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Thread | Judges and European Democracy
at 08:36 3 Sep 2025
Here is an interesting statement from a German judge who believes that expanding interpretations of law by European judges are leading to a kind of political paralysis that stops politicians dealing with problems, like mass immigration, with the result that people are losing faith in democracy.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/europe-s-democracy-at-risk-without-asylum-r
A few of us have discussed this in the past, including how supra-national law created by conventions and treaties hems in what national governments can do, and means that national electorates come to realise that voting for something doesn't mean a current policy will be changed. One of my main objections to the idea of rejoining the EU is that the framework of union law (the acquis communautaire), which is separate from the ECHR, waters down democracy in the member states via devices such as qualified majority voting. One ends up with a kind of stasis where 27 member states (or the required majority) take so long to agree anything, or to overcome legal challenges, that the population loses faith in the ability of governments to deal with existential problems. |
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Thread | Good night for Scottish teams in Europe
at 11:03 8 Aug 2025
Both the Hibees and Tangerines came away with good away results last night. Dundee United's game brought back memories of their 1984 European Cup win over Rapid Vienna on away goals. That was also memorable as the day when I scored against a professional keeper, albeit not in a real game. 40 years ago I think players were closer to their local communities. Hamish MacAlpine, the United keeper and a real character, had a part-time role as a sports instructor at Kingsway technical college. On the day of the match I accompanied a group of teenage special education pupils (who were subjects in a research project) on a visit to the college and was surprised to be handed over to Hamish, He organised a five a side football game in the gym, with the lads split into two teams and me on one side and him on the other. I think his team won but I scored a couple including one when Hamish was in goal (unusual for me as I was also a goalie). What sticks in my mind is coming into what could have been a crunching tackle with Hamish, and pulling my foot backwards from the contact at the last moment realising I did not want to crock one of my then heroes. He probably thought I was a real wimp. Fair play to Hamish who was playing a reasonably active game even on the day of a big match. That evening I stood behind the goal at Tannadice watching Hamish have a fairly comfortable game, which United won with a Davie Dodds goal. It had been a very interesting day. [Post edited 8 Aug 12:13]
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Thread | Are the rich still getting richer in the UK?
at 15:25 19 Jun 2025
Many people say the answer to coping with the cost of living crisis and the rise in welfare spending is to tax the rich more, but are the rich doing as well as we think? I was surprised earlier in the year when looking at the Sunday Times Rich List 2025 to see that there are as many at the top with falling assets as there are gainers. Then I look at my own (very modest) dabbling in the stock market, where the performance of UK equities has been pretty underwhelming. Today I see that UBS’s annual Wealth Report found that average household wealth in Britain fell 3.6 per cent in 2024. Is there truth in this? And if there is, doesn't this mean that the wealthy are going to struggle to bail the UK out of its dire economic situation?
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/britain-suffers-second-biggest-wealth-drop
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Thread | Better-off pensioners to pay for WFA U-turn?
at 10:07 5 Jun 2025
There are rumours that the widening of eligibility for payment of winter fuel allowance will be funded by increasing the taxes to be paid by better-off pensioners.
https://www.ft.com/content/be570a08-38d4-448b-b521-5b69cd91e421
Things should become clearer soon, but it looks likely that our own Swansea West MP will have a big say in the policy decided. Will some be unhappy that pensioners who saved and made provision for their retirement will subsidize those who did not, or is this just a case of fairness? Will a certain pensioner property rentier be in the frame?  [Post edited 5 Jun 10:23]
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Thread | Resident doctors demand another big pay rise
at 07:54 29 May 2025
The resident doctors - the new term for doctors in the training grades - got a pay uplift of about 22% last year and are now demanding a further 29% rise this year.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/junior-doctors-seeking-almost-30-073732927.html
The forum was divided in its views last year. Some of us worried that such a generous pay deal would trigger a round of catch-up pay demands in the public sector, but I don't think anybody thought the doctors would come back for so much more so quickly. As a reminder, the present scale for the training grades in England runs from £36,616 to £70,425. Salaries for consultants, specialty and specialist doctors (SAS) and GPs go much higher. Thoughts? |
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Thread | Lucy Connolly sentencing appeal rejected
at 08:32 21 May 2025
A few days have passed since three appeal court judges rejected Lucy Connolly's plea for a reduction of her 31 months sentence, and I sense that public disquiet about this judgement is growing. What Mrs Connolly said about migrant hotels was offensive, but there appear to be circumstances that mitigate the seriousness of the offense. Many are comparing Connolly's case with that of Ricky Jones, who was recorded on video stirring up a crowd about ‘disgusting Nazi fascists’ and telling them that ‘we need to cut their throats and get rid of them’, but is out on bail until August. My guess is that the recent court judgment will rebound on those who wanted a deterrent sentence by giving more credibility to the idea of two-tier justice. [Post edited 21 May 8:52]
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Thread | Are the rich fleeing the UK?
