Some of you may have seen that, in further defiance of all common sense and decency, I was yesterday named joint winner of the Independent Blogger of the Year award at the Editorial Intelligence Comment Awards 2017, defending my barely-deserved crown, to be shared with the wonderful Liz Gerard (@gameoldgirl), author of the superb SubScribe blog. Last…
Read moreBad law reporting and a public dangerously disconnected from criminal justice
thesecretbarrister Bad Law, Contemplations, Law Inaction, Lawsplaining, Legal Aid, Politics, Sentencing
The criminal law has long had an image problem. Partly, the fault is internal: the ridiculous costume; the alienating hybrid of legalese and obsequious formality that renders court hearings nonsensical to anyone in the public gallery; the impenetrability and inaccessibility of updated statute and case law; the historic failure of those of us in the…
Read moreSome thoughts on Charlie Alliston and death on the roads
I have been asked by several people what my views are on the tragic case of Charlie Alliston, the 20-year old cyclist who was this week sentenced to 18 months’ detention in a Young Offender Institution for causing the death of a pedestrian, Kim Briggs. And to be honest, I’m not sure what I think….
Read moreGoodbye Liz Truss, Hello David Lidington – a brief look at the new Lord Chancellor
Liz Truss, we hardly knew ye. Three days short of eleven months since her appointment as Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor in Theresa May’s debut cabinet, Ms Truss bows out to a slow handclap. Her achievements can be shortly listed, for they are none. Liz Truss never asked for the job, and,…
Read moreIn forgetting our fundamental principles of justice, The Trial’s fascinating run fell down at the last
*SPOILER ALERT: If you have not seen the end of The Trial: A Murder In The Family, don’t read on. Unless you’ve no intention of watching it, in which case do as you please.* Last night, Channel 4’s The Trial: A Murder In The Family drew to a close. At the end of a five-day run…
Read moreA note on blogging – why I write
The Oxford Bread Knife story pootles on, given fresh wind each day by some hot take or other in the op-eds. There has been a lot of reaction on social media, and many people have taken the time to contact me to explain, in varying degrees of politeness, why they do or do not agree with…
Read moreConvicting the dead shows that we misunderstand the purpose of our criminal courts
Monday’s column for the i newspaper, for those interested, can be found here: “Convicting the dead shows that we misunderstand the purpose of our criminal courts” https://inews.co.uk/opinion/convicting-dead-shows-misunderstand-purpose-criminal-courts/ And while we’re at it, a couple of other recent pieces for iNews that I forgot to link to: “Both sides are wrong in the Marine A controversy” https://inews.co.uk/opinion/sides-wrong-marine-controversy/ “At…
Read moreWill Quince MP: An addendum
This serves as an addendum to the previous post, but I thought it was worthy of attention in its own right. To those who missed it, a brief recap: Will Quince, MP for Colchester, publicised a letter he had sent to the Lord Chancellor, in which he expressed his view that a sentence passed in a…
Read moreThank You
Some of you may have seen that, in defiance of all common sense and decency, I was today named Independent Blogger of the Year at the Editorial Intelligence Comment Awards 2016. While entirely out of keeping with the general tone of cynical nihilism that pervades these posts, I would like to sincerely thank not only…
Read moreWhy we need legal aid for the worst people in society
Recently, I’ve noticed an increase in the number of people getting cross about legal aid. I don’t know whether this can be causally linked to the backing tracks expertly laid down by our new Lord Chancellor, adopting the smooth jazzy beats of her pre-predecessor Chris Grayling to create a steady percussive “legal-aid-bad, legal-aid-bad” filtering through…
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