GORGE ORWELL HAS ADOPTED ALICE IN THE WONDERLAND THAT IS NOW THE UNITED KINGDOM

I suppose it`s not being too late with the news that once more magistrates courts` sentencing powers have again been increased to 12 months custody for a single offence. The reason given by the MOJ is that prison overcrowding will be eased.  But does this simple explanation stand up to simple scrutiny?  Forget all the statistics except this; for decades the rate of immediate custody in the lower courts has been no more than 3% - 4% of all sentences.  On an individual level I have yet to meet a magistrate who enjoyed acquiescing to such a sentence. Indeed a personal guideline which in days gone by I offered to a new magistrate was a case which has stayed in my mind for 20 years when discussing custody for assault: it went as follows: a man in his mid twenties with a previous record of violent behaviour living with a partner in the late stages of her pregnancy  pulled her down a flight of stairs by her hair at their home.  We sentenced him to the maximum six months immediate custody.  The proposed new guideline will mean that more either way offences will be tried and sentenced in magistrates courts.  Perhaps in its wisdom the MOJ will remove that choice.  In any event why would the number of custodial sentences be reduced?  There does not seem to be any logical reason.  What will happen is that the waiting time at crown courts will be reduced.  However an unintended consequence for this chopping and changing trial horses in mid gallop is that there will be a frantic increase in attempts to have more magistrates and perhaps an increase also in the number of appointed District Judges[MC].  A rushed recruitment programme for demanding jobs inevitably leads to a lowering in subsequent performance.  Police forces throughout the country having lost long serving officers by the thousand since 2010 are facing a similar situation with fewer "old hands" available to bring their knowledge and experience on the streets to their new young colleagues.  The new Secretary of State by publishing another sentencing review is just following on the pious words of so many of her predecessors.  How long she will be around to see it fail is a moot point.  

In view of the fact that Scotland has the worst drug problem in Europe there was an interesting answer to the following Freedom of Information Request:- In the last five years how many people have received the maximum sentence permitted for contraventions of the Misuse of Drugs Act, in relation to possession, possession with intent to supply or being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs in the High court?  The short answer is not one.

It seems that the push of some Muslims to associate many social issues to the situation in Gaza should be a cause for concern.  Thankfully this country has a record of church and state mainly (but not always eg House of Lords) being separated.  Whilst not like a constitutional requirement as in America our fumbling way through such matters and others similar seemed to be effective........until now.  The banking arrangements between Tesco and Barclays Bank should be a matter only for the companies concerned.  For these Islamists who can be described as political Muslims our society should be re-aligned to their long term desire for sharia.  These and other early signs of political Islam unfortunately are not being faced by the government or perhaps Keir Starmer hopes that the public is blind to such matters. With a population now of 3.4 million Muslims he might be correct but with a projected population of 13 million in 2050 the chickens will be coming home thick and fast to do their roosting. 

All too often from TV to Twitter [X] we are being informed of the remarks in the workplace or elsewhere that are taboo and worthy of legal action.  Another reference can now be added to the plethora currently classified as verboten.  Calling a man "baldie" is now to be viewed as sexual harassment. Truly this country is in wonderland, down the rabbit hole or through the looking glass. Whatever you might choose we are at a period in our history when George Orwell has adopted Alice.  

THE END OF THE ROAD FOR MAGISTRATES?

For centuries magistrates were chosen from a small select group of local worthies to adjudicate over a local population generally when the crimes committed did not require an indictment.  Defendants were tried summarily.  By the late nineteenth century the summary courts were dealing with twenty times as many cases as the jury courts. This included an increasing use of pre-trial hearings - a kind of pseudo-trial in which magistrates evaluated the evidence in cases that strictly speaking should have been forwarded to the jury courts without review.  In 1166 King Henry II issued the Assize of Clarendon which required non-King's Bench judges to travel the country to hear cases. This established the system of judges sitting in London while others traveled the country, known as the "assizes system".  It has been within the magistracy that the concept of local justice has survived and even that concept is being whittled away with  non local District Judges being now a common and necessary fixture of the magistrates courts system.  And yet the MOJ still propagates that notion of "local justice for local people".  It could be argued that as it was when I was appointed, a magistrate`s jurisdiction was limited to the area in which s/he resided.  All that changed a decade or more ago when the whole country was deemed an individual`s jurisdiction thus allowing, if and when needed, out of county JPs to fill sittings.  The professional judiciary have no such locality requirements for appointment. 

Since Covid and following on from the closure of half the country`s magistrates courts JPs` numbers have fallen from a peak of 30,000 20 years ago to around 14,000 currently.  Now as with decimated police numbers the MOJ is trying desperately to recruit more members of the lay bench.  Millions of pounds are spent on advertising and much more in investigating the dozens of facts about each applicant`s background, parenthood, religion, occupation and what they have for breakfast.  Is it any wonder that so few people are willing to put themselves through such filters for up to two years just to give of their free time 13 days annually on the bench and almost as many in training. As an example the recruiting organisation for the South East of England has published this standardised recruitment advertisement.    

Towards the end of the last century an academic study [of which sadly I can now find no trace] estimated that if District Judges sat without a legal advisor or clerk instead of  lay benches the costs would be about equal to the cost of magistrates` expenses and training.  Many criminal lawyers would welcome such a change.  Whether the public would be equally receptive is another matter.  Nobody has ever bothered to inquire.  

Last week I commented on the case of His Honour Judge (HHJ) Martin Davis who was castigated by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office.  Reading the first few statements of that office`s October`s findings I find it difficult to understand how those JPs were able to be appointed in the first place.  Whatever the findings they seem to have had underlying traits which should have been teased out much earlier in the process.  Perhaps they were appointed long before the current fine tuning which is in place although that details on who and what they have been and are now. 

