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Mostly Links
Apr. 20th, 2012 07:26 pmMostly because Question Time last night brought home the fact that most politicians are neither trained orators nor particularly good at rhetoric. David Aaronovitch, ye though I have undoubtedly mis-spelt his name, on the other hand ... Although Tim Farron did a really good job of selling the most recent budget, a far better job of it than the Chancellor ever did.
That being said I am annoyed at the number of people in Britain involved in political and judicial life who seem to think it's okay to send Abu Quatada (a bad, bad man, I know) to Jordan because they've got a promise that *his* trial won't use evidence gained by torture. How about, you know, we don't treat with countries that use torture, or does that only apply when they're torturing people we like.
I'm similarly miffed by the lack of government response re: the Bahrain Grand Prix. I seem to recall reading that the French government actually banned the French F1 teams from competing at the South African Grand Prix back in the apartheid era. Could we not do that again? (And no, there's no hope of convincing Bernie, and Bernie will fine the teams if they don't turn up without good reason.)
Anyway, on to the links -
With a grateful nod to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nwhyte who posted a link to a defendant's own blog, which then provided a link to the British and Irish Legal Information Institute's link to the judges summation of a recent libel trial where two of the defendants were Amazon and Richard Dawkins (and his foundation) - http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2012/B3.html
Now judge's judgements, summations and what-have-you are normally worth reading, because it's good way of learning about law in a country where precedence has a strong weight, and it also clarifies a lot of legal issues. It's also useful when the judgement is being spoken of, because this is being spoken of as a victory for the forces of reason, when mostly the judge's summation seems to be, 'yeah, he was rude, but that's not actionable'.
~~~~
The BBC posted an interesting link about Norway's legal system - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17740229
Which it is talking about because of the Brevik trial. About which the BBC posted another interesting article here - 'Singled out' Breivik survivor tells of trial necessity - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17750133
~~~~
On a less serious front, in the football news, this makes me glad - Turkey's Emre banned for insulting Zokora - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17784555
While I have nothing against Fenerbahce or Turkey, that the Turkish FA are willing to ban players ought to be a signal to UEFA that it really needs to get it's own house in order, and I'm talking about the fact that Arsene Wenger got twice the fine for complaining about the ref than Porto did for it's fans shouting some vile things at Mario Balotelli and the rest of Man. City's black players.
So during the Featherstone vs Castleford Challenge Cup match, Rangi Chase accidentally broke Tangi Roopati's jaw. He, understandably, is very apologetic (it's one of those odd situations where I actually believe that the player throwing the punch didn't mean to break the other man's jaw). The problem lies in the UK's bloody-minded visa system which says that Roopati can only earn money from rugby-related activities, which means he's basically paid to play. If he can't play, he can't get paid. This is a problem when you've got a 12 week injury lay-off. So Featherstone Rovers are organising a fund to help out, which I'm very tempted to contribute to - http://www.featherstonerovers.net/article.php?id=7944
But then again, that's the thing about rugby league, it is very much a community sport, like when Bradford had to get out their begging caps for money, I know Saints fans who chipped in (admittedly because you can't get the joy of beating them if they don't exist), and the Widnes chairman gave them £10,000.
~~~~
I do love that Fergie doesn't like it when his players dive - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17770220 Or rather, I suspect, he wishes that they'd keep it for the big matches so people don't get suspicious.
~~~~
And on an arts theme we have:
Giant Puppets invade Liverpool - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17762154
Images here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-17787778
And shots from the Avengers red carpet here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/17781301
That being said I am annoyed at the number of people in Britain involved in political and judicial life who seem to think it's okay to send Abu Quatada (a bad, bad man, I know) to Jordan because they've got a promise that *his* trial won't use evidence gained by torture. How about, you know, we don't treat with countries that use torture, or does that only apply when they're torturing people we like.
I'm similarly miffed by the lack of government response re: the Bahrain Grand Prix. I seem to recall reading that the French government actually banned the French F1 teams from competing at the South African Grand Prix back in the apartheid era. Could we not do that again? (And no, there's no hope of convincing Bernie, and Bernie will fine the teams if they don't turn up without good reason.)
Anyway, on to the links -
With a grateful nod to
nwhyte who posted a link to a defendant's own blog, which then provided a link to the British and Irish Legal Information Institute's link to the judges summation of a recent libel trial where two of the defendants were Amazon and Richard Dawkins (and his foundation) - http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2012/B3.htmlNow judge's judgements, summations and what-have-you are normally worth reading, because it's good way of learning about law in a country where precedence has a strong weight, and it also clarifies a lot of legal issues. It's also useful when the judgement is being spoken of, because this is being spoken of as a victory for the forces of reason, when mostly the judge's summation seems to be, 'yeah, he was rude, but that's not actionable'.
~~~~
The BBC posted an interesting link about Norway's legal system - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17740229
Which it is talking about because of the Brevik trial. About which the BBC posted another interesting article here - 'Singled out' Breivik survivor tells of trial necessity - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17750133
~~~~
On a less serious front, in the football news, this makes me glad - Turkey's Emre banned for insulting Zokora - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17784555
While I have nothing against Fenerbahce or Turkey, that the Turkish FA are willing to ban players ought to be a signal to UEFA that it really needs to get it's own house in order, and I'm talking about the fact that Arsene Wenger got twice the fine for complaining about the ref than Porto did for it's fans shouting some vile things at Mario Balotelli and the rest of Man. City's black players.
So during the Featherstone vs Castleford Challenge Cup match, Rangi Chase accidentally broke Tangi Roopati's jaw. He, understandably, is very apologetic (it's one of those odd situations where I actually believe that the player throwing the punch didn't mean to break the other man's jaw). The problem lies in the UK's bloody-minded visa system which says that Roopati can only earn money from rugby-related activities, which means he's basically paid to play. If he can't play, he can't get paid. This is a problem when you've got a 12 week injury lay-off. So Featherstone Rovers are organising a fund to help out, which I'm very tempted to contribute to - http://www.featherstonerovers.net/article.php?id=7944
But then again, that's the thing about rugby league, it is very much a community sport, like when Bradford had to get out their begging caps for money, I know Saints fans who chipped in (admittedly because you can't get the joy of beating them if they don't exist), and the Widnes chairman gave them £10,000.
~~~~
I do love that Fergie doesn't like it when his players dive - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17770220 Or rather, I suspect, he wishes that they'd keep it for the big matches so people don't get suspicious.
~~~~
And on an arts theme we have:
Giant Puppets invade Liverpool - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17762154
Images here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-17787778
And shots from the Avengers red carpet here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/17781301
