Dear Reader,
Our Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Basil Grayling, continues to provide food for thought for serious commentators and fodder for satirists alike with his ill conceived plan to destroy legal aid and the criminal justice system with it. G4S, Serco, Tesco, Stobart et al – if Grayling’s plans go through – will probably kill off the high street solicitor specialising in Crime, reduce the pool of lawyers available to the public (You won’t be able to choose your solicitor anyway and the criminal bar will be significantly reduced in number) and….. well let me leave the detail to two experienced barristers who express their views robustly in recent podcasts with me.
Do listen if you have the time. Jerry Hayes, former Tory politician is very direct in his criticism, as is Michael Turner QC – but Jerry, inevitably, adds a sardonic touch to the commentary- which certainly amused me.
Podcast with Michael Turner QC, Chairman of the Criminal Bar: Tour Report #21: Podcast with Michael Turner QC, Chairman of The Criminal Bar Association, on the legal aid reforms
And lawyer or non-lawyer, if you would like to sign the petition – you may do so here
And… you can keep up to date with developments by following @TheCriminalBar on twitter
The privatisation of ‘Justice’ by the back door seems to be the order of Tory play and, thus far, the ‘blockers’on the Lib-Dems don’t seem to be that interested – but, apparently, opposition to Grayling’s plans is now Labour Party policy.
I suspect that few lawyers with experience of libel law will have been taken by surprise by Tugendhat J’s 
David Allen Green, writing on his Jack of Kent blog notes Sally Bercow’s statement after the judgment was handed down.
Barbara Ellen writes in The Observer: Twitter at its worst is not Bercow, but the braying mob – The Twitter villains are the bullies who feel scant responsibility and a lack of interest in fairness
Patrick Strudwick forecasts doom: Sally Bercow’s Lord McAlpine libel: Twitter is over. O.V.E.R. – “The great modern sandpit will now have to rein it in, tamed by knowledge that the whiff of a suggestion could land you in court”
And… The Tweeting Lawyer has a view: Lessons from #McAlpine v #Bercow
Finally for today ( I will return on the morrow…perhaps…hopefully etc etc)… from Legal Cheek – a prolix and rather pompous statement from a young pupil barrister. (Are we sure that this is not an Alex ‘spoof’? Certainly worthy of output from the Muttley Dastardly LLP *Psyops* unit. )
‘THE TIDE MAY FLOOD LAW FIRMS, BUT I REMAIN UNCONVINCED THAT IT WILL ENGULF THE BAR’
Enjoy the sun and the bank holiday
Best, as always
Charon
Charon QC 
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