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Author: CycleFree

Wholly Unacceptable Behaviour

Wholly Unacceptable Behaviour

With these words Sir Wyn Williams described the behaviour of individuals at the Post Office and both institutions, behaviour he considered “worthy of condemnation.” In essence, the Post Office demanded money with menaces based on data it knew was not reliable and defrauded its sub-postmasters (“SPMs”) of monies it was never owed. Lawyers, investigators, IT specialists and their managers were at the heart of this behaviour. For 13 years. The later parts of his Report will describe in detail that…

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Wigs at Dawn

Wigs at Dawn

It’s good to be provocative. But to describe Jenrick being a lawyer as his secret weapon because it makes them good leaders and the country loves lawyers is not so much provocative as …. well, let’s see, shall we. As for Jenrick, he may be a sh*t (© @DavidL) but he’s also a dreadful lawyer, as shown by his dealings with Richard Desmond in 2021 (pointed out by me here). About the only good thing to be said for him…

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Unintended Consequences?

Unintended Consequences?

Our political class is incapable of joining dots, a criticism made by the Home Secretary in Parliament on Monday about several public sector institutions. She really should look in the mirror. However, this week and last provide other examples of a failure to use information painfully learnt in one context to prevent the problem happening again elsewhere. It is a story about two Private Members Bills. The first is the Assisted Dying (“AD”) Bill. The other is the Powers of…

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FINALLY!

FINALLY!

Finally – FINALLY – I have something to live for: reading the final national report on the statutory grooming gangs inquiry just announced by the PM (ahead of this week’s Casey report recommending this) which should be published ….ooh, I dunno …. anything from 7 to 10 years hence. Or longer. Starmer seems unable to think more than one step ahead. Bizarre for a lawyer. It is one thing good lawyers should be able to do and having worked on…

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Ars Longa, Vita Brevis

Ars Longa, Vita Brevis

“Never ask a question to which you don’t know the answer” is cross-examination’s golden rule. It means asking just what you need to establish the facts or argument necessary for your case. Described as forensic, lawyers-turned-politicians are over-praised for this skill, often undeservedly so. Political persuasion is about crafting a story resonating with ordinary people, not making clever points to impress judges. Investigations are different: asking questions to which you don’t know the answer is essential. Curiosity is a much-underrated…

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Doing unto Others

Doing unto Others

How does the state treat those it has wronged – whether through its actions or failures to act? Badly. Some examples: Blood Contamination The majority of the victims have died while waiting for compensation. Why? “could not in conscience add to the decades-long delays many of you have already experienced due to failures to recognise the depth of your losses. Those delays have themselves been harmful.” Despite some interim payments made in October the judge went on: “My judgement is…

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Maggie Out?

Maggie Out?

In September 2019 just after the Supreme Court’s decision on whether the then government’s decision to prorogue Parliament was lawful (it wasn’t), a prolific commentator on legal affairs, a KC no less, wrote this: “As a legal matter, if the Supreme Court says it is the law it is the law. Saying “this is the law” is what it is the Supreme Court’s job to do.” Well done. He went on:  “Johnson and Cummings and the other moral detritus they…

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Phallic Drift

Phallic Drift

“The powerful tendency for public discussion of gender issues to drift, inexorably, back to the male point of view.” As on here. And in the media. Take Channel 4 news: after interviewing Maya Forstater, they interviewed men from trans groups and 2 sad trans-identified males. What about other trans people interviewed about a judgment which, in paragraph 248, stated: “we have concluded that a biological sex interpretation would not have the effect of disadvantaging or removing important protection under the…

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