January 2007

15 seconds of fame…

January 30, 2007

Head of Legal was quoted in that fine and perspicacious periodical The Lawyer this week. Fame! Fame at last!

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AEG blows its stake on Supercasino

January 30, 2007

Oh, well: not Blackpool, not the Dome, but Manchester will be the site of the first “supercasino” under the notorious Gambling Act 2005. In fact the correct legal term is “regional casino” – see section 7(5) – a term which in itself shows the original intention was to have a number of them, rather than [...]

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The Discomfiture of Rome

January 29, 2007

So, there was third way of sorts, but only in the sense that catholic adoption agencies have time to get used to the non-discriminatory future. I have to say I think this whole episode has been a communications disaster for the Catholic church: Cormac Murphy O’Connor’s blackmailing tone, when he effectively threatened to close his [...]

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Scottish Elections: incompatible with Convention rights

January 24, 2007

Read, here, today’s fascinating and important ruling by the Scottish Registration Appeals Court, which, on a generous reading of the law thinks it really is the Court of Session, on the compatibility of the Scottish elections with the Convention rights under the Human Rights Act 1998. There’s nothing legally new in the judgment: it’s much [...]

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Sexual Orientation Discrimination (Goods, Facilities and Services) Regulations 2007

January 24, 2007

None of us have seen a draft of these regulations yet, but no doubt a draft exists somewhere on a PC belonging to some lawyer in the Department for Communities and Local Government. One thing’s for sure: the exact wording of the bit about adoption services hasn’t been quite settled yet. What I think is [...]

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Brian Haw’s defence succeeds

January 23, 2007

Brian Haw was acquitted today of breaching conditions on his anti-war demonstration, imposed under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act. You can find a report of the court hearing (written by a strong supporter of Brian Haw) here. It sounds as though the conditions that were imposed could have been a little more clearly [...]

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Ruth, Ruth, Ruth

January 23, 2007

I forgot to mention that one person who’ll have found a nugget of comfort in Ruth Turner’s arrest is the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith. Not in the fact of her arrest; but in the fact that she was arrested on suspicion of offences under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925 and the Political Parties, [...]

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Ruth Turner, again

January 22, 2007

I’m pleased to see that Guido Fawkes’s famous blog has pointed out the hypocrisy of government ministers and hangers-on about this. Ruth Turner’s arrest makes silence from ministers more important, not less, than it was before. The Lord Chancellor has said something sensible, though.

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Ruth Turner’s arrest

January 21, 2007

I’m really appalled, scandalised and miffed by the reaction of ministers, and politicians close to the government, to Ruth Turner’s arrest on Friday morning in the “cash for honours” inquiry. This is a naked attempt to influence and prejudice a police investigation – and it’s quite wrong that anyone in government should lend themselves to [...]

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Charles Clarke’s ludicrous outburst

January 18, 2007

The uncorrected version of his evidence isn’t on the Lords website yet, but I read on the BBC that Charles Clarke has made the most spectacularly dim remarks about the difficulties of being Home Secretary, about judges and the fight against terrorism. He apparently complained about the fact that the Court of Appeal, in its [...]

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