Rally for Libel Reform

Picture is from last night's Rally for Libel Reform which took place at the Great Hall in the historic Inner Temple.

There was a number of speakers including Lord McNally, who is the Lib Dem Minister for Justice ,who said about the (probable) Libel Reform bill "This is not the end, not the beginning of the end but the end of the beginning".

Sir Stephen Sedley "The draft bill hasn't answered all the questions but has some of the answers", Simon Singh (a libel survivor see in picture with the fetching Mohican haircut), Nick Cohen (Observer) "not one of the stories in the NOTW and Sun enquiry has a public interest defence. Not a single one", DAG (New Statesman and free speech libel hero aka Jof k), Charmian Gooch (Global Witness), Tracey Brown (Sense About Science), Jonathan Heawood (English PEN) and Jo Glanville (Index on Censorship).

While picture on the right is of DAG, me, Vaughan Jones and top solicitor advocate Robert Dougans.  Vaughan is currently being sued by a Creationist for libel in the High Court. There is a strike out hearing next Friday. I am convinced that the litigant in person who is trying to sue him must be related in some way to my own favourite litigant ever!

Check out the radio podcast (36 minutes) interviewing Vaughan and Hardeep Singh (who is also in the top picture and who I met in the pub afterwards. He won the barmy libel case taken out against him but now has to sell his house to pay his legal costs! Which is an absolute disgrace. I can't at the moment find his interview. Will update when I do)

An open letter to you know who

"A decision to sue anyone should indeed never be taken lightly, and usually it should not be made at all".

"A misconceived libel action can be an incredible financial and reputational disaster of the very first order".

"It can be the maddest, saddest decision any person ever makes"

And:

"Any decision to litigate should always be on the assumption that it will go all the way and that you could lose.

"It cannot just be assumed that the defendant will settle or surrender."

Hat tip thingy to Jack of Kent about the completely disgraceful case by the British Chiropractic Association against the journalist Simon Singh.   Jack who I understand is a Conservative supporter is also supporting my blogging mucker and staunch Labour Party supporter Dave Osler "in respect of the awful and very misconceived libel claim he is currently fighting".

Nuf said.

I also not surprisingly like the first part of the Easterbrook quote adopted by the Court of Appeal "[Plaintiffs] cannot, by simply filing suit and crying 'character assassination!', silence those who hold divergent views, no matter how adverse those views may be to plaintiffs' interests..."

UPDATE: check comments but Jack corrects me that he is no longer "a Conservative Supporter".  Apologies - my mistake. Mind you I hope he doesn't sue for making such a simply dreadful, awful and reputation destroying lib...

:)