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05 August 2022 / Roger Smith
Issue: 7990 / Categories: Opinion , Constitutional law
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Preserving the union

89700
Won’t anyone think about the constitution, asks Roger Smith

We will know soon enough the Tory party leader to succeed Boris Johnson. We know already the horrendous list of challenges that they will face: the Ukraine war, climate change, cost of living crisis, fuel costs, levelling up, NHS collapse. But there is one more. This might beguilingly look as if it can be ignored for the time being. But, it can’t. The future constitution of the UK is in play—whether we like it or not.

The English are particularly obtuse at understanding that the UK is not synonymous with them. By contrast, I have a particular sensitivity on this issue. I spent five years of my school life in endless re-enactments of a selective view of the great Anglo-Scottish battles of the past. I represented the invading and invariably defeated English. Somehow, the school bell always rang before we could get to the bloody defeats of Flodden and Culloden. All this was fuelled by classroom drawings of Robbie the Bruce watching the intrepid

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Thomson Hayton Winkley—Jordan Wallace

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Jordan Wallace

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Construction lawyer returns to Ward Hadaway in Teesside role

Bird & Bird—Shahin Baghaei

Bird & Bird—Shahin Baghaei

Bird Bird hires leading legal transformation expert

NEWS
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.

How forcefully can a litigant criticise a public authority before robust advocacy crosses the line into unreasonable conduct? 
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