Hetty Baynes Again: Losing a Grip on Reality

It seems that it is not only Chris Keil who wants to post inane comments to the Hetty Baynes blog:

As there is no e-mail address to send you a discreet communication - I'm having to post it here on your site:

What you have written is very distressing and unprofessional and an outright defamation of character towards someone who has done nothing to deserve your venom.

I'm kindly asking you to remove them and request that you refrain from passing judgment on people or cases you know nothing about.

If this is truly a blog about legal matters - where are all the OTHER legal matters you are supposed to be 'commenting' on???? Funny isn't it that it is just this case you mention... Seems to me that you are acting on someone's behalf - sour grapes to say the least!

You do not need to be reminded what the consequences of libel are... Do you?

For reasons set out in the previous post I have not been checking up on this blog much recently. This is posted by another "Anonymous" (I will find you dear). I suppose that is because he or she wants to remain "discreet" or, possibly, not expose themself to ridicule. Too late!

1. No-one else has difficulty emailing me. Oh, alright, try going to The Firm.

2. You are either a very bad lawyer or a very badly advised lay person and clearly have no understanding of the law of defamation.

3. If you think this is a blog about one case then that can only be because you accessed one page. Either (a) you are fixated on Hetty Baynes and/or (b) you are Hetty Baynes and/or (c) you are off your rocker and/or (d) you are a perfectly nice sane human being who just had one too many on 17th September this year.

3. Sue me. Go on, I dare you. Your brain is addled.

4. Ooo! You can only sue me if YOU ARE HETTY BAYNES! Well, at least that would explain 2 above.

The Killer Out There: Chris Keil

At last a picture of the outlaw Chris Keil, who wants this "sad fuck" to die.

Chris Keil posted nasty stuff about me. Fair enough. He is entitled to his opinion. This site is about nothing if it is not about free speech.

He just went too far when he said he wanted me to "die"

Do his readers know the contempt in which he holds them?

Do his readers know the contempt in which he holds free speech?

Do his readers know the contempt in which he holds the little man (as opposed to himself, who is obviously a very big man whose opinions command and deserve to command universal respect)?

That is not tonight's quiz. Rhetorical questions do not count. Here are the quiz questions.

QUIZ:

(1) Should I report Chris Keil to the police for inciting someone to use violence against me?

(2) Should I report Chris Keil to the police for impliedly threatening to kill me himself?

(3) Should I sue Chris Keil in the civil courts for defamation?

Gutter Politics is OK, says Judge Eady

Partial, biased, hard-hitting electioneering, even if it merits the description "gutter politics", does not sustain an allegation of malice to found a cause of action for injurious falsehood; so held by the leading libel judge Mr Justice Eady in his judgment in the case of Quinton v Pierce, released on the internet today.

Clearly, this judgment only applies to politicians and could be justified on the basis that if you want to participate in a dirty game do not expect normal rules of civilized behaviour to apply and certainly do not expect your opponents to treat you with any civility. Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas.

To put that in latin (which we lawyers are no longer supposed to do): the defence could have been volenti non fit injuria or, going back to English, if you go into politics you are consenting to being traduced, vilified, blackguarded, having your character trailed through the gutter, your expenses questioned, your every word, act, omission etc. subjected to the utmost scrutiny, generally being booed and hissed at as if you were a pantomime villain (even, in those rare cases, where you are not) etc. etc. and you will have no right to complain because you knew what you were getting into you pathetic little moron.

Well, that is the ratio decidendi of the decision as far as I am concerned.

Do you agree?

The Garlic Defence

An amusing story from Gary Slapper of The Times concerns the abandonment of criminal trials at Bristol Crown Court because the smell of garlic was spreading around the court building. Visit the title link.

This is a particularly stupid defence to run. The best it will get you is an adjournment.

If you are exposed as the garlic deployer's friend you will cast doubt on your credibility and may destroy any other available defence you have. But then, lots of criminals are stupid. That is why they are criminals.

On the other hand, some criminals are clever and never get caught. This just supports two cardinal principles that prosecutors and governments need to keep at the forefront of their minds. They are:

(1) Probability of detection rather than harsh sentencing is the primary deterrent.

