, less blood, less pain and less chance of death.
Read more...Sometimes I just don’t know where to start. It is Monday and I do have a heavy cold, but this is not why it has taken me so long to start writing this post. Rather, my inertia is born out of an utter bewilderment, bordering on disbelief, as I watch a democratically elected government quite brazenly trash the rule of law, the main thing (some might say the only thing) separating it from a totalitarian state.
Read more...Should prisoners have the right to vote? It sounds like a simple yes-no question and most people would probably be able to give a yes or no answer, but it is giving the government no end of headaches.
Read more...There are, I am led to believe, quite a few people out there who aren’t at all interested in football. It must be very annoying for them that even though the football season and the Euros are over (Olympic football doesn’t count), football is still on the front page of the newspapers, and not in a good way.
Read more...Being in government isn’t just about what you do, it’s how and when you do it. You would think that a general rule of thumb might be for ministers to indulge in a lot of flag waving over things they propose to do and to try and sneak out bad news when something more interesting is going on. But sometimes ministers attempt to slip their own proposals under the radar because they know they are contentious. One such proposal, quietly pushed out last year, is indeed highly contentious: secret courts.
Read more...I didn’t watch much of ITV’s prime time drama,
The Jury, last week. I was bored after the first episode and decided the other four hours required to see it to the end could be better spent. The reviews were mixed. Some reflected my view that it was unimpressive and unrealistic. Others thought it a good yarn with plenty of human interest and twists and turns to keep the viewer intrigued. It probably didn’t matter as far as ratings are concerned as the British public seems to have something of a love affair with crime and courtroom drama.
I have a cat. I’m quite fond of him and I like having him around, but, if I’m honest, I don’t think he’d be too upset if I moved away and left him. He’d probably just go and live with the neighbour up the road where he seems to spend most of his time anyway. It’s what cats do. So it’s surely common sense that a cat couldn’t be a reason not to deport someone? Apparently not.
Read more...Tagged:
bill of rights,
catgate,
ECHR,
home secretary,
HRA,
human rights,
Human Rights Act,
justice,
Learco Chindamo,
legislation,
rule of law,
Theresa MayThinking about it now, it seems extraordinary that I rushed home on 3 October 1995 to see the live verdict of the OJ Simpson trial on TV. Along with over half of the US population and quite a large percentage of the UK one, I watched as he was found not guilty of the murders of his ex-wife and her friend. I had never even heard of him before he was arrested and starred (I use the term deliberately) in what has been described as the trial of the century. It was all so over the top and showbiz it didn’t even occur to me that we should put TV cameras in English courts.
Read more...Normally I associate the 1980s with the Thatcher government, the miners’ strike, the Falklands war and alarming fashion decisions. I often forget it was also the decade that saw the end of apartheid in South Africa and the Berlin wall. But watching the Arab Spring spread across the Middle East has reminded me that these international events had as big an influence on me as did events on my own doorstep.
Read more...Tagged:
Amnesty International,
David Cameron,
death penalty,
Gaddafi,
human rights,
ICC,
international law,
justice,
Libya,
Robespierre,
UN Security Council
