tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-345884162011-08-17T04:11:36.886+01:00attorney general of the webCarl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5071100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-80227463902469524762009-08-05T21:58:00.004+01:002009-08-05T22:18:12.732+01:00

I've been planning a move to Wordpress for some time - and to a new domain, headoflegal.com. It's not perfect, but it is good enough now I think to tell you about the move, and make the change now it's August.It feels like moving home - it is moving home in a way. I'm very sad to leave this old blogspot place behind, and you may be as fond of it as I am. Possibly. But new is good, onwards and

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-72536350643956588692009-08-04T12:56:00.006+01:002009-08-04T13:20:33.037+01:00

Last week's Court of Appeal judgment in Metrobus v UNITE must make frustrating reading for the union's officials: it upholds King J's grant of an injunction preventing bus drivers from striking in Croydon, Crawley and Orpington last autumn on the basis, firstly that UNITE had not promptly informed Metrobus of the result of its strike ballot, and secondly that its strike notice did not give

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-18191100559531839772009-07-31T18:01:00.004+01:002009-07-31T18:05:32.870+01:00

Earlier this week Charon interviewed Lord Falconer about his attempt to amend the law to legalise assisted suicide in some cases - they also discussed the new Supreme Court. It's a good listen, timed perfectly for this week with the Purdy judgment being the Law Lords' last.You can hear the podcast here.

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-3108666171756933442009-07-31T11:12:00.003+01:002009-07-31T14:35:12.911+01:00

I've been slow in reacting to the Lords' final judgment yesterday in R (Purdy) v DPP, partly because I was in Cambridge, but partly because I've been worrying at the judgment since I heard the news reports yesterday, and even more so since I read it. I've been worrying about what's wrong with it. Because I think something is wrong, though I admit I've not found it easy to pin down.For the

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-11171994198207663652009-07-29T10:39:00.003+01:002009-07-29T10:57:47.646+01:00

Liverpool City council has claimed that the population of the city has now stabilised after decades of decline - but this case last week shows the effects of that decline still cause problems, as the Council had to decide which of a number of schools to close. It also shows the limitations of judicial review and human rights, which are not necessarily the trump cards local campaigners sometimes

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-37562597884893606002009-07-29T10:17:00.004+01:002009-07-29T10:24:37.572+01:00

I'm delighted to say that LawMinx has awarded me one of her "blawggies" for being even better than Melvyn Bragg, which is very nice indeed. I have to thank Blogger (even though I'm going to desert them as soon as I can work Thesis for Wordpress), Gray's Inn library, my agent, my parents, my toy cat and you, dear reader.While I'm self-indulgently on distinctions for this blog, let me also remind

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-47848788442328600742009-07-28T14:17:00.005+01:002009-07-28T14:44:10.048+01:00

Lord Lester, writing in the Guardian today, explains why he resigned as the government's independent adviser on constitutional change. I have some sympathy for Lord Lester - he had the experience (that many civil servants have had) of finding out his role and position was in reality quite different from the one he was offered, and of discovering that ministers were not so committed to

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-38867393699984511592009-07-28T12:53:00.002+01:002009-07-28T13:24:14.260+01:00

The Court of Appeal has given judgment today in SRM Global Master Fund v HM Treasury - the human rights challenge by Northern Rock shareholders to the government's compensation scheme on nationalisation.The complaint was based on the article 1 Protocol 1 Convention right to protection of property. The system for calculating compensation, so the argument went, was set up under section 5(4) of the

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-67795224988817784172009-07-25T12:28:00.005+01:002009-07-25T12:37:33.422+01:00

I'm encouraging readers to vote for their fave political blogs in TotalPolitics magazine's poll - there's a button on the right to make it even easier. You have to name ten blogs in order of preference, so it needs a bit of thinking about.And TotalPolitics sees law as a subcategory in its political blogs directory, so you can even vote for Head of Legal if you like. I notice CharonQC is in there

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-55516716206804608792009-07-24T07:08:00.002+01:002009-07-24T07:52:17.298+01:00

Last month, when talking about the big Californian case about Proposition 8, I mentioned the unexploded bomb created by articles 2, 3 and 4 of Directive 2004/38 on the free movement rights of EU citizens and their families: they give an unconditional right of free movement within Europe not only to every EU citizen but to his or her spouse - a term which is undefined.I don't think anyone intended

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-7962475189357918492009-07-23T15:38:00.002+01:002009-07-23T15:53:46.493+01:00

Charon interviewed me today: we spoke about the Supreme Court, its origins and what we expect from it, and whether the superficial change from House of Lords to Supreme Court will bring with it more significant changes, such as the politicisation of appointments, Sotomayor-style confirmation hearings before the Justice Select Committee, and increased judicial assertiveness as against Parliament

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-3924008658824242672009-07-23T07:00:00.001+01:002009-07-23T07:00:03.291+01:00

I seriously dislike the word governance. Okay, it has some reasonable uses: in the phrase corporate governance, for instance, in which it has a useful sense of oversight from on high. Otherwise, it's unbearably pompous. I also suspect politicians who use it have reached the "statesman" stage in which they're more interested in their international contacts and memoirs than in achieving anything in

