TIME TO SCRAP APPOINTMENTS COMMITTEES?

Primus inter pares: a first among equals. For many that phrase was introduced to their lexicon by author Jeffrey Archer. It is commonly used as a description of the prime minister. In reality it is an oxymoron coddled in a euphemism as we all shall have an opportunity to see in the days ahead.  It`s not impossible to adapt the functionality of the phrase to our [and other nation`s] courts system. Once we go above the crown court is there really so much difference in the intellectual capacity of high court judges, appeal court judges and those at the top of the judicial tree on the supreme court?  I put the spotlight on the upper two courts; appeal and supreme. We, the great British public, have no way of knowing how the occupants of these positions were chosen.  For centuries governments of all shades have jealously guarded so many facets of public life that it`s been a British trademark just as cricket is supposed to have epitomised the fairness and fair play of "The British" per se.  Such illusions have long since lost their glimmer of truth.  What is to separate the intellectual capacity, suitability and capability of an appeal court judge and one of the supreme court? Does the identity of an appeal court judge who fails in her/his application to the top job remain hidden beyond the grave, the 30 year rule or some arbitrary future date. Should it remain known only to a few insiders?  Should it prevent the applicant from repeating the process?  Surgeons` performances e.g. can be audited especially nowadays with algorithms designed to include degrees of difficulty and countless variables so that hospitals can know the expertise of those they seek to  employ if the employment panel does its job effectively.  But only a select few know the identities of these panels not just in hospitals but in many various professions.  When such professionals transgress or appear to fall foul of professional or legal guidelines other panels are available to supervise the integrity of the disciplinary processes involved.  Those panels are appointed usually by members of what are commonly termed "the great and the good".  Nepotism and mutual back scratching cannot be ignored.  They are often senior civil servants or senior members of unconnected professions.  It must now be apparent that such a system has reached the end of its long and winding road.  There have been so many failures this century alone that consideration must be given to alternative ways of selection of all supervisory bodies. 

The major cover ups by supervisory bodies, committees which are supposed to investigate malfeasance in all manner of public offices and professional, trade or business organisations have reached what could be termed epidemic proportions. 

There cannot be anyone who doesn`t know of the Hillsborough disaster of 15th April 1989 nor of the successive cover ups by police and government that followed.  After numerous inquiries and legal actions it wasn`t until 6 December 2023 when the government issued its response and signed the Hillsborough Charter giving a commitment to transparency following a public tragedy.  Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg called the lack of accountability over Hillsborough "the greatest scandal of British policing of our lifetimes". 

The Chinook helicopter disaster on June 2 1994 killed 29 people – 10 RUC, nine army, five MI5, one civil servant and four crew. What happened, its circumstances and effects have been much debated. In 1995 an RAF board of inquiry ruled that it was impossible to establish the exact cause of the accident. This ruling was subsequently overturned by two senior reviewing officers who stated that the pilots were guilty of gross negligence for flying too fast and too low in thick fog. This finding proved to be controversial especially in light of irregularities and technical issues surrounding the then new Chinook HC.2 variant which were uncovered and in light of technical problems with the specific airframe involved in the weeks leading up to the crash.  A new inquiry took place in the House of Lords from September to November 2001. The findings were published on 31 January 2002 and found that the verdicts of gross negligence on the two pilots were unjustified.  In 2011 it was disclosed that at the highest level the RAF knew that the helicopter should have been grounded and official authorising forms contained false information re its airworthiness for the proposed mission.   In December 2012 the Minister for the Armed Forces Andrew Robathan confirmed such a false declaration did not constitute "wrongdoing", despite its leading directly to deaths of servicemen.  A Guardian article from May 2000 tells of the disgrace of the two officers directly involved in the cover up who presumably retired on very substantial pensions hoping that their disgusting and prolonged lying would be camouflaged by government.   

The contaminated blood scandal reaches back 50 years. Products were imported from the US and distributed to patients by the National Health Service throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Most recipients had haemophilia or had received a blood transfusion following childbirth or surgery.  As is the common factor in Great British Scandals, atrocious errors were made by those assigned to protect us; a failure of competence, but the true scandal was the cover up by those involved in supervising those who made such tragic decisions and protecting the organisation`s "good name".  The government report is available here. 

Numerous tragedies have befallen NHS patients from newborn children to centenarians owing directly to incompetence of professional employees.  However overlooking the loss of lives and personal family tragedies, once again cover ups to protect those in front of and apparently also behind the firing line were and are commonplace.  There are thousands of individuals salaried by government or proxies whose job is supposed to provide a legal, professional and moral umbrella for those at the receiving end of a trade or service.  

There cannot be any in these isles for whom the word Grenfell doesn`t conjure up a scene from hell; of terror so profound that it is primeval.  14th June 2017: a day that will live in infamy in the minds of anyone who lives in a high rise flat [with apologies to Franklin Roosevelt and 7th December 1941]. Four years later a public inquiry found that government received an estimate in the 1990s that the cost of fixing dangerous cladding was £500 million, that reports were marked for ‘limited circulation’ preventing people from learning the truth and that key information was removed or ‘entirely neutered’.  In addition the government suppressed information about the combustibility of cladding used on Lakanal House and promises to act on the Lakanal recommendations were not kept.  In an understatement on the day of the Grenfell fire, emails from a civil servant said, ‘Some of the stuff about disproportionate burdens feels uncomfortable today’.  Government inadequacy in dealing with this avoidable tragedy follows a similar pattern to every other mentioned in this post.  A full account before and after is available here .

There cannot be many who are unaware of the current inquiry into the Post Office scandal; perhaps vying for the iniquitous top place with the previously mentioned blood scandal above in its depravity.  Each witness is providing a cocktail of lies, half truths,  innuendo and forgetfulness to justify his/her statements, behaviour, actions or inactions.  