It seems obvious that all the supposed brains at Petty France don`t know what to do with lay magistrates.  As I have posted here in times past, they have treated them like the Grand Old Duke of York treated his soldiers; he marched them up to the top of the hill and marched them down again except the hill involved is that of making 12 months custody for a single offence available.  "Yes it is but then no it isn`t".  My sentiments on this subject have crystalised in the last few years. The more desperate the demand for Justices of the Peace the more the likelihood of the quality of applicants reducing.  Whether they will wither on the vine as increasing numbers of DJs are appointed or become add ons to a new form of lower courts system is unknown.  But the current situation is surely that sign of a system`s eventual demise. 

THE DAUGHTERS OF THE ME TOO MOVEMENT

Like many of my generation I am subject to annual blood tests which serve to pacify any anxiety I might have on my general well being [so far so good] and allow the NHS the earliest opportunity at the cheapest cost to right that which might seem wrong.  It does this by analysing and classifying blood tests according to an "average".  I had recent cause to study some of my results over the last decade or so and noticed that the "average" figure against which my personal result was normal or abnormal was not a constant; inquiries informed me that some of those figures were a local population average. As an example in August 2023 my serum potassium reading was "normal" between 3.5- 5.1.  In April this year the "normal range" was 3.5- 5.3.  Has the error allowed in analysis been subtly  altered?  Has the population`s blood been contaminated? Has the measurement system developed inaccuracies?  In other words is our being medically out of step mathematically a cause for concern or an attempt by the state to allow greater variation to pass unquestioned? 

And so to the world of woke folk.  In 2006 a wonderful German film Lives of Others exposed the system by which the communist government of the then East Germany kept dissidence and dissidents under control by their secret police the Stasi.  That was then, this is now.  The judiciary from the lowest level magistrates to the members of the Supreme Court is arguably the most tightly controlled group of  professionals not only on the public payroll but amongst all the professions.  Their every attribute or profile is in the public domain but they are appointed in secret.  Almost their every public statement is subject to oversight.  And now a combination of so called progressive thinking and a fear of accusations of being unfair or bias in their behind the scenes activities has led to iniquities of which a Parisienne concierge of 1789 would recognise as not merely intrusive but in their own way, deadly. 

THE JUDICIAL CONDUCT INVESTIGATIONS OFFICE ostensibly is the fairest and most open of supervisory authorities which plague this nation.  It is a classic example of  an organisation seeing all the trees and unable to recognise the wood.  It follows {or has led} a pattern seen in numerous cases of maladministration in health authorities, children`s care and uncorrected injustices within the legal system to name but a few.  

The latest fly to be ensnared by the secretive soundings of the JCIO spider is His Honour Judge (HHJ) Martin Davis.  Rather than re-stating his encounter readers should read for themselves the published conclusion or verdict   on his supposed wrong doing. 

There is a single line within that apology of a report which bears thinking about above all others; "the complainant, a female member of staff who was subordinate to him, and therefore unable to object to anything said, and who did not know him." 

I find this extraordinary.  Such an apparent mouse of a woman yet apparently sensible enough to be employed by HMCTS....... 

The bottom line is that an unknown accuser has left a black mark on the career of an honourable man and this action has been justified by fellow judges.  This is the lives of others being played in real time in England in 2024.  Is misconduct a product of our times?  As with my blood tests how far does "fashion", average or wokeness play in such decisions. Is today`s street protester tomorrow`s fascist rabble rouser? Just as the virus of #antisemitism in the guise of being pro Palestinian or anti Zionist has infiltrated all corners of society it seems the daughters of the Me Too fanatics have found a new home within the English justice system. 

KNIFE CRIME WILL NEVER BE "UNDER CONTROL"

 

Posts involving offences of the use of a bladed article or knife have been amongst the most frequent to have occupied these pages in the last 11 years.  Indeed my first post on the subject was published in 2014.  The French language best sums up the repeated attempts by His Majesty`s Governments to contain this scourge; PLUS ÇA CHANGE, PLUS C'EST LA MÊME CHOSE.  

A society doesn`t disintegrate  from the top down.  Certainly those in control have a lot to answer for.  Failures in policies conceived by incompetents and carried out by those in hoc to their masters to put bread in the mouths of their starving children have been a blight on the face of civilisation for millenia.  Today`s government and society are little different from those of medieval England except the errors and miscalculations are magnified in their effects.  Indeed in his new book published this week Boris Johnson likens Richi Sunak`s betrayal as Brutus`s was to Caesar.  

When it suits the moment governments will laud the reduction in crime overall or those parts which will gain sympathetic momentum in the media.  In doing so like a driver whose speed is breaking the limit, the foot will lift from the accelerator and the car allowed to slow.  If it`s judged still to be going too fast the brake will be applied.  In a financially crippled justice system such crime reduction will be an excuse to reduce the appropriate budget.  So now we have a stop start policy on knife crime.  Stop and search effectiveness varies according to the politics of the observer; or so it seems.  Albert Einstein also had noted that an observer can change the facts in his theory of general relativity causing him to publish his theory of special relativity a decade later.  

The Sentencing Guidelines on bladed articles and knives is IMHO taking a sledge hammer to crack the nuts of the angels dancing on a pinhead.  Common sense has been left behind it seems in an effort to ensure that every associated fact or action can be incorporated in what it thinks is an appropriate sentence.  There is no doubt in my mind that within a decade these guidelines will be replaced by algorithms with the bench left to decide on what manual interventions would be justifiable to make the particular circumstances of each case fit the crime.  Meanwhile with the courts and prisons in chaos, reduced court reporting in local print media and serious knife offending being news headlines almost daily I have gathered below just a few recent cases where the hot air of politicians on and off the hustings can be seen for what it really is; bluster and deceit to fool the British public and especially the parents of teenage boys that there is active control to reduce knife crime. 

Kai Kiernan Nanpean, St Austell Age: 19

On or about July 7 at Leamingston Spa had with him, without good reason or lawful authority, in a public place Victoria Terrace an article which had a blade or was sharply pointed, namely a machete.

