(176) The Queen and the Scottish Parliament
From the Queen’s speech to the Scottish Parliament at Aberdeen on 28 May 2002:
Just under three years ago the children from your constituencies
Category: Uncategorized
(762) NO PROSECUTION FOR WENDY
The Crown Office issued the following statement on 6 March 2008 (for background see No 736):
After very full and careful consideration of the report from the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, Crown Counsel has concluded that a prosecution would not be appropriate in the full circumstances of this case.In coming to this decision, Crown Counsel had regard to the fact that:* there is a degree of uncertainty surrounding the interpretation of these provisions* Miss Alexander sought the advice of the Clerk to the Standards committee in relation to this matter * a voluntary disclosure was made to the Electoral Commission * the issues raised by the case might more appropriately be dealt with by the Standards, Procedures and Public appointments committee.
The statement added: In accordance with normal practice in relation to allegations against senior political figures known to them
(733) CLOTHING OPTIONAL: SIX MORE STEPS TO KEY WEST?
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Steve Gough, the Naked Rambler, made another fleeting public appearance without clothes on 18 January 2008, having been momentarily liberated by Sheriff Kenneth Maciver to consider the resumption of apparel prior to being sentenced again on 16 April. According to suspiciously precise and consistent media reports, Gough had taken barely six steps from the Cowgate doors of Edinburgh Sheriff Court before he was re-arrested by uniformed police (woolly suits, in Rebus jargon), and returned to squalor carceris once more. Mr Gough was reported to have said as he was arrested: You have taken me by surprise. Where is the freedom?” At the time the Editor of Scots Law News was engaged on a major research project in Key West
(705) HAPPY SCOTS BAR LOSES LICENCE
Perusal of the Blackpool Citizen for 19 November 2007 (http://www.blackpoolcitizen.co.uk/display.var.1844258.0.smoke_ban_rebel_has_pub_licence_revoked.php) has revealed, not only a portrait of Mr Hamish Howitt, Scottish landlord of the Happy Scots bar in Blackpool, but also the story that he has lost his bar licence following his conviction for breach of the English legislation banning smoking in indoor premises open to the public (see the Health Act 2006 and No 695, below). The ban also affects Mr Howitt’s Delboys Sports Bar. A Blackpool council spokesman is quoted as saying:
The panel today revoked the premises’ license after it was determined that three of the four licensing objectives had not been upheld – prevention of crime and disorder
(683) LAW AWARDS OF SCOTLAND 2007
A glittering ceremony at the Signet Library in Edinburgh marked The Firm magazine’s Law Awards of Scotland 2007 on 25 September. Amongst the legal Oscars that caught Scots Law News‘ academic eye were the lifetime achievement award for Professor Sir Neil MacCormick (Edinburgh) and lecturer of the year Professor Ken Norrie (Strathclyde). The legal personality of the year was the Lord Advocate, Elish Angiolini. For the full list, celebrating fantastic thinking and brilliant execution”
(653) LOCKERBIE CONVICTION REVIEW
The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission announced on 28 June 2007 that it was recommending an appeal against the conviction of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi for the bombing of PanAm Flight 103 over Lockerbie in December 1988 and the death of its 259 passengers (see Nos 96, 164). The grounds of the recommendation were fourfold: (1) the reasonableness of the trial court’s verdict; (2) the availability of new evidence not heard at the trial; (3) additional evidence not made available to the defence at the time of trial; and (4) other evidence not available to the defence at the time of trial. The appeal is not expected to be heard before mid-2008. Megrahi meantime is located in Gateside prison at Greenock, and continues to maintain his innocence of the Lockerbie atrocity. Earlier there had been political fisticuffs between SNP First Minister Alex Salmond and Whitehall over a memorandum of understanding signed by then-Prime Minister Tony Blair and Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi during a meeting at the end of May 2007, in which it was stated that the UK and Libya would shortly commence negotiations” about prisoner transfer
(612) MOLLY CAMPBELL/MISBAH RANA CASE
On 29 November 2006 Judge Saquib Nisar of the Lahore High Court in Pakistan ruled that an interim custody order of the Court of Session in relation to a child known either as Molly Campbell or Misbah Rana had been violated when the girl’s father and sister accompanied her on a flight from Stornoway in the Isle of Lewis to, first, Glasgow and then Lahore in August 2006. The Court of Session order, made the previous June, had awarded interim custody to Molly/Misbah’s mother Louise Campbell, who lived with her in Stornoway until her departure. Judge Nisar ordered the father, Sajad Ahmed Rana, to return his daughter to the British High Commission in Islamabad, from where she would be taken back to Scotland. Mr Rana indicated that he would appeal against the judge’s order in the Pakistani Supreme Court, while his daughter (12) said that she did not wish to go back to Stornoway where, she claimed, she had been the victim of racial abuse. She also said that she had had left Scotland of her own free will rather than being abducted. Judge Nisar said, however, that after interviewing the girl, his view was that though she said she wants to live in Pakistan
(574) A £2 BROWNIE FOR THE UNION TERCENTENARY
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, announced on 15 June 2006 that a new £2 coin would be issued in 2007 to commemorate the 1707 Union of Scotland and England. Alex Salmond MP, leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party, dubbed the coin a Brownie”: “full of brass
(538) MERCHANDISING RANGERS: UNOFFICIALLY NOT GUILTY
On 17 February 2006 Sheriff Craig Scott of Glasgow acquitted Joseph Gallacher of criminally infringing the registered trade marks of Glasgow Rangers FC by selling hats and scarves bearing the word Rangers” or an “RFC” monogram without any licence from the club to enable him to do so (see Dyer v Gallacher 2006 GWD 7-136
(513) SORTING OUT THE COMPENSATION CULTURE
The Department of Constitutional Affairs published a Compensation Bill on 3 November 2005. This is the long-heralded measure with which to dissipate the much-hated compensation culture” (see also No 462?). The Bill is quite short and in two main parts. The first part is a provision relating to the law of negligence