Whilst there will be myriad subjects for the incoming government`s attention there must be a place or a ministry or a department to consider why such as all the above and many others seem to be a part of the British way of doing things.  Is it not about time that the "appointments" system by "appointment or advisory committees" be scrutinised?  Surely if 12 ordinary people from the voters rolls can sit in judgement in the crown court that source of citizens could be the basis of panels to at least oversee the selection of those aforementioned supervisory bodies.  Indeed why should there be any selection at all.  Is it not time to consider that at some if not all levels British citizens vote for membership of these committees or organisations  and be trusted to apply their knowledge and common sense?

ADDENDUM 9th July 2024

A new report is highly critical of the functioning of  Nursery and Midwifery Council  (NMC).  I doubt there will ever be information about how the members of NMC are chosen and who chooses them i.e. those constituting the appointments committee.  IMHO that is every bit as significant as the incompetence and worse of the council itself.

F.O.I.//JUDICIAL RELIGION//ELECTED SUPERVISORY BODIES?

Fact 1: When I was appointed in 1998 the application form had a section asking which political party had I voted for in the previous general election. 

Fact 2: That question has long been omitted from application form

Fact 3: Religious affiliation is not an admissible necessity  

Fact 4: Local Advisory Committees have some of these statistics

Fact 5: Freedom of Information Request to release those statistics not honoured.

Re Fact 5 above please find copied below reply:-

24 October 2022

Dear Ms 

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request – 220927003

Thank you for your request dated 27 September 2022 in which you asked for the following

information from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ):

Dear Advisory Committee on Justices of the Peace for London,

1.Please publish any material received from any other relevant authority relating to

the appointment criteria for those of black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.

2. How many JPs have been appointed in the last five years for which statistics are

available?

3. How many of of those re 2. above were of BAME identification?

4. How many of those re 2. above considered themselves Muslim on application?

Your request has been handled under the FOIA.

The MoJ does not hold any information in the scope of your request. This is because the

local Advisory Committees of Justices of the Peace are separate public authorities for

purposes of the FOIA. The MoJ may provide some services, such the provision of IT; but in

terms of recruitment (the subject of your enquiry) a Committee is its own public authority.

The MoJ (including HM Courts and Tribunal Services, which is an executive agency of the

MoJ) cannot answer for a Committee in this regard.

On November 21st 2022 an appeal against the refusal was confirmed.

On 22nd March 2023 there was an F.O.I. request as follows copied below: It seems that between November 2022 and March 2023 MOJ removed copy compliant facility of replies. This has necessitated using other publicly available means to paste relevant information:

So far so good or so it appears but further on there is this again copied below:-

Note the last two words above; "future publication". The final extract below from the reply is again by necessity a JPG from publicly available information.  The link highlighted is unavailable. 

The only conclusion is that the MOJ does not want we, the public, to know the religion if any of those who sit in judgement upon us. Richard Page ex JP was sacked for expressing his judicial opinion was based on his Christian beliefs. Until the early years of this century few of those involved in any way with the religious component of those on the bench high or low paid much attention to whether they worshipped a deity or not.  But  in 2024 a week before an election and eight months since an atrocity which has exposed the underlying hatred of Jews by many Muslims and the subsequent ouvert identity politics involving Muslims being persuaded by their peers and Imams to vote according to their preferred candidates` positions on the war against Hamas things are very different. The second most senior magistrate in the country, a Muslim,  has been subject to a formal warning of misconduct for his social media activities liable to indicate his partisan (Islamic) approach to justice. 

As readers will be aware, judges in USA are elected; the public has virtually the contenders` biographies and legal histories upon which to make a choice.  In this country such people are appointed by "the great and the good".  However we know to our shame and cost that supervisory bodies of all manner of industries and professions have been failing for decades with only the most heinous cases ever hitting the headlines Grenfell, Hillsborough and in the worst maternity scandal in the history of the NHS over two decades at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust hundreds of babies were left brain damaged or dead. Bereaved mothers were blamed for the deaths of their babies.  The Post Office and Blood scandals have yet to reach their public climax. Last week the Chief Constable of Northamptonshire was exposed as a liar and fraud in the qualifications he had submitted prior to his appointment.   Northamptonshire Police Fire and Crime Commissioner Danielle Stone, who was voted in to replace disgraced Stephen Mold – the man who oversaw the appointment of Mr Adderley – promised residents it wouldn’t happen again.  But this malfunction has happened in previous cases of Chief Constables being sacked. 

To conclude this post I leave readers with the question of whether in the light of current and historic circumstances supervisory bodies and those responsible for the appointment of the most senior responsible positions in society would do their jobs much more efficiently if they were accountable to being voted in or out by those over whom they have such onerous responsibilities. 

J.P. aka JERIMIAH OF THE PESSIMISTS

About six or seven years after my appointment my disillusionment with the Magistrates Association became such that I let my membership to that organisation lapse.  My grievances were that it purported to be representative of magistrates but could rarely amass more than 80% membership from those eligible but more to the point did everything possible to keep that knowledge private and within a small number of those privileged to know the reality.  That silent coterie usually included those next in line for appointments with the knowledge of a gong for the chairman a dead certainty.  In a personal capacity I had offered suggestions for utilising the abilities of members to further the efficiency of the organisation.  Some months later that approach was carried forward as if it were the brainchild of those at the top table.  A forum set up by a member in the early 2000s where members could exchange ideas and opinions was taken over by the M.A. but closed down some months later.  Dissent had to be controlled and terminated.  As a contributor to Twitter X I have been blocked by the M.A.  So it is with some surprise that today I have stumbled across a statement from said organisation with which I can find no objection.  It is available  here.  The writer might be blowing in the wind with a wish list that is highly unlikely to be any more than that but at least current deficits from magistrates` points of view are in the public eye. 

