3 July 2011
by Mark
4 Comments
In R v Sussex Justices, Ex parte McCarthy, the then Lord Chief Justice Lord Hewart delivered a judgment containing a phrase which has passed into common parlance. Commenting on the need for the legal system to be both transparent and … Continue reading
26 May 2011
by Mark
0 comments
I’ve finally had the chance to read the Hargreaves review into copyright and intellectual property in full, and I have to say that I’m fairly impressed with it. Obviously, not everyone is going to be happy with it, either because … Continue reading
7 May 2011
by Mark
2 Comments
Although, as I write, there are still a few council results yet to come in (and nothing yet from Northern Ireland, which I will therefore ignore), the key issues from yesterday are settled and the overall pattern is clear enough. … Continue reading
13 April 2011
by Mark
2 Comments
There is a claim often made by supports of AV that it’s less susceptible to tactical voting that FPTP. This is simply false; not only is AV equally susceptible to tactical voting but the results of tactical voting can be … Continue reading
30 March 2011
by Mark
3 Comments
My attention was drawn to this post by blogger and columnist Johann Hari. As a general rule, Johann Hari tends to divide people into two camps: those who hang on his every word and those who see through him, and … Continue reading
23 March 2011
by Mark
0 comments
Sad political nerd that I am, I’m signed up to the email mailing lists of all the main parties. So, this afternoon, the expected post-budget missives dropped into my inbox. I was rather amused to see, though, that Thunderbird apparently … Continue reading
22 February 2011
by Mark
0 comments
The banks are an easy target when it comes to stories of corporate greed. And I’m not particularly inclined to defend them; like nearly everyone else I’m well aware of the role played by banking incompetence in the global financial … Continue reading
13 February 2011
by Mark
0 comments
The government published its rather grandiosely named Protection of Freedom Bill last week. It covers a whole tranche of proposals including, inter alia, banning wheelclamping, destruction of DNA samples retained by the police and reducing the maximum time someone can … Continue reading
3 January 2011
by Mark
0 comments
Labour leader Ed Milliband is widely reported today as claiming that tomorrow’s VAT rise will cost the average family £7.50 a week. Unless he is living in a parallel universe where the average household earns far more than is currently … Continue reading
19 December 2010
by Mark
2 Comments
The spectre of Internet censorship has reared its head again recently, with reports that the government is planning to hold talks with ISPs over the creation of an “opt in” system for allowing customers to access pornographic material on the … Continue reading