January 2010

Charon QC podcast: Iraq and international law

January 28, 2010

Last night Charon QC interviewed me about Iraq, international law and Lord Goldsmith’s evidence to the Iraq inquiry. We discussed Lord Goldsmith’s “revival” theory and the meaning of resolution 1441, plus the relevance of negotiators’ views and propriety of Jack Straw’s conduct. Charon tests my views pretty stiffly – do listen to the podcast here.

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The invasion of Iraq was lawful

January 27, 2010

This blog didn’t exist when US and British forces, with others, invaded Iraq in 2003. I’ve never written directly about the legality of the war. But with Sir Michael Wood and Elizabeth Wilmshurst having given evidence to the Iraq inquiry yesterday, and Lord Goldsmith due to appear today, I think it’s time for me to [...]

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The truth about Munir Hussain

January 22, 2010

A lot of the talk about the release of Munir Hussain, the law of self-defence and the functioning of the courts this week has missed several points. Why, people ask, didn’t the judges take account of the anguish Hussain was in following the attack on his family? Why does the law not allow you to [...]

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My CiF piece on Nadia Eweida

January 22, 2010

On Wednesday I wrote about the Nadia Eweida case at Comment is Free. My line’s a compromise one, I think: my starting point is a secularist one, but I’m not insisting on the workspace being absolutely non-religious. I doubt that’s achievable under the 2003 regulations. Some (misguidedly I think) are tempted to see a secularist [...]

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Banning the burka in France

January 14, 2010

While the British government bans Islamist groups, it looks very much as though some kind of ban is going to be imposed in France on being completely veiled – wearing the niqab, chador and burka – in public. A committee of the National Assembly has been considering the current position since last summer, and there [...]

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The “Islam4UK” banning order

January 13, 2010

In case you’re interested, here’s the order, made under section 3(6) of the Terrorism Act 2000, by means of which Alan Johnson has banned “Islam4UK” under several alternative names. The Order was made on Monday, which suggests it was drafted last week – clearly in response to Anjem Choudary’s threat of a march in Wootton [...]

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That pesky age discrimination law

January 13, 2010

Now and again you hear the opinion expressed that anti-discrimination law is a lot of unnecessary over-regulation and red tape dreamt up single-handedly by that awful Harriet Harman and imposed on a business world that always looks for the best people anyway because of market forces. This is the Fox view of the world. But [...]

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Sion Simon, Keith Vaz and Law Officers’ advice

January 6, 2010

The DCMS minister Sion Simon has been speaking for the government in the Commons this afternoon, and is in an embarrassing situation: it appears that government lawyers have advised that the Video Recordings Act 1984 should have been notified to the European Commission under the “Technical Standards” Directive, 83/189 (since replaced by Directive 98/34). Since [...]

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