All too often it seems that what might be termed minor altercations get out of hand and one party swings a punch at another. Sadly, if only occasionally, that single punch can and has caused serious injury or death.  Over the years calls have been made to place the tragedy of single punch death as a stand alone offence. A recent incident is a sad example. However,  An interesting article from a publication I`ve never heard of is enlightening. 

Recently I attended the West End production of Les Miserables being seated just a few rows from the orchestra.  Unknown to me self righteous protesters from Just Stop Oil on the day after my visit to the show had been found guilty of causing criminal damage and aggravated trespass last September.  My point today is posing the question as to when such activities develop from so called "activism" to fascism.   

There can be few reading this who are unaware that the Lord Chancellor recently notified sentencers that they should keep in mind that the prisons are literally overflowing with offenders and there is no spare capacity.  If that were akin to the boy crying "wolf" then be assured there really is a wolf this time. For what other reason could this offender not be sentenced to immediate custody? 

Shortly after July 4th we will have a new government.  It is also not unlikely that we will have as an MP a man who probably has had more influence from outside Westminster on major government decisions and activities than many cabinet ministers.  But can any reader honestly believe that whilst we live in hope our once honoured and revered justice system will not fall further into decline?   

Just call me J for Jerimiah of the P for Pessimists.   

IT was THE BEST OF TIMES//NOW IT is THE WORST OF TIMES

I`m old enough to remember occasionally reading in newspapers of the abject state of the judicial system in India where thousands of untried defendants were languishing in ancient prisons built during the Raj unlikely to have their day in court not just for many months but for many years.   The daily average number of adults in prison custody in England and Wales in 1974 was 26,234. This figure represents 78 adults per 100,000 in the population. In April 2024, the prisoner population of England and Wales stood at 87,481 while the operating capacity of prisons was 88.889. In 2022 there were 159 per 100,000.  These numbers are just a snapshot at the hard end of our justice system. But what of the other end?

Governments and legal sources with their in built biases have for generations told the British public that their legal and justice system is a system of which they cannot be too proud: that it has been exported to many countries mainly from the days of the Empire for which these now independent nations are forever grateful.  We are also told not just that the system is a glowing testament to the British concept of "fair play and fairness" but that the practitioners within that system can hold their heads up high with pride in their probity and efficiency.  Tell that to the people of Hong Kong (in a whisper behind closed doors) and they would laugh and cry simultaneously if they were able as confusing thoughts and emotions compete with each other in a manner with which the brain cannot cope.  They would cry at the naivety of the British government when it handed the colony back to China according to the terms of the agreement signed in 1898 when Britain obtained a 99-year lease for the New Territories.  They would laugh at the thought that amongst some others, bigwigs of the British judiciary since 1997 have been presiding over Chinese imposed legislation in Chinese courts over Hong Kong citizens accused of transgressing that Chinese legislation; legislation which is designed to stifle any aspect of what our society terms free speech.  Information of these former judges from the highest ranks of British judiciary was first posted  here 16th March 2021.  There was an update on 8th March 2022.  

In the last few days without any major announcement  former Canadian Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and UK judges Lord Jonathan Sumption and Lord Lawrence Collins have resigned from Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal.  What has taken them so long to leave the posts which any reasonably minded person could see was a fig leaf to cover the totalitarian nature of the Chinese so called government which was following the processes of similar dictatorships of the modern era?  

At all levels owing to financial starvation since 2010 and an unashamed arrogance of many practitioners the legal system is floundering where it matters; at the lower end of the spectrum whilst a relatively few exorbitantly overpaid  solicitors and barristers snaffle millions from representing Russian oligarchs trying to keep their ill gotten billions and ridding themselves of their trophy wives.  And there are many others with pockets filled with gold from the Arabic speaking world to keep busy other experts in Chancery Lane in exchange for $$$$$ Roubles or Rials.  

And then we have The Criminal Cases Review Commission; supposedly the last stop in the journey of ensuring justice has been done.  This was a subject posted here 5th September 2023.   Since then the Post Office scandal has had some light shone upon those lawyers within the company who failed in their obligations to their profession and to  judges who were reticent in exercising their powers of intervention when such intervention would likely have saved the heartache to which many postmasters were brutally subjected.  

The case of Andrew Malkinson is perhaps the most telling of miscarriages of justice this century.  Every professional involved must share some blame for his being in the Kafkaesque situation of being kept in prison despite evidence available to throw doubt on his conviction because he refused to admit his "guilt".  Perhaps those involved in this disgraceful process hadn`t read "The Trial".   

The iniquities of the Single Justice Procedure have been exposed here many times and don`t need to be repeated. The failure of judges to sentence appropriately for knife crime, the "shoplifters go free" policy set down by MOJ, the failure of the Metropolitan Police in particular to clamp down hard on racist abuse during supposedly peaceful but intimidating  marches and the aforementioned  sentencing to suit prison accommodation available are just some of the factors which are now the accepted norm in our society.  

It would take the proverbial optimist high on whatever favourite substance addled his/her brain to think any future government would be able to turn around this sorry state of affairs.  Meanwhile an ever increasing minority would like to impose sharia law on this country and are beginning to exercise their electoral muscle to this effect.  

Salam alaikum.

ADDENDUM 14.00 11th June 2024

Latest update on the Post Office Inquiry courtesy of the Law Society Gazette

ADDENDUM 14.00 18th June 2024 courtesy of the  LawSocietyGazette 

DOES 2024 = 1984?

Having a chat recently over a bottle of a 12 year old Glenlivet with some friends about when something is woke or not woke I happened to mention that on one occasion in the retiring room I commented to a colleague with whom I was on a level just slightly more informal than "just a colleague" that her outfit of red jacket and black skirt was a colourful combination which in the insect world would indicate that "I am poison or I can sting so don`t try to eat me."  She was amused and promised not to bite.  

