Tag: Courts
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A Message to You, Rudy
That is one freefall from grace. No, not Trump’s impending evisceration at the hands of every gagging investigator on the planet, but Rudy Giuliani’s personal chute-less nosedive. After 9/11 this was the guy America embraced, and deservedly so for his leadership. Then he hitched his cart to the Trump horse, and the rest as they…
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Bye, Den
It’s customary for the US Presidential Election to be followed by a transition period, but in this context, you have to wonder whether there would be any point in it. Hard to imagine that Joe Biden will have too much interest in slicing tee-offs, spaffing investor cash, and grabbing pussy. ‘Stop the count!’ was the…
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Square One
The great baseball coach Yogi Berra once said, ‘If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up someplace else’. While ‘girly rounders’ might be anathema to Boris, it must be evident that his ‘any road to nowhere’ rationale has transported us all well beyond the looking glass to a place for which alignment with…
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Britannia Waives the Rules
The current UK Government, which has been unravelling at an unparalleled rate of knots since Christmas, is about to traverse the fundamental red line of any respected nation state. They have announced that they are pondering a deliberate transgression of international law in relation to the EU Withdrawal Agreement – because it suits them. This…
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All Systems Go?
A rolling Colstone gathers no moss. And so, the debate rolls on, even if the statue itself managed only 30 metres. It is clear that opinion is divided on events, which is fine because what comes next is what counts. But for the moment, let’s consider the now infamous petition for removal. Now, that did…
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One Rule for Them…
…and another rule for us. Arguably the most divisive of discourses, and indeed it is by definition. It’s why Cummings is still wriggling to get out from under a steaming pile. Yet, one essential factor in the rule of law entitles everybody to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Everybody. So, did Big Dom…
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Clap Doubt
The 8pm clap from Westminster Bridge on Thursday. Flashing blue lamps from rows of emergency vehicles and officers standing shoulder to shoulder mingling with the assembled crowds to offer their own tribute to the NHS. The Police Commissioner was leading the throbbing mass to boot. And at a stroke, we witnessed the most public flouting…
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Deflection Reflection
Yesterday, while pondering on the ongoing coronadebacle and how we got to where we are, I recalled Hitler’s Enabling Law (Ermächtigungsgesetz) of 1933 which carried a formal title of Gesetz zur Behebung der Not von Volk und Reich (Law to Remedy the Distress of People and Reich). It’s the kind of historical snippet that is never…
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Take a Step Back, Please…
Well. After a few days of headless-chicken coppering in the new corona state, constabularies around the country have taken a momentous step. They’re actually going to read the 350-page Coronavirus Act in order to understand exactly what the law says. Or at least their Legal Directors are. It beggars belief that they weren’t all over…
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Barbie Queues
Hot on the heels of my recent concerns about the surrender of rights comes a story from Coventry where a 20-strong barbecue was dispersed by police whose decisive stroke was to overturn the barbie with a sharp dig to the ribs (crispy pork, of course). Perhaps they’d heard that the burgers needed flipping? Now, if…
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