With power comes responsibility. The College of Law and BPP Law School are the leading providers of vocational legal education in the United Kingdom.  Between them they train the majority of students who study law at Graduate Diploma in Law level and who wish to qualify to practice law as a solicitor or barrister.  Both institutions now have degree awarding powers, powers granted by the Privy Council recently.

Neither institution is subject to the Freedom of Information Act, unlike Universities.  The College of Law is a registered charity and BPP Law School is part of a PLC – although they will soon, if the acquisition  by Apollo goes through, be part of a successful american company.

Interestingly, in podcasts with both Nigel Savage of The College of Law and Peter Crisp, Chief Executive of BPP Law School, both CEOs have told me that they would be prepared to provide information equivalent to that available from universities under FOI requests if asked.

Well…  I have asked. I have asked both The College of Law and BPP Law School if they are prepared to publish the assessors’s reports on their institution which were provided to the Privy Council by the QAA; reports which led to The College of Law and BPP Law School  being given the power to and the privilege of  awarding degrees; enabling them to compete with universities in the provision of law and, in fact, any other degrees they wish to provide a course for.

Are the College of Law and BPP prepared to publish?

Nigel Savage, Chief Executive of  The College of Law,  is quite happy to publish the assessor’s  report and has suggested that he will ask the QAA to publish it on their website to ensure complete transparency.

Peter Crisp, CEO of BPP Law School, is NOT  prepared to publish the assessor’s report on BPP.  I wrote to Peter Crisp inviting him to publish and provided him with the QAA statement on publication of these reports which is, in fact, on the QAA website. I quote it in full: (I have highlighted the important words…”The organisation may grant access to this report before this time”)

Policy on the disclosure of records relating to applications for degree awarding powers and university title

Peter Crisp intimated to me in a phone call a few weeks ago that the assessor’s report was confidential but when I pointed to the QAA disclosure policy above (which is why I have quoted it in full)  he wrote back to me to say that he would refer the matter to the BPP board.

I received a reply from Peter Crisp on 6th July 2009

We have considered this and I’m afraid you will have to make a FOI request to the QAA for the release of the report. It was released to us as confidential information and the Board was not minded to go behind that.

The terms of our grant are of course public knowledge.

The QAA is, of course, not subject to FOI and neither is BPP Law School.  It would appear to me, therefore, that either BPP has misunderstood the meaning of the QAA policy on disclosure of the assessor’s report or are choosing not to reveal the report for public scrutiny for their own reasons which, of course, they are fully entitled to do as they are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

So, what is the state of play? - a rather different approach to transparency taken by the two leading providers.

The Freedom of Information Act issue: For my part, given that both The College of Law and BPP Law School enjoy all the powers and privileges of degree awarding universities, they should be subject to  the The Freedom of Information Act in exactly the same way as public sector universities – particularly now that an american company has acquired BPP Holdings PLC and, thereby, has effectively acquired the degree awarding powers of a British university.

The College of Law has demonstrated that it is prepared to be open.  Thus far, BPP Law School has not.  I shall write to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills headed by Lord Mandelson to see what the Department’s view on this is.  When I  get a reply, I shall publish it on my blog.

I have to say that I am a little puzzled as to why BPP Law School has declined to make the assessor’s report available for public inspection.  BPP has a good reputation, is well resourced, provides high quality courses and cannot, possibly, have anything to hide.

It seems inequitable that public sector universities should be subject to FOI requests and not BPP.  It is not exactly a level playing field.

I would be interested in your thoughts and comments on this, as always. Please feel free to comment in the comments section below.

***

Acquisition of BPP by Apollo
You may be interested in listening to my podcasts with Peter Crisp and Nigel Savage on the acquisition of BPP by Apollo.

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9th July: Update up on Insite Law

Nick Griffin’s views are popular in the UK with  the Yoberati or knuckle dragging classes, so why should we be surprised when he goes on the BBC and suggests that the EU should start sinking boats with illegal immiigrants on them?

Why any of us continue to give him air time is baffling – I suspect, as I am doing now, so that we can express our disgust for this miserable excuse for a politician and hope that his views, when aired, disgust people and bring a sense of shame to those who like and support  his views.