With our common interest we tried to get together once or perhaps twice a year.  There were six of us of whom two were female one under 40 and the other a retiree like myself.  One male was also retired and the other two were I suppose yet to hit 40. Their reactions to my light hearted remark were unsurprising.  The older woman smiled and agreed entirely with my frivolity and confessed that in her younger days she had a section of her wardrobe to contain her "power outfits" amongst which when she still had a figure to flaunt would usually be a black skirt to be worn with a red or yellow top or jacket. Our other female attendee was smiling rather sardonically at this and said if she had been spoken to like that at her place of work a complaint to her HR manager would have been made at the speed of light.  Of my three male imbibing companions my contemporary snorted that the world if it hasn`t gone mad was at the entrance to the asylum. The other two thought in the nicest possible way that we were a bunch of fogeys.  I suppose that in microcosm they were correct which brings me to the reality of what happens when innocent remarks in some circumstances are as divorced from reality as are members of the Flat Earth Society.  

The employment tribunal case of Yuanyuan Zhang is interesting owing to its focal point being the use of the term frumpy to describe a woman`s appearance.  The tribunal judge is quoted as saying, "such a comment was unwanted comment related to sex".  Owing to her claim being time barred it was rejected.  A report is available  here. 

With millions of Britons proudly hosting names from their or their ancestors` homeland be it Afghanistan or Zambia or all places in between it`s unsurprising that many good hearted English people notorious for lacking linguistic abilities sometimes struggle in that department.  Indeed a now deceased member of my family solved that issue by asking associates to call him Davy.  It seems, however, that common sense and simple mutual respect are increasingly rare commodities nowadays.  In fact the former was a requirement when I was appointed to the bench but went missing about ten years later.  Viveak Taneja was left "angry and upset" when Dana Davies incorrectly called him "Vikesh".  He was sacked as an area sales manager and subsequently was awarded over £9,000 when the tribunal judge ruled that his dignity had been violated. There is a very full report here.  

There is no doubt that every generation since flint was the most precious of stones thinks that the succeeding generation is lacking in some skills or another. However the apparent current obsession with offence being deconstructed to mean any tiny detail of criticism which reaches the eyes or ears vaguely in the direction of a woke receptive individual is now being used for social, financial or political gain.  Until July 4th the manufactured and meaningless word islamophobia is going to be heard many times daily when observers note the identity politics being pursued in some constituencies.  Perhaps we are fortunate that woke is still relatively benign but then so was Das Kapital in 14 September 1867 or Mein Kampf in 18 July 1925.  

When the word genocide is being deliberately misused to foster hate and truth is being seen to be falsehood we truly are nearing the reality of George Orwell`s nightmare. Does  2024 = 1984?  Perhaps there is still hope for old fogeys and the rest of the population. 

CROWN COURT APPEALS

 

The above is an extract from 10 years statistics on appeals to the crown court against verdict and sentence.  I am not a statistician and leave it to others who might explore some numbers or trends.  However a glance tells us that from 2017 there was a marked change in absolute numbers.  The figures for 2020-2022 are those of the period in which the epidemic skewed statistics for myriad organisations.  It is noteworthy in my opinion to look at the years 2014 and 2019.  In the former there was a total of 11,214 appeals at crown court of which 5,731 were against verdict. 2,529 of those were allowed.  Against sentence there were 4,816 with 2,222 being successful.  In 2019 there was a total of 7,925 appeals at crown court of which 3,863 were against verdict. 1,730 of those were allowed.  Against sentence there were 3,435 with 1,705 being successful.  Figures for 2023 are total of 5,803 appeals at crown court of which 2,614 were against verdict. 1,088 of those were allowed.  Against sentence there were 2,647 with 1,272 being successful.  Considering that there are 150 magistrates courts in England and Wales on average only 39 appeals were registered  per court for the year 2023.  Over a million cases are expected annual at magistrates courts.  At the end of September 2023 there were 352,945 outstanding cases at the magistrates' courts. 

The numbers of appeals have reduced.  It could be argued that that is an indication of reduced prosecutions.  It could be argued that the Single Justice Procedure is antagonistic to appealing.  It could be argued that it`s an indication that magistrates courts are becoming more efficient in reaching verdicts and sentences.  It could be argued that fewer able offenders are equipped one way or another to go through the appeals process.  What, in my opinion, is unarguable is that much more research into the functioning of magistrates courts is necessary; e.g. the variations, if any, in the outcomes between lay benches and District Judges(MC) and the frequency of presiding magistrates advising offenders of their right to appeal  to name but two.  

It seems unlikely that the decline in our justice system  since 2010 will be reversed in the coming five years.  Indeed it is now obvious that that decline is just symptomatic in the decline of our society as a whole from one where "things can only get better" to one of "we`re doing the best we can under the circumstances".  Result..........Pessimists 1: Optimists 0. 

THE CYCLE OF JUSTICE

One of the joys of my life was for my 15th birthday the present from my parents of a brand spanking new red and white Raleigh touring bicycle having 3 speed sturmey archer gear shifter, white wall tyres, a foldaway stand, two mirrors and the ubiquitous bell to warn off impending collisions with pedestrians aimlessly crossing my path. The only missing accessory was a dynamo powered light set owing to my parents` insistence that I didn`t go anywhere after dark.  That sensation of freedom induced by those two wheels was an elixir of exuberance repeated when four years later I took possession of another red and white two wheeled transporter; a 125cc Lambretta scooter.  My first car purchased as my student days ended was the final adrenalin inducing vehicle which gave me a similar "high" as did that bike years earlier.  As a car owning pensioner in my latter years living in an ordinary suburban environment I wouldn`t now cycle more than half a mile from my house at any price even if I had the most efficient electric bike there is to be bought.  I rate the risk of injury too high; paranoid perhaps but a not uncommon feeling amongst many.  

