Sorry to hear of the death of Anthony Lester QC, Lord Lester of Herne Hill. When I was at @englishpen I worked with him on a number of free speech campaigns, where his voice in parliament made the difference. Here’s a quick thread. 1/7
During PEN’s ‘No Offence’ camapign Lord Lester added a clear protection for free speech into the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006. He always called it “the PEN amendment.” It’s para 29J of the schedule legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/1/s… 2/7
In the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 there are provisions to take the profits if convicted criminals publish their memoirs. This is a curb on freedom of expression and public interest journalism. But a Lester amendment limited its scope. legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2009/25/… 3/7
Also in the Coroners and Justice Act, a Lester amendment abolished the crimes of seditious libel and obscene libel (section 73) legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2009/25/… This was a campaign with @DrEvanHarris @article19org @IndexCensorship 4/7
And then of course, there was the #LibelReform camapign. The coalition government promised reform but it took them a while to get going. Lord Lester’s private members Bill catalysed the process.

You can see the DNA of the Defamation Act in this Bill services.parliament.uk/Bills/2010-12/… 5/7
Here he is at a PEN event to launch the Bill flic.kr/p/8eJ92D 6/7
Here’s his obituary in The Times, giving a fuller account of his life and work thetimes.co.uk/article/lord-l…

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More from @robertsharp59

Dec 8, 2020
The replies to this tweet/op-ed are full of people reminding David Lammy about the shocking abuse of the Bengalis by Churchill, and reminding us of some of his greatest, racist quotes. This prompts a quick thought... 1/n
Perhaps we tolerate obvious rights-abusers like Churchill in our national story because, regardless of the bad things they did, they set us on a trajectory that we nevertheless approve of (at least in the context that Lammy is talking about in the article). 2/n
We celebrate Churchill’s promotion of human rights and overlook his violations because (done right) they lead inexorably towards a situation where Churchill’s own abuse of colonised people would be prevented or punished. 3/n
Read 11 tweets
Dec 8, 2020
Gah. I just managed to pocket dial someone, and then unwittingly left a 6 minute voicemail of various domestic conversations. I’m absolutely mortified.
I say ‘pocket dial’ but what I actually did was press the button on my Bluetooth headphones to try and switch off the podcast I was listening to. I think Siri must have activated, and interpreted whatever I said as a request to call someone. 2/n
This is an entirely 21st Century embarrassment, made possible only through the invention of at least three major technologies (mobile phones, Bluetooth, voice recognition), with my bright red face at their confluence. 3/n
Read 9 tweets
Sep 27, 2020
This crazy story about a university claiming that posters in a window “break the law” is a good example of how chaotic and inconsistent law-making can lead to a denial of liberty. Quick thread. 1/n
I’ve been doing some reading on the ‘chilling effect’ recently. It’s usually used with regards to freedom of expression, but it’s a term imported from US legal thought, and can be applied to any kind of liberty or lawful activity. 2/n
Supreme Court Justice William Brennan warned of how a ‘chill’ can be “generated by vagueness, overbreadth and unbridled discretion” of laws/state powers used to curb speech. (Dissent in Walker v City of Birmingham, 388 US 307 in 1967)
3/n
Read 17 tweets
Sep 24, 2020
My first thought when reading this was to think of a solution. What barristers had some kind of badge? Or what if barrister wigs and gowns were reinstated in Magistrates Courts?

This was the wrong thought. Because...
We shouldn’t need freakin’ badges to stop people making racist assumptions.

If I had the emoji keyboard installed then between every word in that sentence would be a clap icon.
ASIDE: The other day I experienced the opposite of this. I had to go to hospital for a thing, and I turn up in my generic work clothes - smart shoes, trousers, shirt, no tie - with my office lanyard around my neck.
Read 5 tweets
Sep 23, 2020
Right so I know this is probably a first world problem but I’m going to indulge myself with a moan about... plastic bags from @Ocado 1/6
During the spring lockdown, we were pretty conscientious about avoiding the shops and doing more online deliveries.

At about the same time, @Ocado stopped its programme of recycling plastic bags, because that could obviously be a source of virus transmission. 2/6
The problem with this is that every time we have a delivery, we get about a dozen plastic bags. In the before times, I would just hand bags from the previous shop back to the delivery driver and get a 5p rebate. But recently they’ve been piling up in the garage. 3/6
Read 6 tweets
Sep 12, 2020
One thing I think about a lot is what headlines and political messaging would look like if liberals/progressive adopted some of the tabloidy, accuracy-stretching tactics we see deployed by the Johnson right. This news story might be a good case study.
‘Johnson set your opt out of human rights laws’ reads the headline. Now, if you read the article, you’ll see that he wants to opt out of very specific human rights measures, on immigration and when soliders can be prosecuted for acts committed while on operations.
However, one can argue that to derogate from some provisions in the human rights laws and treaties is to undermine the entire framework. And if that’s true, then attacking one human right is to attack them all.
Read 5 tweets

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