(2) Confiscation of the proceeds of crime should be the primary punishment.

Therefore, focus on better policing (more intelligent, better qualified, properly funded) and increase the penalties for failing to satisfy a confiscation order; perhaps, discounting the retributive part of the sentence and applying a percentage uplift to the criminal gain.

The really interesting thing you will find in Gary Slapper's article is the exclusion of a barrister from court for wearing perfume. OK, it was the 60's.

Ian Tomlinson: Murder Not Manslaughter?

In English law murder does not require an intent to kill. The following will also suffice:

(a) an intent to cause grievous bodily harm; or

(b) grievous bodily harm is the virtually certain consequence of the perpetrator's act.

The news that Ian Tomlinson died from internal bleeding seems to me to mean that investigation of the unknown police officer only for manslaughter is inadequate. A murder charge should not be ruled out at this stage.

TOPIC FOR DEBATE

Manslaughter would be an example of undercharging that would not be countenanced if the offender were not a police officer.

Margaret Haywood, The Brighton Sussex Hospital and Elder Abuse

Margaret Haywood went undercover for the BBC and secretly filmed neglect/abuse of elderly patients at the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton, England.

After the film was broadcast, the trust responsible for the hospital admitted and apologised for "serious lapses in the quality of care".

I think we can take it that this was the most anodyne formula the trust's lawyers felt they could get away with.

The Times reports today that the Nursing and Midwifery Council has found that Ms Haywood had prioritised filming over her obligations as a nurse and had breached patient confidentiality.

In consequence, she has been struck off and cannot act as a nurse. That is, her career has been destroyed.

Oh, by the way, it is also reported that all of the patients (subsequent to the filming) waived confidentiality. I would too. If I was a vulnerable elderly person and was being maltreated but with no means of doing anything about it, I would positively want someone, anyone, to do something about it and by whatever means possible.

Ordinary mortals will find the decision to strike this nurse off the register inexplicable other than as a protective act of revenge and as a blatant attempt to discourage others from blowing the whistle on National Health Service malpractice.

She did a greater service to these patients than the hospital or any of their other doctors or nurses.

I hope Margaret Haywood takes this matter further. I am sure she has access to proper advice and I can think of many lawyers who would take this case on a no win no fee basis.

The decision of the Nursing and Midwifery Council, on the facts available in the public domain, is an utter disgrace and wholly against the public interest.

Does Dr Michael Pelling Help Fathers or Children?

The notorious lay represenative of fathers in the English courts has been at it again. And this time it is not about contact with the father's children. It's about filthy lucre.

Well, I suppose Dr P is entitled to earn a crust.

The answer to the title question is: No, not a lot really. In fact, if you consider cases that he has been involved in (including his own sorry dispute with his ex-wife) he damages fathers and their relations with their children.

It is not simply that he gets up the noses of judges. He does that, however. He does it with such skill and alacrity that I sometimes think that he wants to lose.

If you are really tempted by having Dr Pelling represent you then you should first of all read the judgment in his latest debacle. You will quickly change your mind.

It is G v A and it becomes compelling reading at about paragraph 100.

For instance, would you really want your advocate to send in a written comment on the judgment as follows:

"In fairness to [the father] I would ask the reason why the cheque was stopped be stated. It was stopped on Dr Pelling's advice who drew [the father's] attention to the stated purpose of the £20000, for the mother's cost of moving, … , and pointed out that no move of the mother was on the horizon and that of course the problems of the settlement deed etc had not been resolved so the move was not going to take place in the near future. It was not reasonable to pay under those circumstances, especially as the Order made no provision for what would happen to the money if the move was not taking place, and on the mother's record there was real concern it would just be spent improperly and dissipated. It is not fair to [the father] as a businessman of probity to damn him in a judgment as a person who stops cheques when he owes money, which prima facie does not enhance reputation. [The father] cannot publicly reply to such aspersions because of the anonymisation (which does not guarantee that [he] will not become known to some people as the A in question)."