Perhaps that brief history explains why I have been so interested in the sad case of Auriol Grey.   Literally the trials and tribulations following those events have now been laid bare for all to see. And as if by Zeus in his Olympus hideaway throwing a bolt of lightening to illuminate the law and its perversity another event with a cyclist at its centre has brought into view questions about the Crown Prosecution Service and its capacity to lose public confidence in its ability to do the job we expect.  So many public bodies have been seen to fail with the cover ups of these failings exposing systemic government failures to punish those personnel responsible i.e. failure of the CPS and police to pursue wrong doers within parameters that must have been whispered by the NHS, Home Office and Ministry of Justice. The latest death by bike was that of Hilda Griffiths 81, knocked down in Regents Park by Brian Fitzgerald cycling at 30MPH.  Rarely do "normal" cyclists even approach such a speed which is equal to travelling 44 feet per second.  Law is available which if applied could have brought the director  of an international bank to trial.  There is  "Causing Bodily Harm by wanton or furious driving."  This 1861 Act is still in use today.  "Whosoever, having the charge of any carriage or vehicle, shall by wanton or furious driving or racing, or other wilful misconduct, or by wilful neglect, do or cause to be done any bodily harm to any person whatsoever, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years ..."   During my period as a magistrate I was in the middle chair on an occasion when this Act was used successfully to prosecute the drunken driver of a mobility scooter who knocked down a pedestrian on the pavement.  The 1988 Road Traffic Act is available to the CPS.  My question is why the police did not charge under the most appropriate section.  Was it that the "accused" was likely to be a person of wealth and high social standing with ample resources financial and professional at his disposal?  

There is no doubt that from virtually every angle or viewpoint the justice system in this country from arrest to Z beds in prison cells is approaching a point not just of no return but a point where the public has no faith in its being fit for purpose. When that collapse happens it is a signal that society itself is at a point of disintegration.  Identity politics is the term that`s been given to the divisions in the country centred on racial or ethnic group preferences.  This whole topic has become an industry as this style guide from Bristol University illustrates.  

   

We are in a situation where the answer to the questions, "What is British" or "What does it mean to be British" or "What are the five most typical British values" are no longer able to be rolled off the tongue without some deep thinking.  There are those amongst us whose desire is to diminish any sense at all of Britishness. Those who denounce patriotism for that is what Britishness is at its core are bad mouthed as being racist or worse.  It is to be hoped that these increasingly widening cracks in society can be unified but failing an alien invasion from the Andromeda Nebula Ah hae ma doots as the separates north of Hadrian`s Wall would say.  

TO BE WELSH OR NOT TO BE WELSH? THAT IS THE QUESTION

I suppose language can be likened to glue; depending on its formula and purpose it binds together disparate substances to form in effect a new or enhanced object with a new or enhanced purpose.  In any population, society, tribe, grouping, sect or family language can also be as divisive as the English Channel dividing England from the European continent.  

Language can divide or unite nations.  Belgium is an artificial construct between original Dutch speakers and French speakers where politics is forever treading a tightrope between two proud communities.  The tragedy of Ukraine has a basis in geographical separation of language between the east and west of the country. When early Zionists in the 19th century began buying land in Ottoman controlled Palestine they were communicating with the Jews and Arabs living there in European languages as well as Arabic and Hebrew.  As time went on the early pioneers of increased Jewish immigration realised that to increase the cohesiveness of a diverse people Hebrew would be imposed as the target national language of a future nation and thus a language that had been in common use until two thousand  years ago but had diminishing numbers of speakers mainly for religious purposes was re-born in a modern form alongside Arabic as the national languages of the modern State of Israel.

Before the Roman invasion the Brittonic language was the lingua franca in what is now Great Britain south of the Firth of Forth.  The Romans left their 400 year occupation having bequeathed to future generations the Latin language which has been a foundation stone of modern English. Similarly after 1066 Norman French was the predominant language of the English nobility until English, derived from invaders between the 5th and 7th centuries, was given official status by the Pleading in English Act 1362.  That act stated that pleas in Courts had to be held in English although written accounts were still in Latin. English became the official language in England during the reign of King Henry V.

Researchers have shown that Cornish, Scottish Gaelic, Irish, Manx and Welsh belong to the Celtic branch of Indo-European. Celtic, in turn, divides into two distinct subgroups: P-Celtic (or Brythonic) and Q-Celtic (or Goidelic). Cornish and Welsh are P-Celtic languages, whilst Scottish Gaelic, Irish and Manx are Q-Celtic languages.  Nationalism thrives as a driving force for populist political philosophy and language is part of that force.  Ireland is a prime example where many Catholics in Northern Ireland were encouraged by their co-religionists over the border to learn Gaelic.  The SNP legislated for road signs in Scotland to be in Scottish Gaelic as well as English. Many government and other official documents are now published in Welsh alongside English.  The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 is the legislation that created the Welsh language standards. It is a legally binding framework that all public organisations in Wales must follow to make sure that the Welsh language is treated no less favourably than English.  All children in Wales have to learn Welsh up until they are 16. Details of language provision is available here.  

A private parking company with a dubious reputation has recently won an action against a Welsh speaker for not publishing its documents in Welsh.  With both Scots and Welsh assemblies originally offered in an attempt to assuage nationalistic murmurings beginning to be aroused 50 years ago they are now being seen by their proponents as a springboard, especially in Scotland, for complete independence.  Such division would be a catastrophe for this United Kingdom but a triumph for those who seek to increase European division both within and without its geographic boundaries.  The General Elections both in this country, Europe and USA might answer the question as to whether a certain Mr V. Putin has succeeded with his disruptive aspirations aided by social media acolytes. 