It is an interesting point.  Are we right or wrong to give him a platform?  He is elected… and, as with everyone else, he has a right to express his views…  but does  that mean we ’should’ give him air time or column inches?

The BBC has the story: Sink immigrants’ boats – Griffin

The interviewer, BBC Correspondent Shirin Wheeler, said: “I don’t think the EU is in the business of murdering people at sea.”

Mr Griffin replied: “I didn’t say anyone should be murdered at sea – I say boats should be sunk, they can throw them a life raft and they can go back to Libya.”

Unbelievable.

I have posted my response to Colin Samuels’  post on Madoff sentence at the foot of his post.

We are keen to involve as many people as possible – so if you wish to suggest topics for comment and analysis, assist us in writing a section of the post (anonymously or with full attribution and linking to you own blog) please get in touch at mikesp@unsilentpartners.com

The Guardian reports today:

“The true depth of British involvement in the torture of terrorism suspects overseas and the manner in which that complicity is concealed behind a cloak of courtroom secrecy was laid bare last night when David Davis MP detailed the way in which one counter-terrorism operation led directly to a man suffering brutal mistreatment.

In a dramatic intervention using the protection of parliamentary privilege, the former shadow home secretary revealed how MI5 and Greater Manchester police effectively sub-contracted the torture of Rangzieb Ahmed to a Pakistani intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI), whose routine use of torture has been widely documented.”

On the assumption that what David Davis said, using the protection of parliamentary privilege, is true, this raises a number of rather worrying issues

1. The extent to which the Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary (MI6), The Home Secretary (MI5) and the Justice Secretary were aware of the use of torture by Mi5 – and the rest of the Cabinet?

2.  If they were aware of the use of torture indirectly (or directly) by our own security services did they sanction it?, approve it? turn a blind eye to it? or call for it to stop?

3.  With instances, albeit rare, of brutal treatment of prisoners in Iraq by the British army, the use of excessive force by Police in terror cases (Charles Menezes comes to mind) is it now the only way we can deal with terror? and if so, are we comfortable with this as a civilised nation?  The senior law lords have, not surprisingly, condemned the use of torture and excessive force and secret evidence and control orders  in combatting terror.

4.  Do we have to pay the price of such oppressive measures to maintain the security of our nation? Is this the the new real politik?

5.  Are we in danger of winning the war but losing the peace?

6.  Has Britain, as a nation, always used such ’secret’ force to maintain liberty and freedom?  We have been involved in World Wars and serious military conflict for nearly every year in the last hundred years.  Is it realistic to suggest, in war, that there are any rules at all and the reality is that if terror measures are used on us, we are released from the obligation to fight fair and clean?

I do hope not…. but what is the reality in modern Britain?   Has David Davis got it right? It seems to me that a rather ominous silence is enveloping on  this issue – the blogs are not exactly falling over themselves to comment and the newspapers and mainstream television mediaare not, when I last looked, giving Mr Davis’ intervention last night much further comment – perhaps qualified privilege defines a line in the sand?

8th July: News, reports, blog updates on Insite Law

Editor Mike SP Email

Editor pick of the day 8th July 2009 From Tom Harris MP’s blog… Closer my God to thee “I OVERHEARD a rather unkind reference to the denizens of the Upper House this evening: Labour Lord: “We’re voting on assisted dying tonight – putting old people out of their misery.” Labour MP: “Turkeys voting for Christmas, then?” In the end they didn’t. Vote for Christmas, I mean.” And this, from Scott Greenfield of Simple Justice, is PURE GOLD about Twitter… Unfollowed in St. Louis

From Simon Myerson QC’s blog Pupillage and how to get it.

This is from Counsel magazine but Simon Myerson thinks thinks it deserves the widest possible circulation. I agree.

“Derek Wood QC is conducting the review of pupillage. He is having a drinks reception on Monday 13th July in Lincoln’s Inn at 530pm. If you are a pupil, or a recently completed pupil, you should have had an invitation. If not then get in touch with Andrea Clerk at the BSB – aclerk@barstandardsboard.org.uk – and go along.

