Angry Men

The need to fill time yesterday enabled Sir Louis Blom-Cooper to canter around the airwaves his hobbyhorse that trial by jury should be abolished, apparently because they do not have it in the Netherlands. Oh, and of course because it is in breach of Article Six of the European Convention on Human Rights, as, indeed, is trial by a Magistrates' Court. Both of these things are perfectly true. I am rather glad that Sir Louis was given this time. It gave a most important insight. By subscribing to the ECHR, we subscribe to the theory, held axiomatically on the Continent, that not merely the sentence, but guilt or innocence itself, should be determined by a salaried employee of the State.