Human rights

Clue represents a major step towards protecting the vulnerable,say Jamie Burton & Alex Gask

Cambridge looked characteristically beautiful during the Legal Services Research Centre’s 8th annual conference. Given the global nature of the recession, attendance held up pretty well—bolstered by a somewhat disproportionately large delegation from Australian legal centres.

Let us begin with the good news. This is the first of three articles on the coalition government’s policy relating to the law and the constitution. We start with civil liberties. There has been a lot of talk about whether the budget will be a “game changer”: the coalition’s programme for action on civil liberties certainly is. David Blunkett and John Reid, the most macho of Labour home secretaries, should be turning in their political graves. The coalition’s policy on civil liberties says as much about their failure as it does about the coalition’s own success.

Local authorities can’t afford to prioritise resources over the interests of those in care, says Nicholas Dobson

Stardom, slogans & surveillance: an international update by Susan Nash

The use of force by a state against foreign shipping on the high seas was traditionally seen as an act of war. The UN Charter prohibits the threat or use of force for any reason, other than UN mandated operations, self-defence, and forcible humanitarian action.

Tony Child relates the story behind Olafsson v Iceland, the first successful challenge to national taxation

The country had a crash course on constitutional constraints as Nick Clegg and David Cameron crafted their deal after the election.

“I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered!”

The last year has seen both the 10th anniversary of the inception of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the enactment of the Health Act 2009