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…
Read moreWhat else was Byron Burger supposed to do?
So, here’s an unpopular opinion to release into the world: I don’t see what Byron is supposed to have done wrong. The gourmet burger chain – previously thrust into the media spotlight as George Osborne’s late-night indulgence of choice – has enjoyed 24 hours of social media’s most vitriolic virtue signalling after 35 of its migrant workers were…
Read moreThe new Justice Secretary – does it matter that she’s not a lawyer?
So, as anticipated, our new Prime Minister has favoured punishing disloyalty over rewarding competence and sent Mr Gove and his ambitious, compassionate prison reforms to the naughty back benches. This morning has brought a transfer-deadline-day-style frenzy to Legal Twitter, anticipation and trepidation converging as rumours and supposition threw up name after name as possible new Secretary…
Read moreWhat would happen to Brock Turner in an English criminal court?
On 18 January 2015, Brock Allen Turner committed a series of serious sexual assaults against an unconscious woman on an American university campus. Two graduate students at Stanford University saw the 20-year old Turner lying on top of the motionless victim behind a dumpster. Her underwear and bra had been partially removed, and Turner was…
Read moreDefendants in person, aliens and the MoJ Jekyll and Hyde
“Right.” The legal advisor looked at me, then back at the defendant. “And are any of them going to be witnesses for you today?” “Any of who?” replied the defendant. The legal advisor looked at me again and cleared his throat. “Any of the aliens?” The defendant shook his head angrily. “No! My case isn’t…
Read moreIs Katie Hopkins on the verge of committing a criminal offence punishable with life imprisonment?
There is a risk inherent in writing about professional trolls that you serve only to ladle extra righteous indignation into their feeding troughs. It is for such reason that I set myself a strict biannual ration when blogging about Philip Davies MP. However, the overwhelming public interest in preventing – or, if by publication the horse has…
Read moreIt’s not the police’s job to “believe victims”
I make plain at the outset that I will forever, until the untimely end of my days and beyond, harbour a residual affection for anyone, of any political persuasion, who tells Diane Abbott to fuck off. At any time of day, in any given context, this is surely always the right thing to do. But…
Read moreAnonymity in sex cases: Time does not bleach the stain
And so, as a Durham University student acquitted of rape provides easy meat for indolent editorials in the broadsheets, so renews the now-ritual exhumation of the debate on anonymity in sex cases. Round and round the usual participants go, like those rotisserie chickens at Tesco, only even more bird-brained. In the red corner, the below-the-line…
Read moreThe Versions of Us: The alternative life and times of Chris Grayling
“Just in case [Chris Grayling MP] is to be completely airbrushed from history, can we have a debate on his legacy as former Justice Secretary? It need not be a very long debate.” When you’re standing in Parliament having your political career mocked by an ex-vicar best known for posting online pics of himself in his pants, it’s…
Read moreSelf defence, or the doctrine of The Bastard Had It Coming
Since the reported RAF drone strike on organic Islamic State export Reyaad Khan in Syria last month, there is a certain fascination in beholding the alacrity with which various media outlets have manned their respective positions on the morality of the killing, each bolstering their post with an assurance that the attack was completely lawful/monstrously…
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