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-43013182064676395652009-07-22T18:41:00.004+01:002009-07-22T18:51:28.007+01:00

I often agree with John Bolch about sharia law; always, in fact. So it's no surprise I should agree with his post yesterday about the claim made by an Islamic "scholar" that sharia law doesn't discriminate against women. The fact that such a claim can even be made is enough to make you shake your head, or sigh.I think John's quite right to call this chap deluded if he can't see the inequality

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-66458999808649951432009-07-22T13:02:00.002+01:002009-07-22T13:26:26.535+01:00

A couple of years ago, it was all the rage to worry about the role of the Attorney General, and the government even consulted on the possibility of publishing the Law Officers' advice. You can see the results of the consultation here, from paragraph 84. Most respondents said there shouldn't be publication, generally speaking - a view I agree with - although it might be fair to say that many of

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-31737056016378043332009-07-21T11:52:00.003+01:002009-08-04T02:27:05.706+01:00

The Culture, Media and Sport committee, inquiring into allegations about the News of the World's hacking into people's voicemail, is hearing evidence from its editor today; proceedings have been livened up somewhat by News International's lawyer's objection to Tom Watson's participation in the inquiry. The argument is that, since he is currently suing News International, his participation is

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-29313502510179840132009-07-10T07:07:00.000+01:002009-07-10T08:09:12.900+01:00

If the Guardian's right that News Group Newspapers have illegally hacked, or paid investigators to illegally hack, the mobile phone messages of celebrities, then those investigators and journalists may have committed the offence of unlawful interception under section 1 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. On the face of it the offence seems to cover only the intentional

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-51144492766917367022009-07-03T12:07:00.002+01:002009-07-03T12:35:32.013+01:00

Harrow Council has abandoned its prosecution of Mrinal Patel today. No surprise there, then. I expressed myself in moderate terms while criminal proceedings were under way, but summonsing her under the Fraud Act 2006 always looked dodgy - it's difficult to see how you can really call a school place property.I agree with Harrow Council that some offence needs to be drafted to cover this. As I

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-7955074932572447922009-07-03T09:15:00.003+01:002009-07-03T09:15:01.155+01:00

It's been widely reported that Jack Straw has turned down parole for Ronald Biggs.For the parole board to recommend his release may be humane in the individual case, but it would not be right in the broader public interest to release him: I agree with the decision Jack Straw has taken. As he's rightly said, Biggs would have been free long ago, and could walk into any pub in Margate or anywhere

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-31079966228020245642009-07-02T14:00:00.000+01:002009-07-02T14:00:33.030+01:00

On Tuesday the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the Lisbon Treaty is fundamentally compatible with the German Constitution - the Grundgesetz or Basic Law. The judgment is vast and verbose (German/English) but here's a (still quite verbose) summary of it (German/English).The court sees Lisbon as substantially increasing EU competence, but not to such a point as to extinguish German

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-9378241597537637342009-07-01T08:37:00.002+01:002009-07-01T10:34:38.104+01:00

I'm grateful to John Bolch (again) for his reminder last week about what happened to Lord Lester's Cohabitation Bill: it ran out of time, basically, after committee stage in the Lords on 30 April, and since the government opposes it, it's not going anywhere.John and I disagree sharply on this Bill: since I was always against it, I'm delighted it ran into the sand. And perhaps it's not surprising

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-14728999138415840452009-06-30T20:19:00.010+01:002009-07-01T02:20:56.471+01:00

I'm always amused when anyone - often it's some kind of campaign group - claims that this or that Parliamentary bill "could" breach human rights. As often as not, it's simply a tactical claim: whoever it is opposes the measure on political grounds (which is entirely fair enough) and tries to use a legal objection to back their opposition. The worst recent example of this was the CEHR's threats

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-56917366222063587602009-06-28T14:08:00.004+01:002009-06-28T14:56:56.573+01:00

I don't propose to comment at any length on this Lords judgment from the week before last. It has interesting facts, and signals that the BBC are planning to screen an interesting programme about possible "wrong acquittals", which in my view are miscarriages of justice just as serious as wrongful convictions. But the human rights principles applied in it are unremarkable.The case makes me think

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-35927821680662970902009-06-18T17:29:00.005+01:002009-06-18T18:03:02.563+01:00

Yesterday's judgment in this case is interesting: their Lordships have decided that Kerrie Gray, who was injured in the Ladbroke Grove rail crash of 1999, cannot recover damages in negligence from Thames Trains and Network Rail for the consequences of his own criminal acts. Following the crash he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression; one night he stabbed a man to death. He

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-70794419860837876062009-06-17T19:27:00.004+01:002009-06-17T21:04:30.208+01:00

I admire and respect the professional mainstream press; but the behaviour of the Times in "outing" the Orwell Prize winning blogger NightJack has dented that respect considerably. Here's Eady J's judgment, refusing the injunction the blogger sought.I don't blame Eady J; I think his ruling may well be sound in law, although if he is right that the identity of an anonymous "whistle-blowing" blog is

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-86533233024152801952009-06-17T17:56:00.004+01:002009-06-17T18:31:19.391+01:00