The review is genuinely interested in your experiences and your thoughts. So make sure that those conducting it know what they are. And ask for an amnesty for pupil bloggers… “

It would seem that Bernie Ecclestone didn’t really mean to say that Hitler did a good job and was a great leader… just that Hitler did the business for building Autobahns. Ecclestone apologises and then  drones on, somewhat absurdly,  in today’s Times.

Apparently Ecclestone met with The Prince of Darkness.  They had a chat. Paul Waugh in his Evening Standard blog reports: ” As an aside, the pint-sized fan of dictatorships then mentioned that he had got himself into a spot of bother over his remarks in a Times interview that Hitler “got things done”. Mandelson replied: “You should take advice before doing such interviews in the future. That was the extent of the exchange, sources say.”

The Times reports: A jury hearing a libel action brought by Richard Desmond, owner of the Daily Express, against the author of a biography of Conrad Black was discharged today after “fundamental” evidence emerged.

The article was not that informative (not surprisingly) – but I did enjoy the comment of someone called Francesca who wrote: “The good High Court judge has given up further lucrative earnings as counsel to live a life of cloistered slavery: writing (usually) his own (many) judgments, of breathtaking excellence. Money couldn’t pay you for that calling; very few are up to it. Barristers clerks in some chambers earn as much.”

I can’t imagine that Eady J has taken to writing comments in The Times under a pseudonym – but it is, clearly, easier to get a comment published in The Times these days.  I may spend a happy evening with a bottle of Rioja and then nip over to The Times online myself… and run amok.

The talking stops tomorrow and The Ashes begins….

Sky Sports has been acquired and I am ready for the long haul…. Test cricket is my thing and there is no bigger match than an Ashes Series.  Pity about Lee, of course.  It can’t be easy for Australia to lose their start 90mph reverse swinging bowler right at the start.

I haven’t watched much of the largely pointless pre-series hype and talk – the game is the thing.. and the game is afoot.

Guido Fawkes: Lords Savage Brown’s YouTubed Parliamentary Standards Bill

Guido notes: “As the Lords say, it is a hastily cobbled together rush to “do something” – the wrong thing.  The report diplomatically describes the Prime Mentalist’s expenses announcement on YouTube as “constitutionally unorthodox”.

Oh Dear…. Gordon appears to be getting a kicking… at least substantially recasting this Bill will keep his mind off The Ashes series.  After dooming Andy Murray to crash out of Wimbelbore last week by wishing him well on Twitter (of all places) many of us are rather hoping that he doesn’t have the usual Prime Ministerial taste for cricket.

And it came to pass that our latest Home Secretary read  the secret  scrolls…

Keen as mustard… Alan Johnson, the sixth incarnation of Labour’s Dr Who since 1997 (and the fourth in three years) , took over as Home Secretary and pronounced the ID card idea dead.

Times: Alan Johnson: ID cards ‘will never be compulsory’ for Britons

Unfortunately, it is not dead and today the Guardian ran the headline..

£1,000 fines to bolster ID cards as Tories pledge to scrap scheme

The Guardian noted: “MPs tonight approved fines of up to £1,000 for those who fail to tell the passport and identity service of changes in their personal details including address, name, nationality and gender….

…..The home secretary, Alan Johnson, also made clear that there had been no U-turn over ID cards and that the programme was still on course despite claims that he had ruled out making them compulsory. “We haven’t scrapped ID cards, what we are doing is accelerating their introduction,” he told MPs.

The Conservatives’ home affairs spokesman, Damian Green, asked how the scheme could be “voluntary” when they were penalties for failing to provide information for the database.  Alan Johnson may not have been to university (as he once quipped when heading the Department for Education etc etc)  but he is, undoubtedly, a clever man… and it would appear that he has read George Orwell’s 1984.

Blawg Review #219
Cathy Gellis has produced a Huey Lewis and The News themed Blawg Review of epic proportions. She does note, however, that it is not quite as long as my absurdly long review a few weeks ago. I like it. I use the present tense because I am still reading it. It is quite possible that I may be doing so for some time. It’s a good review – with good links to UK law Blogs and gives a very good picture of what happened in the blogosphere last week. Do read it. You can dip in when the mood suits you – which adds to the pleasure of the review.