Mr Justice Munby saw that one coming:

I am content to record Dr Pelling's comments but they hardly seem to assist the father. The facts as I set them out in paragraph [6] are not disputed; nor could they be. The fact is that the father stopped the cheque in December 2006, at a time when his appeal against the District Judge's order stood dismissed, when the stay had long since been lifted and long before he made his application to the court on 15 June 2007. The fact is that when he stopped the cheque he owed the money. The fact, as now appears, that the father acted on the advice of Dr Pelling can hardly assist him; it merely throws an interesting light on Dr Pelling's approach to orders of the court.

As a lawyer, I naturally advise you to pay attention to orders of the court. If you want to take the advice of Dr Pelling then feel free to do so. If the advice, in the end, does not work out entirely costs neutral (financially or emotionally) then I am sure that Dr Pelling's insurance will cover you. Please check with him first, however.

Barclays Tax Avoidance Horse Bolts, Then Judge Shuts Stable Door

NO HORSE HERE

Mr Justice Blake thinks that the documents Barclays does not want you to see are still sufficiently difficult to find that they have not yet lost all confidentiality. Well, I'm a slow typist and it took less than 60 seconds. Mind you, when you start trying to read them you wish you had not found them. They use an especially effective cryptogram. They are written in mind numbingly boring jargon so that only the most dedicated investigative reporters will stay awake long enough to penetrate to the heart of any wrongdoing the documents may reveal. I have not the patience. Of course, Barclays say that there is no wrongdoing to be found. Well, that explains why they woke the first judge at 2:30 am in the morning to try to suppress publication then.

Trent Health Authority Guilty of Abuse of Power but No Redress for Victims: A Monstrous Injustice?

I am conscious of the need for a sub-editor to work on a title such as the above but read this...

Trent Strategic Health Authority* has been held guilty by the House of Lords of ruining Mr and Mrs Jain's nursing home business and causing them "serious economic harm" on the basis of a "without notice application that ought never to have been made".

[*Note: Trent's liability arises as successor to the Nottingham Health Authority, as is made clear in the judgments. But "they inherit any liability incurred by their predecessors". ]

Yet, Mr and Mrs Jain have no redress under English domestic law and will receive no compensation.

All of the law lords expressed great sympathy for the Jains and reached this second conclusion "with regret" for their "undeserved fate".

Many will be be of the view that where a government established body causes financial ruin to those subject to its authority AND is found to have behaved wholly improperly BUT its victims have no remedy THEN it follows that:

(a) something has gone badly wrong with the law; and

(b) a serious injustice has been allowed by the law to happen.

This is simply a logical proposition based on underlying assumptions concerning morality and justice. The assumptions are shared by most who live in democratic societies (of whatever religion or none). Such people may struggle to understand this decision but only if they are not also lawyers. We lot are used to the discordance between the law on one hand and justice on the other. It's one of the things that get us a bad name.

You should read the judgments by following the title link if you want to see how this discordance occurs.

Let us look at what Trent did (this is paragraphs 6-9 of the judgment of Lord Scott of Foscote):

"6. Mr and Mrs Jain's only recourse was to appeal to a Registered Homes Tribunal. This they did. But there was no procedure available for an expedited appeal and no procedure enabling a stay of the magistrate's order pending an appeal to be obtained. We were told that the procedures under which appeals to a Registered Homes Tribunal can be made lead to a minimum delay of six weeks before an appeal can be heard. In the event, Mr and Mrs Jain's appeal was not heard until February 1999, over four months after the order had been made, and, not surprisingly, by the time the appeal was heard irrevocable damage had already been done to their nursing home business, with an adverse knock-on effect on other assets that they owned.