On August 1, at Queen's Crescent, Bodmin, had an article which had a blade or was sharply pointed, namely a kitchen knife with a blade exceeding three inches.

Suspended sentence order: two months, suspended for 12 months. Mental health treatment: 12 days. Rehabilitation activity: 20 days.

                 -----------------------------------------------

A woman was found hiding in bushes near a pre-school in Bridport with a large knife, a court has heard.

Rebecca Wilson, aged 41, pleaded guilty in Weymouth Magistrates Court to possessing a knife blade/sharp pointed article in a public place in Bridport.

This related to an incident which happened in St Andrews Road on June 21, 2024.

Christina Norgan, prosecuting, told the court that at 9.10pm, police received a 999 call from a member of the public that a woman was seen in possession of a large knife in the bushes next to St Andrew’s pre-school in Bridport.

When she was detained, Wilson told police officers “I’ve got a knife.”

A kitchen knife was subsequently retrieved from her waistband and she was taken into custody.  

Wilson was previously convicted in 2012 for wounding.

Simon Lacey, mitigating, presented a mental health form on Wilson’s behalf to the magistrates’ bench and asked for it to be taken into consideration before sentencing.

Stephen Takel, chair of the magistrates' bench told the defendant: “The reason these sorts of offences are treated in this way is because of the risk of knife crime.

“We noticed in the interview report you were confused why it was taken so seriously. The reason is that knife crime is very serious and people die. The authorities don’t know what a person’s intention is.

“If you are in possession of a knife in public, you are considered a risk to others.

“My recommendation would be to not go out of your house with a bladed article full stop to avoid future offending in this way.”

The defendant was given a 12-month community order.

Wilson, of Dorchester Road, Weymouth, must also attend 12 sessions of mental health treatment with a clinical psychologist to understand her triggers and trauma.

She must also complete 15 days of rehabilitation activity requirement days.

She was fined £120 and must pay courts cost of £85 and £114 surcharge.

                                 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

 A 43-year-old east Suffolk man has been handed a suspended sentence after being caught in the street with a knife.

Jamie Buckenham, who is of Bloomsbury Close in Lowestoft, admitted having a flick knife in Seago Street in the coastal town when he appeared at Great Yarmouth Magistrates’ Court.

He was given a three-month prison sentence that was suspended for 18 months when he was sentenced by magistrates for a single charge of possession of an offensive weapon in a public place.

The flick knife was taken by police and the defendant must complete a 40-day rehabilitation programme.

The incident happened on September 22 last year, a court listing confirmed.

As well as the suspended sentence, Buckenham was also ordered to pay £85 in costs to the Crown Prosecution Service told to pay a surcharge of £154 and complete 100 hours of unpaid work.

A collection order was made for the sums.

The defendant's guilty plea was taken into account when magistrates decided on his sentence.

                 --------------------------------------------------------

 A man begged magistrates not to send him to jail after he was caught with a banned knife, having already been convicted of numerous offences of violence. 

Several members of the public had called 999 to report that Kieran Eames, 26, was in Loughborough town centre with a folding butterfly knife.

At Leicester Magistrates' Court on Monday he admitted possessing a blade in public.

Eames, of King Street, Loughborough, had to be repeatedly asked to keep quiet after entering the courtroom. He apologised and told the magistrates: "I'm just really worried.

"I don't want to go back to prison. I'm begging you."

Prosecutor Peter Bettany told the magistrates Eames had previously been convicted of various offences of violence - including assault by beating of a police officer in May 2022 - but had never been convicted of having a knife before.

Eames's solicitor, Rachel Gaffney, told the magistrates: "He made no attempt to conceal it. He didn't brandish the weapon at anyone and he said in his police interview he didn't know it was a criminal offence to have such a weapon on his person in a public place."

Probation officer David Charlton told the court Eames had issues with drink and drugs, but had refused to speak to probation to give them more information. He added that Eames was "extremely vulnerable" and that prison would be a "dangerous place for him to be".

The chair of the bench, Elizabeth Needham, told Eames they would be giving him a suspended sentence instead of sending him to prison. She said: "You need to keep yourself out of trouble."

Eames replied: "Thank you. You won't see me again. I've been petrified for months thinking I'll be going back to jail."

Eames was given a 20-week sentence, suspended for 12 months, and was ordered to pay a £154 victim surcharge.

WHICH IS MORE BELIEVEABLE? FACT OR FICTION

One of the pleasures that I find most agreeable on a leisure based late summer holiday is abandoning the daily newspaper and most TV news programmes and taking unrushed minutes and/or hours to read books which have been lying on the table or desk just waiting for months and years to be opened.  Two such publications were hurriedly packed a couple of weeks ago; "Munich" by Robert Harris and the first offering from the "Secret Barrister" published in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Two such different forms of writing and topic that at first glance one would thought that there was nothing within their pages that could be compared. 

The novel I read in full and the outpourings of the cynical legal eagle are so far unread past pp107.  Those pages however included SB`s diatribe against magistrates and the system in which they operate.  Robert Harris is rightfully recognised as a master within his field.  His scholarly narrative is well constructed of what in his imagination lay behind the appearance and words of Neville Chamberlain on 30th September 1938 when Chamberlain's aeroplane landed at Heston Aerodrome and he spoke to the spectators there:

"The settlement of the Czechoslovakian problem, which has now been achieved is, in my view, only the prelude to a larger settlement in which all Europe may find peace. This morning I had another talk with the German Chancellor, Herr Hitler, and here is the paper which bears his name upon it as well as mine [shows paper to crowd]. Some of you, perhaps, have already heard what it contains but I would just like to read it to you: " ... We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again".  

