Comment posted by IRONSIDE, which content deserves a MUCH BIGGER visibility:
Dear friends A Libel Reform Bill has been tabled in the House of Lords Lord Lester QC has published a Private Members’ Defamation Bill to reform England’s outdated and unjust libel laws.
This is the first attempt in over a century to put forward a wholesale redraft of our libel laws to address many of the issues our campaign has highlighted.
Lord Lester’s Bill covers a great deal of the recommendations of the Libel Reform Campaign including a statutory defence for responsible publication on a matter of public interest; clarifying the defences of justification and fair comment, which will be renamed as ‘truth’ and ‘honest opinion’.
The Bill will also:
- Require claimants to provide evidence their reputation was damaged by an alleged libel before they can bring a case forward (they don’t have to do this at present) and make corporations prove financial damage before they can sue.
- Address the problems introduced by the rise of the internet and the culture of online publication including the multiple publication rule that makes each download a fresh instance of libel, and alter the responsibility of forum hosts for what is posted on their sites.
- Encourage the speedy settlement of disputes without parties having to bring in costly lawyers.
- Promote the speedy settlement of disputes without recourse to the courts.
There is a great piece by Lord Lester on why he is doing this now here. And Simon Singh has written his thoughts on the bill here.
Thanks to your support we’ve made the case that libel law reform is an issue politicians know they have to act on.
There is widespread Parliamentary support for reform … the majority of eligible MPs signed up to an EDM supporting libel law reform in the last Parliament. There were general election manifesto commitments to reform from the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, and Labour.
Now, there is a coalition Government promise to reform the libel laws in the Queen’s Speech … …But we need new libel laws!
In light of Lord Lester’s Bill, the Libel Reform Campaign is asking: will the Government now make clear its plans for reform?
Will it support, adopt or develop this Bill?
Help us keep the pressure on.
Write to your MP asking them what the Government intends to do.
Best, Mike and Síle
PS - for more details of the bill and complete coverage see http://www.libelreform.org/
Seven Green Bottles sitting on the wall.
ReplyDeleteAnd if ONE Green Bottle should accidently fall, they'll be SIX Green Bottles sitting on the wall.
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Absence of Evidence
Is NOT Evidence of Absence.
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Mirror mirror on the Wall..
Look O'Brians not there at all
They look a little too "upright"... just like pins on a bowling alley.
ReplyDeleteMummy always told me "cut corners and you end up cutting yourself"...
I'm now wondering what a new meaning the word "crisis" does now have in some law firms.
Shifty and riddled with guilt. Dianne Webster I despise the most she is a Grand mother..
ReplyDeleteAnon 3:39,
ReplyDeleteNow THAT is a DIFFICULT call!!!
For me, it's a person not in the picture. No, not the couple. Someone who receives a salary out of the death of a niece.
http://www.gerrymccannsblogs.co.uk/press/1may7/MAY_2007_MADELEINE_MCCANN_NEWS.htm ALL links from May 6th 2007...Great work by PAMALAM
ReplyDelete157 Old articles put together by Pamalam...Thanks Pam...
Why is Dianne Webster there at all? Why was she included in the compensation payments by the newspapers( obtained OUT OF COURT, despite the picture being taken on the court steps!)?!
ReplyDeleteWhat did the newspapers say about her, in what way did they "slander" her that made her entitled to get compensation money? I cannot recall any...
As for O'Brien, there were "whispers" that he had suffered a breakdown, had depression, that he and Tanner had separated...and there was also some talk about one of the Tapas wanting to change his/hers statements to the police, which Mitchell swiftly denyed. Was that person O'Brien?...
Anon,
ReplyDeleteBecause, I believe, they apparently said "that the McCann friends with them on holiday" were involved, or something of the kind, and yes, Dianne was a FRIEND.
You know as in "FRIEND", wink, wink, blush, blush...
Yes, it seems that OB was depressed. If he wasn't he should have been. Him and the rest of the group had they somethimg called a conscience.
Who I didn't see in those steps, and THERE you got a point, were all the other PdL friends that did help the McCanns get rid of the body. They deserved the money as much... morally, morally, becuase we all know they gave it away to charity.
Apologise, not charity. For Gerry's brother to play with.
If the picture were to be complete, they would have to be joined by those friends who helped in the UK, as well.
Thos 3 sets of pepople.
THAT would make a nice crowd on the steps.
Good morning 12.36...The photgraph is a complete farce is'nt it..Why was Dianne there? she lied in her statement that is a crime in itself. Plus we would have been down to five attending...maybe she had to make up the numbers...There were seven tapas now it looked like only five ,so Dianne made up the number to six.
ReplyDeleteO'Brian was missing from the table the longest on May 3rd...according to waiter he did not return until 9.45....I say O'Brian but waiter just called him a Guest...but I believe it was O 'Brian.
O'Brian lived very near McCanns when he lived in Leicester, I think they have a very close relationship, closer than we realise.
That picture always brings us 'The Usual Suspects' for me...they all look smug but at the same time there is an air of fear and regret in their eyes!
ReplyDeleteMarty
P.S. I will expect to see a lot of new and interesting laws coming from the new UK government now!