I said I'd write about the case; and now, finally, I am doing. Here's last week's judgment about control order. There's also the podcast I recorded with Charon QC about it, don't forget.I must admit, I was surprised by this judgment: I wrote eighteen months ago about a similar case, also involving one of these appellants (AF), which at the time I thought had much the same result as last week's

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-72619889002198488282009-06-13T13:55:00.002+01:002009-06-13T14:26:04.504+01:00

Charon interviewed me this morning about Wednesday's House of Lords judgment in Home Secretary v AF, in which they ruled, applying the ECtHR judgment in A v UK, that there is a breach of the article 6 Convention right in proceedings under the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 if a control order is imposed and, on appeal to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission a "controlee" is unable to

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-28322583886194971352009-06-04T18:16:00.003+01:002009-06-04T18:29:51.077+01:00

I must post briefly on something that's annoyed me: George Alagiah just said, summarising the day's headlines on BBC News, that the murderers Sonnex and Farmer were sentenced to 40 and 35 years respectively. They weren't. They were sentenced to serve a minimum of 40 and of 35 years respectively. They could serve longer. I can understand the parents feeling even that's not enough, but it'd be

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-6622320105261013292009-06-04T11:25:00.007+01:002009-06-04T22:18:15.466+01:00

I'm quite interested in the Court of Appeal's recent decision in this tax case, about Vodafone's attempt to structure its takeover of Mannesman in the most tax-efficient way, using a Luxembourg-registered holding company to take advantage of lower rates in that country. The issue was whether the British tax legislation on "controlled foreign companies", designed to enable the taxman to collect

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-83419176854916245572009-06-03T14:02:00.005+01:002009-06-03T15:09:03.812+01:00

Chris Hawes at The Wardman Wire has written an excellent piece today on constitutional reform arguing against some of the fads of the moment, like proportional representation and fixed-term parliaments. I've already written about fixed terms; and I agree with him about PR, too. The right place for it in our system would be in the House of Lords. To have the Commons elected by PR would risk a

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-38994285691573431302009-06-02T10:10:00.007+01:002009-06-02T11:18:34.504+01:00

You may remember that last week Mrs. Patel appeared at Harrow Magistrates' Court; she's being prosecuted by Harrow Council under section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006, the accusation being that she gave a false address in order to get her son into a particular school. She's pleaded not guilty, and says she was genuinely living at her mother's at the relevant time.First of all, aside from this

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-86540841258941345742009-06-01T13:39:00.004+01:002009-06-06T01:33:43.951+01:00

Last Tuesday, the California Supreme Court decided to uphold "Proposition 8", an amendment to the state's constitution passed by a referendum last November. Here's the opinion, and a press release summarising it. Proposition 8 amends the constitution so as to restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples; it was a response to last year's decision by the court giving gay couple a constitutional right

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-29890826281811469172009-05-28T16:57:00.007+01:002009-06-06T01:35:39.828+01:00

One of the strangest aspects of the MP's expenses scandal has been the way politicians have tried to move public discussion on to questions of sweeping constitutional reform. It seems to me it was the greed of MPs themselves - though not all of them, of course - and the laxness of the system they created for themselves, that caused this abuse of public funds, and that it was the attempt by some

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-15195141076068599332009-05-28T15:10:00.000+01:002009-05-28T15:29:38.438+01:00

Since last week's judgment in Smith - in which the Court of Appeal ruled that the Human Rights Act, in particular article 2, applies to British troops even on the battlefield, I've been thinking about the judgment (one reason why I've not blogged for several days) and I'm troubled by it. The Court's conclusion - that British forces themselves are always personally within British jurisdiction,

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-2543687767077598072009-05-18T17:08:00.002+01:002009-05-18T17:24:17.956+01:00

The Speaker's statement today was an embarrassing affair: he read an apology to the public over MPs' expenses, saying words that seemed not to come from his heart. He then said he'd act by summoning yet another meeting, weeks if not months too late, before proceeding to ignore entirely the issue of his own future. In responding to members' points of order - no actual questions being permitted -

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-20296110531946577512009-05-14T22:29:00.003+01:002009-05-14T22:33:26.583+01:00

Charon interviewed me today about the MPs' offences scandal - including potential criminal liability under the Fraud Act 2006 - and about the Speaker's decision to call in the police, not to investigate MPs' claims but astonishingly to investigate the leak to the Telegraph. Listen to the podcast here.

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-23533140807789919392009-05-14T07:17:00.002+01:002009-05-14T12:57:23.985+01:00

This morning the Telegraph reports on an expenses claim by Elliot Morley for mortgage interest he never owed; and for the first time, this report mentions potential offences, with a quote from solicitor Steven Barker, quite rightly saying that any offence that an MP might have committed in these circumstances would be under the Fraud Act 2006, or else under section 17 of the Theft Act 1968.Under

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-80288691445986302942009-05-13T18:56:00.002+01:002009-05-13T19:08:38.714+01:00

Last week, Charon interviewed Sara Chandler, who's director or the pro-bono unit at the College of Law, about the situation of lawyers and other human rights advocates in Colombia. Sara was one of over forty British lawyers who visited Colombia last year as part of an international delegation of lawyers who investigated the shocking situation faced by Colombian lawyers and human rights advocates