Harris`s acknowledgements occupy two and a half closely typed pages.  His fictional account of the momentous four days prior to that speech is masterful and credible unlike the bile that the SB vomits over 38pp in his/her vile and outrageous descriptions or depictions of what life is like for all those who use the magistrates courts i.e. witnesses and all those who fulfil their professional functions within that arena.  S/He reserves her/his  contemptuousness for lay magistrates by anonymous accounts of the ineptitude supposedly experienced in her/his presence.  I can honestly say that in my 17 years on a London bench  with c300 members when I retired nine years ago  the majority as a presiding magistrate or chairman in the old parlance,  I have never heard, seen or experienced such language, action or behaviour as s/he purports to be the norm.  Unlike Robert Harris, a world renown writer of wonderful fiction, the SB is using untested anecdote to undermine a whole justice system to vent what seems to be personal frustration and/or antagonism. There is no doubt that there are serious criticisms that can and should be attended to in the magistrates courts. Since the book`s publication these problems have intensified.  There is unquestionably an argument that magistrates courts should have a single government salaried District Judge presiding: that eg [as was my practice], all defendants found guilty at trial should be told and have literature given to them of the appeal system: that trials should be in front of DJ with two lay magistrate wingers as currently in appeals  before a crown court judge flanked by two magistrates.  Magistrate selection and training leave a lot to be desired.  But venomous castigation and atypical quotations and observations to suit her/his purpose are not the way to process a needed investigation.  Latest figures from the Ministry of Justice indicate that there is no current trend to have more courts with DJs presiding than is the case now. 

About 20 years ago there was an academic inquiry, the exact name and terms of which are now lost to me, which came to the conclusion that if District Judges forfeited their need for a legal advisor [they are of course their own legal advisor] the costs of their employment would be in touching distance of the then current costs of magistrates` expenses plus associated advisors` salaries.  Indeed it will, IMHO, be when or if such an inquiry showed conclusively that lay magistrates cost more than district judges  and only then. that there will emerge a valid argument that lay magistrates have had their day in court.  

The Secret Barrister should consider retiring from writing whilst s/he is ahead and concentrate in performing the duties for which s/he is presumably ably qualified. "Fake Law" and "The Memoir of an Unlikely Lawyer" are not on my future reading list.  However with the £millions already pocketed from sales of over 600,000 copies perhaps s/he will conclude that the law was merely a stepping stone to her/his true vocation following in the footsteps of many of her/his legal predecessors.  At least then lay magistrates could hold their heads level if not high as they continue to prop up a system decaying in front of all us all.  

PLAINTIFF`S FINANCIAL BACKERS TAINT CLAIM

We`re all travelers.  We might not be Dr Who or interstellar voyagers but we often go on business or pleasure from point A to point B and increasingly we use paid for public transport and not our owned, leased or hired cars, vans or bicycles. As travelers we have become inured to strikes and delays when traveling on roads, trains and aeroplanes.  For some of us delays cause no more than inconvenience but for others the minutes, hours and occasionally days lost to causes outwith our control can have more serious consequences.  And this is when we look to the companies involved to provide compensation for the consequences of their inability to provide the service(s) for which we, the customer, have paid.  Consumer pressure on governments has led to the labyrinthine requirements of claiming recompense from rail and airline companies to be brought under some control and authority.  Indeed some few years ago my first class ticket on an Edinburgh train to London on January 2nd was unusable owing to the service`s cancellation.  The next train was so over occupied I sat on my case for much of the journey.  However on the bright side I was pleasantly surprised to find a few days later that my fare had been refunded by Virgin Trains which leads me to an interesting case decided last week at the High Court.  In summary a case brought against British Airways for compensation was thrown out owing to the motives of those who had financially backed the claimant.  To quote the judge, "I would not allow the claim to go forward as a representative action because the dominant motive for it lies in the financial interests of its backers".

As a humble retired magistrate I find the judge`s reasoning bizarre.  Many ex wives of Russian oligarchs and other very very wealthy men have employed lawyers on a no win no fee basis.  Group actions in other matters have been undertaken on the basis of a winning legal firm taking a pre agreed share of a compensation award.  Perhaps this one will be next heard of if or when it`s taken to the Court of Appeal or even Supreme Court. 

As I`m soon away for a couple of weeks hoping to enjoy limited  solar radiation and an excessive calorific intake this site will not be updated with my meandering comments on matters quasi legal until the latter days of September unless of course I`m delayed by an airline strike or perhaps erupting volcanoes over Iceland

POLAND, LUTON AIRPORT AND LESSONS FOR UK FOR THOSE WHO LISTEN

Having just arrived home late last night from a trip to Poland for the wedding of a colleague of my wife the last thing on my mind has been to let my remaining brain cells put together a few hundred words here as I`ve been doing for eleven years.  But some difficult opinions are trying to escape.

The nuptial venue was the town of Znin situated half way between Warsaw and Berlin.  The hotel was converted from a late 19th century and laterally a Soviet era sugar beet factory where all forms of large machines have been left in situ.  Politically the town has been considered as part of Prussia, Poland and USSR.  It was destroyed exactly 85 years ago by the Nazi invasion and occupation when  hundreds of its citizens were murdered.  It seems that many workers and (Polish) guests were still existing in the Soviet era.  The facilities seemed to open and close at a whim and nobody wanted to take responsibility when any queries arose.  There were no TV programmes available in anything but Polish language, no newspapers, one only internal sign in English, not even that in German and most of the staff were monolingual.  Poznan airport seemed to have been designed with Polish citizens only in mind.  And now to my overlapping brain cells making a connection with the aforementioned to the experience on returning to Luton Airport.  