at 07:34 18 May 2025
The UK is in a difficult position with a combination of high public expenditure, high national debt and already high tax levels, Many say the answer is to tax the rich even more, but this too may be problematic. See the Sunday Times today:
"The Sunday Times Rich List 2025 was unveiled last week, showing not only that the number of billionaires has fallen again (to 156), but the combined wealth of the 350 entries has also declined. Today many of those Rich Listers hit out at the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, accusing her of “killing the geese that lay the golden eggs” and accelerating an exodus of wealth as she plots more tax hikes for businesses. Read what the likes of Sir James Dyson and mining billionaire Tony Langley have to say here. "
https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/economics/article/rich-list-leaders-tell [Post edited 18 May 7:36]
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Thread | Fisher's team down
at 22:11 14 May 2025
The final nail was driven into St Johnstone's coffin at Hearts tonight. Reports say that Fisher has done well there. I would imagine though that relegation will make any permanent move to Perth difficult. |
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Thread | Sadiq Khan deputy lied about Real Madrid playing contract
at 10:07 10 May 2025
They say that there isn't much integrity in politics today, but this ex-Labour councillor - now a deputy mayor of London - must be a contender in the fib of the year stakes.
'Turkish football fans are among the most passionate in the world, so it was no surprise that in 2011, when it emerged that one of their own was set for an unlikely transfer to the European giants Real Madrid it made waves across the country.
Mete Serdar Coban, a 17-year-old left-back, was at the centre of it all; born in northern Cyprus but raised in London, he told a host of sports journalists and interviewers that he had been scouted by the Istanbul side Galatasaray before transferring to Inter Milan. Now, after four years in Italy, he was off to Europe’s biggest club. His claims were buttressed by social media posts and a grainy YouTube video of “highlights” from his Inter days.
There was one problem: the entire tale was fabricated. The closest Mete Serdar Coban had come to football stardom was a flunked trial at the other Madrid side, Atletico, a few years earlier. He slipped away from the limelight almost as quickly as he appeared.
Until, that is, he became a councillor in Hackney three years later — and a £148,000-a-year deputy mayor under Sir Sadiq Khan last summer.'
(The Times today, behind paywall)
https://www.thetimes.com/article/9a6b79f5-dd1d-4100-bdba-ea99c0a0d181 |
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Thread | Police officer cleared in Kaba criminal case to face internal misconduct hearing
at 11:23 30 Apr 2025
The IOPC has decided that Sgt Martyn Blake will go before a disciplinary panel to consider a charge of gross misconduct in relation to the Kaba case.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/met-firearms-officer-cleared-of-murdering-c
I am not usually moved to anger by official decisions, but this one seems to combine an injustice, with little thought of the consequences for the morale of Met firearms officers, Amanda Rowe, Director of the IOPC, mentions "the significant public interest in this case, particularly among our black communities, firearms officers and the wider policing community", and there is little doubt in my mind that the reaction of a certain community has been a huge factor in this. Although, I know it won't do much good I shall be writing to my MP, and anybody else I can think of, to express my unhappiness, and urge others to do the same. [Post edited 30 Apr 17:23]
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Thread | Supreme court holds that sex is a matter of biology
at 12:39 16 Apr 2025
Legal clarity at last, at least in the UK for the time being. No doubt this leaves quite a lot of tidying of law and regulations for the devolved administrations to do. What strikes me is that there may still be issues at the international level, if different countries end up with different legal definitions of what a woman is. |
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