International Law

Illegal immigrants set fire to a detention centre on the Italian island of Lampedusa

Posted on February 21, 2009
Illegal immigrants set fire to a detention centre on the Italian island of LampedusaIllegal immigrants and asylum-seekers set fire to part of their detention centre on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa after a failed escape attempt

Submerged pier in the sunset in the lake District

Posted on February 21, 2009
Submerged pier in the sunset in the lake DistrictI have the same scene in a photo/painting on my bedroom wall above my bed...

Jack Straw artwork

Posted on February 21, 2009
Jack Straw artworkJack Straw spends £170,000 on artwork for his officesJack Straw, the Justice Secretary, has spent nearly £170,000 of taxpayers' money on artwork for his office.Is there no end to this man's corruption?

Computer mouse gives elusive Chinese cat serious headache

Posted on February 20, 2009
Computer mouse gives elusive Chinese cat serious headacheDid Chinese prison guards batter a prisoner to death and then claim he died playing hide and seek?What a pity that my blog is still banned in China by the Great Firewall of China...

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Harman: I take it that's a yes then?

Posted on February 20, 2009
Harman: I take it that's a yes then?Harriet Harman: I'm not trying to replace Gordon BrownLabour's deputy leader Harriet Harman has dismissed reports she was positioning herself to replace Gordon Brown as Prime Minister.Given that MPs are famous for being economical with the truth, save for when a woman says "no" to sex she means it, in this instance a negative from Harperson means exactly the opposite, that's affirmative.

Firefox why don't you sort it out?

Posted on February 19, 2009
Firefox why don't you sort it out?Several times today I have got the message "Firefox has encountered a problem and needs to close". It is so frustrating. All I am doing is visiting my regular sites such as the Telegraph and Guardian. I tolerated this intrusion up to a point...

Allo Allo what have we got 'ere then?

Posted on February 19, 2009
Allo Allo what have we got 'ere then?It's just not cricket is it? René Artois Allen Stanford

Jailhouselawyer libelled by the Timesonline

Posted on February 19, 2009
Jailhouselawyer libelled by the TimesonlineLast night I sent the following email to the editor of the Timesonline...Hi It has come to my attention that I have been libelled by the Timesonline. I seek that the necessary correction is made. In addition, whilst I accept that in the offending article you have only printed the opinions of other people, nevertheless, those comments are inaccurate and mislead your readers...

Hilary Benn suffers torture

Posted on February 19, 2009
Hilary Benn suffers tortureHilary Benn tortured by radio journalist.Absolutely brilliant. Not a patch on the old man. Move over Paxo, there's a new kid on the block. I suspect that Hilary Benn's career is over after this debacle. If it isn't it should be...

Curtain twitching Tory neighbours spy on Labour Home Secretary

Posted on February 18, 2009
Curtain twitching Tory neighbours spy on Labour Home SecretaryThe Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, says she is confident she will be cleared by a formal sleaze inquiry into allegations that she misused her Parliamentary housing allowance while lodging with her sister...

Prime Minister in waiting

Posted on February 18, 2009
Prime Minister in waitingAnd waiting, and waiting, and waiting.....Zzzzzzzzz. If anyone remembers the old battle axe below, it's one good reason not to let Harperson anywhere near the seat of power. Apparently, she is making a bid for power.

Er?

Posted on February 18, 2009
Er?The slimeball Mark Leech claims Mr Straw had told him: "The problem with Mr Biggs is no-one has formally asked me for his release".However, Mr Biggs, who is an individual... A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: "We do not comment on individuals"...

Law Lords back Qatada deportation

Posted on February 18, 2009
Law Lords back Qatada deportationThe Law Lords have given the go-ahead for the deportation from the UK of the radical cleric Abu Qatada.Five Lords unanimously threw out his appeal against returning to Jordan where he faces jail for terrorism.Qatada had alleged that his conviction in Jordan was based on evidence extracted by torture...

Confessions of a Guantanamo guard

Posted on February 18, 2009
Confessions of a Guantanamo guardDetention. Humiliation. Torture. The world can only guess atthe horrors of Camp X-Ray. But now Brandon Neely, a former guard, wants to tell the shocking story of what happened there ? and why it shames America. Interview by Almerindo Ojeda

Female prison officer 'ran lucrative drugs racket' inside jail

Posted on February 18, 2009
Female prison officer 'ran lucrative drugs racket' inside jail A female prison officer ran a lucrative drugs racket inside a London jail and took up to a dozen orders a day from an inmate using a smuggled mobile phone, a court heard. Patricia Ollivierre, 30, was caught by a sniffer dog at Wormwood Scrubs and found with more than 17 grams of heroin and a large block of cannabis stashed in her car, jurors were told...

Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe 'fit to be freed from Broadmoor'

Posted on February 18, 2009
Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe 'fit to be freed from Broadmoor'Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe is fit to be freed from Broadmoor, according to doctors at the high security hospital.The decision is a major step towards 62-year-old Sutcliffe's aim of being freed altogether...