Restoring my phones`s link with the outside world  on landing there was a message that my son`s car had developed a battery problem and he would be unable to be there for pick up.  And so began the revelation that those functionaries in HI VIS jackets whose sole task for which I presume they are adequately rewarded is to answer the questions of travellers on arriving at perhaps a new destination with some degree of knowledge.  Speaking to the person at the onward travel area wrong information on costs of coach, train [and availability] taxis, Uber were offered.  At the coach stop waiting area the only four seats were occupied and, still in recovery from major surgery, the thought of standing unsupported for 40 minutes until the coach arrived was not a solution.  Further HI VIS advice was to take a coach to a train.  We were further taken on advice to the wrong train station.  There we were directed to the wrong platform for a train to Kings Cross. Just in time we were then told to change platforms as the service to Three Bridges was approaching.  Where in god`s name is Three Bridges?  Oh! that`s somewhere near Gatwick.  My point to another yellow jacketed person presumably an employee of Network Rail was why did the indicator board not specify that Kings Cross,  AKA St Pancras International, was a stop en route to somewhere miles south of the Thames.    

My opinion of Poles and Poland bearing in mind current events and the recent upheavals in that country over the last decade lead me to believe that there is a national insularity within the psyche of those responsible for the running of the state and those who are living in their own European crossroad where East and West have contested their homeland for centuries.  

And where is Britain on the spectrum of calm cool people ruled by calm cool government with workers of all sorts striving to do their best for those who pay them and for those they service?  Identity politics {Corbyn led} inspired in part by foreign machinations fanning flames of antisemitism which is of course denied by the fanners insofar as it`s "Zionists" who are the evil doers, is now beginning to establish a forum to further ruin any idea of Britishness  begun by the SNP and its Welsh counterpart.  The democratic Right of the Conservatives having apparently lost its ideological battle has flitted to what might be an embryonic fascist party in the making. Our justice system, a pillar on which our supposed democracy rests, has been demonstrated to be as fragile as the egos of those who sit in SW1.  A new Prime Minister who has pitifully demonstrated that all he learned at the Ministry of Justice is as naught when the judicial system must be an adjunct to this government`s version of its predecessor`s in its actions on public disorder ["crime"] and its deterrence.  

All the above is alive and kicking in Poland.  It is not inevitable that this country can escape the machinations and upheavals of Europe which over the centuries have led to ruin and sometimes resurrection for so many.  We were then united in being what we are; proud to be British and able to reject the stirrings of authoritarianism.  In 1656 Jews were allowed to settle in Britain, Britain was the first nation to abolish slave trading in 1807 and in 1918 the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918 was passed, allowing women to be elected to Parliament although full suffrage was delayed until a decade later.  Post 1945 and the end of empire were the forces the ripples of which are still having their effects on how we live today.  The immigration of black people from the West Indies and african former colonies has generally been a social and industrial success.  The import of those whose first consideration is their adherence to a war conqueror and his visions of the 7th century has been anything but enhancement to a united society.  

We are where we are and have naught to blame but ourselves.  The Roman and other ancient empires went out more with a whimper than a bang.  Are our ears sensitive enough as a nation to steer us in the right direction that our children and their children will have a home known as UK?    

IS JPs` PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION A HARBINGER OF AN UNPLEASANT FUTURE?

It seems an axiom of western democracy that those sitting in judgement over their fellow citizens have the respect of those fellow citizens. In America judges are elected.  In this country they are appointed. Having myself been appointed as a Justice of the Peace I don`t intend to discuss the merits of both arrangements, at least not today.  But what I do think is of interest is the very recent publication of the ethnic, social, sexual, age, education, religion and disability status of applicants both successful and unsuccessful.

Statisticians academic, political and journalistic are probably having a field day in pouring all the revealed numbers, crunching them in a soup of algorithms and making hay with the results perceived and/or implied.   

As an opening example in the South East Region 96% of applicants declared themselves as heterosexual.  That compares with the North East 92%, London 90%, North West 88% and Wales 89%.  I leave it to others if further such comparisons are wanted. 

For the year 2022-23 the religion of applicants was as follows:- Christian 2328 = 49%, Muslim 307 = 6%, Jewish 97 = 2%, Buddhist 25 = 1%, Hindu 119 = 2%, Sikh 70 = 1%, None + Other 1829 = 38% and Unknown = 341.     Of those the following were shortlisted:- Christian 960 = 50%, Muslim 61 = 3%, Jewish 41 = 2%, Buddhist 11 = 1%,  Hindu 36 = 2%, Sikh 25 = 1%, None + Other 804 = 42%, Unknown 133.   These are figures for England and Wales but the pen pushers at the MOJ have also those numbers broken down regionally. 

Applications were also broken down by age, sex, ethnicity, educational levels of applicant and parent(s),  type of school attended, disability and employment status.  All these variables are also available region by region.  The amount of personal and computing effort to achieve these statistics is almost incomprehensible. But that, for those ordering such a task,  was to fulfil a mantra [with apologies to Abraham Lincoln], to have a judicial system of the people by the people and for the people.  Such deference to a system which was once lauded as "local justice" when magistrates could sit only in their own designated court is now but a charade.  Rules were changed about two decades ago to allow magistrates in theory to be deployed at any court in England and Wales. Of course for practical reasons there is a heavy limitation on that availability. District Judges [MC] are under no such geographical restrictions.  Like their senior colleagues they are free to apply for posts wherever they consider suitable for their requirements.  They are as "local" as those on the Supreme Court.  It must be kept in mind that District Judges preside alone in magistrates courts with exactly the same powers and authority as lay magistrates although as has been the case in recent weeks certain types or classes of offenders are specifically brought in their courts and not in front of the "locals" whom the MOJ must consider are unable to follow the orders given to their highly paid government funded judicial civil servants.  The relative allocation of cases to District Judges vis a vis lay magistrates is currently unknown. 

