I know I’ve been away a few weeks – we all need a blog break occasionally – but I’m back with a bang, with a piece at the Guardian Law website yesterday on William Hague’s proposed “national sovereignty” clause, […]

Regular readers will know I’m opposed to fixed-term Parliaments. But that point of principle isn’t the only reason to be concerned about the Fixed-term Parliaments Bill.

Following on from my post the other day about privacy and the notorious “back door”, I’m surprised Lord McNally has been taken in sufficiently to propose new privacy legislation to “clarify” the law and remove some of its […]

I’m delighted that Nick Clegg has thought better of the proposal, initially agreed by the coalition, that Parliament should not be dissolved unless a majority of 55% votes for dissolution. This is what he said in his statement to […]

I’ve been interested by a series of pieces musing on the political consequences of Gordon Brown’s decision to remain as Prime Minister for five days following the election – rather than resigning on the Friday. First to consider this was […]

I applaud the decision of the government to publish a complete list of the names, salaries and job titles of everyone in the Senior Civil Service who earns more than £150,000. You can save the list by clicking

The coalition’s “Programme for Government” published today contains at least one major surprise. In section 20 of the document relating to justice policy, on page 24, it says

We will extend anonymity in rape cases to defendants.

This is a […]

At the end of my interview the other day with Charon QC, I spoke briefly about the appointments of the Law Officers – the Attorney General, Dominic Grieve and the Solicitor General, Edward Garnier – and suggested […]

Charon QC interviewed me on Friday about the new Conservative-Liberal coalition government and its special points of legal interest. We begin with the heated debate about the “55%” rule, under which the coalition proposes this should be a fixed-term Parliament, […]

A debate has been raging on Twitter and elsewhere about the new coalition’s proposal to legislate to require a 55% Commons majority to dissolve Parliament. Quite a few people are arguing that I and others have got this wrong, and […]