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-70682428919093942672009-05-08T16:40:00.003+01:002009-05-08T17:11:13.602+01:00

I'm not blogging much at the moment: I'm sorry, teaching commitments are keeping me away. But I must comment on an apsect of the MPs' expenses revelations carried by the Telegraph today.BBC News is reporting that "the Commons authorities" have made a complaint to the police about the leak to the Telegraph. If that's right, it must mean the Speaker has authorised getting the police involved. As

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-61344235790091067062009-05-06T15:08:00.002+01:002009-05-06T15:37:30.706+01:00

Charon QC has reported on the proposed merger of Inner and Middle Temple libraries - a depressing proposal, in my view.It cost me a lot of money to join my Inn - Gray's - at least, it seemed a lot of money back in 1992. And I'm not aware of Gray's ever having done anything for me. It certainly gave me no financial support when I desperately needed it as a bar student - preferring to help others

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-85443571616904464542009-05-01T10:36:00.007+01:002009-05-01T11:46:58.616+01:00

The family courts opened their doors to the press this week, of course - well, sort of. Afua Hirsch wrote the other day about what she couldn't report, and Natasha Phillips thought the change was much ado about nothing. John Bolch has reservations, summarised initial reactions and told some home truths.I must admit, my initial reaction to this change was a slightly typical lawyer's knee-jerk:

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-39052993612693301132009-04-30T14:42:00.008+01:002009-04-30T15:55:46.806+01:00

The Lords gave judgment yesterday in this complex case, about confiscation of the proceeds of drugs offences. The main issue is actually whether the judge ruling on confiscation can take into account criminal conduct that the defendant has never been charged with, but which the judge thinks is proven beyond reasonable doubt (see para. 85 of the judgement). Their Lordships all agreed the judge

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-73639447979481843022009-04-29T12:29:00.010+01:002009-04-29T15:36:24.914+01:00

Both Pub Philosopher and Paul Waugh have noticed something about the Equality Bill: the government's explanatory note to clause 10 (scroll up the page for the note), which defines "belief" for the purposes of preventing discrimination on grounds of religion or belief, says that belief does not cover political beliefs such as Communism, Darwinism, Fascism and Socialism. Pub Philosopher reckons

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-64407162823248308252009-04-28T15:28:00.006+01:002009-04-28T21:11:54.038+01:00

The Equality Bill published yesterday does quite a lot of things: it aims to replace existing discrimination law on sex, race, age and so on, and update it, harmonising the protection given to each "protected characteristic", which in many cases means extending protection. For instance, something that's been hardly commented upon is the widening of the public sector equality duty in clause 143 to

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-81277263040968002302009-04-27T17:04:00.006+01:002009-04-27T18:06:08.282+01:00

It's a month since the government published its green paper on rights and responsibilities, and I've written nothing about it yet; I've been trying to gather the strength. I also managed to miss the justice minister responsible, Michael Wills, gaving a lecture about it last week to the British institute of Human Rights. Reading the lecture, it's clear he feels on the defensive: and he's right to.

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-25279353786393348242009-04-19T09:17:00.001+01:002009-04-19T09:17:00.238+01:00

A couple of days ago I was interviewed by Natasha Phillips of Divorce Manual - we spoke for an hour about, gosh, lots of things: my legal career, how I got interested in human rights, the Wright judicial review case on the system for protecting vulnerable adults, Lord Lester's Cohabitation Bill, Rowan Williams, Lord Phillips and sharia, plus my favourite human right. It was a lot of fun.You can

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-50273937682908453892009-04-18T20:04:00.002+01:002009-04-18T20:09:04.207+01:00

Charon QC interviewed me today about the Damian Green affair: we spoke about how the leak investigation began, the DPP's decision not to prosecute, Jacqui Smith's responsibility and vulnerability and the questions she needs to answer if she's to show she did not allow the police to be used for political ends.Listen to the podcast here.

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-9358547168768120812009-04-18T11:24:00.003+01:002009-04-18T13:32:00.301+01:00

I've consistently argued that ministers, not the police, should be the focus of scrutiny in the Greengate/Galleygate affair. The initial controversy was about the arrest of Damian Green, and search of his office: that's of course the first any of us outside the Whitehall/Scotland Yard loop knew of the leak investigation - and it was shocking - but the police followed the correct legal procedure

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-79992532600683587262009-04-17T11:33:00.002+01:002009-04-17T11:40:38.127+01:00

I was interviewed on the Damian Green affair for today's 5 Live morning reports, which went out at the crack of dawn: you can listen here for the next week. The Damian Green item starts at 15'30".I now have twelve minutes of minifame left.