The basis of the magistrates courts system is that a quality of justice is best achieved  by matching the make up of the citizenship with those before whom alleged offenders plead their case.  It follows that government believes that that policy is approved by the population.  As far as I am aware there has never been a reputable or any other survey to ascertain whether or not that belief has any foundation in reality.  The fundamental question is whether any quota system whatever its constitution selects the best people for the intended task.  In simple terms what began decades ago as pressure for women not to be excluded from certain jobs owing to their sex has now extended to almost every aspect of society where discrimination perceived or actual has spawned a billion £ industry of employment legislation, lawyers and tribunals.  When registered blind people are appointed to the magistracy can it truly be upheld that their disability does not prevent them functioning as their normally sighted colleagues?  A parliamentary question and answer Volume 234: debated on Monday 27 January 1930 is copied below re the then minimum height requirements of the Metropolitan Police.

Mr. DAY

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asked the Home Secretary whether the temporary modification of the height standard of the Metropolitan constabulary which was introduced during the previous 12 months is still in existence; and whether there is still difficulty in obtaining sufficient suitable recruits at the normal minimum height?

Mr. CLYNES

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The temporary reduction of the minimum height to 5 feet 8½ inches has not been removed, but in practice it is found possible at present to obtain sufficient recruits of 5 feet 9 inches or over; with very few exceptions.

Today there are no height restrictions on joining any UK police service.  

There are some who will egard my observations as emanating from the age of dinosaurs; that is their privilege.  Is this form of active identity politics conducive to a coherent society?  By showboating a population`s differences when there are but fading memories of what united that population in previous times we are creating what in the past might have been termed fiefdoms.  Rabble rousers from marxist to fascist have long known that to further their cause divisions in a society  must be exploited.  My fear is that we are in many respects experiencing government and politics from the days of Thatcher on the Right to Corbyn on the Left having made an ideal bed for extremism to grow that the magistrates courts system of local proportional representation is just a minor harbinger of an unpleasant future. 

        

FORKED TONGUE OF JUDICIAL AUTHORITY

Since the far off "golden" days of Hollywood westerns where Tom Mix or Hopalong Cassidy rode the plains with their white stetsons indicating that they were the "goodies" and movie makers had recently invented soundtracks to enhance the audience experience, there was a phrase scripted to one of the "good" indians to describe the lying, cheating, murderous black stetson wearing "baddies"; "You speak with forked tongue".  I believe to this day that that phrase describing the sensory split tongue of snakes is understood by most people: to utter two diametrically opposite opinions or statements more or less simultaneously:  in simple terms to lie whilst pretending to be truthful.  

For one class of people that ability is now a given.  Indeed it is expected that politicians do not, cannot, will not be truthful.  It is built into the profile of politicians to such depth that any form of honesty is itself treated with incredulity by so many.  However there was a single class of respected public servant excluding the previously held high expectations of medical practitioners`  probity who seemed to be above criticism and were beyond reproach.  

Midway through the third decade of this millenium the justice system isn`t just cracked; it`s not just broken.  It is smashed into such tiny pieces that it`s unlikely ever to be reassembled in any form worthy of the name.  As in so many countries authoritarianism creeps steadily along the political pathway to "never in this country, this is England" places thought as foreign to the British way of life just as spaghetti or lasagne were described by a student friend to me when at university, "I never eat that Tally rubbish".  Judges are now openly demonstrating that their so called independence within our unwritten constitution is but a sham.   

The Deputy Senior Presiding Judge, Lord Justice Green who sits on the Appeal Court, has ordered magistrates not to send anyone to custody until 10th September because the prisons are full to exploding. The government orders to the courts i.e. judges, subsequent to the riots were to make an example of what has so far reached over 1,000 alleged or convicted offenders already sentenced to immediate custody or on remand.  On 10th September the government will activate an emergency early release scheme which it estimates will free up 3,700 cell places by 22nd October.  But the judicial snake in the grass is that he commented for the eyes and ears of  magistrates and presumably District Judges [MC] that as the courts "are responsible it is therefore appropriate that the judiciary have regard to the wider functioning of the criminal justice system." He added that, "consideration should be given to rescheduling the hearing for the shortest possible hearing.....but not earlier than 10th September."  But then he went on, "every case must be considered individually and decisions must be made upon the basis of the interests of justice.......and needs to be a carefully conducted exercise."  And thus is demonstrated the accuracy of that description so accurately described by the script writers of another era; "forked tongue". 

Remember Dr Doolittle and that animal the PushMePullYou?  That is just another version of the forked tongue but simplified and animated for children.  But we are not children or watching a 1930s black and white western movie.  We are witness to the historical supposed independence of the magistracy [and judiciary in general] being trashed to accord with the whims of government.  

JUSTICE ON A LOOP LIKE A SUPER MOON

As a retired magistrate aged 70+ I have been plagued with arthritic issues as many of my  contemporaries have been.  In an attempt to tolerate the discomfort without the benefits of the world`s pharmaceutical industry I recently offered myself to a profession the history of which is lost in 2,000 years of Chinese time.  Lying on a trolley with incredibly sharp needles piercing my limbs for twenty minutes I was subjected to what seemed an endless loop of piano playing and harp plucking which combined in a sophomoric lullaby with no discernable melody endlessly repeating itself.  I was reminded of the new government`s  pronouncements on knife crime and simultaneously pledges, assurances, intentions etc from an earlier Labour government in 1997. On 21/09/2008 Jack Straw then Minister for Justice in his speech at the Labour Party Conference said; " Yesterday we saw the determination of those affected by knife crime as they marched through London. We stand firm with all those who know too well the devastating impact these crimes have and as Jacqui will be spelling out  later, all of us pledge that we will relentlessly keep up our efforts to tackle it."  Every minister responsible for policy on criminal activity since then has repeated a similar mantra as if it were looped on the internal sound systems of the Home Office and Ministry of Justice.  So..........here we go again just like clockwork..........a government promising to go down hard on those carrying  knives.  We`ve been here so often before that it appears to be a right of passage for newly installed ministers at Justice to proudly announce their latest attempt to make our streets safer although no one name is more associated with this latest pronouncement than our esteemed Prime Minister who reminds us regularly of his history as the hard man DPP of 2011.  And who can forget the oleaginous tones of his predecessor when he pledged in 1997 to be  "tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime". 

