Is the British “loser pays” rule sweeping America? The idea is popular in polls, and already it is in effect in Alaska and some parts of Florida.
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Geoffrey Robertson, QC, head of Doughty Street Chambers, acted for the author Sir Salman Rushdie, who received unreserved apologies from the publisher and ghost writer for allegations made in a book by Ron Evans who was his police protection officer. Four thousand copies of the book have been pulped and a declaration of falsity was accepted, but no damages were sought.
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Is a judge's private life relevant to his court rulings? In a dissenting judgment in 2001, Judge Alex Kozinski, of the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, stated that the private life of a judge was not relevant to the validity of a decision he had made in court. His colleagues disagreed, rejecting Judge Kozinski’s warning: “Welcome to the fishbowl.” Now the private life of Judge Kozinski himself is under investigation.
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No such thing?
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Peter Lodder, QC, paints a grim picture of the justice system as it faces its own credit crunch. Well-publicised criminal trials are in jeopardy because of a dispute over barristers’ fees, courts are hit by a cash crisis and the Bar risks becoming the enclave of the wealthy. The courts, says the new chairman of the 4,000-strong Criminal Bar Association, were already pared to the bone — even before the £90 million black hole of debt revealed last week.
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Taxpayers will be committed today to providing more than £50 billion to bail out high street banks in an attempt to avert a cataclysmic failure of confidence.
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Taxpayers will be committed today to providing more than £50 billion to bail out high street banks in an attempt to avert a cataclysmic failure of confidence.
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Björgólfur Gudmundsson, the West Ham United owner, was defiant last night after Landsbanki, one of his chief investments, was nationalised yesterday. The collapse of the Icelandic bank, of which he was chairman and a major shareholder, raised fears that Gudmundsson would need to sell some of his other interests to raise money. While Landsbanki's shares are suspended, Gudmundsson's stake in it is notionally worthless.
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As the presidential contenders prepared for their second debate in Nashville last night, 8,000 miles away in the heart of Africa Barack Obama's grandmother was rooting for the man she calls “Barry”.
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Harry Redknapp is never slow to point out that when he took over as manager of Portsmouth for the first time their fixture list included matches against Walsall and Rotherham United rather than Chelsea and Liverpool. However, even he will be pinching himself after yesterday's draw for the group phase of the Uefa Cup sent AC Milan, the seven-times champions of Europe, to Fratton Park.
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Given Harry Redknapp’s outspoken criticism of England’s performance against the Czech Republic at Wembley in August, it seems unlikely that Fabio Capello has called the Portsmouth manager to ask for his opinion of Peter Crouch, but the striker felt moved yesterday to credit Redknapp for his international recall.
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A personal deal between two billionaire business rivals will have to be brokered to salvage the $20 million (about $£11.4 million) winner-takes-all Twenty20 match between England and the Stanford Superstars after a High Court ruling put its future in serious doubt yesterday.
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Scientists have nicknamed them the “deadly dozen”: 12 diseases, lethal to humans and wildlife, that are increasing their geographical range.
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Scientists have nicknamed them the “deadly dozen”: 12 diseases, lethal to humans and wildlife, that are increasing their geographical range.
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For a start, there is no place called Foreign. There is no Republic of Foreignia where all the foreign people live, doing foreign things, thinking foreign thoughts, hatching cunning little foreign schemes to carve up the bounty of English football and spiriting it away to sit in a foreign vault, guarded by a bank manager who twiddles his moustache, smells vaguely of garlic and chuckles greedily in that funny way foreigners do.
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For a start, there is no place called Foreign. There is no Republic of Foreignia where all the foreign people live, doing foreign things, thinking foreign thoughts, hatching cunning little foreign schemes to carve up the bounty of English football and spiriting it away to sit in a foreign vault, guarded by a bank manager who twiddles his moustache, smells vaguely of garlic and chuckles greedily in that funny way foreigners do.
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The future of coal-fired power generation in Europe was called into question yesterday after the European Union backed new laws that would force power companies to pay for all of their carbon dioxide emissions from 2013.
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Teenage drivers are three times as likely to have a fatal crash if they are travelling with a group of friends as when driving alone, a study has found.
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Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, paved the way last night for an imminent cut in US interest rates as he sounded a warning that world financial turmoil will inflict a deeper and longer downturn on America.
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For the first time in what feels like an age, Liverpool appear to be quietly going about their business, but the silence from the boardroom is not necessarily golden. Rafael Benítez has been given no indication that he will be offered an extension to his contract, which runs out at the end of next season, and for as long as the club remain in the hands of Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, the Spaniard appears unlikely to be offered any long-term security.
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The stage was set for the two figureheads of English football to reveal the plan that could rescue the game from an ocean of debt, but, in the end, they could barely agree it was Tuesday, never mind who would throw the lifebelts.
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As time runs out and no new money comes in, Great Britain faces an immediate and increasing risk of losing some of the best coaches in Olympic sport. Steve Foley, the performance director of British Diving, has been poached by USA Diving and the problem faced by British sport is that, while the finances remain unresolved, more may follow him.
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The class of 2008 will not receive an education. Since the school year began in January, Zimbabwe's 4.5 million pupils have had a total of 23 days uninterrupted in the classroom, teaching unions say - a sorry state for a country that once had the highest standard of education in Africa.
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