politics for people who care about more than politics

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At the Wardman Wire, we have teamed up with Charon QC to do a series of Politalks political podcasts.

This is an interview by Charon with Charlie Falconer, a former Lord Chancellor, on assisted dying and the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom .

Lord Falconer put forward an amendment to the Suicide Act, which was defeated in the Lords recently.

Secondly, the interview discusss his thoughts on the reasoning behind establishing a new Supreme Court and the direction it may, in time, take.

Lord Falconer became Lord Chancellor In 2003, with the remit of abolishing the office. His reform included the creation, for the first time, of a Supreme Court for the UK, the creation of a commission to appoint judges, making a full-time independent judge the Head of the Judiciary for England and Wales, and introducing an elected Speaker for the House of Lords.

[audio:http://www.politalks.co.uk/pod/charonpodcast152.mp3]

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We have teamed up with Charon QC to do a series of political podcasts for the Wardman Wire.

Mark Jones is an activist in the small community of Pleasley Hill, in Nottinghamshire. The blog Plight of Pleasley Hill has been set up to draw attention to the work of a small group to revive a sense of community in a small area of terraced housing comprising 3 streets and approximately 125 people.

This initiative launched in early June 2009.

I have interviewed Mark for Politalks because I am interested in very small scale regeneration undertaken by communities themselves, and I think that doing things on a *really* small scale is one of the keys to rebuilding local civic society and politics. By “really small scale” I mean in groups and localities which are small enough for everyone to essentially know all their neighbours.

In this interview, Mark talks about the aims of their project, and the good and bad experiences in trying to work with their local authority as a very small group.

There is much worth listening to here for Local Councillors and Community Development officers.

Direct download link for Mark Jones interview.

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Today, I’m talking to Radio Journalist Mathew Hulbert, who works for a commercial radio station – Touch Radio – in the Midlands. Mathew covers an area including Donington Park, Tamworth and Staffordshire – one of the Counties where Labour was devastated at the 2009 Local Election , falling from a leading position with 30 seats to being the 4th party with just 3.

We talk about local politics, the prospects of UKIP as a force in local politics, and the future for local media in competition with the BBC, citizen commentators and online radio.

Mathew Hulbert writes the blog The Time for Justice is Now, and contributes to the Wardman Wire,

Direct download link.

(*) Note: There a couple of technical issues in the podcast here, as I’m trying out new recording setup.

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We have teamed up with Charon QC to do a series of political podcasts. this one is looking at the importance of Jury trials (Charon Lawcast 143).

Direct link to podcast.

Four men accused of being part of a gang that stole £1.75 million in a raid at Heathrow face the first criminal trial without a jury in England and Wales for 400 years after an historic Court of Appeal decision on Thursday

The Times reported “ The ruling means that the new trial, which would normally be tried by a jury, will be the first of its kind in England and Wales under legislation that took effect in 2003 to prevent jury nobbling. The only other judge-only trials for serious cases, known as Diplock trials, have been in Northern Ireland.”

Today I am talking to Tim Kevan, a barrister, author of the babybarista blog and forthcoming BabyBarista book and co-founder of the legal training company CPD Webinars”.