And so to today when figures show that nearly half of all knife possession cases recorded by police in 2023 led to no further action.  The government has stated that it intends to “end the practice of empty warnings by ensuring knife carrying triggers rapid intervention and tough consequences”.  There is also the promise to ban ninja swords, lethal zombie-style blades and machetes and strengthen rules to prevent online sales with the executives of online companies that flout these rules being personally held to account through tough sanctions.  In short this government, like those which have gone before, since the the time of the saintly Thatcher who bestowed rose petals wherever she walked, tells us it will make the streets safe for all to walk through the witching hours even with £50 notes stuck to their foreheads and targets on their backs.   

And so the loop plays on.  The justice system in its entirety from arrest to zombie knives and all matters between might be termed the cinderella of a failed economic policy since 2008.  Unless they face a penalty for a road traffic infringement on one hand or have the misfortune to have had a bike or mobile phone stolen from the other most people are distanced from the courts which are in a spiral of despair for all connected with them.  Of course that disconnect does not seem to have affected the lawyers and oligarchs arguing over the sources or destinations of billions of $$$$$$$ in often ill gotten gains.  

Like those in charge of our armed forces those controlling the law and its constituent parts continue to fob us off with their words with no meaning as the generals and admirals do about an army with no ammunition  and aircraft carriers with no aircraft.  

Last night there was a super Moon owing to its distance from Earth being 15% closer than the furthest point in its orbit.  That looping or elliptical lunar orbit was observed by the ancients and will continue until the solar system is consumed by a black hole. Although Justice delayed is justice denied  is an old adage with biblical origins I fear the resurrection of our justice system might take a little longer. 

THE MANTRA OF DETERRENCE

There can`t be anybody however remotely involved with legal matters who won`t have a view on the aftermath of the recent riots.  The mantra of the police, whilst still in denial over accusations of operating a two tier policing approach, is we will find you and we will arrest you to appear in court or words to that effect. Politicians of most persuasions have weighed in with support for strong measures to prevent subsequent similar events. The courts, where magistrates seem to have been frozen out of these hearings,  and therefore under the jurisdiction of District Judges and Crown Court Judges seem to have been ordered by the executive i.e. Kier Starmer PM, to dish out sentences towards their maximum according to the Sentencing Guidelines.  This, judges and politicians assert, is to act as a deterrent against future such events.  

Sentencing, which the Sentencing Council appears to view as a science, is as much an art as a manipulation of algorithms. After conviction a sentence should be based on level of law breaking and the offender`s history and circumstances.  The effect of sentence should be punishment, rehabilitation of offender, protection of the public where needed and deterrence against others who might be following or intend to follow a similar  criminal lifestyle.  It is this last consideration which seems to be the basis of the immediate custodial sentences handed out to those who admitted on line offending. The National Police Chiefs Council said specialist officers have been tasked with pursuing suspected online offenders and so-called influencers who, they say, are responsible for “spreading hate and inciting violence on a large scale”.  A spokesman said that online content would be assessed by a senior investigator to determine if it meets the criminal threshold and offenders will then be identified, arrested and charged. They reasoned that they knowingly spread misinformation, stoked the flames of hatred and division and incited violence from the comfort of their own homes, causing chaos on other people’s doorsteps.  And to emphasise his point  the spokesman continued that online crimes have real world consequences and offenders would be dealt with in the same way as those physically present and inflicting the violence.

This policy is determining that deterrence for individuals is applicable to criminal activity by crowds. From pre history execution by tribal elders to British judges donning black head coverings prior to sentencing a felon to death by hanging has been a feature of our justice system until capital punishment was finally abolished in 1969.  We, the public, were assured that "life" sentences would still be available as a deterrent for murder.  Currently there are 9.7 homicides per million population in England and wales.  In 1968 there were 360 official homicides. and in 2023 the number was 944.  I think it`s safe to say that for many criminals the prospect of a life sentence has lost its deterrent value. But the above is the reasoning behind what was a hoped for effect on an individual acting in an individual capacity.  Current actions seem to indicate that this government and the prime minister believe that criminal group activity can also be deterred in a similar fashion irrespective of the morality of the policy.  

As with a few serious offences violent disorder, apparently the most common charge being used against rioting offenders, can be tried summarily at a magistrates court with a maximum sentence of six months custody  or at a crown court where a jury will decide whether a not guilty plea leads to acquittal or a guilty plea or verdict offers the prospect of a five year maximum prison sentence.   Full statistics on these matters will not be available for some months.  With reference to my post last week it is unlikely we will ever know if lay magistrates were involved in any of the sentencing of offenders facing summary charges as a result of the disturbances.  So much for the much vaunted  mantra of the Ministry of Justice of local justice for local people. 

I would conclude by questioning whether publicly declaring that severe sentences will act as a deterrent to further similar offending has enhanced the "hard man" image that Kier Starmers is trying to project.  I would also suggest that the deterrent effect is in itself a mirage in such circumstances.  Finally the control over District Judges, if indeed lay magistrates have been by passed for these sittings, is just another example of how the judiciary is not quite as independent as is regularly claimed by all shades of politicians.  

NOT RACIST PARIAHS

Politicians, we are led to believe, are forever considering the public interest. To suggest that their actions and/or behaviour is more like the goldfish swimming endlessly around its bowl for the first time  is to belittle the good fortune that we in this country have many saints and few sinners to govern us. 

On 9th August 2011 whilst there was still disorder on the streets from riots initiated by the shooting dead of a criminal by Metropolitan Police I wrote on my as yet to be published diary:-

"Most right minded people will have been shocked by what they`ve seen on their television screens since Sunday night. It seems that for whatever reason; lack of planning and co-ordination at a high level, lack of will, lack of resources, lack of confidence or failure of communication the Metropolitan Police were unable to clear the streets of trouble making youths intent on plunder pure and simple. This is exactly what happened last December in the West End of London. Police virtually abandoned the task of clearing the streets."