Language was, is and always will be a uniter or disuniter of societies.  Ours is no exception.  The very term "woke" is a familiar example. Lewis Carroll and George Orwell each in his own way owed much of their literary status to the effects of understanding or misunderstanding the meaning of words.   

IT IS BROKE AND THEY WON`T FIX IT

There`s an old adage, "if it ain`t broke don`t fix it."  Whilst it sounds reasonable advice, on a second reading it becomes obvious that if it is followed there must be preparation for the breakdown which results.  If machinery is allowed to function without maintenance seemingly in fine operating condition it will be a matter of when not if it fails.  Owners of vehicles, bicycles, guns, hydro electric schemes, oil tankers; indeed there are very few man made objects with moving parts  which don`t require inspection and careful attention to allow them to function at maximum capacity for maximum efficiency over a maximum lifetime.   When it comes to organisations similar considerations should apply but they don`t. 

It seems almost monthly that we read of supervisory organisations in many spheres of our lives which have failed in their primary functions of ensuring that those organisations over which they have the power to inspect, impose, change or challenge existing forms of behaviour, supervision, rules or recommendations have failed with the cost of such failure being the ruin of human lives.  We are conditioned to bland statements from such entities when their failings are made public.  Only those with a professional or personal insight into such situations are truly aware of what horror stories lie behind each such announcement.  Very often those individuals go public with their informed comments only when they are retired secure in the knowledge that their pensions are safe.  Ex senior police officers, judges and medical staff are amongst the most prominent but rarely are their wise words more than just a few days` headlines. Within our emasculated and discredited justice system I would opine that the most heinous miscarriages of justice occur at the lowliest courts in the system; the magistrates courts. 

Earlier this century the success rates for appeal of verdicts charged with either way offences  at magistrates courts was as in the table below.

Appeals against sentence or verdict at magistrates courts have consistently been around 45% successful in the following decade. 

Current estimates are that around 24% of all appeals to the crown court are successful.  With the introduction of the Single Justice Procedure in 2015 it might be thought surprising that successful appeals have not shown a marked increase.  It is hard perhaps to stomach in these egalitarian times but only a relatively small percentage of guilty defendants have the means to hire a lawyer to represent them at an appeal before a judge and two magistrates or alternatively the time and intellect to be litigants in person.  

It is within the magistrates courts that the vast majority of offenders is faced with the power of the judicial system; a system which is often stacked against them because the old notion of a "level playing field" or "equality of arms" is but a historical memory.  Returning to my theme, the magistrates courts system is indeed "broke"; broken by deliberate government action and inaction.  This is in some ways similar to the result of matter colliding with  anti- matter which I believe results in the constituent particles destroying each other with a huge energy release. Depending on the colliding particles not only is there a great energy release, but new, different particles may also be produced (such as neutrinos and various flavours of quark.  For matter and anti matter substitute the rights of the individual and the power of the state. The released substances of the collision might be listed as victims` rights, equivocal guilty pleas, perverse verdicts, prisoner suicides, decision making in the near future by A.I., increased wrongful convictions, premature releases and many more. 

If it`s not too late to "service" the damaged courts system and attempt a "fix" there must be a political will which just does not exist.  I fear that lay magistrates might soon be losing my preference as the best way of handling a million plus summary matters every year.  It has become newsworthy that some of the recent local election results in certain areas have come about as a result of foreign practices being employed by immigrant communities. With the numbers of Muslim magistrates or their affiliations being kept secret by the MOJ I fear that political influences could be added to the already undertrained recent cohorts of those hastily added to the bench as a result of deliberate mismanagement.  Urgent consideration should be given to the Presiding Judge directing that all those found guilty be instructed that they have a right to appeal verdict and/or sentence and practical efforts eg leaflets on that process, be handed out in the courts.  As was the case last century applicants to the bench should be obliged to state their political allegiance(s).  Limits of eg 20 years service should be imposed upon magistrates.  Defendants must lose the right in either way offences to choose crown court trial. Consideration must be given to insist that all trials should be presided over by a District Judge [MC] with two magistrate wingers and/or all cases where custody is an option.  

However simple my wish list the images in my crystal ball will remain just that.  The justice  system is broken for all of us apart from oligarchs and their wives fighting over the results of their divorces and the media trying to prise open government`s secret files.  

It is broke and "they" won`t fix it. 

WORDS CAN KILL

Observers, commentators, journalists and others born in the last three decades of the 20th century when telling the world of the 1960s in word, film or speech often use the prefix "swinging".  A more accurate though less catchy prefix would be "embryonic" describing how young people began to break out of the shell imposed by a world war and its financially restricting aftermath.  Compared to current normalities profane speech was relatively heard only in anger and not as an emphasis to enhance an adjective and certainly not to signal a writer`s attempt at what became known as "kitchen sink drama".  Poof or poofter was a common term for homosexual and was, I suppose, to a recipient be hurtful and degrading.  Today the use of those words would probably give rise to a complaint of a hate crime; a term itself only in common use this century.  

Fans of "At last the 1948 Show" will remember with unrestricted joy the sketch

The only phrase missing that might have added just an extra frissom of timelessness were that required for what is indeed a timeless comedy jewel might have been "back in the day" but that was a phrase originating about 5o years ago in American slang before the sketch was written.  However the remarks of a judge describing those words at a recent employment tribunal as  "barbed and unwelcome"  indicate how far down the slope of restricted speech our society has tumbled.  Judge Patrick Quill suggested that the aforementioned phrase could be deemed "unwanted conduct".  A report and comment can be accessed here.  

