On the Lord Chancellor/ Justice Secretary’s robust words, come on, gentlemen: give her a chance! And why turn on HER so roundly when I can recall no such direct censure when Grayling, Raab, Truss and others so mistook their office in their actions, INactions and MISdeeds. There is certainly something in what in particular David Burrows says BUT Shabana Mahmood is now ACTING robustly in pursuit of her clear duty over tackling our prisons crisis, in a way- frankly- that I had been dismayed to find lacking on the part of a number of Labour Justice Secretaries or Shadow Justice Secretaries, come to that. With Mahmood’s -as I believe - meritorious appointment, more power to her elbow and more dovetailing attacks of sanity in that area, please- the sooner the better. And let us NOT forget that - again I say it- stain on our criminal justice system, IPP sentences. Legal Aid, certainly: for forty seven years I fought for adequate remuneration, what is more struggling on and JUST keep a legal aid practice on the road. I continue to regard the plans for that Holocaust memorial as seriously misguided, as do many, but let us see.
I welcome the new Lord Chancellor, if she can put aside her politics a bit. I wait, in particular, to see what she does to restore a legal aid scheme so mauled by Grayling as, nominally, a Lord Chancellor.
Indeed, as you say, as Lord Chancellor she must learn to avoid over-political statements. The law should be as impartial as it can be. Take emotive comments from a LC like: '... it has become clear that the last government left this country on the brink of disaster. Our prisons are on the point of collapse. There is no other way of putting it. What is worse: the previous government knew this would happen.' This can do nothing to promote respect for her in her office. The last real lawyer Lord Chancellor, Lord Mackay (in the job 1987-97), used to say he was LC first, a member of Tory governments second; and look at the bills he promoted: Children Act 1989, domestic abuse in a 1994 statute and civil procedure rules reform (in which I had a modest part working with Lord Mackay). None were particularly 'Tory' reforms. Please have a thought to your office, not your politics, Lord Chancellor.
And I do hope our LC will not continue to confuse sentences with paragraphs; and learn - a trick not mastered by Tony Blair - that each sentence (with very rare exceptions) must have a verb. Of all government ministers, surely our LC should be able to string coherent sentences together in balanced paragraphs.
On the Lord Chancellor/ Justice Secretary’s robust words, come on, gentlemen: give her a chance! And why turn on HER so roundly when I can recall no such direct censure when Grayling, Raab, Truss and others so mistook their office in their actions, INactions and MISdeeds. There is certainly something in what in particular David Burrows says BUT Shabana Mahmood is now ACTING robustly in pursuit of her clear duty over tackling our prisons crisis, in a way- frankly- that I had been dismayed to find lacking on the part of a number of Labour Justice Secretaries or Shadow Justice Secretaries, come to that. With Mahmood’s -as I believe - meritorious appointment, more power to her elbow and more dovetailing attacks of sanity in that area, please- the sooner the better. And let us NOT forget that - again I say it- stain on our criminal justice system, IPP sentences. Legal Aid, certainly: for forty seven years I fought for adequate remuneration, what is more struggling on and JUST keep a legal aid practice on the road. I continue to regard the plans for that Holocaust memorial as seriously misguided, as do many, but let us see.
David, I thoroughly agree. Mackay with whom I spent an evening privately was the last true LC. The new LC’s language was astonishing.
I welcome the new Lord Chancellor, if she can put aside her politics a bit. I wait, in particular, to see what she does to restore a legal aid scheme so mauled by Grayling as, nominally, a Lord Chancellor.
Indeed, as you say, as Lord Chancellor she must learn to avoid over-political statements. The law should be as impartial as it can be. Take emotive comments from a LC like: '... it has become clear that the last government left this country on the brink of disaster. Our prisons are on the point of collapse. There is no other way of putting it. What is worse: the previous government knew this would happen.' This can do nothing to promote respect for her in her office. The last real lawyer Lord Chancellor, Lord Mackay (in the job 1987-97), used to say he was LC first, a member of Tory governments second; and look at the bills he promoted: Children Act 1989, domestic abuse in a 1994 statute and civil procedure rules reform (in which I had a modest part working with Lord Mackay). None were particularly 'Tory' reforms. Please have a thought to your office, not your politics, Lord Chancellor.
And I do hope our LC will not continue to confuse sentences with paragraphs; and learn - a trick not mastered by Tony Blair - that each sentence (with very rare exceptions) must have a verb. Of all government ministers, surely our LC should be able to string coherent sentences together in balanced paragraphs.