7. The appeal, heard by the Tribunal on 8 and 9 February 1999, was a resounding success. But the success came too late to afford them more than the satisfaction of vindication. The Tribunal, having heard evidence from the Authority in purported justification for the action they had taken, did not call for any evidence from the Jains in response and were scathing in their criticism of the Authority. In the Tribunal's nineteen page Reasons For Decision one reads of the inclusion of irrelevant and prejudicial information in the statutory statement that had been placed by the Authority before the magistrate, of insinuations by the Authority of abuse of residents notwithstanding the absence of evidence sufficient to justify any charges of abuse, and of untrue suggestions by the Authority of failure by the Jains to comply with various statutory regulations. Some of the complaints made in the statutory statement about the running of the nursing home did, in the view of the Tribunal, have some substance but, commented the Tribunal, "none warranted the immediate closure of the home". They said that "there was no reason for supposing that the residents could not properly have been protected by proper monitoring by the inspectors and the provision of advice where necessary". The statutory statement had complained that building works of improvement being carried out at Ash Lea Court had produced an unsatisfactory physical environment for the residents, but the Tribunal noted that there was no evidence that the dust from the building works "posed any risk to the life or health of the residents" and concluded that the conditions at Ash Lea Court had not justified an application for an order under section 30 :

"… the respondents have wholly failed to persuade us that an application for an order cancelling registration under section 30 was an appropriate way of meeting [the Authority's concerns about the running of the nursing home]"

8. The Tribunal was particularly scathing about the Authority's decision to make their application ex parte and without notice to the Jains. While accepting that there had been "no bad faith" on the part of the officials who, on behalf of the Authority, had been responsible for making the application, the Tribunal said that they could see

"… no justification whatever for the failure to warn [the Jains] that the application was to be made"

So the Tribunal allowed the appeal, set aside the magistrate's order of 1 October 1998 and expressed, as a coda, their regret that they had no power to order the Authority to pay Mr and Mrs Jain's costs: cold comfort, no doubt, for the Jains.

9. The upshot of this sad story is that Mr and Mrs Jain's nursing home business had been ruined and serious economic harm had been inflicted on them by an ex parte without notice application that ought never to have been made".

Well, there you go Mr and Mrs Jaine. Trent are wholly discredited, have abused their powers, you have been ruined and all you get is "vindication". Oh, you can try your luck in Europe if you like. You will need to finance it if you can or get funding from the LSC.

You might also sympathise with the Jaines in respect of the finding of no bad faith. Read all of the judgments. I do.

An American Litigant in London

The case is Barclay v British Airways.

I wonder how this case would have been decided in the USA. Perhaps, someone will enlighten me.

Similar fact cases could be litigated in any country that is party to the Montreal Convention 1999. There was no dispute as to the facts of the case and everything turned on the construction of Article 17.1 of the Convention:

[British Airways] is liable for damage sustained in case of death or bodily injury of [Beverley Anne Barclay] upon condition only that the accident which caused the death or injury took place on board the aircraft or in the course of any of the operations of embarking or disembarking.

So there was only one question: Did the agreed facts constitute an "accident"?

The Agreed Facts

I summarise the key agreed facts as follows:

1. The aircraft was in normal working condition and all applicable aviation regulations had been complied with.

2. As she lowered herself into her seat, with her body weight towards the right, Ms Barclay's right foot suddenly slipped on a strip embedded in the floor of the aircraft and went to the left.

3. Ms Barclay suffered injury in consequence of 2 above.

4. Ms Barclay had no remedy in contract or negligence but only under the Convention and only if she had suffered an accident.

This is only a brief summary and you should refer to the report for fuller details.

No Win No Fee?

You may by now have formed the opinion that this was a "brave" claim. But it went to the Court of Appeal and I, at least, would not have taken it on a no win no fee basis. Of course, Ms Barclay may be that rare litigant who is rich enough to fund speculative litigation regardless of advice because she is determined to have her day in court as a matter of principle.

Well, someone got it badly wrong.

This is Part 1 of a 2 part post. Look tomorrow for Part 2: The Decision.

Graham Calvert's Last Bet?

I suppose it was inevitable that this case would reach the Court of Appeal. After all, Mr Calvert is a big gambler.

He may yet enter the ultimate casino, the House of Lords. This is the UK equivalent of the US Supreme Court. If he loses there, he has one further roll of the dice in the European Court of Justice. Watch this space!

What is it about?

Mr Calvert was a compulsive gambler (also a greyhound trainer) and William Hill (a big bookmaker in the UK) accepted his bets.

