July 2010

Fox v Federal Communications Commission

July 13, 2010

On the day the High Court here has delivered a blow against the Foxification of our media, in the United States Fox TV (together with the big networks, CBS, ABC and NBC among others) has had a genuine legal victory. The Federal Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit, has ruled that the policy of the FCC [...]

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Gaunt v Ofcom

July 13, 2010

I welcome today’s judgment today this judicial review, in which the radio talk show host Jon Gaunt failed in his challenge to Ofcom’s finding that an interview he gave in late 2008 breached the broadcasting code. And I’ve written about it at Comment is Free’s Liberty Central: The real question is not whether it’s OK to [...]

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France, the veil and freedom of religion

July 9, 2010

This week the French National Assembly has finally been debating the government’s proposed legislation banning the wearing of the “full face veil” – the niqab, burka or any other piece of clothing that hides the face. I wrote in January about the plans of Jean-François Copé and of President Nicolas Sarkozy. Well, in May the [...]

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Rape anonymity: another retreat

July 9, 2010

Another day, another retreat by the coalition from a bad policy proposal. After Nick Clegg’s vision of light on 55%, now the government has taken a step back on rape anonymity, too. This is what justice minister Crispin Blunt said during yesterday’s debate in the Commons (columns 557-558): Much has been made in the past [...]

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Nick Clegg: “no to 55%”

July 5, 2010

I’m delighted that Nick Clegg has thought better of the proposal, initially agreed by the coalition, that Parliament should not be dissolved unless a majority of 55% votes for dissolution. This is what he said in his statement to the Commons today: First, we are introducing legislation to fix parliamentary terms. The date of the [...]

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R (Smith) v Defence Secretary: a frolic ended, a genie bottled

July 1, 2010

Yesterday the Supreme Court gave judgment in this case, ruling that the article 2 Convention right to life does not apply automatically to all members of the British armed forces deployed anywhere abroad; and that the death of a soldier does not automatically require an article 2 compliant Middleton style inquest. It’s a very welcome [...]

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