Guido Fawkes  reports that shortly before Andy Murray played Roddick at Wimbelbore 10 Downing Street sent a message via Twitter…. It seems that Murray may have been doomed from that moment on…

Rather enjoyed this from The Observer Upfront page This much I know:

“The democracy of blogging and tweeting is absolutely terrific in one way. It is also the most effective producer of rubbish and insult and falsehood we have yet invented”

Professor AC Grayling

I had a good look around Professor Grayling’s website – some very interesting stuff.  I shall be buying his book Liberty in the Age of Terror.

I rarely read (and certainly do not believe in) astrological predictions. This is not really surprising for an atheist. I was, however, amused by the prediction for my Taurean week ahead from The Observer Bolloxmeister Neil Spencer. … “A fixed smile and agreeable manner will carry you through situations and dealings with people that leave you appalled’. I’d better go out and find some appalling people so that I can practice being an agreeable sphinx.

As far as I can see – and the astrolobollocks in The Mirror is even more spectacular – this must be money for old rope.  I’m now sitting here as I drink some Burgundy whether I can turn my hand to generating astrological predictions and persuade people to sponsor me.  Mystic Charon?   Charon the Mystic?  All suggestions for (a) doing this as a means of paying for even more Rioja and (b) a suitable name – gratefully received.  I’ll even do your first astrolobollocks prediction FREE.

This is a picture of the new head of MI6 or ‘M’ in the 007 films.

In fact  the director of the real-life MI6 is known as “C”, nominally for “chief” but actually the result of the first director, Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming, signing his documents with the last initial of his name.

There was a time, in the not too distant past, when the name of ‘C’ was a state secret and no pictures ever appeared.  But now Sir John Sawers, the next head of MI6, is a very well known man.  The BBC reports that Sir John is the UK’s ambassador to the United Nations and is due to take up his new post in November. It appears, however, that his wife had a facebook page and a fair bit of information was placed on the site – without privacy settings.  Blazer wearers from Surrey and the odd Tory MP are making much of this and harrumphing.

The BBC reports: “David Miliband denied security had been compromised after the wife of Sir John Sawers posted family photographs and details of their children and home. Mr Miliband told the BBC: “You know he wears a Speedo swimsuit. That’s not a state secret.”Some Tories said the disclosure was damaging and Lib Dems want an inquiry.”

“In the old days we used to keep the name secret, all photographs were banned ad I never really believed that the Russians didn’t know who the head of MI6 and MI5 was,” Ken Clarke MP, languidly told Sky news.. possibly as he drank a Martini… shaken not stirred, smoked a Monte Cristo and looked at a man stroking a white pussy across the table from him…

But all is not doom…

Fellow Twitter user and City lawyer  has been going to the gym and smoking a rather good cigar.  There is hope in every avenue of life despite these dark days!  #Smokedo is spreading….

Lord Falconer is championing the cause of those who assist the terminally ill with suicide – to my mind a perfectly reasonable cause to give dignity to those who wish to end their lives because of ilness and pain yet who do not wish to bring harm through prosecution to those who assist them.  Times

“We are in this awful situation where people who travel with relatives probably won’t be prosecuted, but can’t be sure,” said Falconer. “It means people are going to clinics on their own, or going earlier than they otherwise would, which can’t be right.

“In my view rightly, the DPP has refused to prosecute around 100 people in these cases. The law must be brought in line with actual practice and the change in public views on these issues.”

Inevitably there has been a parade of ex-archbishops and bishops coming forward to argue the point.  Lord Carey has joined the ranks of those who wish to block this change in the law and who seem to have missed an elementary philosophical position – the right of an individual to make decisions.  Writing today in the News of The World – a paper not noted for a focus on deep philosophical issues – under the screaming headline – Mercy Killers  are hijacking the suicide bill Lord Carey argues that an amendment would put the elderly at risk of unscrupulous heirs who wish to do away with their relatives so they can get the money.  This may well be the case – but this phenomenon can surely be dealt with by an independent assessor who looks at the evidence and the reality behind a request to die?

