On 16th December 2023, crowds of people gathered around Boston Harbour to witness tea being poured into the dark and choppy waters. The re-enactment was one of a series of events to mark the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. In 1773 a group of American...
Category: News
Scooby Don’t! Ghost Hunting and Trespassing
Anyone who grew up watching Scooby Doo has a vision of ghost-hunters tip-toeing their way through dilapidated mansions, abandoned fairgrounds and neglected dockyards. In fairness to Mystery Inc, the teenage detectives usually have some vague justification for their...
Flameless Book-Burning-Arkansas Act 372 and Children’s Access to Information
Books are magical. Every since print media became freely available, countless young people have been airlifted out of their current reality by the words and ideas of authors. Stories can be a source of comfort, inspiration and reassurance during the everyday...
Tort, Nuisance, Neighbours and Fundamental Rights
The Code of Hammurabi was composed in ancient Babylon, circa 1755-1750 BC. Unsurprisingly, it contains provisions dealing with disputes between neighbours. Squabbles between people occupying adjoining land arise pretty constantly in all settled societies, and no...
Subjects or Citizens?
For many people, the mere idea of losing a passport on the way to the airport is enough to inspire cold chills, but this pales into comparison with a young Marc Isambard Brunel misplacing his travel documents in the process of fleeing the carnage of revolutionary...
Fish-Bees and Statutory Interpretation
A California appellate court has ruled that bees are “fish” for the purposes of the California Endangered Species Act (CESA), and perhaps not surprisingly, this has been a headline grabbing decision. For people already inclined to believe that lawyers are sneaky,...
Hereditary Monarchy: A Source of Cohesion or Division
The Jubilee celebrations have come at a time when many citizens are keen to have something positive to focus on. The strain of the Brexit saga and the Covid 19 pandemic, followed by the ongoing nightmare of a brutal war in Europe, and an economic crisis which appears...
Why do we pay MPs?
The Parliament Act 1911 is often remembered for its role in reigning in the House of Lords, and establishing the elected Commons as the dominant force in the United Kingdom legislature. Without a doubt, this development was of immense importance, but the statute had...
House of Lords and the Provinces-Do we need more regional representation?
The iconic building which hosts the House of Lords is in need of radical refurbishment. Obviously, this is going to have serious practical consequences for managing their day to day business, and it has been proposed that the best solution would be to “decant” the...
Referendums: Lessons from Brexit and Catalonia in relation to Scotland and Indy Ref 2
The Conservative Government of the United Kingdom is not currently willing to facilitate a second referendum on Scottish independence, and Boris Johnson has recently cited the war in Ukraine, along with the generally febrile state of geopolitics, as reasons to avoid...
Recent Comments