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-10925878451394276072009-04-17T07:00:00.001+01:002009-04-17T11:47:29.337+01:00

The more you reflect on Greengate/Galleygate, the more serious it seems. The charge laid by Damian Green is that ministers have acted in an authoritarian manner; understandably from his point of view he sees that as illustrating this government's instincts.The way I'd put it is this: Jacqui Smith is under suspicion of having used the police as a political tool; of having allowed her own anger and

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-12620566973148765202009-04-16T12:24:00.002+01:002009-04-16T12:45:47.715+01:00

So now we know that no charges will be brought against either Damian Green or Christopher Galley. Here is the CPS statement explaining its decision.The real point about this scandal is not the conduct of the police or their search of Damian Green's parliamentary office - they were told by government that national security was at risk, and acted lawfully in their search. To focus on them is to

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-76681778262430103932009-04-16T09:48:00.004+01:002009-04-16T11:07:47.822+01:00

Later this morning I expect the CPS to announce that they will not prosecute either Damian Green or Chris Galley for misconduct in public office or conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office. Readers of this blog will know that I think the initial bringing in of the police, and the arrests, were a scandal - a scandal obscured by the silly, wrong-headed "controversy" about the entirely

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-73387778388601215962009-04-08T07:21:00.002+01:002009-04-28T15:23:50.670+01:00

I'd entirely missed Lord Hoffmann's recent speech about the European Court of Human Rights: thanks to Afua Hirsch for drawing attention to it. In my view this is a brave and important speech, and I applaud him.Let me stress that I don't agree with everything he said. Far from it. In fact, there are quite a few things in it that I disagree sharply with. Most crucially, Lord Hoffmann seems to

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-34485511113571884302009-04-03T18:49:00.003+01:002009-04-03T19:27:42.414+01:00

I'd never normally be interested in this story in the Telegraph about Marc Beaumont. To be honest, I feel sorry for anyone who has to face allegations like this - and they are only allegations - especially if they're being reported in the media. So my natural sympathies are with him. Anyway, I wouldn't have been interested enough to write about him, with a link to the report.But people's

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-43827237268719475392009-04-01T10:34:00.005+01:002009-04-01T10:52:31.291+01:00

Following his success as David Frost in Frost/Nixon and most recently as Brian Clough in The Damned United, for his next impersonation of a famous figure Michael Sheen will turn to law, BBC Films and Left Bank Films have announced. Sheen is to play the role of Lord Phillips, soon to preside over the new UK Supreme Court, in a film once again scripted by Peter Morgan. Under the working title Posh

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-50132728908572991052009-03-31T18:32:00.009+01:002009-03-31T19:09:19.755+01:00

Last week the House of Representatives in Washington passed a Bill taxing at about 90% the bonuses received by employees of firms given $5 Billion or more in taxpayer support. Here's a Washington Post story explaining the Bill. The background is the outrage American voters and politicians felt at the bonuses paid to staff at AIG, rescued by the government last year, but the Bill goes much

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-40281041889499992402009-03-17T13:35:00.002Z2009-03-17T13:36:45.865Z

Last week in Strasbourg, the Times lost its claim in the European Court of Human Rights that the way libel law in the UK applies to online newspaper archives breaches the right to freedom of expression under article 10 of the European Convention.The background to this is a libel case brought against the Times by the Russian businessman Grigori Loutchansky, who complained first about articles

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-36796860604874735332009-03-16T13:48:00.002Z2009-03-16T14:10:46.354Z

I'm delighted that, finally, the Pakistani government has given way to pressure from lawyers and Nawaz Sharif's PML-N party, and decided to reinstate the Chief Justice Iktikhar Chaudhry and the remaining handful of judges deposed by General Musharraf when he suspended the constitution in 2007. The government should have done this long ago: if it feels weakened by its capitulation today, it has

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-6077617365931760442009-03-13T15:19:00.007Z2009-03-13T16:33:43.896Z

I'm grateful to John Bolch at Family Lore for pointing out that Lord Lester's Cohabitation Bill has its second reading in the Lords today. Lord Lester's proposal, supported by Resolution, is aimed at protecting people who've lived together with a partner without getting married, and who are in hardship when they split up. The idea is to enable anyone who's cohabited for two years or who's

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-52896204032857994042009-03-11T20:49:00.000Z2009-03-11T20:57:23.506Z

Max Mosley appeared before the Culture, Media and Sport Committee yesterday to talk about the exposure of his private life by the News of the World last year, his successful privacy action and the law on privacy generally.Mosley argued that newspapers should be required, before publishing stories like his, to contact the subject of the planned revelations before publication; he says it's

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-2062452959147297402009-03-09T07:00:00.198Z2009-03-09T10:35:54.973Z

Blawg Review is the weekly blog carnival for law blogs - I'm pleased and honoured to be today's host.The big legal news globally last week was the International Criminal Court's indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. CCJHR Blog brought us the news, while at International Law Observer, Jernej Letnar Černič doubted the ICC's pretrial

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-41658361778688157802009-03-05T10:35:00.002Z2009-03-05T11:01:43.413Z

Anna Raccoon and Dizzy have both expressed their surprise that the Solicitor General Vera Baird QC appears to have commented on Anna's blog: she was correcting the fairly common belief that Lord Ahmed was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving. He was in fact convicted of dangerous driving, pure and simple.Just in case anyone thinks I'm inclined to support or defend Lord Ahmed in any way

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-12679682851076151602009-03-03T18:02:00.003Z2009-03-03T19:19:21.922Z

A lot's being written and said on the airwaves this week about how lawyers are supposedly crawling over Sir Fred Goodwin's exceedingly generous pension from RBS. Well, I'll leave it to the pensions experts to speculate about whether his pension was discretionary and whether any attempt to stop his money under existing law could succeed. What I'm more interested in is whether the government could

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-73287482783962496092009-02-27T17:01:00.003Z2009-02-27T17:06:10.236Z

Once again I was talking to Charon today, this time about Jack Straw's veto on the disclosure of those pesky Iraq minutes. Listen here.

