Shakespeare once wrote ‘kill all the lawyers’, and as Harry Mount describes in this week’s Spectator cover feature, you could be forgiven for thinking Chris Grayling has made a similar suggestion. As a former barrister himself, Mount argues the Justice Secretary is right to reform legal aid, and his changes don’t even go far enough. On the latest View from 22 podcast, Mount argues paying top dollar to barristers to deal with trivial tasks needs rethinking and goes head-to-head with Greg Callus, a pupil barrister and legal blogger, on the core purposes of his profession. Are lawyers still worth the huge fees they demand? Are too many lawyers now involved in court cases? And do we still need highly paid QCs still need to maintain Britain’s ‘world-renowned’ legal status?
Paul Staines, editor of Guido Fawkes, also joins Nick Cohen to discuss the perils of gossiping and rumour-mongering in a Twitter-age. While the Mail on Sunday splashed on a story with no few details, it only takes a few clicks, or a pub conservation, to find out some of the suspected identities. Is this sustainable for authorities in Britain? Can the authorities take an American hands-off style to restricting sensitive matters?
Plus, Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth discuss the sudden appearance of a lobbying bill and David Cameron’s blatant attempts to wreck Labour’s funding from trade unions. Although Ed Miliband isn’t very happy, Tory MPs are delighted to finally see some political firepower from Downing Street.
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