Mr Calvert said they should not have done so. He had made them fully aware that he was a danger to himself and they should have refused his bets.

Mr Calvert failed to establish a general duty of care on the part of bookmakers "to protect problem gamblers from the consequences of their compulsive problems."

This was not appealed.

He had won below on the basis of something "John" said to him:

Mr Calvert succeeded before the judge on his narrower case that, on the particular facts, William Hill, through John, assumed responsibility to do what John said in the telephone conversation they would do, and that William Hill were in breach of that duty in failing to implement the agreement. The judge found that William Hill had assumed this responsibility and that they were accordingly in breach of duty.

BUT he did not win any compensation.

This was an entirely pyrrhic victory then and this was because Mr Calvert would "probably have ruined himself anyway by betting with one or more of that bookmaker's competitors."

The Appeal

Mr Calvert lost.

Comment

Well, what did he expect? Oh, I forgot, he is a compulsive gambler. Exacttly the kind of client lawyers need in hard times?

Foreign Surrogacy: The Complexity and the Costs

If you are contemplating (as a UK resident) entering into a foreign surrogacy arrangement, you should read the case in the title link.

Everyone in this case is a good guy. Yet, difficulties arose. As Mr Justice Headley said in opening his judgment:

Although the outcome of this case was in the end happy for all those involved, it provides a cautionary tale for any who contemplate parenthood by entering into a foreign surrogacy agreement.

Very difficult issues arose and the following indicates them sufficiently for this post:

It will be readily apparent that many pitfalls confront the couple who consider commissioning a foreign surrogacy. First, the quality of the information currently available is variable and may, in what it omits, actually be misleading. Secondly, potentially difficult conflict of law issues arise which may (as in this case) have wholly unintended and unforeseen consequences as for example in payments made. Thirdly, serious immigration problems may arise having regard to the effect of Sections 27-29 of the 1990 Act, at least as understood by me. Children born to foreign surrogate mothers, especially to married women, may have no rights of entry nor may the law confer complementary rights on the commissioning couple. Fourthly, Section 30 is available only to a married couple, others may encounter even more significant difficulties in securing parental status to children born to a surrogate mother, and that is of importance since the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 will by Section 54 open up parental orders to unmarried and same sex couples. Lastly, even if all other pitfalls are avoided, rights may depend both upon the unswerving commitment of the surrogate mother (and her husband if she has one) to supporting the surrogacy through to completion by Section 30 order and upon their honesty in not taking advantage of their absolute veto.

So, everyone is agreed that it is in the best interests of the child/children but the parents have to go to the High Court for approval. Read this case before you decide whether you are wealthy enough.

STOP PRESS: Miners Scam Lawyers Jim Beresford and Doug Smith Struck Off

Well, thank goodness for that! I felt dirty all of the time these obnoxious people could say that they were a member of the same profession as me. I have only just received the good news and refer you to The Times report for further information. Here is Jim Beresford:

What a nice smile!

The British Soldier in Afghanistan

"it's not worth losing your life, it's not worth losing your legs..."

"... all for £19,000 a year..."

The Ruinous Cost of Divorce in England

A lot of women if they can seek to have financial disputes on divorce determined in England. Perhaps, they fail to take account of the "ruinous costs" that can be incurred in this jurisdiction.

Mr Justice Munby has had yet another go at the level of costs sometimes spent in financial disputes in England. I say "yet another go" because Munby J does seem to get more than his fair share of this type of case.

In the title link case, KSO v MJO (8th December, 2008) he says:

Something must be done about the problems highlighted by this and by too many similar cases. We simply cannot go on as we are. The expenditure of costs on the scale exemplified by this and by too many other such cases is a scandal which must somehow be brought under control.

The way in which the litigation had been conducted had the following consequence:

The denouement was, in hindsight, perhaps not altogether surprising. The litigation simply collapsed under the unsustainable burden of paying costs which had long since become wholly disproportionate to anything at stake and which, by the time the parties arrived at the FDR, had swallowed up a grotesquely large proportion of the never very substantial assets. On 26 November 2008 I received the news that the husband had earlier that day been declared bankrupt on his own petition.