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-19137733301370461262009-02-25T14:05:00.007Z2009-02-25T16:48:09.509Z

In the end, then, the minutes of Cabinet meetings at which the decision to invade Iraq was taken will not be released; Jack Straw has invoked section 53 of the Freedom of Information Act, thus vetoing disclosure in spite of the ruling of the Information Tribunal by a two to one majority that the Information Commissioner's decision, that the minutes be released, should stand. Here's Jack Straw's

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-89630874985075435622009-02-19T17:03:00.003Z2009-02-20T08:24:11.049Z

Charon spoke to me again this afternoon, this time about Abu Qatada - the Lords ruling on Wednesday and today's ruling from Strasbourg awarding him compensation. We talk a bit about the man himself and the whole sage of his life in Britain, what evidence the courts have seen of his role in international jihad, and the rights and wrongs of the way each court has dealt with him. Light, I hope, was

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-78626330441638356522009-02-19T12:28:00.004Z2009-02-20T08:25:29.806Z

It's all about him at the moment, isn't it? Now, the ECtHR has decided to give him €2,800 to compensate him for his detention in Belmarsh prison from 2002 to 2005.There'll be strong feelings about this ruling, both from those who think Abu Qatada should have been deported years ago regardless of human rights law, and from those who believe Britain's treatment of him has been scandalous from first

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-51368830810455149452009-02-19T07:30:00.004Z2009-02-20T08:24:58.138Z

I stuck to legal analysis in my last post on Abu Qatada, because I think that's more interesting than writing about how wicked he is and/or how wicked torture is. But reading this extraordinary piece by Victoria Brittain at Comment is Free, I feel a duty to respond.It's fair enough for people to be concerned about our government and courts potentially turning a blind eye to torture abroad. But

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-22928794047411475222009-02-18T16:46:00.001Z2009-02-20T08:24:42.689Z

The Lords today have ruled today, unanimously, in RB (Algeria) and OO (Jordan) v Home Secretary that Algerian terror suspects and the Jordanian Abu Qatada can lawfully be deported to their home countries; to do so would not breach the Article 3 Convention right not to be tortured because the UK can properly rely on the assurances made by Algeria and Jordan that they will not be mistreated. Nor

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-41614267516926880472009-02-13T18:37:00.003Z2009-02-13T18:53:57.119Z

The extension of bail for Christopher Galley and Damian Green, is, according to the CPS, to enable them to "resolve issues of Parliamentary privilege".It'll be a pity if this renews the hopeless debate about the entirely lawful search of Green's office, which many thought, wrongly, breached Parliamentary privilege. What I think the CPS must be considering is whether they can probably use Damian

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-12204189986537772792009-02-13T16:39:00.001Z2009-02-13T16:52:08.117Z

Both the Telegraph and the Daily Mail reported earlier this week about an evangelical Christian who's been taken off the fostering register by her local authority after a sixteen-year-old girl, brought up as a Muslim, converted to Christianity and was baptised while in her care. The foster mother is now apparently considering legal action, presumably a judicial review alleging the council's

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-21745834046457525042009-02-13T13:54:00.001Z2009-02-13T13:57:39.084Z

This morning Charon QC spoke to me about Geert Wilders, and my view that his exclusion is unlawful - it was a good chance for me to put together all the strands of my analysis, as set out my previous posts, and add yet another thought flowing from the fact, that emerged yesterday, that Wilders seems to have been in the UK only weeks ago and without causing trouble.I think that seriously

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-3445786935206237862009-02-12T17:09:00.001Z2009-02-12T17:11:10.772Z

I've not heard any comment about this either from Liberty, or from David Davis. Why not? It's a major free speech issue.

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-39208595742878785582009-02-12T08:18:00.000Z2009-02-12T08:18:00.422Z

I'm pleased to announce that I'm now a contributor to The Wardman Wire, the multi-author political and media discussion site edited by Matt Wardman. As well as sharing my legal analysis with a wider audience, I dare say I'll be taking my wig off too and writing about things extra-legal.

