Lord Bingham - A Truly Great National Hero?

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Peter Oborne makes a persuasive case here

after watching a documentary on the workings of the Supreme Court on BBC4 a while back i confess to a growing regard for the judiciary ... as Oborne implies the least sullied institution in our national life over the last twenty years or so ...

[Flosshilde]

Is that the right link, Calum? It takes you to the programme for the The Vortex Jazz Club

[Serial_Apologist]

Is that the right link, Calum? It takes you to the programme for the The Vortex Jazz Club

[mercia]

I must be getting my Binghams in a twist. I thought Lord Bingham was the son of the disappeared Lord Lucan.

[Flosshilde]

"former senior law lord Lord Bingham, ... born in London to an Ulster Irish father"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/sep/12/tributes-lord-bingham-judge-dies

Of course, if people weren't terribly clever concealing the link behind a word like 'here', they might notice that they had given the wrong link

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks Floss.

We have indeed come to a sorry pass when members of the judiciary can be regarded as the last repository of civilization.

[Flosshilde]

There are probably a couple of people here who would view him as rather less than a hero. The view of the judiciary as 'protection' from the government is a bit shaky, as it is the government that appoints them. It would be good to have a similar system to the one in the USA, where appointees to the supreme court can be challenged by Congress. Although I'm not sure if that has ever resulted in someone not being appointed.

That being said, Bingham obviously did a lot of good work on human rights, & I think we would have been worse off if he hadn't been around.

The same argument - a bulwark against the government - is used in defence of the House of Lords as it is now. But it's the government that appoints them, & can make sure that they have a majority, as Cameron has done in the past year by packing it with Tory peers.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

mea culpa

[Flosshilde]

A very Telegraph slant on him & what was happening

[rubbernecker]

I've just started reading this which is brilliant:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rule-Law-Tom-Bingham/dp/014103453X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305975746&sr=1-1