For my part if an adult wishes to end his or her life, but is unable to pursue this action alone they should be given the right to do so free of the burden that their partner or family member or friend will be prosecuted. My reasoning is based on a principle that we should have an absolute right – free from religious or philosophical  ethics of a bygone age – to determine how we should run our lives and, in this case, our deaths.  Even on a Benthamite utilitarian construct,  the right to die and enlist the help of another who is prepared to extend love for their friend in this way will give the person who wishes to die greater pleasure to themselves than harm to others and should, accordingly be a right enshrined in law.  Of course we must have laws in place to prevent unscrupulous relatives knocking off their rich relatives  – but that, surely, is not beyond the ability and will of parliament?

And then we have Jack ‘Hardliner’ Straw, our  Lord Chancellor, turning down parole for Ronnie Biggs on the grounds that Ronnie Biggs did not show repentance for his crime and chose to commit another crime by escaping from custody all those years ago.  To this Jack ‘The Pirate Hat’ Straw added that Biggs had courted press attention outrageously.

The facts are these. Ronnie Biggs was one of the Great Train Robbery Gang.  He coshed the guard.  The guard died subsequently.  Biggs and his fellow gang members was sentenced to thirty years – a sentence, some say, issued to show that the government and the judiciary were cracking down on organised crime.  Biggs did a runner and for many years made a laughing stock out of Plod who chased him around the world and finally to Brazil. Biggs returned to Britain, a sick man, voluntarily and was immediately banged up.  Biggs is an old man now and seriously ill.  He is unlikely to be a threat to anyone in society apart from himself.  He is too frail to even steal a newspaper from the local newsagent, let alone use a cosh or commit robberies.  The Parole Board recommended release.

I am baffled by Straw’s decision. In my view – and I am far from alone in this – he has made a poor decision and has diminished himself and the justice system in the process.  Prison is not simply about revenge.  It is about deterrence and rehabilitation. It is, in so far as it can show this, also about compassion and hope.  I can see nothing in this decision of Jack Straw’s other than revenge.  It is a decision which leaves a rather unpleasant odour.   It is ironic when Straw is falling over himself to tell the judiciary not to jail people and not to be offended when criminals show disrespect to them and the justice system because we haven’t enough prisons and we don’t wish young thugs to feel discrimiated against  – that he should now wish to appear to be the ‘Iron Man of Justice’.  Straw would be better off listening a bit more to the senior judiciary and other experts on  other means of punishment.  We have more people in our prisons than any other country in Europe and more lifers, I understand, than the rest of the European Union put together. I won’t even bother to consider today whether half of these people (non violent people) are even in prison.  I doubt whether many prisoners show repentance. Straw would be better placed dealing with the rise in serious crime and not pissing about on a pre-election ‘London Palladium’ stage grandstanding. FAIL… as they say in the modern vernacular.

And finally… My favourite pic of the week. A fabulous one fingered salute from a brave woman.  I am grateful to Natasha Phillips, a fellow blogger and friend, for putting this picture up on Twitter earlier today.  It needs no commentary.  Natasha, who is part Persian, is also a serial user of Twitter (@sobk13)  and, late at night, is a Twitter DJ using Blip.FM!  She also plays a savage and cunning game of Scrabble and is resistant to my puns.  I am working on new tactics.

I escaped on Friday morning to make a trip to Brecon to visit a very good friend of mine, a barrister, who moved to Australia some years ago.  She is from Brecon and is over in Wales seeing her mother with her two sons; sports mad 16 year olds.  Brecon is astonishingly beautiful, a small market town with a quiet lazy feel to it on the day I visited, set in the heart of the Brecon Beacons; some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen.  I have in my youth been up Snowdon (in fact, years ago, I foolishly did the Three Peaks challenge   a completely pointless exercise involving long hours sitting in a van driving and then bursts of frenetic activity climing each of  Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike, Snowdon.)  I prefer taking time to walk and see things.