Are we as a society being led down the proverbial rabbit hole to a wonderland that even Lewis Carroll would not have imagined?  Only a few days ago a police officer at a march supporting Hamas told a Jewish bystander that somebody waving a swastika was not in itself a hate crime and had to be considered in context.  In what universe do a police officer and a judge offer such crass remarks and apparently find themselves in line with public opinion?  The comments by observers in the article are a further indication of the depths to which this society appears to have shrunk insofar as innocent comment is now considered unlawful if the recipient so considers it.  But when it comes to real hate directed at Jews they are expected to suffer as it is considered not unlawful.  Compare that with the attitude on display if similar remarks were to be directed at Muslims or black people. 

What we say in public [also in private if you live in Scotland] is one thing but our beliefs are now also coming within reach of those who want to put "Newspeak" on a statutory footing. Rachel Meade, a social worker employed at Westminster City Council made public her opinion on social media that a person cannot change sex: for that she was subjected to all the wrath that self serving "progressive" council officials and regulators could muster to castigate her.  A report is available here.  

It could be argued as per my opening paragraph that those  fighting curtailment of everyday language began to bear their fangs with the establishment of Stonewall, the largest LGBT rights organisation in Europe. Named after the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City, it was formed in 1989 by political activists and others campaigning against Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, including Ian McKellen, Lisa Power and Michael Cashman.  Having been instrumental with others in rightfully securing protection for its supporters in word and deed it is in the process of self destruction in the so called "progressive" movement`s greatest self imposed struggle involving the rights or otherwise of those who consider themselves "trans".   

Many people`s image of a fascist is one of a tall fair haired well built male in his early thirties wearing black leather riding boots and a black uniform topped with a military cap embossed with a skull and crossbones.  They are wrong.  Today`s fascists come in all shapes, sexes and sizes. They do not set about their tasks with senseless brutality but their intentions are as evil as those who wore the black uniform or their Italian and English counterparts of the 1930s who wore at least a black shirt. They are intent in subverting the English language as readily as Lewis Carroll`s timeless invention of Humpty Dumpty. 

Fascists must  stifle opposition.  In Germany and Italy from the early 1920s that involved terrorising newspaper owners and editors into what they could and could not publish.  Today for fascists, under their camouflage as "progressives", that translates into propagating lie and innuendo on social media and castigating and attempting to discredit those who attempt to show them up for what they are. Today it is often Israelis first then Zionists then just Jews who are targeted.  Tomorrow their net will have widened.  Already on one side the leader of the Opposition is in their gunsight and those who support Islamism are joined in a political pincer movement  from the other. Sooner or later those who would destroy the basis of our Judeo Christian society must be confronted with words that actually have real meaning.  Language is a tool and a weapon.  In the wrong mouths words can kill. 

PERVERSE OR NOT PERVERSE:THE DEBATE CONTINUES

Last week my post heading was "Perverse Verdicts".  This week the High Court came to a conclusion on what might be described as a corollary to that; namely that  "Mr Justice Saini refused the Solicitor General’s application for permission to bring proceedings for contempt against Ms Warner. Ms Warner had displayed a placard with the words “JURORS YOU HAVE AN ABSOLUTE RIGHT TO ACQUIT A DEFENDANT ACCORDING TO YOUR CONSCIENCE” to passers-by outside Inner London Crown Court on the morning a trial of a number of defendants associated with the environmental group Insulate Britain was due to begin.

Mr Justice Saini reached the firm conclusion that the Solicitor General’s case did not disclose a reasonable basis for committal, given Ms Warner merely “accurately informed potential prospective jurors about one of their legal powers”.  

To re-cap an interesting juxta position of the law; a barrister is forbidden to speak in favour of his client who wishes to put forward a perverse argument as his/her defence but an unrepresented defendant can him/herself argue that self same perverse argument. As I indicated last week this debate has a long way to run.  The full transcript of the above case HM SOLICITOR GENERAL Claimant - and - TRUDI ANN WARNER Defendant is available here.   

PERVERSE VERDICTS

It seems that especially since October 7th 2023 the term "public order" has been re-defined by police especially in London.  The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police has taken a Humpty Dumpty attitude to expressions of public hate insofar as HD`s definition was that words mean what I want them to mean.  This approach to the policing of demonstrations large or small has infiltrated the minds of those mainly on the socialist so called "progressive" Left who are assembling at the drop of a hat to make felt their opinions on an ever increasing range of topics which they think that they and only they have the right to impose upon the public all manner of interference in their daily lives.  

Perhaps one of the first such demonstrations which was arguably aimed at government and not public opinion was that at Greenham Common between 1981 and 1992 when a group of women formed a 24 hours a day seven days a week permanent camp to protest at nuclear weapons being stored at the site in Berkshire on instant alert to be used by U.S. aircraft to bomb Russia if the "need" arose.  From tree huggers to road blockers via climate change fanatics, trans fascists and Black Lives Matter reparation seekers the elasticity  of the legal right to protest and the public`s right to go about its lawful business unimpaired has become increasingly stretched.  The bitter hatred of the politics being exposed by that massacre on October 7th has taken the antipathy to law and disorder a further anarchic step first posted here on 19th December 2023.    In simple terms in view of the protesters but a minefield for legal big wigs campaigns are being organised to allow jurors to disregard judges` directions that verdicts should be based purely on the evidence presented at trial and that the opinions or consciences of jurors should not override that prime consideration.  Events in Salisbury and Bristol appear to be following previous methods of protest. 

As a retired member of the lowest level of the judiciary I can, like everyone else, have an opinion and enjoy debate over a pint were I so inclined.  But for those at the top table this is a matter of fundamental constitutional importance.  With racists in the guise of "progressives" absorbing Islamo-Marxist inspired "anti Zionism" to avoid in their minds expressing hatred of Jews and justifying acquittal of criminal damage, breach of the peace and/or affray, BLM supporters defacing  statues and artworks and others similarly using climate change in their defence of public order charges the debate and conclusions on perverse verdicts has a long way to run.  