More poignantly Munby J explained:

The picture is deeply dispiriting. And it is not as if it is only the adults who suffer from the consequences of such folly. The luckless children do as well. The present case is a sobering, and for me deeply saddening, example. If, instead of spending – squandering – over £430,000 in costs, the wife and the husband had been able to resolve their differences at a more modest and, dare I say it, more seemly level of costs, there might very well have been enough left in the matrimonial 'pot' to house the wife and children and to enable the children to remain at their school, whilst still leaving something more than a mere consolation prize over for the husband. As it is, it is hard to see much being left from the wreck, not least after the trustee in bankruptcy has had his costs, expenses and remuneration. It is difficult not to be reminded at this point of Jarndyce v Jarndyce (see the Appendix). And the wife and the husband – and for this purpose I refer to them as the mother and the father, for that is what they are – are faced now with the wretched and thankless task of trying to explain to their daughters how it has all come to this.

Warring parents rarely take account of the effects of their battles on their children. Munby J has said these wise words now and he has said them before but I detect that he is becoming dispirited by the fact that parents, husbands and wives who presumably once loved one another, seem not to be getting the message.

Links to previous relevant cases can be found in paragraphs 77-79 of Munby J's judgment.

QUIZ QUESTION: In which case did the wife and her legal team get it so wrong that she had to pay the husband's legal costs to an extent that really wasted her whole application?

De Menezes: The Met Is In Difficulty

The killing of M de Menezes is notorious. I will not recite the facts again.

It is dangerous to report snippets.

It is dangerous to report anything that you have not personally heard.

Lastly, I have no wish to prejudice any investigation.

However, the following small extract from The Times' report is disturbing:

The officer, known as Ken, ... told the jury “there was no identification from grey team [the surveillance team] at any time.”

I say no more.

Walsall Social Services Condemned. Who Is The Guilty Man?

This is another case where a local authority gets it straight through the heart from the Court of Appeal but there may be little publicity because, although Court of Appeal decisions are delivered in open court, the press show little interest and do not attend.

This does not stop the press running stories complaining about our "secret" family justice system!

Before we get to this particular bad boy/girl social services department it is worth noting Lord Justice Wall's comment that "there are of course, as is always the case, no press in court, even though this court sits in public." In other words, if the press do not attend and do not report the cases they can, their complaints about secrecy ring a little hollow. This is, of course, my inference so it is my fault alone if I have misinterpreted Lord Justice Wall.

Well, what have "Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council Social Services Department" (as they are referred to in the judgment, but not on their own website) done wrong?

For the specifics I am going to leave you to consult the title link. It is the strength of the comments made by the Court of Appeal that are of more general interest:

"The lamentable, totally lamentable, state of affairs in this case is that the local authority have utterly neglected their duty in a way which is worthy of the highest condemnation and that is what I give it."

"On 5 March this year the court ordered the local authority to file a statement by the Young Adults and Disability Team by 14 March. For the second time this local authority cocked a snook at the order of the court. For the third time the court ordered on 25 March that that statement be served by 4 April. For the third time the local authority simply ignored it. In the result the matter was sent to the county court and, as I have already recited, HHJ Mitchell accepted the undertaking from the team manager of the local authority to file their pathway plan etc by 4pm on 4 July and heigh ho, what a surprise, for the fourth time the local authority metaphorically raised two fingers in the air to the court and ignored everything the court has ordered. This is a disgraceful state of affairs. If time had permitted it, I would have directed the director of the Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council Social Services Department personally to attend this court and proffer his explanation and his apology. Instead, I will direct that he writes to this court and to the Wolverhampton Court, giving both his explanation for his disgraceful failure of duty and to proffer his sincere apologies. He is fortunate not to be facing a summons for contempt."

"To make matters abundantly plain, and to demonstrate to the local authority that this is an order which we expect to be obeyed, this order will be endorsed with a penal notice and the director is to be given the assurance by those who represent him today that his contemptuous disregard of this order could lead to an application to commit him and, without prejudging that matter, my preliminary view is that it stands a good prospect of success and he should be advised accordingly."