My friend asked if I would like to see Pen y Fan. I have been tricked before with these leading questions.  “As a theoretical proposition I would, indeed, like to see Pen y Fan“  I replied.  The thought of walking up was not on my agenda.  I think she sensed, despite my lean and hungry Smokedo look, that I was a bit unprepared to stroll up a small mountain.  We went for a walk instead up a fairly steep hill to a Trig point from where we could see Pen y Fan and tremendous countryside and the valley below.  Her two sons, perhaps not as fascinated by the view and the lyricism of lush and verdant Wales below us, amused themselves by kicking a rugby ball into the bracken and then losing it.  My friend strode into the bracken and found it – clearly with a sharper eye for where the ball landed than we three men…

So… Bernie Ecclestone, the mighty midget of Formula 1 racing, appears to have finally lost the plot with calls for authoritarian government and suggesting that Max Mosley would make a good prime minister.  Christ knows what goes on the minds of rich business people used to getting their way – but clearly it doesn’t involve a great deal of political acuity or common sense.  Surely, he must know that Max Mosley’s father was a ludicrous figure of ridicule when he pranced around in jodphurs and riding boots doing fascist salutes.  Max Mosley as prime minister?  Yes… I can see Guido and the political bloggers commenting on Prime Minister’s Questions if Mosley was PM – ~Mosley gets/gives a SPANKING!”….

The Times had an amusing article: Hitler?  he got things done…

Perhaps Ecclestone could now fuck off back to his Formula 1 trailer and continue to make millions from what must be one of the most boring sports on earth to watch.?   This is merely a suggestion – I don’t share Ecclestone’s ludicrous tastes for authoritarian behaviour. Here is the Libertarian Party UK response to Ecclestone’s suggestion that Hitler was an OK sort of a guy who may have been got at by the boys – but was a good leader!

Well… there you are, as my Welsh friends say in their lilting voices…. a short one… but I need to go for a walk to ease the ache in the back of my legs from the unaccustomed walk up a hill!  It is very flat where I am East of London…. as it would be… on the sea.

be sure, I shall return and write more… two days off blogging has given me severe withdrawal symptoms….

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I leave at dawn for Brecon, Wales.  I like Wales – although I have not been for a few years.  A short trip.  I shall take my laptop and if the mobile wifi dongle works where I am going  I shall do a Postcard from the Valleys.  If not, I shall do it upon my return on Sunday.

Cogito ergo bibo… I think therefore I drink, seems to me to be a perfectly sensible rationale for one of my main vices…although I am much taken with Bibo ergo cogito.

It was doing this drinking hobby of mine last night when I started to think about Wimblebore… a tennis festival put on by the British… well English to be really fair…  for the benefit of overseas tennis players who can actually play the game.   Most years there is a collective gasp of pleasure (and much clapping)  from the middle classes when Britain’s last remaining player makes it to Day Two  and, during the  time of Tim Henteeth, there was much national hand wringing and angst as they coped with the inevitable defeat.  Henman Hill used to irritate me beyond the irrational… the Henman Hillbillies seemed to clap anything and did, when it rained and Sir Stiff Pilchard popped up to sing The Young Ones or Summer Holiday or whatever it was he did sing that famous rain and brain sodden day.

But now we have a Scot who seems to be pretty cool and does not seem to be that bothered by the ‘expectation’.  Famously, he said of some football tournament – another game I do not watch – that he would support whoever was playing against England.  This did not go down well with the blazer wearers of Wimbledon and Surrey.  If he makes the Final I shall watch.

I hear on my sound news feed  the inane interviews with the pundits and the only one worth listening to from my perspective as a non-tennis watcher is McEnroe.  He talks straight, seriously and sanely about a sport he clearly has a passion for.

I was reading the papers this morning and the sports writers seemed to be rather pre-occupied with the state of British tennis.  The Mirror writer suggested that we are no good at it because it is a middle class elitist sport and there is probably some truth in that.  Apart from the somewhat surreal sight of out of condition people, suddenly enthused by tennis for three days after Wimbledon, patting a ball back and forth across the net and wheezing, the tennis courts in public parks are often emptyfor the rest of the year and it is not really on the  sports radar of most schools, let alone state schools.

I saw a film on You Tube of the famous Wimbebore roof closing. The hyperventilation, the almost insane smiling and more of that clapping,  the grave commentary and then bizarre music, was almost too much for me.  I reached for my injection… but fortunately did not have to euthanase myself.  Here is the video

This morning BBC Breakfast decided to stop any pretence of being a serious news Channel in the early mornings. Bill Turnbull, who actually does have a good sense of humour, decided (to my eye) to crank up the dumbing down. Morons watch television after 9.00.  Adults wanting to catch up on news watch it before 9.00.  We do not need to have matters dumbed down.  I lost patience when the hyperventilating weather girl decided that she was Matron and issued a Weather Fatwa telling us to watch the heat…. meanwhile the  elderly are dying in satisfactory numbers… I could almost hear the autocutie newsreaders (male and female) reading.

