Jury trials now scrapped for cases under 3 years.

Fucking appalling decision; yes there is a huge case backlog, no, removing some of the fundamental rights of a democracy is not the way to get it back down, the case backlog is largely in cases where there is no jury trial recourse already and it's not even a temporary decision.

Do they just let Lammy do what he wants in his office ffs?

I'm not totally against limiting the right to a jury trial. An obvious example is for complicated fraud cases. The defence can bamboozle a jury into voting for acquittal for the simple reason that they don't understand the case. These cases can also last for months which is inconvenient for jurors and their employers.

My biggest reservation is with the freedom of a jury to acquit a defendant on the grounds that they are being prosecuted under a bad law. When a government introduces legislation that affects our freedom of expression or the right to protest, there are always people coming up with suggestions that people could be prosecuted for technical breaches of the law which are pretty trivial. I have generally taken the view that a jury would deliver a Not Guilty verdict on the grounds that the law is a ass, a idiot. In other words, they would exercise common sense. The belief that a jury would do that would generally mean that a prosecution wouldn't proceed. I would be worried that a jury-less court would follow the letter of the law and convict in these cases.

Regardless of the argument as to whether scraping juries for sentences of less than three years is good or not (I’m on the “bad thing” side of the spectrum) it’s pretty poor timing to do so in a week where one of your MPs has literally just sentenced to two years in prison following a jury-less trial, and technically speaking is a fugitive from the law.

BBC News

Tulip Siddiq MP says Bangladesh jail sentence is 'deeply...

The MP, and niece of Bangladesh's ousted former leader, received a two-year sentence in her absence over corruption allegations.

In a sense, quite, as regardless of what's actually gone on with Siddiq and her connections to her ousted Bangladeshi political family, she was tried and convicted in absentia and quite rightly the Labour Party isn't going to recognise such sham conclusions of a foreign court that we have no extradition treaty with, sets a bad precedent.

Definitely underscores why juries are such an important thing to have in a democracy.

The language Lammy has used, 'putting victims first' is all well and good and probably plays well, but it hides a rather worrying approach to justice and kind of shows that he is not good at his brief. Pretty much the point of courts is that they are not pre-judged, and while most cases certainly do have victims, it's very important that guilt is not presumed just because of an accusation.

One long serving Labour MP has already called for David Lammy to resign over this -

In other Labour news, they’ve suspended the whip from their poshest-named MP for voting against the government -

I ain’t got a problem with digital ID. I got nothing to hide and it’s good for people who don’t own a passport or a driving license

Pretty annoying that Emma Reynolds has amended this policy to farms worth above 2.5m, it’ll make the protestors feel they are winning. Always enjoyed seeing people like Jeremy Clarkson being outraged by this!

Looks like Starmer's U-turned on the digital ID thing!

I still don't get how it wad such a big deal, when almost every other country in Europe has id cards

On 14/01/2026 at 14:34, Auld Lang Peen! said:

I still don't get how it wad such a big deal, when almost every other country in Europe has id cards

I think part of it was due to the way it would be implemented with a potential cost to people - despite people already having paid for valid ID in the form of passports etc. I think this U-Turn is generally good and it doesn't negate the digitalisation of ID as current forms of identification are to move online by 2029. So it's still happening in a way that doesn't disrupt people?

What cost would it have?

Giving in to this is just a boon to people who want to employ people unofficially.

Starmer's visit to China has borne fruit, visa-free travel for UK citizens!

I am actually really excited about this, I wasn't expecting anything near this good to come out of the trip and it positively affects me, I'm thinking about holidays to the Far East in the future and this'll be great to do say a week in China and a week in Japan or something of the sort. Not sure when it gets implemented but still, excellent job on the foreign policy.

Always amazes me how well coordinated and organised the WASPI group is, considering the majority of them did seemingly no forward planning or read the news for years!

Agreed, and in contrast the campaign against student loan repayments is finally getting itself together, both more disorganised in that there hasn't been up to now consistent opposition to the unfair terms nearly every graduate in the country since 2012 has been subjected to, and in regards to them being in the right with being against a graduate tax that the rich had the opportunity to opt out of.

He may have said it over 15 years ago, but after the revelations of the past few days, this Frankie Boyle quote remains prescient:

“Who made Peter Mandelson a Lord? The Sith?”

75k for an osteopathy course?? we should be getting 75k for therapy after subjecting us to that photo of him in his pants.

9 hours ago, Brett-Butler said:

He may have said it over 15 years ago, but after the revelations of the past few days, this Frankie Boyle quote remains prescient:

“Who made Peter Mandelson a Lord? The Sith?”

Don't think he's coming back from it this time. Oh well x

Very, uh, febrile mood in the Commons tonight over Mandelson. Starmer did not look comfortable at PMQs, journalists and MPs are briefing against him.

Definitely needs a sacking (McSweeney) at the very least.

Yes, it’s a horrible series of events for the Government and for Starmer. Whole is seems McSweeney pushed through everything, I don’t think the public or opposition will be happy with that head on a stick.

Must say. Isn’t it bonkers that all this is coming out about the Government and Royal Family whereas everyone connected in the US is seemingly just riding everything out.