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10 December 2009 / Jennifer James
Issue: 7397 / Categories: Blogs , Health & safety
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Naughty but nice

Jennifer James toys with some new Christmas gift ideas

The Insider was somewhat taken aback to read in the Daily Telegraph that parents have been told not to buy their children a toy gun for Christmas, in case a police marksman mistakes it for a real weapon and shoots them. Senior officers in Essex are quoted as having said that plastic guns are now so realistic that even a trained police marksman may not be able to tell it’s a toy, leading to potential confrontations between armed officers and children.

Feeling the force

A spokesman for the force stated: “When we respond to…incidents we cannot always identify whether a gun is real or fake. Carrying an imitation gun could ultimately result in a highly-trained armed officer having to challenge a teenager and so, naturally, we are worried.”

Hold your horses

In February this year, according to the Telegraph, a couple’s “Cowboys and Indians” fancy dress anniversary party sparked a police raid, including a helicopter, when their toy guns were mistaken for the real thing,

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Chair of the Association of Pension Lawyers joins as partner

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Group names Shakespeare Martineau partner head of Sheffield office

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Four legal directors promoted to partner across UK offices

NEWS

The abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC

Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
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