"It invariably happens in these cases that we never have before us the people who are actually responsible for what has gone on. Some wretched social worker who has just been handed the papers over a few days before is usually put forward as a sacrificial lamb, as a victim to this court's anger and legitimate wrath, and that is what has happened in this case."

Who is the Guilty Man?

These are about the strongest comments I have come across, certainly since Brighton and Hove Social Services were condemned.

I cannot be certain who the director is because there is no-one on Walsall's website who is described as their director of social services.

There is a Mr David Martin:


but he is described as "Executive director for social care and inclusion". I certainly would not want to finger the wrong man.

Another Turbulent Coroner

David Masters, the Wiltshire coroner, today joins the list of heroic coroners (headed by Andrew Walker) who are prepared to say to government and the military:

"UP WITH THIS WE WILL NOT PUT"

Samples from the coroner's findings as reported in today's London Times:

"The system in place failed the captain and crew of that aircraft and this should never be allowed to happen again."

"The stance taken by the US is difficult to comprehend."

"I just wonder, as an aside, what if the boot had been on the other foot - if a US aircraft had come down with the loss of 10 lives and the only eye-witnesses had been British forces?”

10 British servicemen died when their Hercules transport exploded. The details are readily available elsewhere.

Both the UK and US are criticised but the RAF stands indicted for "serious systemic failures."

My focus is on the independence of coroners to say things the government does not like.

Will David Masters suffer the same fate as Andrew Walker?

The problem is that coroners are far more easily removed (or, transferred sideways - ha, ha) than judges if the government does not like what they say. See the reference to Andrew Walker above and here.

OPINION:

The UK government's record is disgraceful. If they can can get rid of a judicial officer whose decisions they do not like then they will.

PROPOSITION:

Coroners need equal protection from arbitrary government interference as do judges.

Terrorist Mark Haddock Hides His Face

Mark Haddock (an alleged murderer but only in prison for GBH* with intent) has won the right to hide his face, at least for the time being.

No-one can publish his picture; that is, a picture of his new face. Obviously, we can still publish his old face:
Well, let us hope that this attempt to hide from his former friends in a terrorist organisation works better than the last one:

This is not a man deserving of the sympathy of the court or of its protection. However, the protection is limited - see the title link.

If you want to know who Mark Haddock is you might start with his wiki entry.

Haddock was an insider in the UVF* and latterly a Special Branch Informer. It has been said:

There would have been more people in the cemeteries of Northern Ireland if we hadn't run people like Mark Haddock

But is that true? Others think that he put a lot of bodies there himself.

*GBH = Grievous Bodily Harm (for when you get away with murder)
*UVF = Ulster Voluntary Force (a Protestant paramilitary organisation)

The Banking Crisis For Dummies: Really Complicated Investment Vehicles

Really Complicated Investment Vehicles ("RCIVs") are the cause of the current "credit crunch" or "international banking crisis".

It is simple:

1. The sacked heads of UK banks were not themselves capable of creating or understanding RCIVs.

2. In fact, no-one was.

3. There were no RCIVs capable of real world risk assessment (a "RWRA") by someone outside the elite group of their creators ("the inner cabal").

4. The inner cabal consists of people in banking who can devise RCIVs that are inexplicable.

5. The inner cabal know that they cannot conduct an RWRA on a RCIV. But they also know that no-one else can either.

6. However, with a little finesse the inner cabal have been able, by complex but essentially meaningless explanations, to persuade their bosses and customers that their particular RCIV was a sure fire money maker ("an SFMM").

7. The inner cabal knew that there was no RCIV that RWRA would show to be a SFMM.

8. However, they also knew that their bosses and customers did not know this.

9. So, they could sell them both a pup and earn huge bonuses whilst the bubble expanded and did not pop.

10. The bubble popped.

QED.

Now that you understand that, you also understand how the inner cabal did it.

They simply flummoxed everyone with the use of acronyms and persuading bosses and customers alike that they were too stupid to understand what they were doing and so should simply trust them with their money.

A more serious approach to this question can be found at the title link.