Law Review:Big Bang and big bucks for lawyers and others…

Civil servants ‘told to imitate answering machines’ The Guardian reports: “Civil servants who continued working during yesterday’s national strike have revealed they were told to pretend to be answering machines to cope with an overload of calls from the public. Staff at the Department for Work and Pensions in Carlisle said today they were given [...]

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Law review: Madrasas and the rule of the mob.

You have to laugh… the Tories are spending a fortune shoring up the idea that they are supporting the NHS and then the Young Britons Foundation pops up in the form of their Chief Executive, Donal Blaney – a lawyer – with talk of waterboarding, shooting down environmental protesters and another spokesman saying the NHS [...]

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Jack Straw statement to Parliament on Jon Venables

Jack Straw was called to the house this afternoon at 3.30 to give a statement on the recall of Jon Venables to prison.  The press speculation on Venables’ return has been quite extraordinary.  Straw made it clear that he had every sympathy for the the parents of James Bulger – but at the request of [...]

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Postcard from The Staterooms-on-Thames: Internet anger and other matters

Dear Reader There is a lot of anger on the net, on discussion forums, in the comments section of blogs and even on Twitter.  Separating the techniques of the professional anger people who use ‘anger’ to make a point – for that can be useful, there do appear to be a lot of morons and [...]

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Law Review: Balls – appropriation of, the Nanny state and dog’s to get legal representation.

The level of political debate, as the election gets closer, continues to decline.  The Guardian reports… Peter Mandelson raises stakes in Lord Ashcroft row Business secretary says Ashcroft has Cameron ‘by the balls’ and that affair reveals ‘fundamental weakness’ The Guardian reports: “In a highly personal attack, the business secretary said in an interview with [...]

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The next stunt? – A Tory ‘ Madrasa’… a Madrasa? Mon Dieu!

Few things surprise me these days, so when I woke at 3.30 this morning and started reading the newspapers online I barely registered more than mild astonishment when I read the Guardian story on the new Tory Madrasa!  I’m afraid that I also started humming ‘Springtime for Hitler’ – a truly marvellous bit of parody [...]

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Rive Gauche: Enim vero di nos quasi pilas homines habent -The gods use mortals as their playthings

As we get closer to the election, The Tories are finding that the Press is getting more interested in their policies and ‘other activities’. The Guardian reports this morning… Lord Ashcroft faces new claims of tax avoidance Exclusive: Bills for huge opinion polls for Conservatives ‘sent to peer’s Belize firm’ Fresh concerns about Lord Ashcroft [...]

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Shock Horror: Tories cleared over Ashcroft… but there IS a wonderfully British twist!

Politics just gets better everyday…although I am beginning to wonder if the Rioja I drink is making me hallucinate when I read the newspapers and that the stories I read aren’t actually real.  The latest ‘Alice and Wonderland’ fable comes from The Independent… Tories cleared over Ashcroft donations An Electoral Commission report today cleared the [...]

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Law Review: The ‘Slackoisie’, double dip, Bulger case, and mysterious goings on in connection with the appointment of the new President of the Family Division.

Harman calls for Tory heads to roll over Ashcroft tax row The Times reports: “The Ashcroft non-dom tax saga exploded on the floor of the House of Commons today as Harriet Harman called for Tory heads to roll. The Leader of the House, deputising for Gordon Brown at Prime Minister’s Questions, said William Hague, the [...]

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Law Review: The ‘F’ word?, international law, treachery and suitability to govern.

Hat Tip to LadyBizBiz for alerting me to this great picture on MSN this morning.  She’s right… I just couldn’t help myself. Britain at centre of extradition row over ex-Bosnian leader Ejup Ganic The Times reports: ” British courts were at the centre of a bitter diplomatic battle last night as Serbian and Bosnian authorities [...]

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Good evening, Mr Cameron… so good of you to drop in….

With a lead article in The Times today relating tales of Lord Ashcroft as Blofeld (and even being given a white toy cat, apparently) I could hardly resist getting out the Photoshop for the inevitable pic…. Lord Ashcroft revels in his notoriety and safe seat at the top table The Times Be that as it [...]

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Law Review: The State of The Legal Nation

The recession may or may not be over. The pound is falling,there is serious division between economists and political parties on the best way forward in dealing with the significant debt hanging over Britain PLC and there is doubt about our position in credit reference stakes. I thought it might be interesting to look at [...]

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Today… I am all about being patriotic….

It was a fine sunny morning, cold but fresh, when I arrived at the cafe to eat my British breakfast.  I usually drink black coffee…called an ‘Americano’ in the modern way, and not wishing to baffle the Lithuanian waitress by asking for a British black coffee, I compromised my early morning patriotism and ordered the [...]

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Law Review: Ashcroft, the blogs and a law news round up

Pressure mounts on Conservatives over Lord Ashcroft non-dom tax revelation The Guardian: Conservatives refuse to answer accusations Lord Ashcroft breached tax promises made on his ennoblement All the parties appear to have a non-dom Lord or sophisticated investor lurking in the background as this spreadsheet from the Guardian reveals The difference appears to be that [...]

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A patriot returns to Britain to do his duty….

The cat is out of the bag… as they used to say in the Royal Navy between bouts of “rum, sodomy and the lash” (Winston Churchill) ….. Ashcroft has fessed up… but the Guardian isn’t letting him off the hook. Toby Helm does the business in the boot putting in stakes… Ashcroft tax revelations: A [...]

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Politics for Younger People (1): Mr Fantastic

I may not get very far with this – but  I have decided to celebrate the fact that the sun shone and  my new rather spiky haircut – which a lovely Spanish woman did – and the fact that I am both resident and domiciled somewhere… by starting a series of posts on politics for [...]

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The Patriot arrives to address the usual suspects at the Tory Spring Conference

It has been quite a day… with the revelation by Lord Ashcroft that things were not quite what some thought them to be. Jack Straw has responded with a fairly robust statement, Iain Dale, disclosing that Lord Ashcroft is an investor in his publishing business, opens the batting for the Tories with some stat porn, [...]

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Law Review: Free Nick Hogan, privacy rights and other matters….

I smoke and while I am happy  to accommodate non-smokers I would have preferred the smoking ban to have accommodated smokers by providing separate areas for smokers inside. Pubs have closed, bars have closed and some pubs are no longer the places they used to be – simply because smokers often enjoy drinking as well [...]

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