Russell and Carol - hayle and hearty

In Canada, some Canadians were concerned that the show left an impression in Canadian youth that they had rights, such as to be informed of an offense, and that it depicted American police reading people their rights in accordance with the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miranda_v._Arizona]Miranda ruling[/url]. In his 1980 book [i]Deference to Authority: The Case of Canada[/i], American sociologist Edgar Fredenberg who came to Canada in the early 1970s to avoid the draft was concerned that Canadians were more upset over depictions of Americans practising their civil rights on a TV show dealing with civil rights issues than that they did not have those rights.

So the Judiciary have noticed that the current government doesn't follow the law and doesn't keep its promises

Robert Bolt:

Roper: So now you’d give the Devil benefit of law!

More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?

Roper: I’d cut down every law in England to do that!

More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ’round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country’s planted thick with laws from coast to coast– man’s laws, not God’s– and if you cut them down—and you’re just the man to do it—do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake.

A Man for All Seasons

Thanks to http://www.ministryoftruth.me.uk/2013/07/24/cameron-porn-advisors-websit... for the reminder...

Last para of Entick v Carrington 1765 http://t.co/NQ1P5xfFdm shows how jealous of our liberties we once were. Now we shrug shoulders at GCHQ

— Mark George (@Mark_George_QC) June 23, 2013

Wanting to be safe from terrorists does NOT req that we surrender our rt to privacy. This DOES matter http://t.co/4ScSeJe1fM These powers...

— Mark George (@Mark_George_QC) June 23, 2013

Excellent letter via Letters: Coalition should zero in on the real issue of unfair work contracts 04 April 2013 00:05

I had thought Blair's Iraq posturings were the worst affront to democracy but the current Coalition is beating him hands down.

Both parties commissioned and agreed to the Coalition document to bind this parliament.

One of the things it says is 'No Top Down reorganisations of the NHS'

From Sir David Nicholson's testimony to the Health and Social Care Committee today -

Income Related Benefits: Estimates of Take-Up from DWP

Key points from latest release are:

Income Support and Employment and Support Allowance (Income Related) (IS/ESA (IR)) - Take-up in 2009-10 was in the range 77 per cent to 89 per cent by caseload and 82 per cent to 92 per cent by expenditure. There was no evidence of a change in overall caseload take-up between 2008-09 and 2009-10.

In 2009-10 there were 2.09 million recipients claiming £9.08 billion of IS/ESA (IR). The number of people that were entitled to but not claiming IS/ESA (IR) was between 260 thousand and 620 thousand. The total amount of IS/ESA (IR) unclaimed was between £0.75 billion and £2.04 billion.

Interesting article by David Mitchell

Which brings me to George Osborne. "Just as we should never balance the budget on the backs of the poor, so it is an economic delusion to think you can balance it only on the wallets of the rich," he said in his speech to the Conservative party conference last week. I think he's misunderstood the whole balancing metaphor. The challenge for a chancellor isn't to balance the budget on something but just to balance it – to make it balance.

...

The News International #notw story has probably been done to death - though I remain concerned that the big issues are being lost in the 'hacking' of phones (which of course wasn't hacking at all).

Seems to me that the real issue is privacy and ownership of data and we're reaching a tipping point where hopefully we might get some proper rights for once!

In the meantime - I loved Hugh Grant's comments in the Guardian which to me hit the nail firmly on the head

Two more interesting letters today from: