Paul Magrath gets ready to gasp and stretch his eyes as the veteran political commentator takes him on a guided tour of contemporary political mendacity.
“His election as prime minister suggests that British people no longer care about the difference between fact and fiction, or truth and falsehood. What kind of a society have we become?”
This is quite an angry book. As a political commentator Peter Oborne has often expressed himself in trenchant terms, and this is not the first time he’s had to take leading politicians to task over their repeated and calculated mendacity. His earlier book, The Rise of Political Lying, was published back in 2005, when New Labour were still in power. One of its chapters was headed “The Lies, Falsehood…
Every day we add new cases to our database and add new commentary to the index entries in our citator. We normally list the most recent new entries in our Weekly Notes roundup, but as that’s on hold till next term we’re offering them as a mid-vac taster on their own. Enjoy them with your morning coffee or afternoon tea.
Recent case summaries from ICLR
A selection of recently published WLR Daily case summaries from ICLR.3, listed by subject matter (something for everyone):
ADOPTION — Adoption order — Revocation: In re I-A (Children), 10 Aug 2021 [2021] EWCA Civ 1222; [2021] WLR(D) 448, CA
CHILDREN — Orders with respect to children — Jurisdiction: In re X (Children) (Article 61 BIIa) (AA v BB), 24 Aug 2021 [2021] EWCA Civ 1305; [2021] WLR(D) 466, CA
CRIME — Controlling or coercive behaviour — Actus reus: R v Chilvers (Peter), 27 Aug 2021 [2021] EWCA Crim 1311; [2021] WLR(D) 473, CA
DEBT — Moratorium — Application: Axnoller Events…
This week’s roundup includes vacation courts and extended operating hours, a pilot that has finally landed, and some other recent legal news and commentary, as well as the latest reported cases.
Courts
Vacation sittings and extended operating hours
Given our 24/7, 365-day working culture, the idea of court sittings being organised into terms seems ever more remote. And given our remote working online culture, even the idea of sitting in court is beginning to seem rather quaint. Be that as it may, the fiction of Law Terms continues, and (as of 30 July) we have now ended the Trinity Term and must await the commencement of the Michaelmas Term on 1 October.
In days gone by, court sittings outside London took place in the form of a sort of travelling show, known as the Assizes, grandly opened in…
This week’s roundup of legal news and commentary includes new legislation affecting courts, journalists, and judges; internet offences; justice data; failings in the criminal justice system; and some recent case law.
Legislation
Judicial Review and Courts Bill
The government has been talking about reforming judicial review ever since the idea was flagged up in the Conservative Party manifesto for the last general election, and gave the impression it would go further than the modest recommendations in the report of the Independent Review of Administrative Law (IRAL) chaired by Lord Faulks. See also the Lord Chancellor’s keynote speech on Judicial Review (given at Policy Exchange, home of the Judicial Power Project).
But the Judicial Review and Courts Bill 2021 published on Wednesday 21 July 2021 appears to have adopted a milder and more mixed approach than expected. …
This week’s roundup of legal news includes the latest relaxation of coronavirus restrictions, annual reports on the courts and judiciary, data protection, plus recent cases and commentary.
Legislation
Coronavirus regulations
The latest (step 4) relaxation of lockdown restrictions for England came into effect today (19 July: so-called Freedom Day), by virtue of, inter alia, the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Steps etc.) (England) (Revocation and Amendment) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/848) under which social distancing laws, the lockdown & face covering regulations cease to apply. See this thread by Adam Wagner on Twitter, who explains that these regulations revoke:
- Steps regulations (lockdown/social distancing requirements)
- Face covering regulations
- Collection of contact details by businesses
- Obligations and undertakings on/by businesses
What they don’t revoke (and so remain in force)
- Self-isolation regulations (requiring you to…
We resume our weekly roundup (after a short half-term holiday) with legal news and commentary on immigration, housing, data protection, courts and legal advice, plus recent case law.
Legislation
Nationality and Borders Bill
The government launched what it claims will be the cornerstone of its New Plan for Immigration, “delivering the most comprehensive reform in decades to fix the broken asylum system”. One of the ways in which its factsheet says the system is broken is that “the number of people with no right to be here being removed has been steadily declining for several years due to legal challenges”. As a result, they say, “there are now over 10,000 Foreign National Offenders circulating on the streets, posing a risk to the public” — but that appears to suggest that a person poses…
This week’s roundup of legal news and commentary includes health data, algorithmic transparency, a cabinet resignation, media (un)regulation, a court user satisfaction survey and a bunch of recent cases.
Data protection
Health data
The Department of Health and Social Care published its draft strategy on health data, under the title Data saves lives: reshaping health and social care with data (draft). It sets out the (previous) Secretary of State’s vision for how data will be used to improve the health and care of the population in a safe, trusted and transparent way. They department says it is gathering feedback via an online survey, which will close at 5pm on Friday 23 July: Have your say
The plans have been criticised by campaigners, including privacy group medConfidential, who labelled the strategy “dubious”, and patient…
This week’s roundup of legal news and commentary includes police corruption and cover-up, a promise to do better with rape prosecutions, questions about the constitution, weddings in the open air, and a new home for judgments.
Police
Daniel Morgan investigation report
Last week the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel published the final report of their inquiry into the murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan outside the Golden Lion public house in Sydenham, South East London on 10 March 1987, and the series of failed police investigations which have subsequently failed to result in any conviction. The report points out that
“For more than three decades the failure to prosecute those responsible for Daniel Morgan’s murder has caused great distress and concern to his family, generated a great deal of public disquiet, and affected the reputations of organisations and individuals.”
This first weekly roundup of legal news for the Trinity Term includes an international get-together on the beach, a pledge to build back better in the courts, concerns over the collection of health data, media regulation, plus recent case summaries and commentary.
Politics
G7: a long weekend in Cornwall
The leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies met in Carbis Bay, near St Ives in Cornwall. It was the first major international trip by the current President of the United States, after 120 days in office, but the change of mood since taking over from his predecessor has been widely remarked upon. “America is back”, said Joe Biden, underscoring his administration’s more positive global attitude.
The topics for discussion included the coronavirus pandemic, with G7 leaders collectively promising to supply over one billion vaccine doses for less wealthy nations; the need for stronger and swifter collective action to…
We end the legal term with a roundup covering a range of institutional failures concerning the BBC, the Home Office, the Police, and the Post Office. Looks like they’re all going to need to pull their socks up and try a bit harder next term.
Media and communications
Dyson investigation report
Lord Dyson, former Supreme Court Justice (and a former member of the Council of ICLR) was asked to investigate the background to the “sensational” interview by Martin Bashir of HRH Diana, Princess of Wales that was aired on 20 November 1995, and in particular the way faked bank statements purporting to show payments by Penfolds Consultants and News International into the bank account of Alan Waller, a former employee of Earl Spencer, Princess Diana’s brother, were used to induce her consent to the interview.
Lord Dyson’s Report has provoked a good deal of news coverage and comment, much of it…
