Sometime tutor in Law.
Joined May 2010
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I agree with Owen on the accuracy of the historical comparison - people seem to be confusing the (now more famous) violent Suffragettes with the (larger) non-violent Suffragists.
This is absolutely insane.
The suffragettes used far more extreme tactics than Palestine Action.
They planted bombs, burned down private homes and smashed up art galleries.
They killed five people!
Her outrageous judgement is based on absurd historical ignorance.
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See also the use of Millicent Fawcett’s statute in promoting the “Suffragette Line” (Fawcett would have been very very unhappy about being labelled as such).
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Jun 13
Notwithstanding it was clearly a perverse verdict, he was found not guilty, which simply means his intent wasn’t proven beyond all reasonable doubt. I think it unlikely he will sue anyone suggesting he did have intent for libel.
And Sam Corner was found to have inflicted those blows without intent.
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Jun 13
No reasonable person can watch that footage and conclude that it was merely a case of being reckless as to some harm, unless you are a person who doesn’t know what a sledgehammer is.
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Jun 12
You can’t even do a GBH anymore and get away with it!
Barbarism.
Jun 12
This is barbaric. They were not permitted to explain to the jury why they carried out the attack on the Elbit factory - which makes the weapons that kill Palestinian children. And the jury was never told they would be sentenced as terrorists. /1
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Jun 12
The idea a jury should be told how a defendant will be sentenced is a very dangerous notion. In a lot of US states they had to ban the prosecuting attorney from saying that if they didn’t give the death penalty, it would risk the defendant getting parole.
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Jun 12
One can see the many obvious dangers of telling twelve random members of the public the (irrelevant) consequences of a verdict. Their job is to find whether the elements of an offence are made out, not to sentence.
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Jun 12
Interventions to deal with the second order consequences of interventions. The Dutch education system and economy is very different to ours, you can’t just bolt on this and think job done.
gov.uk/government/news/uk-to…
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Jun 11
Yes, the jury’s verdict was indeed perverse, as all of them should have been convicted given their admissions.
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Matthew retweeted
May 29
The irony of Burnham's bollocks about Right to Buy and council housing is that the secret of Manchester's housing success was literally the exact opposite - prioritising maximum private building over number of subsidised units. Here's (Labour) council leader Richard Leese.
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May 29
Given, if there was reason to think Novak was wounded, there is a credible case of misconduct in public office (R v Dytham) it is vital that the bodycam footage is released.
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May 29
Handcuffing him in itself is a questionable call - they are not supposed to be used as a matter of course, but only if the circumstances require it.
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May 28
Hill's position is incoherent. Either you believe in allowing jury equity or you don't. Saying its only for exceptional cases is the same vice as judges saying that a particular remedy is "rare". That isn't how the law works, and can't be kept to.
youtube.com/watch?v=XDr1tThD…
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May 28
Bushell's case, as now interpreted, may have had some place in a society with significantly less democratic legitimacy than ours. It has no place today.
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May 28
(Bushell's case does not stand for the proposition that the plaque in the Old Bailey says it does, of course)
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May 27
Torsten, whom I respect a great deal, knows full well that taxes are up because of one very particular sort of welfare - for pensioners. If we didn't have a triple lock, we would have a lower welfare bill and lower borrowing costs.
May 27
It’s okay for the Tories/Times/Telegraph to pretend that taxes are up “because of welfare”. That’s politics. But if you care about policy you need to understand that is a long way from the truth - and wrestle with the consequences
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May 27
He also knows full well that our increased cost of borrowing (one of, if not the highest costs in the OECD) is because the gov cannot control spending. Borrowing costs aren't just a force wholly outside of government control as is being presented, they reflect perceived risk.
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May 27
He's in the gov and therefore has to toe the lines that it has been forced into by its profligate backbenchers - i.e. that cutting any spending at all on the wealthiest demographic is wrong and we should continue to borrow to shovel money their way. But he knows the problem.
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May 26
I hope the government has a plan for if these go to the CA and are held not to be unduly leniant. Having not had the benefit of the sentencing remarks its hard to know, but I suspect it may expose quite how hard it is to send a child to prison.
May 26
Sentences for three teenage boys who were spared jail over rape of two schoolgirls will go to Court of Appeal trib.al/9p0yDC0
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May 25
I agree with Ben that the job of the sentencing judge is largely just a decision tree because of the Sentencing Council's guidelines. On the other hand, the furore caused by some quarters when the government did a mild interference with the SC is worrying.
May 24
But in almost all cases (though perhaps not this one) the issue isn’t the judge. It the sentencing guidelines, which are ultimately political. The vast majority of “activist” judges are actually just faithfully applying bad laws made by politicians.
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May 25
The government should continue its momentum on this - a new statutory rule that the SC must use the full range of any statutory offence in its guidelines, or provide an explanation to the minister if not, is a good start.
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