I have copied below from my yet to be published diary of 11th August 2011:-

 

"It had to happen; police complaining magistrates are being too soft both in bail decisions and sentences. I`m sitting tomorrow in a borough which was spared the anarchy of those nearby. Perhaps there will be some displaced rioters, looters and thieves before us? Under normal circumstances everyone has a right to bail and remands in custody are made only when there are grounds to believe a defendant will commit further offences, interfere with the course of justice or fail to appear at the future date specified and that no bail conditions will allay a court`s fears. Defendants of previous good character are often given the benefit of any doubt the above circumstances notwithstanding. Sentencing is applied to individuals and their particular circumstances. Many police officers seem to believe it appropriate that maximum sentences are given willy nilly. It ill behoves senior police officers to criticise the courts. When their own house is in order their comments might have more significance.

What is disturbing is the political pressure being applied by the Prime Minister in his televised statements and his remarks in the House today indicating custody as the expected option. Even disregarding the fact that defendants will be facing myriad charges, some summary only and some either way, no bench or District Judge[MC] should be influenced by this ill conceived posturing. My colleagues and I will do as we always do:- 

"We will well and truly serve our Sovereign Lady Queen Elizabeth the Second, in the office of Justice of the Peace and we will do right to all manner of people after the laws and usages of the realm without fear or favour, affection or ill-will."

It all seems so depressingly familiar.  We are reminded by MSM that our prime minister was in charge of legal activities in August 2011 and was masterly in his actions to identify, prosecute and punish offenders.  His objective was to have guilty offenders punished ASAP perhaps hoping that the Pavlov effect would be a deterrence to others.  He had then at his disposal twice as many magistrates courts as now, twice as many magistrates as now, 147K police of whom majority were experienced, a functioning probation service and 1,200 prison spaces.  Currently there are 1,458 such spaces.  The CPS report for 2011-12 makes no mention of the number of prosecutors employed.  What we do know is that between the year 2010/11 and 2011/12 the total number of CPS employed personnel fell from 8,094 to 7,394.  

The 2011 riots, whilst causing material damage and physical harm to some, were largely caused by indignation within areas where there was a concentration of black people many taking their example from the reactions of black Americans to the iniquities of white American police officers on black suspects.  Brexit and its consequences have been argued to have been a spark to an already volatile minority.  The current mayhem might be traced to October 8th last year when supporters of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign demonstrated against Israel whilst the dead bodies of 1,200 festival attenders and civilians were still warm lying in the sands a mile or so from Gaza from their murder the previous day and 250 hostages dead and alive were themselves taken to Gaza. Despite the open hate on display the Metropolitan Police then and for almost every weekend since have allowed blatantly anti Jew themed marches to proceed under the pretext that anti Zionist sentiment is not camouflage for anti Jewish sentiment. An unholy alliance of Islamists, marxists and fascists was and is involved in that expression of hate.  The election of July 4th and the emergence of Reform as a parliamentary party has emboldened the fascist element within an increasingly disillusioned section of the population to argue that immigration concerns, legal and illegal, have reached a point which has taken the subject from statistics to personal disturbance of their daily lives. 

From the point of view of  observers the former DPP now the prime minister is putting into practice the same methods he considered suitable in 2011 but perhaps without the resources available in 2011.  With crown and magistrates courts stymied by physical and personnel shortages it is unclear just how effective his wish list can be realised. Overnight court sittings didn`t last long last time out. A Guardian report of the time makes interesting reading.  Whether the charges faced by defendants are summary eg common assault, affray which is either way or robbery which is indictable only they must be heard initially at magistrates court.  In 2011 Justices Clerks who control day to day running of courts were told that all matters relating to the rioting which were either way must be sent to the crown court.  They were also directed to place as many as possible before a District Judge rather than a bench of lay magistrates in the apparent belief that salaried judges were unlikely to disobey their paymasters.  At my London court at that time as far as I know there were very few if any overnight sittings. At 9.30am on the first morning at which suspects of the August disturbances  were brought to court for their first appearance the Deputy Justices Clerk told a very crowded retiring room that all those facing either way charges must be sent to the crown court.  I was presiding magistrate of one such court.  During the sitting a teenage black female defendant appeared on an either way charge which as I recollect was affray or theft.  We heard the facts and the prosecutor`s request that the matter be sent to the crown court.  We were disturbed. The facts as presented to us did not warrant our not keeping the case.  We had a brief huddle in which we were absolutely in agreement. I whispered our decision to our legal advisor assuring her we would explain in open court that her (unsaid) advice was contrary to our decision thus absolving her from retribution.  In my remarks I plainly told the court that we were going against the advice from our advisor but that as independent magistrates it was our decision to make.  We never heard any more on our decision.  

It seems that nothing at all has been learnt from 2011.  When it comes to the crunch it appears that politics trumps legal niceties.  It is not unlikely that the accusation  against the Metropolitan Police [and others] of tolerating terrorist enablers and supporters of racial hatred  for six months  thus encouraging a wider range of law breaking will quietly go away. 

14 years of Tory government ineptitude and institutional misinformation laid upon the naivety of Labour under Blair and Brown importing millions of people from alien cultures have brought us to this situation.  It is only the near authoritarian governments of one or two EU members which have not experienced similar disturbances to their civil societies. Try as it might our new masters cannot brush the consequences of Muslim immigration under the carpet when the numbers who disdain our society, culture and history are such a large minority and those questioning such information considered against all reason as racist pariahs by those with their own agendas.   

SJP TRANSPARENCY?

For those who are aware of some of the shortcomings of the Single Justice Procedure Heidi Alexander The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice has published what she considers a suitable answer to the lack of information publicly available for such cases.  IMHO she seems to be arguing that it`s as quick to travel from London to Aberdeen via Cardiff as it is direct.