In 1999, Baz Luhrmann topped the UK charts with ‘Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)’. We used to play that song on the drive to school. I was 12. My mum drove a banger that we called Bessie. “Come on Bessie” we would cheer as she chugged up the hill. Sometimes Bessie let us down, but no one…
Read moreGuest post: You Can Tweet If You Want To (So Long As You’re Polite About It): The Current State of Regulatory Oversight Over Social Media
I am pleased to host this guest post by Vanessa Reid, a barrister at Mountford Chambers specialising in criminal and regulatory law. ********************************************************************** A controversial barrister’s successful appeal of a £500 fine imposed for a tweet found to have the potential to promote hostility towards Muslims helps clarify the extent of free speech protections for…
Read moreGuest post by Dame Judi Bench: Exam Fiasco Part 2: Message in a bottle
I am pleased to host this guest blogpost by Dame Judi Bench. —————————— I just saw a picture of a bottle of yellow liquid in a bar exams. Those crazy students and their Lucozade That’s not Lucozade. Of course it is. That’s what all the kids drink during exams. It’s what I drank. It gave…
Read moreGuest post by The Tartan Con: The government’s approach to our prisons is an admission of failure
I am pleased to host this guest post by The Tartan Con, a leading prison reform blogger. _____________________________ The Ministry of Justice issued a press release on the 28th of June announcing the news that they were to build 4 more prisons over the next six years. (To read this wonderful piece of self-promotion click…
Read moreGuest post by Jamie Fletcher and Dr Samuel Walker: Sexual violence, the Overton Window and the limits imposed by the law
I am pleased to host this guest post by Jamie Fletcher and Dr Samuel Walker, who are Lecturers in Law at Bournemouth University. ———————————————— Introduction The aim of this post is to discuss the increasing prevalence of consensual sexual violence and its relationship with criminal law. It will be shown that acceptance, engagement and…
Read moreGuest post by Dame Judi Bench: The Bar exams are less exam and more Takeshi’s Castle
I am pleased to host this guest post from a pseudonymous contributor, looking at the exams fiasco facing this year’s Bar students. ——————————————– The Bar Exams in England and Wales are a funny thing. Ask the older generation and they’ll regale you with stories of their local authority paying for them, spending most of the…
Read moreGuest post by Dr Laura Janes and Andrew Neilson: The government’s treatment of prisoners in our locked-down prisons is cruel and untenable
I am pleased to host this guest blogpost by Dr Laura Janes and Andrew Neilson. Dr Laura Lanes is the legal director at the Howard League for Penal Reform and oversees its specialist legal service for children and young adults. Andrew Neilson is the director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform. ——————————————————…
Read moreGuest blogpost by Henry Blaxland QC: Does the buck stop? Legal liability for death from Covid
I am pleased to host this guest blogpost by Henry Blaxland QC of Garden Court Chambers. ________________________________ “If the government were an employee of mine I would have sacked them for gross negligence” – so said Anita Astley, manager of Wren Hall nursing home in Nottinghamshire, where 10 residents died from Covid-19 and 48 carers caught…
Read moreGuest post by Mira Hammad: Covid-19 and the right to protest: an alternative view
I am pleased to host this guest blogpost by Mira Hammad, a pupil barrister at Garden Court North Chambers. It is written in response to the guest blogpost by Rebecca Penfold and Aparna Rao, published last week. _________________________________ In their blogpost Rebecca Penfold and Aparna Rao look at the amended Coronavirus Regulation 7 and…
Read moreGuest post by Hannah Edwards: The clock is ticking – bail breaches and Covid-19
I am pleased to host this guest post by Hannah Edwards, who is a second-six pupil practising at Drystone Chambers. _____________________________________________ In the chaos that Covid-19 has brought to our criminal justice system it is now, more than ever, important for practitioners to remember the fundamental principles when considering breaches of bail in the magistrates’ court….
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