Today on Radio 4, Home Secretary Amber Rudd was the latest government minister calling for an overhaul of the criminal law in the name of tackling “intimidation and aggression” on the internet. Her premise is that “what is illegal offline should also be illegal online”. This was repeated by Theresa May in a speech today…
Read moreA reply to Lord Adonis on sentencing, prisons and judges
I’ll be honest, out of all the ‘robust debates’ I’ve had online about criminal justice and sentencing of offenders, I would not have expected the most frustrating, fiery and ill-informed to be with someone advocating for less use of prison. It takes a special talent, I would suggest, to present an argument in such a…
Read moreThe Grenfell Inquiry needs facts, not fearmongering
Yesterday I wrote something for the New Statesman on the Grenfell Inquiry and the political fearmongering over the appointment of Sir Martin Moore-Bick. The piece can be found here: http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2017/07/grenfell-inquiry-critics-martin-moore-bick-are-dabbling-fearmongeringp
Read moreHarriet Harman’s proposal to keep sexual histories out of court will put innocent people in prison
I have today written a piece for iNews on Harriet Harman’s resurrected plans to ban all evidence of sexual history from the courtroom, and why this is quite simply one of the most dangerous and stupid ideas of recent times. Full piece is here: https://inews.co.uk/opinion/harriet-harmans-proposal-keep-sexual-histories-court-will-put-innocent-people-prison/
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 moreMyth-busting the “Tory election fraud” – A 10-point guide
1. So what’s all this about a Tory election fraud? The Crown Prosecution Service today announced that, following a police investigation into allegations relating to Conservative Party candidates’ expenditure during the 2015 General Election campaign, no charges will be brought. Fourteen police forces submitted files of evidence for the CPS to consider, said to show that candidates…
Read moreUKIP’s “Integration Agenda” is a masterclass in legal ignorance and shameless racism
Some political proposals are so self-evidently preposterous that to analyse them is to risk conferring dignity on the undignifiable. However, UKIP’s “Integration Agenda”, a rat’s nest of racialised assumptions masquerading as putative legal reform, trespasses egregiously onto the criminal law. Which, as any fule should know, is this blog’s turf. And on this turf, no…
Read moreExamining Iain Duncan Smith’s understanding of Brexit
Today, in response to an op-ed in the Daily Mail in which Iain “Bit of a thicky” Duncan Smith pushed Hanlon’s Razor to its limit with his “interpretation” of the Supreme Court proceedings, I published a series of tweets. They have proved, contrary to expectation, common sense and decency, to be quite popular, and I have…
Read moreThe “Walter Mitty” law is misconceived and dangerous in equal measure
Every now and then, as Bonnie Tyler so nearly put it, I fall apart sobbing in giddy astonishment at the folly of our elected representatives. And I need you now, dear reader, and I need you more than ever as the willing sounding board in my echo chamber of lawsplaining. Today’s culprit is Conservative MP…
Read moreWhy did the government block the SNP’s Alan Turing Bill?
This post was written last Saturday when it was achingly vogue, then lay forlornly unposted over the weekend until staleness set in, by which time it appeared destined to linger forever in my draft folder. Serendipitously, it has been offered a second wind after one of the subjects tweeted me out of the blue, allowing me, I reckon, to segue to…
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