It is remarkably simple. The sun in Britain at this time of year is visible.  It can be hot and even reach 30 degrees or high 90s farenheit.  The sun can burn skin – but if you want your distended beer belly and skin on your face to make you look like a cooked prawn go ahead, be my guest.  The heat also makes you thirsty so it is not a great leap in thinking to ensure that you drink water.  And finally… on this matter… if you lie in the sun until you faint then you may well get heat stroke, severe burns and waste a doctor’s time at your local hospital.

Oh.. and finally.. to exorcize Wimblebore from my system and psyche before The Ashes start next week – a word about the effing bloody ‘Wimblebore’ strawberry.  I saw a news item on this on BBC Breakfast News for Cretins.  They are grown under plastic.  They have to be a ‘Wimblebore type’ – this was not fully explained by the interviewer who was too busy hyperventilating and holding his or her knees together with the excitement. I remember eating one or two on my only trip to Wimblebore a few years ago.  I may have been better placed nutritionally and in terms of pleasure if I had eaten the grass from Henman Hill.   £2.25 for a miserable portion with or without cream… “having a  farkin  larf, guv… but the farkin geezers got to pay for their farking roof…don’t they?” …. as Dave, from the Cafe in Chelsea, would say…

The Guardian reported this morning: Police floated imposter theory over Ian Tomlinson’s death at G20 protests

A senior police officer who investigated the death of Ian Tomlinson told his family that the officer who struck him at the G20 demonstrations could have been a member of the public “dressed in police uniform”, it emerged last night….

…The City of London police completely failed to persuade the Tomlinson family of its impartiality, not least when they were told by an investigating officer that he was not ruling out the possibility that the alleged assailant may be a member of the public dressed in police uniform,” it said. A source present at the 8 April meeting said the senior investigator’s comment was made after he was pressed on how the identity of the officer could be established from the video.The investigator agreed that the man who struck Tomlinson was likely to have been a police officer, but could “not rule out” the possibility that he was a member of the public.

This is a rather bizarre way to go about things….  fortunately independent investigation is being carried out… at least I hope it is.  Ironically… police officers are ‘members of the public dressed in police uniform’ – although some of them appear to think they are there to control us rather than protect.

The news with a big update to law reports is up on Insite Law

PM warned that elevation of Michael Martin could damage Lords
Guardian: Michael Martin , the former Speaker of the Commons, was today elevated to the House of Lords despite a warning from the independent appointments commission that his presence could “diminish” the upper house. In an unprecedented move, the commission wrote to Gordon Brown to warn that Martin’s conduct in recent months, which led him to become the first Speaker of the modern era to be forced out, could damage the Lords’ reputation.

The article in The Guardian left a rather sour taste in my mouth as I rose very early to see the sunrise – cloudy. Michael Martin has been elevated to the Lords – a tradition going back some time.  The Guardian reports: “The intervention by the commission, chaired by the former Foreign Office permanent secretary Lord Jay, is understood to be the first time in modern times that questions have been raised about elevating a former Speaker to the Lords….

… In a carefully worded letter to the prime minister, the commission referred to the terms of its vetting procedures. These state that the commission’s role “is to advise the prime minister if it has any concerns about the propriety of a nominee”.

In plain English… the Lords don’t want any more unsuitable people turning up to add to the carnival atmosphere of recent years with Peers being suspended for corruption and a couple of ‘master criminals’ with jail experience (although one currently in jail) among their noble ranks.

The Guardian noted:  “ Martin was nominated for a peerage by the Commons as part of a “humble address” to the Queen. In a message to MPs on Monday the government whip, Helen Jones, in her role as the vice-chamberlain of the household, reported that the Queen had agreed to confer a peerage on Martin “for his eminent services during the period in which he has, with such distinguished ability and dignity, presided in the chair of this house”. The traditional form of words was greeted with ridicule. Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay, a Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said: “This is old-fashioned nonsense. Parliament should start using words that people understand and believe. Michael Martin should not be handed a P45 in an ermine envelope.”

