Defending the fifth estate
Unity at the Ministry of Truth has posted a good piece on libel laws...
Britain’s libel laws have long been a national disgrace. In the Internet age they have now become an international scandal, raising sufficient concerns amongst our American cousins that Senator Joe Lieberman (Ind) and Representative Peter King (Rep) have found it necessary to introduce new legislation into the US Congress to protect the freedom of speech that the US affords it citizens under the First Amendment from the rampant growth in libel tourism engendered by our own laws.
Think about that for a second and what it says about Britain’s libel law. Two American congressmen have become so worried by the pernicious and chilling effect of our libel and defamation laws on freedom of expression that they are steering legislation through congress to preclude the possibility of US citizens being sued in any jurisdiction that lacks the same degree of legal protection for free speech as exists in the US, i.e. the UK. Is that not cause for shame?
A mixture of law, politics, autobiography and humour. Once described as "The Devilish Advocate" (Guardian), I do have the ability to provoke a response. Sometimes it comes from someone who uses a thought process, and sometimes from jerks usually associated with the knee.
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