@gaylefranceslarkin
Self published author of "Treason From Within: A True Story of a Marriage". Writing is my life. Literature, history, economics, law, justice and mercy are all essential to me and inform my writing. Also on Substack as "Snippets & Illusions".
A glimpse of UK democracy
The Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Act 2025 empowers the state to 24/7 snoop on bank accounts of benefit recipients.
The poor, old, sick have no financial privacy.
The same does not apply to enablers of tax abuse schemes.
We are all equal, aren't we?
Telegraph: Blair rebukes Starmer of failure to back Trump's war
Mail: Blair delivers a stinging blow to PM over war
Man who dragged Britain into an illegal war in the Middle East scolds other man for not dragging Britain into an illegal war in the Middle East.
Despite all the screeching and Trump-grovelling of the British right, support for the US action against Iran has *dropped* to 22%
Imagine believing that purporting to give Trump your Nobel peace prize would achieve anything besides humiliating yourself
Breaking the silence | A personal account of how the culture at Harrods and within the Al-Fayed network allowed it to traffick female employees | Shanta Sundarason
The Courts and Tribunals Bill will remove your right to a jury trial for serious criminal offences.
Toff magistrates/judges will decide your fate.
Chances of miscarriage of justice will increase. Working class, poor, minorities will be the biggest losers.
Shadow Banks.
Bank of England grills lenders over collapsed mortgage provider MFS.
Fraud alleged. Shadow Banks not regulated but enmeshed with regulated sectors.
Govt deregulating entire banking sector.
Bubble will burst. Guess who will bail them out.
archive.ph/cjBr5
UK recruiter emerges from insolvency for third time, avoiding millions owed in tax.
Companies run up debts, declare bankruptcy, debts shed, new company formed with same management/owners ... rinsed and repeated.
HMRC loses £836m a year. Creditors, including SMEs, lose millions.
Petrol forecourts 'profiteering' as fuel prices jump nearly 9p a litre.
Opportunistic profiteering
Companies quick to increase prices, slow to bring them down.
Govt must act. Also clawback excess profits through windfall taxes.
Never go full Ministry of Truth
News to the Shah
'... it is up to us, all of us, to prevent the attempt to cancel elections, the fourth and final link. The self-terrorism chain is closed only if we play our assigned part, only if we choose to ignore the patterns and fail to make the mental preparations.'
open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p...
I was blacklisted by the UK government because some guy at Porton Down didn’t like me retweeting something that called Jacob Rees Mogg a “haunted pencil”
Well I rather like these.
I don’t claim to know a broad section of the British public, but this seems to be spot on.
Furthermore, the entire argument seems to be based on unquestioning support for the USA, rather than any interest of the Uk.
It is a long list, but getting defendants to court is a bigger issue than juries.
The government’s reasons are, as they know, bullshit. The delays are not down to jury availability.
Let’s rip up this bill, perhaps trial complex fraud and financial crime without juries and fix the fundamental problems littering the justice system.
Starting with the Harrow CC lift!
I am also broadly in favour of at least the trial (no pun intended) of elective trial by judicial panel. Some may prefer it, and it could be an option. You could also perhaps lose your right after multiple convictions.
But broadly speaking jurors are a key part of a civilised society. /4
I feel non-jury trials have a place in complex fraud cases, particularly corporate prosecutions where nobody is sent to prison, where reasons for the decision would be appropriate (adequate procedures to prevent bribery is a tough call) and expecting juries to be available for months is unreasonable
I have a couple of exceptions where I may disagree from SB, but in short cases where the criminal offence depends on concepts such as “reasonable” and “dishonest” must be decided by a jury. Juries must also retain the right to acquit when their conscience dictates. /2
The point about the politicisation of judges is key. If we had responsible politicians who accept the concept of separation of powers, and newspapers who did not brand judges who rule in a manner they don’t like “enemies of the people”, the idea might have (slightly more weight). But we don’t. /1
I only ever write about criminal justice in England and Wales.
Less than two per cent of court time will be saved, even on the government’s own optimistic figures. www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...
I agree. I’ve been saying that very thing for years.
But there is no evidence that abolishing juries is going to make any meaningful difference to that problem.
Precisely.
NEW BLOGPOST: Keir Starmer and David Lammy are taking an extraordinarily dangerous gamble with our individual liberty
For any MP unsure of how to vote on the government’s proposals to restrict trial by jury.
All I can think about on International Women's Day is how those 150+ young girls killed in the Iran school airstrike might have benefited from a future without the Iranian regime had they not been victims of Trump's war.
An unconscionable atrocity.
We must demand transparency and accountability.
How is this legal? Parliament did not vote for it. Where is the law that says that this is ok?
Privatization picking our pockets.
Another Royal Mail price hike: Form 7 April 2026 1st class postage price £1.80, 2nd class 91p.
When privatized in 2013 by Tory/LibDem Govt: 1st class 60p; 2nd class 50p.
RM doesn't meet letter delivery targets. Fines passed to customers. Execs get bonuses.
But they assured me that cats are "less needy."