September 2009

Gordon’s speech – and law as a stick for governments

September 30, 2009

Gordon Brown’s conference speech yesterday gripped the nation, obviously – if you want to know what I thought of it politically, have a look at my other blog. A couple of constitutional and legal points emerged from it too, though. Obviously, there was his surprising (in the civil service sense – a phrase I may [...]

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Hotter and hotter for the Attorney

September 24, 2009

The latest development – the arrest of Baroness Scotland’s former housekeeper and her husband – means this story continues to roll. And if what Guido is reporting turns out to be true, surely her career must be over. If the husband isn’t a solicitor, that’s a bit embarrassing. But if the housekeeper says she never [...]

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The death of control orders?

September 24, 2009

I doubt they have much future, now Alan Johnson has abandoned a second one since the Lords ruling in AF. I’m a bit surprised by the government’s approach – I’d expected them to fight, Ypres-style, over every inch of disclosure it was suggested they make. Clearly Johnson has decided it’s not worth it, at least [...]

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Pressure grows on the Attorney

September 23, 2009

Stephen Hesford’s resignation is very unhelpful from Baroness Scotland’s point of view, and may be very dangerous, too: Gordon Brown’s entire government is a fragile rock since the failed coup earlier this summer, and he must fear that the resignation of even the lowliest government bag-carrier might set off an avalanche. Charon sees the call [...]

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Those assisted suicide guidelines

September 23, 2009

Or interim guidelines, really. Here they are. They seem very sensible to me, unsurprisingly, and make it admirably clear that they do not purport to “clarify the law”. The CPS is consulting on them until 16 December – read about the consultation and how to reply to it, here.

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An extreme view of employment law

September 23, 2009

If you read magazines aimed largely at commercial lawyers, you’ll be familiar with the sort of article in which a solicitor argues against some proposed or actual piece of regulation, saying business would be better off without it. Sometimes they have a point, but often they’re extremely predictable, and merely reflect either a wish to [...]

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Patsy: can she survive? Should she survive?

September 22, 2009

Extraordinary that, while I was away, the Attorney General Baroness Scotland should have come under such pressure. Now, she’s been fined for employing an illegal immigrant as her housekeeper. Here’s her apology and defence of her “technical” error. I do have some sympathy with the Attorney – she obviously trusted this woman, apparently partly because [...]

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Keir Starmer in the Guardian

September 21, 2009

The Guardian today carries an interview with the DPP, Keir Starmer – well worth reading of course, though it’s certainly not his first media interview because Clive Coleman spoke to him on the BBC’s Law in Action in the spring. I think it’s a bit depressing that the interviewer seems to think Starmer must be [...]

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Blog break

September 14, 2009

You’ve not heard much from me recently – I was taking advantage of the silly season to catch up with other things. And my blog break is going to continue for one more week, because I’m going to take a complete break from it all, and may not read the interwebs at all. It’ll be [...]

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