Strasbourg judgment: Eweida and others v UK

January 15, 2013

Nadia Eweida has succeeded in her claim that the UK breached her right to manifest her religion under article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Readers may remember that she worked for British Airways, and refused to abide by its uniform policy, insisting on wearing a cross visible to customers. By a majority of [...]

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Julie Burchill, free speech and the Lynne Featherstone clause

January 15, 2013

Yesterday the Observer decided to deleted the online version of an article by Julie Burchill printed in its edition last Sunday, together with readers’ comments on it, most of which were critical. It also apologised for publishing the piece. But you can read it on Toby Young’s Telegraph blog, where it’s since been republished. In my [...]

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Julian Assange: “democracy is the sum of our resistance”

December 21, 2012

I went along tonight to hear Julian Assange’s speech wondering just slightly if he might not astonish the world, and announce his exit into the arms of the police. Anything, as we’ve learned, can happen with Assange, and time, and the wearing patience of the Ecuadorian government must I think force his hand one day. [...]

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The Bill of Rights Commission’s report

December 18, 2012

The Commission on a Bill of Rights has delivered its report – entitled A UK Bill of Rights? – The Choice Before Us. Here’s a link to the report; and the report itself (volume 1, which is the substantive volume) is below. <a href=”http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/541140/a-uk-bill-of-rights-the-choice-before-us-volume-1.pdf”>A UK Bill of Rights? The Choice Before Us (Volume 1) (PDF)</a> <br [...]

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Without Prejudice

December 14, 2012

On Without Prejudice this week, Charon QC, David Allen Green and I discuss: Labour’s “Leveson” bill, and what the editors have been up to in Downing Street; the government’s proposals on extending marriage to same-sex couples – and the relationship between the Church, bishops and the law; the Justice and Security Bill (or “secret courts [...]

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Without Prejudice: the Leveson report

November 30, 2012

Without Prejudice returns – today from Gray’s Inn - to discuss the Leveson report and political reaction to it. Charon QC chairs as media lawyer and journalist David Allen Green, mature law student (and Without Prejudice sound consultant!) Jez Hindmarsh and I talk about: the legal basis of the inquiry; Leveson’s recommendations for a new kind of press self-regulation; the nature of [...]

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We must have statutory regulation – and liberation – of the press

November 28, 2012

If you’re interested in legally minded reports about how the press should be regulated, then there’s something you should read before tomorrow. Sir David Calcutt QC’s 1993 Review of Press Self-Regulation is worth another look, nearly twenty years on. In 1990, Sir David chaired a committee on privacy and related matters, which recommended a toughening [...]

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Nick Herbert: accommodation with Strasbourg is a pipe dream

November 28, 2012

In his Kingsland memorial lecture last night, hosted by Policy Exchange, the former justice minister Nick Herbert MP argued that Britain should “leave the jurisdiction” of the European Court of Human Rights. This was an argument he trailed in a piece he wrote for ConservativeHome last week on the day of Chris Grayling’s statement on prisoners’ [...]

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Draft Voting Eligibility (Prisoners) Bill

November 22, 2012

Here is the government’s draft bill offering Parliament a menu of options on prisoners’ votes. <a href=”http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/522486/voting-eligibility-prisoners-draft-bill.pdf”>Draft Voting Eligibility (Prisoners) Bill (PDF)</a> <br /> <a href=”http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/522486/voting-eligibility-prisoners-draft-bill.txt”>Draft Voting Eligibility (Prisoners) Bill (Text)</a> Adam Wagner at the UK Human Rights Blog wondered what if any significance there might be in the that fact that the “status quo” [...]

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Chris Grayling’s statement on prisoners’ votes

November 22, 2012

The Justice Secretary’s Commons statement on prisoners’ votes today was interesting in more ways than one. First, he’s chosen to put forward a draft bill for pre-legislative scrutiny – rather than a fully-fledged bill. I’m not sure why that’s necessary: when the government proposed in late 2010 to legislate for prison votes, it seemed to [...]

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