What did you get in your hamper from Harrods little girlie?

Posted on February 17, 2009
What did you get in your hamper from Harrods little girlie?No sex charges for Harrods ownerHarrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed will not face charges over claims he sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.Whatever the pay off, it would not have been anything like the amount paid by Michael Jackson for silence...

There's gold in them thar jails: Ease prison overcrowding and save money

Posted on February 17, 2009
There's gold in them thar jails: Ease prison overcrowding and save moneyFinding cash behind barsAfter decades spent getting tough on crime, some states are looking to save money by reducing their prison populationsWhich politician this side of the pond is going to be brave enough to take the splash to save our nations cash?

England has turned itself into a penal colony

Posted on February 17, 2009
England has turned itself into a penal colony George Monbiot argues...England, that great colonising land, has itself become a colonyOnly one of the UK's four nations is deprived of its own assembly. You need not love the place to call for it to have a parliamentAn English Parliament? Why not, indeed!

Judges possess the weapon to challenge surveillance

Posted on February 17, 2009
Judges possess the weapon to challenge surveillanceThe British are the most spied upon people in the democratic world, but only the judiciary can restrain parliamentIn times of heightened tension, caused by war, terrorism or other public emergency, ministers tend to exert their powers to the limits of what they believe to be politically acceptable and legally permissible...

Whitehall devised torture policy for terror detainees

Posted on February 17, 2009
Whitehall devised torture policy for terror detainees Binyam Mohamed is at the centre of Pakistani torture claimsMI5 interrogations in Pakistan agreed by lawyers and governmentA policy governing the interrogation of terrorism suspects in Pakistan that led to British citizens and residents being tortured was devised by MI5 lawyers and figures in government, according to evidence heard in court...

Government in attempt to circumvent the Freedom of Information Act

Posted on February 17, 2009
Government in attempt to circumvent the Freedom of Information ActLet me get this straight, the Government is arguing that we make the police more effective by making them less accountable?Data on police accidents and firearms no longer sent to Home OfficePolice will no longer have to tell the Home Office how many road accidents involve officers or when police use firearms in a controversial bid to cut red tape...

Ex-spy chief: We risk a police state

Posted on February 17, 2009
Ex-spy chief: We risk a police stateDame Stella Rimington, the former head of MI5, has warned that the fear of terrorism is being exploited by the Government to erode civil liberties and risks creating a police state.Dame Stella accused ministers of interfering with people?s privacy and playing straight into the hands of terrorists...

Breakdown in communication all around

Posted on February 16, 2009
Breakdown in communication all aroundA man who attacked and sexually assaulted a woman in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, after tricking his way into her home in May last year, has been given a Community Service Order by a judge.The man who is profoundly deaf and does not understand sign language and has a foreign sounding name, probably failed to understand that his victim did not want sex with him...

Derek Draper throws a tantrum and threatens Alex Hilton

Posted on February 16, 2009
Derek Draper throws a tantrum and threatens Alex HiltonHat-Tip to Iain Dale: "Draper's Downfall"How prophetic the YouTube's title was given this next story...Hat-Tip to Iain Dale: Alex Hilton Warned: "We'll Trash Your Reputation" Mr Hilton is the unwanted and poorer brother to Paris...

Portuguese lorry driver jailed for 3 years for killing family

Posted on February 16, 2009
Portuguese lorry driver jailed for 3 years for killing familyA Portuguese lorry driver who killed a family of six in a motorway crash in Cheshire has been jailed for three years.Three years for a family of six, parole after 18 months, does not appear to be a severe enough penalty under the circumstances...

British Institute of Human Rights and Jack Straw exposed for what they really are

Posted on February 16, 2009
British Institute of Human Rights and Jack Straw exposed for what they really are"There is no more important contribution that we can make to society than strong, publicly-spirited investigative journalism" (Tony Burman, editor-in-chief of CBC News).This exposé is intended to highlight the hypocrisy surrounding human rights in this country...

Keith Vaz in Guido-like car crash on Newsnight

Posted on February 16, 2009
Keith Vaz in Guido-like car crash on NewsnightKeith Vaz you are a Plonker of the First Order! Fancy appearing on Newsnight to talk about something he has not got a clue about.KW: Have you seen the film?KV: No.Duh!

Prison plans spark safety fears

Posted on February 16, 2009
Prison plans spark safety fearsPublic safety will be jeopardised by plans to change working practices in state-run prisons, the Prison Officers Association has warned.I had to laugh at Brian Caton, General Secretary of the Prison Officer's Association, as he described working in a modern prison as being like working down a coal mine in the 1950s...

Police 'still institutionally racist'

Posted on February 15, 2009
Police 'still institutionally racist'The police force is still institutionally racist despite efforts to tackle the issue, a review by the Runnymede Trust has claimed. The report by the influential Runnymede Trust criticised the failure to promote and retain black officers and the overuse of stop and search techniques against black and multi-ethnic groups...

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