davidallengreen

davidallengreen, 2 days ago to random

Any “constitutional” or legal questions about the general election?

Ask below and I will reply if I can.

(I used to do this sort of thing on Twitter and I thought I would give it a go here.)

ChrisMayLA6, 4 days ago to politics

Here's the ever interesting @davidallengreen arguing (persuasively) that like previous inquiries the infected blood inquiry offers some salutary lessons:

1. if officials fail to keep ministers in the loop (& positively mislead them) calling for enhanced ministerial accountability may be missing the (political) point;

2. A strengthened House of Commons could independently scrutinise state activity, so these 'scandals' could have been spotted & halted earlier.

#politics
https://emptycity.substack.com/p/another-inquiry-report-another-massive

SeanJones, 11 days ago to random

Sunak’s great plan for the UK is to turn it into a research and innovation powerhouse by deterring foreign students from coming to the universities whose ability to research and innovate depends on their fee income.

ChrisMayLA6, 1 month ago to random

As @davidallengreen forcefully argues the Rule of Law is as dependent on our assumptions about it as its actual enforcement;

we expect the law to be upheld even if mostly we just conduct ourselves as if it would be, in extremis, with little experience of it actually being upheld.

The ongoing crisis in the County Court system, which is seeing the enforcement fail for myriad reasons, will thus, in the long term poison the well of our belief in the law!

#ruleoflaw

https://emptycity.substack.com/p/law-and-lore-and-state-failure?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2

rachel_a, 1 month ago to uk

Hugh Grant has been priced out of his ‘phone hacking’ lawsuit against The Sun, after learning it would cost him more money to win than it would cost Rupert Murdoch.

"At the right moment and at the right amount, a skilled litigator can bring a civil claim to a speedy halt": https://davidallengreen.com/2024/04/how-the-civil-justice-system-forced-hugh-grant-to-settle-and-why-an-alternative-to-that-system-is-difficult-to-conceive/ writes @davidallengreen

#Part36 #civilJustice #settling #litigation #HughGrant #UK #England #liability #accountability #press #impunity #RupertMurdoch #Murdoch #damages

davidallengreen, 1 month ago to random

NEW

Three public inquiries are currently showing us failures of the British state

In dong so the inquiries are doing what parliament should have been able to do

By me, at Prospect Magazine

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/65694/public-inquiries-show-the-state-is-failing-david-allen-green

But in each, the same problems recur. There is alack of useful communication within the public bodies concerned. There is little or no meaningful accountability for those who have made bad decisions. There is reluctance or outright opposition to the inquiry being given relevant materials by officials. And perhaps most strikingly of all, there is the realisation that what parliament, the media and the public—and indeed ministers—were told at the time was very different to what was actually happening. It almost feels as if, like in a pulp detective novel, we are being told in a final chapter about what was really occurring while we were being misled and misdirected. The implication of this delayed accountability is that the “real-time” forms of accountability are useless. It is not simply that Westminster and Whitehall fail to be efficient; they fail even to be efficacious. Ministerial question times are theatre, if not pantomime. Select committee hearings are just for show. Ministers are often as uninformed as those who are questioning them. It does not have to be this way. Almost none of the information that is now coming to light in these three inquiries needed to be held back for these subsequent formal proceedings.

ChrisMayLA6, 1 month ago to politics

Alan Bates is already the folk hero of the Horizon IT debacle, but his inquiry evidence confirms that in Bates the Govt & Post Office picked the wrong adversary; his steely determination already depicted on TV to devastating effect, is one of a key reason successive Govt.s & PO management teams have been unable to bury this injustice.

While nothing about the actions of the PO & Govt. in this case now surprise me, this a picture of what is wrong with Britain.

#politics
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/apr/09/alan-bates-tells-inquiry-post-office-spent-decades-lying-and-trying-to-discredit-me

mhoye, 1 month ago to random

For as long has he could remember Old McDonald was haunted by the vowels in Celine Dion's name.

davidallengreen, 2 months ago to random

Unpacking the remarkable witness statement of Johnny Mercer

A closer look at the extraordinary evidence put before the Afghan war crimes tribunal

My detailed follow-up to that Prospect piece

https://emptycity.substack.com/p/unpacking-the-remarkable-witness

davidallengreen, 2 months ago to random

The remarkable witness statement of Johnny Mercer

How a government minister tried and failed to get to the bottom of serious war crimes allegations

By me, at Prospect

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/65403/the-remarkable-witness-statement-of-johnny-mercer

davidallengreen, 2 months ago to random

I hope you all had a good Spring Equinox.

Only three months now until the days start getting shorter again.

---

• in Northern Hemisphere
  ** days meaning time of daylight
  ***equinox was yesterday for most people
  **** typing all these provisos out because someone on Mastodon won’t be able to stop themselves ‘correcting’ this post

davidallengreen, 2 months ago to random

Why the inquiry announced into potential war crimes is interesting – very interesting.

