Lord Chancellor and Master of the Rolls prepare for Magna Carta’s 800th anniversary
The Lawyer: This morning the Lord Chancellor Ken Clarke QC and the Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger will be among the dignitaries gathered at Runnymede Meadows to kick off five years of celebrations marking the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta.
The celebrations will start with a public commemoration of the sealing of the Magna Carta at the site where, in 1215, the barons gathered to petition King John for the first ‘great charter’.
The organisers of today’s event hope that the five-year programme of celebrations will include a commemorative coin and stamp in 2015 as well as a public holiday on June 15th 2015.
Meanwhile twitter is ablaze with the #Iamspartacus hashtag – which, if you are not on Twitter reads as follows…
Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week to get your shit together, otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!! #IAmSpartacus
The above is based on the original tweet for which Paul Chambers was convicted. There have been thousands…perhaps even a hundred thousand or more tweets to this effect. #Iamspartacus tweets on twitter. It is unlikely that the CPS will be prosecuting everyone for tweeting this.
The #Twitterjoketrial – an issue about freedoms and common sense – is a serious one.. I wrote about this yesterday and to get the full story please follow David Allen Green / Jack of Kent link on the post below.
Law Review: Twitter Joke Trial – A travesty… why do we really bother?
On a lighter note… I do like Ken Clarke QC, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, as a politician. He has been around for a long time and, whether one agrees with his views or not, he seems to impart his beliefs in an entirely reasonable and reasoned way and invites discussion. Magna Carta is important in our history – even if only three provisions appear to remain in our law directly. The Coalition government has promised to roll back repressive laws and there is a reasonable belief, on performance to date, that this will be done. We will see what happens in the coming months.
I also like his hat. I have a similar one.
Have a good weekend.
PS… the quote in the Ken Clarke bubble in the pic above was from Lord Denning.
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HAT TIP to @Loveandgarbage... this Hancock on Magna Carta is a must… if you haven’t seen it!
Am I #firsticus ?
Do I recall correctly; that Labour’s last government of 13 years, created over 4000 new laws? Regardless; wonder if they were thinking of the electorate or themselves?
Polleetickle – Yes… about 4000 new laws… even Lord Phillips remarked on the number…which is unusual for a Lord Chief Justice (now President of The Supreme Court)
Some.. of course… were not repressive and did good… unfortunately, a fair few were repressive.
We shall see what the new Coalition government does.
Well, Charonqc.
For one thing; Labour party stands for the people. Yet, while they bloated the public sector and welfare for the peoples benefit, I dont see anything less rewarding than their ministers personal benefits.
Similarly, trade unions stand for the employee. Yet, dont their leaders appear to gain much, much more from union employment?
The Coalition arent deceitful about their wealth in financial and acumen terms. But with those personal acheivements met, thay are able to focus on inching the UK towards the Big Society – and which only the people can fail in themselves. So, lets see if the electorate have the ideal soil to harvest the best ‘fruits de mer’ for this island nation.
@polleetickle
Twitter.com
errr pollee – minimum wage perhaps?
My thought on this? I always hoped that law and common sense would go hand-in-hand. With the Twitter joke trial I am required to hope a little bit longer……..
Minimum wage wasnt bench-tested and the promise of equality actually meant fewer people genuinely and honestly employed.
Minimum wage pitched genuine businesses against rogue traders who paid immigrant workers under the radar. Even government ministers fell foul and defended themselves by declaring their ignorance at employing rogue foreigners.
Minimum wage pushed up the overheads of law-abiding employers meaning they employed fewer people. Thereby burdening the public purse with employment credits and sixty benefits meaning Minimum wage became a catastrophic failure.
Exactly the same failure as applying minimum costs for alcohol in parts of Ireland where trans-border shopping is huge, or banning smoking at businesses already struggling financially resulting in pub landlords taking their own lives.
Get that hat !! Looks like a politician from one of those eastern countries which used to exist behind the Berlin Wall.
[…] get into for saying stuff”. Funny stuff can turn out to be dead serious and vice versa The ironic collision of both anniversary and verdict is not lost on Charon QC, but then not much gets past him, other […]