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-81820117830810851442009-02-11T21:50:00.005Z2009-02-11T22:25:57.530Z

In my previous post on this I forgot another reason why the decision to exclude Geert Wilders from the UK breaches EU law. It's arbitrary - in this sense of treating Wilders differently from UK nationals.One of the important European Court cases on free movement is Case C-115/81 Adoui and Cornuaille in which two French women complained about Belgium's attempts to get rid of them on the grounds

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-47848747707869899152009-02-11T15:31:00.006Z2009-02-12T11:21:23.005Z

As has been widely reported, the Home Office has decided to exclude the controversial Dutch MP Geert Wilders from the UK; here's the letter it sent him notifying the decision. Many people will be troubled by this: there has already been criticism of his exclusion from Melanie Phillips and Daniel Hannan, and no doubt there will be more. I'm troubled, too.I want to focus on lawfulness of the

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-87575770497362901532009-02-10T19:21:00.005Z2009-02-10T19:48:00.635Z

Like many people my instinctive reaction is to be dismayed at the news that the head teacher of a primary school in Sheffield has resigned after her proposal to end separate Muslim assemblies brought accusations of racism. The city council's statement that her resignation has nothing whatever to do with this row seems to me barely credible.It's important in reacting to this however not to assume

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-48431897111960069732009-02-10T07:04:00.000Z2009-02-10T07:04:00.543Z

I'm interested that Lord Goldsmith, writing in yesterday's Independent, essentially agrees with me on the Binyam Mohamed case:That the High Court finally agreed – with some apparent regret – with the Foreign Secretary in believing the preservation of a fully functioning intelligence-sharing relationship between the UK and US outweighed the necessity to make public information about alleged

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-14803189376675146092009-02-06T12:03:00.002Z2009-02-06T12:13:53.986Z

It's been a tremendous week for protesting women, not just because Kay Tabernacle and the Aldermaston Women's Peace Camp beat John Hutton, but also because Women on Waves have beaten Portugal in Strasbourg. It was a breach of article 10 to prevent them from sailing into Portugal in 2004 to campaign for the legalisation of abortion. That campaign has been won now; there was a referendum in 2007.

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-47214958716648242182009-02-06T09:52:00.003Z2009-02-06T10:30:20.769Z

Yesterday the Court of Appeal gave judgment in this case about the right to freedom of expression - specifically to protest at the Aldermaston atomic weapons establishment. The protest in question is the Aldermaston Women's Peace Camp; and the human rights issue arises because in 2007 the Defence Secretary made byelaws under section 14 of the Military Lands Act 1892 (not I think 1992, which is I

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-31346643352589650552009-02-05T14:30:00.007Z2009-02-11T23:46:50.205Z

Here it is. I think it's a good judgment, and I'm glad I was cautious last night about joining the chorus of outrage: it does not seem obvious to me that justice requires the 25-line summary of evidence the judges have referred to be made public regardless of American concerns about secrecy. Binyam Mohamed I think has the disclosure he needs for the purposes of his habeas corpus application and

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-69258807414991881942009-02-04T22:35:00.003Z2009-02-04T23:13:51.724Z

It's difficult, without seeing the judges' ruling, to be completely sure that the information Thomas LJ and Lloyd-Jones J would like to publish relating to the treatment of Binyam Mohamed must be published by a British court: originally disclosure was sought in the interests of Mohamed's defence before an American military commission, but now that prosecution has been halted of course. There is

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-73013361629999930462009-02-04T15:34:00.003Z2009-02-04T16:10:27.238Z

I must admit to having some sympathy for the workers at Lindsey oil refinery who protested against the shipping in of Italian workers to carry out work there; and with those Labour MPs like Jon Cruddas who have called for a change to the European legislation which undoubtedly permits what the company in question, IREM, have done here - the posted workers directive. According to the European

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-47908623611525623392009-01-28T07:42:00.003Z2009-01-28T07:42:00.761Z

I'm way behind Charon and John Bolch with this story, but must throw in my tuppenceworth. It seems that Lord Hope and his pals on the well-upholstered putative Supreme Court bench are unhappy about the address of the new court, in Little George Street, SW1, and with the domain name the court will have on the web.I have no sympathy at all with their no-longer-to-be-Lordships on the physical

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-7025869755148567192009-01-26T20:01:00.003Z2009-01-26T23:24:22.871Z

It was a jolly good week in court last week for Basildon Council. First, they won against the Equality and Human Rights Commission in this case about travellers in the Court of Appeal; then they followed it up with this win against the golf club in the High Court. All sections of society must tremble before the might of Basildon's legal department, for whom everything is going to plan just now.

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-86241843106964348222009-01-23T17:18:00.003Z2009-01-23T17:26:19.597Z

Oh no! She's going! Not quite yet, but the French justice minister Rachida Dati will leave Nicolas Sarkozy's government in a matter of weeks in order to run in the European elections. She's being reshuffled out, basically. Shame. She may be an aggro-magnet, but she's been great fun right up to the end, coming back to work just five days after giving birth. The father's identity is a source of

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-68128003288527298092009-01-22T13:29:00.007Z2009-01-22T14:32:22.033Z

The House of Lords gave judgment yesterday in this human rights judicial review about provisional listing under Part VII of the Care Standards Act 2000, which sets up a scheme for "listing" people thought unsuitable to work with children and vulnerable adults - and preventing those listed from working in a care position.Before I go on, I'd better declare an interest: back in 1999 and 2000 I was

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-25425066307174156742009-01-22T12:14:00.004Z2009-01-22T14:25:20.532Z

He's done it again, then. It was obviously Chief Justice Roberts's fault; he was the only who put the adverb faithfully at the end of the second clause, rather than at the beginning, as it should be. Perhaps it was some mad fear of a split infinitive, or something. I bet Fowler would have diagnosed that. Anyway, an "abundance of caution" means they've redone it so as to ward off crazy