JURIES AND TELESCOPES

Today`s opinions for what they`re worth are from the viewpoint of an interested outsider and not as those of a retired magistrate.  An area where outsiders and the law interact without detriment to the former is in jury service.  Personally I have never served as a juror but for those who do especially in cases of acute public interest the pressures must be considerable  especially if their backgrounds are such where there has been no need to exercise higher intellectual functions.  In typical British fashion there has been virtually no research into how a jury functions.  All that academics can do is to analyse results and their aftermath. Such limitations were available for all to see in the cases of  PAUL YUSUFF,  MATTHEW YUSUFF  and  MOUSSA TRAORE. To quote from the matter heard on 27/3/2024 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE KING'S BENCH  DIVISION DIVISIONAL COURT and available here in full the jury spokesperson made a mistake on telling the court the jury`s verdicts.  The ramifications of this situation must be having or at least should have major second thinking at the MOJ as to how to prevent a further similar happening and that the "untouchable" workings of juries must be set aside in favour of properly funded academic research.  What immediately comes to my mind is that the jury`s findings should be written and signed by all jurors and handed to the judge before the pronouncement is made.  In the event of confusion that confusion could be rectified by the judge and clerk of the court before before any public "misspeaking". 

The other major legal event in recent weeks  was new guidelines from the Sentencing Council on Domestic Homicide Sentencing. For what it`s worth I do think said body is looking at the law through the wrong end of the telescope.  Thankfully the unlawful killing of another is still a relatively rare event in this country and domestic homicide whilst a dreadful crime with widespread ramifications for any family is also relatively low in the UK.  Perhaps Mr, Mrs and Miss Person in the street would rather that criminal activities on their doorsteps or high streets were in the sights of the Council in its efforts to use sentencing as a deterrent and punishment.  However with almost every day bringing news that more and more offenders who deserve immediate custody not being jailed owing to there being no prison accommodation and others being released with ever increasing remission I see no more prospect of that than I do of a much needed increase of police officers actually on our streets and new police stations being opened or re opened where they are actually needed i.e. on our high streets.  Meanwhile the Sentencing Guidelines despite denials look increasingly as if they are ripe for computerisation at least in the early stages of determining the seriousness of an offence but that is a topic for another day.   

SJP JUGGLERS DROP THE BALL OF JUSTICE

Sentencing of newsworthy serious criminals on live TV is no longer in itself a newsworthy event.  Pioneered in Scotland such opportunities  to show  the law in action are an indication of how the MOJ wants the public to perceive the state of justice perhaps to disguise the failure of the last 14 years during which from police to prisons and all posts in between only a rabid optimist would opine that  the public is well served against criminality. When multiple murderers are sentenced in effect to die in jail the tool makers in Petty France can almost be seen as clap happy with their mutual back slapping as national media take up the stories. However it`s at the local level whether on line or in print that tens of millions of people have their glimpses of the law in action. One would have thought that the recent furore initiated  belatedly  by the Magistrates Association in respect of the Single Justice Procedure would have invited criticism as to why it has taken nine years to reach the eyes and ears of the general public.  It has not.

Local print media, the vehicles which in times past by their reporting of local magistrates courts when indeed such were actually "local", were  once the "name `em and shame `em" engines of a type of neighbourhood watch all but absent now in our collective rush to the keyboard.  At one time the option for local newspaper proprietors would have been to try and increase circulation by offering content that social on line media and mass media print by their very structures could not.  However nowadays it seems the business plan for local press is to restrict their on line availability to subscription only.  By playing chicken with their readership as to who will give way first; those prepared to buy the hard copy, those who would pay subs or those who refuse either option, it`s increasingly unlikely that truly local news will be reported.  It is likely news agencies` synchronised   stories will become the mainstay for many.  And so the "news" of the Magistrates Association`s self critical and snivelling statement posted here last week has been widely repeated almost word for word up and down the country.  My point is why has it taken so long for this overdue criticism to reach the public.  A large cadre of defence lawyers must have been the first to be aware of the iniquities involved.  Their representatives within the Law Society would surely have been in the loop to lobby MOJ.  But most of all individual magistrates not worthy of their appointment have been complicit since 2015 in presiding over a court system that they must have been aware was acting contrary to their oath: "  I... swear that I will well and truly serve our Sovereign Lord King Charles the third, in the office of Justice of the Peace and I will do right to all manner of people after the laws and usages of the Realm without fear or favour, affection or ill will."

I have yet to see, hear or read of the contrition of any single or group of magistrates for their actions.  In my time on the bench we had an annual general bench meeting where any subject deemed suitable by the bench chairman and his/her committee could be discussed and voted on.  I understand that such process has been discontinued.  This is unsurprising since the take over by HMCS, the abolition of magistrates courts committees and subsequently the establishment of HMCTS, was to that end; the magistrates courts must be taken under complete government control.  So much for the joke concept of "local" when ascribed to justice. 

It`s apparent that unless magistrates form a new body to actually represent themselves as a professional association the operation of the lower courts system will increasingly be weighted to the needs of a government and less to the application of the law for local communities.  I always thought that magistrates being the only members of a branch of the judiciary not being financially beholden to government could and would use that independence for the public good.  On a personal level I resigned before my designated retirement date because I did not want to implement impending legislation.  I wonder how many sitting as Single Justices have had any doubt about their position?  They are as jugglers trying to keep five concepts airborne when they`ve trained for three.  There is the inevitability of public failure which should be accompanied by humiliation but rarely is.

 I do not expect this site will be flooded with comments.