Top all-time · #13275
Matthew Scott
Personal blog · barristerblogger.compoliticswriting
Matthew Scott writes BarristerBlogger, a personal blog at barristerblogger.com about politics and writing. Since 2014, 6 different Hacker News readers have linked it 13 times. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-03-08, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (7) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link this UK barrister's blog for legal commentary on UK law and courts, such as the 1935 telephone-messages offence, secret terror-case hearings, and police and prosecution decisions.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 7 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Matthew Scott's Legal Comment Argument and Discussion. Comment Awards 2015 Best Independent Blog
Most-linked posts?
- /2017/08/09/unfortunate-silencing-alex-cavendish/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2019-01-17
What Hacker News says?
> At least UK has independent courts Sorry, we have secret, closed courts now, without juries. They were intended for terror cases, but are being used a lot more broadly than most think. A barrister friend who raised concerns about this had his career assassinated-by-media last year, and is now a hate-figure. I'm afraid it's too late. Edit: This piece demonstrates quite nicely how this variety of assassination happe…
Comment linking /2013/08/29/criticism-robert-colover-unfair/
on “Russia Blocks Access to Major Independent News Sites”Submitted Do We Need a Victims Commissioner? as a story · 3 points
HN discussionLast time I looked this book was not available as a pirate version anywhere. Has that changed? Pozner and Dodd Cross-Examination Science and Techniques . Here's a review: https://barristerblogger.com/2019/05/16/pozner-dodd-cross-ex...
Comment linking /2019/05/16/pozner-dodd-cross-examination-science-and-techniques-a-review/
on “Why my book can be downloaded for free (2014)”Submitted Tommy Robinson's appeal: will his world class legal team get him out of prison? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionI promise you he did - it wasn't to denounce him for refusing the gig, rather to denounce him as part of the retaliatory smear. Here's a pertinent link. If you read the court transcripts, none of the things ascribed to him were said by him - it was just another fairly average day in court. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2386556/Lawyer-Rober... Here's an equanimous piece by a barrister befuddled by what happ…
Comment linking /2013/08/29/criticism-robert-colover-unfair/?fdx_switcher=true
on “The great British Brexit robbery”The history of this law dates back to 1935, when it was designed to protect post office staff who ran telephone switchboards from being harassed by the public, and it that context, it makes sense. Of course in 21st century the law doesn't make sense as it isn't humans transmitting our messages any more Some legal commentary about its previous use: http://barristerblogger.com/2018/03/24/its-time-to-change-th... While…
Comment linking /2018/03/24/its-time-to-change-the-bad-law-used-to-prosecute-count-dankula/
on “Twitter user sentenced to 150 hours of community service in UK”The Gard case has nothing to do with ability to pay. Cost of care wasn't a feature of any of the decisions or of any of the various court cases. Money is not the problem in the Charlie Gard case. The case is not between the parents and the government, it's between the parents, the child, and the hospital. The child has received world class medical treatment; the hospital can't just kill the child (as would happen in…
Comment linking /2017/07/16/open-letter-charlie-gard-house-speaker-paul-ryan/
on “Sweden Leaks the Personal Information of Millions of Its Own Citizens”Some background on the Blog Author: http://barristerblogger.com/2017/08/09/unfortunate-silencing... I'm not judging, just found it interesting.
Comment linking /2017/08/09/unfortunate-silencing-alex-cavendish/
on “Preparing for Prison (2016)”Very interesting story. He has been outed later as a child sex offender ( http://barristerblogger.com/2017/08/09/unfortunate-silencing... ).
Comment linking /2017/08/09/unfortunate-silencing-alex-cavendish/
on “Preparing for Prison (2016)”I mean, the law _is_ selectively enforced, and it's the CPS' job to decide who to prosecute. That's not so much a legal issue as a social/structure and purpose of police issue. Moreover in terms of the general law and how that law should or shouldn't be written, I can only recommend this discussion which is more detailed than any discussion we could have here and a more informed source: http://barristerblogger.com/2…
Comment linking /2018/03/24/its-time-to-change-the-bad-law-used-to-prosecute-count-dankula/
on “YouTubers Will Enter Politics”Shallow comment. Suggest you read this: http://barristerblogger.com/2018/03/18/the-met-has-a-problem...
Comment linking /2018/03/18/the-met-has-a-problem-with-hate-crime-it-cant-explain-what-it-means/
on “Facebook takes down Britain First ads”And here's a very clear easy to understand blog about what's actually happening in the Charlie Gard case: http://barristerblogger.com/2017/07/16/open-letter-charlie-g... Most of what you've read in some US papers is incorrect.
Comment linking /2017/07/16/open-letter-charlie-gard-house-speaker-paul-ryan/
on “Never Let an Ill Child Go to Waste”This article talks about a UK Newspaper's campaign to get law changed in the UK to protect women and children from abusive men. This is important and they probably have a good point: far too many women are killed by partners and ex partners; far too many children are killed by parents and step parents. One of the examples they're using is the Victoria Haigh case. She alleged that her ex-partner was sexually abusing…
Comment linking /2015/03/24/the-hampstead-so-called-satanic-cult-should-be-a-warning-to-the-credulous/
on “The Danger of Crusades”