launching 1000 ships

I’ll tell you where the spokesperson [for the Ministry of Justice] lost me; it was at the “we will continue to uphold everyone’s right to a fair trial, but…” part. The only acceptable thing to come after “we will continue to uphold everyone’s right to a fair trial” is a full stop. If the word “but” comes out of anyone’s mouth after spewing that phrase, they should instantly be put into handcuffs.

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John Oliver on the proposals by Chris Grayling (who doesn’t look sinister at all) to cut money from Britain’s legal aid budgets. As the Guardian put it:

While a good lawyer and the right advice is no guarantee of acquittal, it can make – and frequently has made – all the difference: the right to a lawyer of your choice, regardless of your income, race, gender or nationality, is, along with the jury system, the bedrock of justice in an unjust world.

Chris Grayling, the justice secretary, has presented a series of proposed “reforms” to the legal aid system driven by the desire to cut “£220m per year by 2018” that will radically undermine this right. Alongside restricting access to legal aid, these proposals will see defendants (“clients”) assigned legal representation (a “provider”) by the Legal Aid Agency. Legal firms will be forced to compete for cases in a bid-tendering process where large firms, often the same ones that provide security for prisons, are likely to dominate. In other words, a lawyer will be forced on you, legal aid will be even harder to get, and the chances of avoiding jail will get slimmer and slimmer.

Apparently justice needs to turn a profit in the 21st century. 

(via vvirtuous)