A brief exchange on twitter – politics.

I am not a Tory, but I do read and enjoy Iain Dales blog. I  read the transcript of John Sopel’s interview with David Cameron on The Politics today.  (See my weekly Postcard below) I was surprised at how poorly Cameron performed and was very surprised by some of the answers Cameron gave to Sopel’s [...]

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Postcard from The Staterooms-On-Sea

Dear Reader, This is my last weekend Postcard from the Staterooms-On-Sea.  I leave Chatham Maritime on the Medway for London next week; returning to live in Battersea, right on the river opposite the boat I used to live on at Cheyne Walk.  This is not a permanent return.  I feel like a Tuareg, moving my [...]

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Chilcot enquête spéciale: Non, je ne regrette rien

The BBC reports: Tony Blair has said the Iraq war made the world a safer place and he has “no regrets” about removing Saddam Hussein. The newspapers will be full of it – but after six hours watching it today, admittedly, while doing other things in parts,  Je suis fatigue. On the way out of [...]

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Wikileaks needs help: “We protect the world—but will you protect us?”

“Wikileaks has probably produced more scoops in its short life than the Washington Post has in the past 30 years ” —  The National, November 19. 2009 Wikileaks needs financial help. “The Sunshine Press (WikiLeaks) is an non-profit organization funded by human rights campaigners, investigative journalists, technologists and the general public. Through your support we [...]

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Rive Gauche: Contrition from Blair? – he may just tell us to eff off… who knows?

Friday’s Rive Gauche edition  has come around quite quickly after an extraordinary week for law news.   Today, Tony Blair  appears before the Iraq Inquiry.  He will, naturally, be thoroughly prepared.  it is unlikely the questioning will trouble him over much and, after his appearance with Fern Britton, where he said that WMD was not [...]

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Law Review: The judges lay down the law…

Judges throw out measures to freeze assets of terror suspects The Supreme Court delivered yet another defeat for the government in their latest ruling.  The Times has the full story but this list from The Times article  is a useful reminder:. Judicial defeats for terror laws 2004: House of Lords rules that the indefinite detention [...]

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Lawcast164: The legal basis for the Iraq War and Lord Goldsmith’s opinion with Carl Gardner

Lawcast164: The legal basis for the Iraq War and Lord Goldsmith’s opinion with Carl Gardner Today I am talking to Carl Gardner, a former government lawyer in Tony Blair’s administration and author of the Head of Legal blog, about the legality of the War in Iraq. The legal analysis turns on United Nations Special Resolution [...]

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Guest Post: Jane Lambert on “All Change or Not” The Bar’s Roadshow hits York.

“All Change or Not” The Bar’s Roadshow hits York. Jane Lambert Barrister NIPC Law blog On 30 Oct 2007 the Legal Services Act received Royal Assent. Part V of that Act provides a legislative framework for legal services including advocacy to be offered by businesses consisting of lawyers and non-lawyers.  Since 31 March 2009 the [...]

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Law Review (2): United Nations names Britain as complicit in snatching and torturing prisoners. Proud to be British with this….?

Below is a press release from Reprieve. I have extracted it in full.  The report runs to 221+ pages… I have read some of the more UK specific parts and will examine the document in more detail during the course of the day. Our adherence to the  international rule of law was questioned by government [...]

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Law Review: Chilcot and Geeklawyer… but not in the same context

Philippe Sands QC, a member of Matrix Chambers and professor of International Law at University College, London, suggested on Newsnight that following evidence about the legality of the Iraq war, Tony Blair may have to choose his travel destinations carefully. I won’t make any further comment on that for the present. (Apologies for typo in [...]

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Breaking News: What will Jack do now?

Social media / Twitter et al… can do the business… I found this tweet  most amusing…  Blackwater is not that popular in Iraq… I suspect that some other Brits not be either Beau Bo D’Or – is always worth looking at for a ‘take on our modern lives….

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Chilcot Special: The government did not like the advice of government lawyers

I regarded the invasion of Iraq as illegal, and I therefore did not feel able to continue in my post. I would have been required to support and maintain the Government’s position in international fora. The rules of international law on the use of force by States are at the heart of international law. Collective [...]

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Law Review: Assisted dying, Barristers modernise (?) and standards in legal education.

In the grand scheme of things, the overclaim by prospective Chancellor Osborne is not one of the great sagas. it is, however,  a bit surprising that such a senior member of the shadow Cabinet, with a good university education and who puts himself forward as the next Chancellor, should take ‘flawed advice’ and make an [...]

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Law Review (2):Burqas and the divorce laws of Britain..

GuyNews from Guido Fawkes has the gen on Lord Pearson’s plans for UKIP to take away part of the BNP vote: “Guy News wanted to get to the bottom of the UKIP burqa ban.  So we sent Emily Nomates, in disguise, to meet Lord Pearson.” Subscribers get the videos early on a Friday (You may [...]

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Law Review (1): Rabbie Burns, Kill a burglar re-visited and Chilcot review

Blawg Review #248 by Scotslawstudent is up… Welcome everyone to Blawg Review #248, this week hosted at scotslawstudent.com. Today is the 251st anniversary of celebrated Scottish poet Robert Burns’ birth, which took place on this day in 1759. Burns was a prolific poet who wrote his best work in Scots, which is not the same [...]

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Postcard from The Staterooms-On-Sea: Legality of the war…. and a bit from the political world….

Dear Reader, “Philippe Sands QC, a professor of international law, who gave evidence to the Dutch inquiry, said: “There has been no other independent assessment on the legality of the war in Iraq and the findings of this inquiry are unambiguous. It concludes that the case argued by the Dutch and British governments, including the [...]

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Gordon Brown testifies early at the Iraq Inquiry

Below are extracts  from  what could well be the testimony  that Gordon Brown delivers to the Iraq Inquiry when he does appear…possibly? Sir John Chilcot: Good morning, prime minister.  Perhaps we could start  at the beginning… when you first heard of plans to invade Iraq? Prime Minister: Yes..indeed…. It all started in America… I remember [...]

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Rive Gauche: Blunders edition

I have no idea why the Tories thought it was a good idea to put Caroline ‘Nannygate’ Spelman on to BBC’s Question Time last night – because she didn’t do a very good job.  In fact, Spelman reminded me of my old days when I taught law students who turned up to tutorials hungover and [...]

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Law Review: Law Student Special – From here to eternity… (Part I)

While I always enjoy reading the enthusiastic PR  put out by law firms in the ‘Student’ editions of The Lawyer or Legal Week,  brimming with adverts from law firms; I sat down over lunch today at my local pub,  a glass of burgundy to my right and a fag to my left (I was sitting [...]

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Megaladon LLP (Formerly Muttley Dastardly LLP) – Law Firm directories

Statement to staff  from Matt Muttley, senior partner, chief executive, managing partner and president of Megaladon LLP RE: LAW FIRM DIRECTORIES It would appear, yet again, that Megaladon LLP does not feature in the latest Chambers & Partners directory or, indeed, The Legal 500. It is with regret, therefore, that I have to announce that [...]

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