The Great and the Good Leaving Stones Unturned

Corruption in the United Kingdom is a subtle process. The great and the good are the recipients of largess in honours, titles and money doled out by governments. It is inevitably a political process in which the great and the good become greater and better but part of this game is that the great and the good of one party are attacked by the great and the good of another party, all in a perfectly civilised way, and as a result our society becomes more unequal as merit is replaced by connection.

Law, injunctions and injustice

A function of law is to do justice, which can be hard to define but easy to recognise. I have been thinking about the conflict between the rule of law and the right to free speech and the “super” injunctions granted to such unworthy recipients as Fred Goodwin and Andrew Marr. The more I read about this and the more I listen to views about this the more I appreciate just how easy it is to become confused. I was entirely baffled to watch Andrew Marr discuss this issue with Max Hastings and Helena Kennedy on Sunday morning BBC television without anyone mentioning that Andrew Marr took out one of these injunctions to “protect” his wife from knowing that he had indulgenced in behaviour of which she would not approve and no doubt also to protect his highly lucrative earnings as a television journalist. It was weird, odd and strange behaviour from people who can roll out an opinion at the drop of a hat.