Me back on 15th December 2022.

https://emptycity.substack.com/p/why-the-inquiry-announced-today-into

Suggest you (re-)read this for background, for something coming up soon.

davidallengreen, 2 months ago to random

Usually, legal privileges make it hard to sue a minister for libel

But somehow Michelle Donelan made it that she and her department were exposed legally

How did she manage it?

Thoughts by me at Prospect

https://prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/65188/why-did-the-government-have-to-settle-the-libel-claim-against-michelle-donelan

Then on my Substack
https://emptycity.substack.com/p/a-close-look-at-the-donelan-libel

davidallengreen, 2 months ago to random

A close look at the Donelan libel settlement

How did a minister make her department feel exposed to expensive legal liability?

New by me, at Substack

https://emptycity.substack.com/p/a-close-look-at-the-donelan-libel

davidallengreen, 2 months ago to random

Why did the government have to settle the libel claim against Michelle Donelan?

A secretary of state failed to do due diligence before posting baseless allegations on social media

By me at Prospect magazine, on where media law and constitutional law meet

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/65188/why-did-the-government-have-to-settle-the-libel-claim-against-michelle-donelan

davidallengreen, 3 months ago to random

A close look at the law and policy of holding a Northern Ireland border poll

How the law carefully shapes what will be an essentially political decision

New detailed post by me

https://emptycity.substack.com/p/a-close-look-at-the-law-and-policy

davidallengreen, 3 months ago to random

Why the House of Lords can and should delay the Rwanda Bill

Using the Parliament Acts, peers can force the House of Commons to think again

This is an argument why they should do so in this case

By me, at Prospect

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/64673/why-the-house-of-lords-can-and-should-delay-the-rwanda-bill

davidallengreen, 4 months ago to random

Ireland applies to challenge United Kingdom primary legislation

A little-noticed case was launched on Friday last week at the European Court of Human Rights

New by me, at Substack

https://emptycity.substack.com/p/ireland-applies-to-challenge-united

Julie, 4 months ago to random

Today in weeding: Considered for longer than I care to admit the proper classification number for a book entitled "Am I Overthinking This?" I wish I were making a joke! #LibraryLife #Librarian #weeding

ChrisMayLA6, 4 months ago to Software

Anyone who thinks the route to a just resolution to the #HorizonIT crisis lies with a massive fine & compensation paid by #Fujitsu is letting the UK's political class & legal system off the hook.

Certainly, making Fujitsu pay is a necessary element to a just resolution but it is hardly sufficient.

The political class' scramble for cover will be masked if we focus primarily on the #software itself.

There were/are plenty of people who need to be held to account & only a minority are IT folk!

amcewen, 4 months ago to Horizon

"these were not exceptional individuals – they were individuals doing what they (wrongly) believed to be their job or performing what they (wrongly) believed to be their function or protecting what they (wrongly) saw to be legitimate interests."

Excellent blog post from @davidallengreen on the failures of the UK legal system and the professional classes that allowed the #Horizon scandal to flourish.

https://davidallengreen.com/2024/01/how-the-legal-system-made-it-so-easy-for-the-post-office-to-destroy-the-lives-of-the-sub-postmasters-and-sub-postmistresses-and-how-the-legal-system-then-made-it-so-hard-for-them-to-obtain-justice/

#PostOfficeScandal

markfoden, 4 months ago to random

“Computer says guilty”

An absolutely excellent analysis of the Post Office’s Horizon prosecutions by @davidallengreen

#PostOfficeScandal https://emptycity.substack.com/p/how-the-legal-system-made-it-so-easy

Maggotlaw, 4 months ago to random

Excellent explainer by @davidallengreen How the legal system made it so easy for the Post Office to destroy the lives of the sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses - and how the legal system then made it so hard for them to obtain justice https://emptycity.substack.com/p/how-the-legal-system-made-it-so-easy?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=474138&post_id=140614319&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=8zwbz&utm_medium=email

ChrisMayLA6, 4 months ago to random

Here's @davidallengreen on the legal context of the #HorizonIT scandal, focussing on a number of key issues from the presumption of computer evidence's veracity, to the problem with private prosecutions....

This is an excellent (and as always well-informed) digest of how the #PostOffice used (and was mostly advantaged) by a legal system that it used to hound & prosecute those it actually knew were not at fault.

https://emptycity.substack.com/p/how-the-legal-system-made-it-so-easy?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2

davidallengreen, 4 months ago to random

How the legal system made it so easy for the Post Office to destroy the lives of the sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses

And how the legal system then made it so hard for them to obtain justice

New by me, at Substack

https://emptycity.substack.com/p/how-the-legal-system-made-it-so-easy