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22 October 2020 / Nicholas Dobson
Issue: 7907 / Categories: Features
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Marshal (COVID) law

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Nicholas Dobson discusses the Blitz spirit & deploying trained ‘Marshals’ in the fight against COVID-19

In brief

  • While COVID is serious, it isn’t the Blitz.
  • On 8 October 2020 the government issued guidance to encourage local authorities to deploy COVID-19 secure marshals.

‘It’s understandable that in a crisis politicians reach for wartime metaphors—but they don’t always fit.’ So wrote in The Spectator on 22 September 2020 (https://bit.ly/2TkwTtz) former consultant pathologist and pathology professor, Dr John Lee. He was right.

For on 14 March 2020 as COVID-19 (COVID) began to bite, Health Secretary Matt Hancock, wrote in The Telegraph that: ‘Despite the pounding every night, the rationing, the loss of life, [our grandparents] pulled together in one gigantic national effort.’ But today ‘our generation is facing its own test, fighting a very real and new disease’. Everyone will be ‘asked to make sacrifices, to protect themselves and others, especially those most vulnerable to this disease’. Nevertheless, he reassured: ‘With our clear action plan, listening to the advice of the best science,

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

NLJ Career Profile: Stephen Ward, The Barrister Group

NLJ Career Profile: Stephen Ward, The Barrister Group

From mowing lawns to life at the Bar: Stephen Ward reflects on an unconventional career

Clarke Willmott—Ben Loosemore

Clarke Willmott—Ben Loosemore

Commercial property partner joins Clarke Willmott in Southampton

Ellisons—Robert Tiffen

Ellisons—Robert Tiffen

Robert Tiffen joins Ellisons as Partner in growing Norwich office

NEWS
The Law Society RFC Festival of Sport returns next month, bringing together legal and financial services professionals for one of the sector’s largest annual sporting events
Legal aid deserts leave almost one in four without adequate access to justice
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has warned solicitors and law firms that using artificial intelligence does not alter their professional obligations, amid concerns over inaccurate legal material and client confidentiality
From forgotten interest claims to case-management appeals, a string of procedural developments offers useful—and occasionally cautionary—lessons for practitioners

Jonathan Fisher KC highlights that it now accounts for around 40% of criminal offences, with roughly 70% involving technology, and argues that the UK cannot simply prosecute its way out of the problem. Detection, investigation and prosecution all require improvement, while different fraud types demand tailored responses.

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