Few  question the value of a second chamber, but the classic British fudge of half reform started by Blair has left us with an institution  still made up of unelected people, accountable to no-one,  with fairly extensive powers; powers which can be over ridden only by taking our ball back and  by invoking the Parliament Act. For my own part we should move to a position where we have an elected second chamber and remove the titles of Baron this and Baroness that and build a Parliament that reflects a mature and modern democratic country.

The whole business of titles is verging on the comic opera in the 21st Century. Orders of The British Empire and the like are ridiculous enough when Empire seems to be limited to a tedious lump of rock on the rump of Spain and a few islands dotted about the world. I have no problem at all in the State rewarding excellence – but surely it is not beyond us to call the awards something rather more meaningful?

The trouble is – people like all the flummery that goes with a title and this is harmless enough – but not when it comes to the government of our country. We are a democracy with a constitutional Monarch.  We are no longer a feudal society.  We are no longer a society where the robber barons of ye olde Englande rule in a gentleman’s club environment. An elected chamber (perhaps we could even call it a Senate?) would be a very valuable step forward in governance.  The trouble is, without the ermine, the titles and all the other nonsense that goes with it currently – would anyone want to be part of it?

In October the Law Lords become Supreme Court Justices.  It would be good, in time, if we could get rid of peerages and other titles denoting links with a feudal past from our judicial system as well.  What about Justice, Appeal Justice, Surpeme Court Justice?  They seem to describe the position more than adequately without the prefix Lord, Lady.  Mind you… why stop there? … let’s get rid of the whole shooting match and become a republic, enjoy our history and base our future on a classless society? The Americans  do it rather well – and they are celebrating Independence this very weekend on the 4th July. Anyone fancy that or as we say in the modern vernacular… Anyone ‘Up for it’?

They tell me that the Tower of London has space in it… I’d better keep my head down… but on reflection that is not really a good idea when talking about the Tower of London.  I’m orf for breakfast, some coffee and a bit of Smokedo.  I’ve been up since 3.30 and it is time for a walk.

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Editor pick of the day 30th June 2009 Commons clerk raises legal obstacle to Westminster ‘clean-up’ Bill Times: “The Government’s attempt to replace self-regulation of MPs’ financial affairs by a new independent regulator faces an unexpected challenge. Ministers hope to push the Parliamentary Standards Bill through the Commons in three days this week. But they face the challenge of an outspoken memorandum by Malcolm Jack, Clerk of the Commons. This questions ministerial claims about the Bill’s impact on parliamentary privilege: MPs’ long-disputed right to free speech without the threat of judicial action as enshrined in the Bill of Rights of 1689″. Yet another example of speed and not enough though.

Inner Temple has issued an online survey as part of their feasibility study into the possible merger of the two Inn libraries. You may express your thoughts on the possible plan to merge the two Inn Libraries: Click here for the Inner Temple Survey

Inner Temple Library news has the details of the latest position

To view the straw poll I conducted on the blog a month or so back -   View / vote on that poll.

The College of Law has asked me to present a series of 10 Podcasts on current legal issues which while aimed at prospective members of the profession will be of interest to qualified lawyers and non-lawyers who are interested in law alike.  I’m delighted to work with The College on this project and quite apart from enjoying working with the College of Law multi-media team , I get to do it in a very snazzy radio studio over at their studio  in Bloomsbury and get to interview some interesting guests.

I’ll publish the guest list as soon as it is firmed up – but there are some fascinating people in our plans and  it will be a most enjoyable series for me to be involved with. We record the series in July and early August and they will go live on the College of Law website in September.  My style is exactly the same as my own podcasts.  The sound quality is, of course, better and they even have a signature tune for the series!

Listen to the first podcast with Des Hudson, Chief Executive of The Law Society talking with me about the opportunities and threats to the profession in relation to outsourcing in India, legal aid, Best Value Tendering and the shape of the profession under the Legal services Act coming in now with alternative business structures.  Des Hudson knows his stuff and this will be of interest to practitioners as well – of that I am confident.

Episode 1: Des Hudson, Chief Executive of The Law Society