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-34058053962073104292009-01-21T21:45:00.006Z2009-01-21T22:01:45.718Z

Here we go again. It only seems ten minutes since I was exasperated by the Damian Green affair, specifically the way MPs, media and blogs all focused quite wrongly on the extremely lawful and proper search of Damian Green's Westminster office, while ignoring the highly improper arrest of the MP and the civil servant who leaked to him. Well, now we have another MP complaining about the police

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-77358174811118802752009-01-21T13:29:00.002Z2009-01-21T13:42:54.828Z

This libel judgment from the High Court last week caught my eye: Eady J has struck out a libel claim about a blog comment under the Jameel jurisdiction to protect the court from abuse of process where there is no substantial publication of the allegedly defamatory stuff.The case was about a blog, specifically comments made on the claimant's own blog, which he didn't remove. Essentially the

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-19306217731146852012009-01-20T11:26:00.004Z2009-01-20T11:42:37.232Z

It's going to be... Dominic Grieve. Still. In addition to his post as shadow Justice secretary.As I've commented at Iain Dale's Diary, I suppose it makes sense in a way for Justice and the shadow Attorney's role to be combined if the Conservatives really want to make progress on their "British Bill of Rights" idea - there is a big legal component to this as well as policy, and perhaps having one

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-53478026454735339252009-01-20T11:15:00.004Z2009-01-20T13:11:38.018Z

I know surprisingly little about John Mortimer, and can't claim to have any special interest in him: I never read any of his books, and his apparently champagny socialism put me off him quite a bit, especially in the 1980s, when he seemed unaware of why anyone might be dissatisfied with what Labour was offering - a very "London" attitude, it seemed to me then as a northern youth. But Rumpole is

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-55758208151031836882009-01-19T16:03:00.000Z2009-01-19T16:03:00.559Z

Something I've not yet commented on since my part facultative-festive and part enforced-technological break is the welcome restoration of sense and good legal analysis to the field of religious discrimination by the Employment Appeal Tribunal, which has reversed the much-publicised but obviously wrong decision at first instance in this case. Usefully Employed ran with the story just before

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-81229511991124779952009-01-19T14:33:00.002Z2009-01-19T14:37:30.118Z

There may have been a Tory reshuffle, but I still don't know who the shadow Attorney is going to be. Lord Trimble has been suggested; Ken Clarke would be enormous fun if allowed to double up, though I expect as advice on the Lisbon Treaty, the existing EU treaties and on human rights will make the Attorney's job a key role in any Conservative government - much more important even than recent

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-79381155500963006932009-01-19T12:32:00.003Z2009-01-19T12:39:39.963Z

While I was away the redoubtable Charon QC posted an immense Don Quixote of a Blawg Review, a true monster full of digested tasties. How he does it, I don't know and nor does anyone including I think himself. Apart from the great fun of reading him and his selections, he's also providing a massive service through his Pageflakes of blawgs from all over the world - amazing! Long may he sail, reign.

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-75205482328692022192009-01-19T10:36:00.004Z2009-01-19T11:14:17.558Z

I'm a few days late in reacting to the new DPP Keir Starmer's statement that he's not opposed to televising criminal trials, subject to safeguards. I back him wholeheartedly; this has been exactly my view for years.I well remember in the days before I was a lawyer, visiting my local Crown Court in Warrington. I found the public gallery all right - it consisted of about ten chairs as I recall -

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-53952333528248788302009-01-09T19:20:00.001Z2009-01-09T19:21:20.043Z

I have a serious computer issue, which is taking time to sort - hence no normal service! Bear with me...

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-30211430622472171562008-12-24T12:18:00.001Z2008-12-24T12:19:58.538Z

The Christmas rush has, I'm afraid, "got" to this blog somewhat - sorry. It's not the greatest blogging period of the year, of course. But rest assured, normal service will be resumed as from 5 January at the latest.In the meantime - have a good time!

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-83296064498365218502008-12-12T13:47:00.004Z2008-12-12T14:04:33.004Z

It's hard to find the words for how I feel about the proposed second Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty: cynical, depressed, angry, frustrated, concerned - all those, and more. This suggestion is an absolute scandal, revealing the authoritarian instincts of political leaders in Europe, and endangering the future of the EU. Brian Cowen should be ashamed of himself, and should resign. He ought

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-82971324840836853312008-12-11T15:54:00.003Z2008-12-11T15:58:51.604Z

From reading Iain Dale's Diary I see the Tories still haven't filled their vacancy for shadow Attorney - six months seems to me a bit of a gap if you take the role at all seriously. Appointing Lord Trimble would at least show they take the job seriously now - and I think the Attorney's job could be very important if there were a Tory government, especially in contributing to European policy.

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34588416.post-48963539064076373492008-12-11T15:41:00.002Z2008-12-11T15:51:47.838Z

The Guardian today has a story about Lord Lester's disgust and disappointment as Labour's human rights record. Oh, well. You'll remember he resigned as a government adviser last month.I doubt the government is all that heartbroken at his going; they got the small amount of political kudos they wanted from his appointment last year, and could probably do without an "adviser" who wants policies

Carl Gardner, Head of Legalnoreply@blogger.com1