7Vote!
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 15/11/2009
Labour MPs are demanding to know why the Electoral Commission's inquiry into Lord Ashcroft's donations to the Conservative party has dragged on for 10 months Controversy over Lord Ashcroft's donations to the Conservative party deepened last night after Labour MPs demanded an urgent meeting with Britain's elections watchdog. Placing more pressure on the Tories, Labour MPs want to know why the Electoral...
10Vote!
Tory Bear (Free subscription) | 12/11/2009
TB's invite must have got lost on the way, damn postal strike eh? Anyway a word or two on the results of the Spectator Parliamentarian Awards: Newcomer of the Year: Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke QC MP - Newcomer? But a good choice, he has managed to tow the line re Europe and has seriously beefed up the Tory economic team. Inquisitor of the Year: Paul Farrelly MP - Something to with a certain Carter-Ruckas...
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4Vote!
Ana the Imp (Free subscription) | 02/11/2009
Had you ever heard of ‘super injunctions’? I confess I had not until I heard Ian Hislop talk about them on Have I Got News for You . In essence this is a gagging order that even prevents a newspaper saying that it has been gagged or making any kind of reference to the gagging device The issue arose when a ship belonging to an international oil trading company by the name of Trafigura deliberately...
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5Vote!
Anna Andress (Free subscription) | 26/10/2009
By Oliver Luft Press Gazette Justice Secretary Jack Straw has launched a consultation with lawyers from major newspapers following the row over "super-injunctions" following the Trafigura row. Junior justice minister Bridget Prentice told MPs last week that a number of senior judges would also be involved in a consultation over court orders which ban publication of certain information and...
5Vote!
Tim Youngman - The Market(ing) Gardener (Free subscription) | 22/10/2009
Last week a colleague sent me a link to a story on the media guardian site the likes of which I have never in over 14 years of working in the media. The key extract of which can be read below: “Today's published Commons order papers contain a question to be answered by a minister later this week. The Guardian is prevented from identifying the MP who has asked the question, what the question is,...
7Vote!
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 21/10/2009
• MPs of all parties criticise use of gagging order • Justice officials to advise press lawyers on subject The government is concerned that double gagging orders – "super-injunctions" – are being used too readily by libel law firms, and will involve the judiciary in a consultation hoping to bring down their use. The justice minister Bridget Prentice made the pledge...
11Vote!
Boulton (Free subscription) | 21/10/2009
Seven days into a new term at Westminster and the evidence of discipline falling apart among Labour MPs is stacking up. Firstly, day one saw Gordon Brown treated with unprecedented disdain at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party as many MPs reacted with fury to their expenses letter from Sir Thomas Legg. Since that meeting, many Labour MPs have said they never saw Tony Blair treated with such...
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5Vote!
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 20/10/2009
As the 'super-injunction' obtained by oil-trading firm Trafigura and law firm Carter-Ruck is published for the first time, the Guardian's editor offers a clause-by-clause guide See the annotated injunction This PDF document is the 'super-injunction' which Trafigura and Carter-Ruck used to gag the Guardian (and "persons unknown") on September 11. It was granted in private by Mr Justice Maddison,...
4Vote!
arbitrary constant (Free subscription) | 19/10/2009
The Trafigura-Carter Ruck-Guardian story has rightfully been reported as a success for free speech and the power of the internet. How it all unfolded is reported here and what it was all about is reported here. Now that the success has been achieved everyone will move on to the next news cycle. Without wishing to be churlish about it, I wanted to make two observations as follows: 1. There was no way...
10Vote!
Stephen's Linlithgow Journal (Free subscription) | 19/10/2009
You have got to hand it to Carter-Ruck, they are failing miserably to work for their current and future clients (should they get any) benefit. Earlier this week they fought they would throw their hand in to hush the Guardian up about them publishing a Parliamentary Question relating to their clients Trafigura dumping toxic waste off the Ivory Coast. While they temporally silenced the mainstream media...
11Vote!
Dizzy Thinks (Free subscription) | 18/10/2009
Last week, as was widely disseminated on blogs and Twitter, the Guardian was gagged and then ungagged from reporting a Parliamentary question by Paul Farrelly MP that was already in the public domain here . The question was, To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions...
9Vote!
Spy Blog - SpyBlog.org.uk (Free subscription) | 17/10/2009
The now abandoned Trafigura / Carter-Ruck "super injunction" saga and its associated Streisand effect continues: This is the pathetic Government Written Answer to one of the Parliamentary Written Questions which were asked by Paul Farrelly MP at the same time...
10Vote!
Liberal England (Free subscription) | 16/10/2009
The first House Points of the new parliamentary season. My copy of Liberal Democrat News has not arrived yet, but I believe the editor dropped an alleged in here somewhere. "Wilkes and Liberty" It has been a quiet week at Westminster. MPs arrived back to find the rooftops occupied by activists protesting about global warming. The demonstrators didn’t stay up there long – these...
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4Vote!
Index on Censorship (Free subscription) | 16/10/2009
An answer to a parliamentary question by Paul Farrelly MP has revealed that the high court does not keep a record of the number of injunctions granted against the press. In the current edition of The Economist, media lawyer Mark Stephens says he estimates that between 200 and 300 injunction are in action at any [...]
5Vote!
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 15/10/2009
The law firm Carter-Ruck has made a fresh move that could stop an MPs' debate next week by claiming a controversial injunction it has obtained is "sub judice". The move follows the revelation of the existence of a secret "super-injunction" obtained by the firm on behalf of the London-based oil traders Trafigura. The injunction not only bans disclosure of a confidential report on...
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