Legal aid “Is the charter of the little man to the British courts of justice.'
I very much support the historian James Holland in his analysis of the failure of successive administrations to maintain both a defence force and infrastructure. See:- https://open.substack.com/pub/james1940/p/sleepwalkers?r=240lvh utm_medium=ios His excellent article which draws upon the lessons of pre-WWII history and relates them to our present situation in the west and the UK in particular. I…
We thought ‘we knew ye’ USA but it turns out not so much. I write this from the perspective of someone with a life long love of America. Although according to George Bernard Shaw ‘England and America are two countries separated by a common language’ in reality the cultural bonds between our two nations have Continue reading USA, we hardly knew ye.
Churchill’s Citadel is the book on Winston Churchill that I been looking forward to reading for most of my adult life. I have read many books on Churchill and WW2 but I’ve always felt there was a huge bibliographical gap despite the huge literary and historical output of many excellent prior writers and historians. To Continue reading Review of Churchill’s Citadel by Katherine Carter. (Yale…
This is intended for any lawyers who may help but is open to all to read. Those lawyers who remember me I will know that I would not wish to waste your time with nonsense. Those who do not know me I crave your indulgence for a few moments. This is a serious request. I Continue reading A miscarriage of justice. For both victim and convicted
The post office miscarriage of Justice scandal is so great it is hard to take in the scale of misery this has caused to innocent post masters. Their misery continues because very few cases have yet reached the court of appeal. (68 out 900) It will take at this rate 10 years. I have had Continue reading Post office scandal disgraces our criminal justice system and us all.
I wrote this in 2010. I cannot now recall where it was published. I commissioned an independent IT report for the replacement of the DSCC.  The Law Society followed this up by commissioning its own independent report which was very similar. I had meetings with The Law Society the Association of Chief constablle as Continue reading Why do we need the defence solicitor call centre or CDS direct
Every now and again lawyers and the judiciary find themselves in the crosshairs of ministers and their allies in the press. The Home Secretary Pritti Patel equated Lawyers with people smugglers. She said “Those defending the broken system – the traffickers, the do-gooders, the lefty lawyers, the Labour Party – are defending the indefensible.” Call Continue reading Then they came for the Lawyers.…
“Now look, you are going to be a dead English lawyer and your family with you unless you help me take these guys out” How did it come to this? I was just on a family holiday. But here I was sitting in a plane and facing a potential life and death struggle with terrorists. Continue reading 9/11 The (terrified) English Lawyer’s Tale
I have been pleased to see how well this protocol has been received. Further our information is that other police forces are adopting it in other areas. Firstly what is the protocol? This is how my Tuckers partner Richard Atkinson (and chair of the Law Society CLC) delivered the detail: Kent protocol Dear Continue reading The Kent police station Virus Protocol. A template for others? (And what…
The Government has issued a consultation on police pre-charge bail. Click here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/police-powers-pre-charge-bail As criminal lawyer I can with some confidence predict how many cases the consultation proposals will beneficially impact. Virtually nil. Why do I say that? It’s quite simple. The proposals sound superficially attractive but offer wrong solutions…