My piece on the counteroffensive of juries against authoritarian attempts to restrict their right to reach verdicts based on conscience, irrespective of threats of contempt of court.


Nick Robinson's interview with Nigel Farage on Political Thinking is worth listening to. It confirms, in case anyone doubted it, that Nigel Farage is a great, but very slippery communicator. But in an interview that touched on the economy, Reform UK's claims to have made huge savings by cutting waste in local authorities and Farage's credibility as a serious politician, it's a shame that there was not a word on climate change or climate policy. Nick Robinson would point out that lots of other important issues weren't covered and that's true. But the interview brought home to me, not for the first time, that people like me and people like Nick Robinson occupy different worlds of news. Political journalists are consumed by polls and personalities, the once monthly or weekly, now minute to minute dramas of political life. All that stuff is irresistible to anyone interested in politics. But when I see catastrophic floods in southern Europe; or a Guardian report saying scientists believe “the world is closer than thought to a ‘point of no return’ after which runaway global heating cannot be stopped"; or that almost a million people in the UK are employed in jobs linked to net zero, with ten percent growth last year – when I see things like that, I think it might just be worth asking the would-be prime minister why he denies the reality of climate change and why he wants to throw the net zero economy into reverse. I don’t know what it will take to get political journalists in the UK to treat climate change with the seriousness it deserves, and to do so consistently. The BBC is far from the worst offender but there was a choice example on the Today programme this morning, at around 7.10am, of people who should know better simply not getting it. Faced with a climate denier saying, “a lot of people like it a bit warmer”, Simon Jack just said, “let’s not have the climate debate”. Guys, it’s no longer a debate, whatever Donald Trump or Nigel Farage might say! It’s happening and it’s serious. Time the BBC, BBC News and others recognised that. | 34 comments on LinkedIn
No-holds-barred condemnation of the big social media platforms in this latest hard-hitting (and age-restricted) video by Led By Donkeys.
https://bsky.app/profile/ledbydonkeys.org/post/3mf4ygdl2ys2l