Bobby Friedman

Tuesday

Bobby Friedman

Anne Sacoolas and the undermining of the diplomatic system

From our UK edition

When Anne Sacoolas – the wife of a diplomat who allegedly crashed into and killed teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn – fled the UK, she not only caused untold anguish to the Dunn family, but she also helped to undermine the system which protects diplomats and their families throughout the world. The right that is now being invoked by Sacoolas has a history that goes back as far as Ancient Greece, where heralds were granted safe passage between warring city-states. There should be no quibbling with the principle that diplomats and their families are given protection from vexatious legal proceedings in the countries they are sent to.

Wednesday

Bobby Friedman

The political naivety of the Brexit court cases

From our UK edition

In a week where Remain MPs have been trying to foist an extension of the Article 50 period onto Boris Johnson, you might be forgiven for thinking that it is Parliament that has provided the arena for the latest battle in the Brexit war. But, if a group of legal campaigners have their way, it will be in the Scottish Courts that the real action takes place. The Good Law Project – the brainchild of tax barrister Jolyon Maugham – has been arguing in the Scottish Court of Session today that it’s illegal for Parliament to be prorogued by the PM. Irrespective of the outcome, it’s likely that the matter will be argued all the way to the Supreme Court.

Thursday

Bobby Friedman

The inconvenient truth at the heart of Miliband’s union reforms

From our UK edition

At a special Labour conference last week, Ed Miliband pushed through his much-trumpeted reforms to the party’s relationship with the unions. But, much as he is laying claim to be the victor in this battle, in truth the war is still ongoing. The latest friendly fire has come from Lord Cashpoint, Michael Levy – Tony Blair’s chief tapper-upper of the rich – who spoke out on Monday to urge Miliband to seek more private donations from the super-wealthy, just as Blair and Levy did with so much success. The reality, though, is that Miliband has been quietly doing his best to drum up money from private donors, notwithstanding his very public attack on the Tories as the party of hedge fund managers and property developers.

Saturday

Bobby Friedman

A history of spinners, from Robert Walpole to Damian McBride and Andy Coulson

From our UK edition

A full colour Andy Coulson looms ominously behind a black and white David Cameron on the front cover of Andrew Blick and George Jones’s book on aides to the Prime Minister. In a week when another former prime ministerial adviser, Damian McBride, has been spilling the beans on life behind the scenes of Gordon Brown’s government, the story of the apparatchiks who work in the shadows of the people in power seems ripe for revelation. However, if this makes you think that the text is going to be filled with juicy disclosures about today’s politics then, after a compelling first chapter detailing the workings of Cameron’s Downing Street, you will be sorely disappointed. Although Blick and Jones share a publisher with McBride, the revelations here are rather more limited.

Friday

Bobby Friedman

John Bercow reinvents being Speaker of the House of Commons

From our UK edition

If only he’d read the job description a little bit more closely, we might have avoided all these rows. Unfortunately for John Bercow, the man who loves the sound of his own voice more than anything else, the role of Speaker really doesn’t do what it says on the tin. Traditionally, the Speaker has taken a definite back seat, bellowing the odd ‘order, order’ in the Commons but otherwise maintaining a rather reticent and impartial position. Judging by Bercow’s behaviour over the past few months, it would seem that he hasn’t got the memo.