Hard work should pay. Unlock quality journalism that champions free enterprise. |  | David Lammy will unveil his plans to overhaul the courts system today including controversial curbs on defendants’ rights to jury trials, writes Charles Hymas, Home Affairs Editor.
The Justice Secretary’s changes are designed to tackle what he describes as a “courts emergency” where victims are being forced to wait up to five years for justice because of a backlog of nearly 80,000 cases that is heading towards the 100,000-mark.
They come a week after an initial leak of the plans sparked a backlash from almost the entire legal profession – and, it seems, precipitated a flurry of anxious tinkering with the proposals within the Ministry of Justice.
It means that the final version is unlikely to be as full-throated as the original plans, which would have seen defendants stripped of the right to a jury trial if they were likely to be sentenced to no more than five years in jail.
This went far beyond the three-year, no-jury limit recommended in a review of the courts system by Sir Brian Leveson, a former Court of Appeal judge.
Mr Lammy is expected to double down on retaining judge-only courts for lower-level offences, but may edge closer to Sir Brian’s model.
In an exclusive article for The Telegraph, the Justice Secretary makes clear that the record delays faced by victims mean that we cannot rigidly cling on to jury trials for the sake of tradition.
He cites the Magna Carta, which laid the groundwork for jury trials in 1215, but which also pledged that no one should be denied justice through delays. If the authors of the seminal work were alive today, he says, they too would demand action.
Whether Mr Lammy can convince a sceptical legal profession that removing jury trials is the answer remains to be seen given that their main concern is that the courts have been starved of resources for decades.
Dominic Grieve, the former attorney general, told The Telegraph that 30 years of underinvestment in the courts did not seem sufficient justification to chip away at an “absolute cornerstone” of the criminal justice system.
While Alex Chalk, a former solicitor general and justice secretary, said the changes amounted to “open heart surgery” on the courts system when it should have been “keyhole surgery”.
Read the full story here ➤
 | David Lammy | A strong justice system is not one that clings to tradition for its own sake. Instead, it delivers for the people it serves. The public deserve a system that protects them. Victims deserve a system that respects them. And criminals need a system that confronts them without hesitation.
Justice delayed is justice denied. And we cannot deny it any longer.
Read Mr Lammy’s article in full ➤ | | Nigel Farage Breaking promises is the only thing that this failed party of the past knows how to do Continue reading ➤ Celia Walden Stop acting like men are useless Continue reading ➤ Charles Moore This powerful unelected dynasty should know better Continue reading ➤ | Make your voice heard. Join our journalists in conversation on today’s biggest topics. | | Rachel Reeves has received a lot of criticism since delivering her Budget last week, to put it mildly. With business leaders and politicians leading the charge, it was a surprise that a social media video by a bricklayer lamenting the UK’s welfare spending was the one that struck a particular chord with Britain’s strivers. Don Daniels, from Sheffield, talks to Ed Cumming about the sense of injustice amongst tradesmen facing high taxes, a lack of opportunities, and how it fuelled his witty post. Continue reading ➤ | | | When her brother noticed her eating three ice lollies in an hour, Rachael realised she needed to take control of her weight. After years of trying and failing with quick fixes, a “baby steps” approach made everything click. No fad diets, no weight-loss jabs and, at first, not even a gym membership. Rachael has now lost 4st and is healthier than ever. Continue reading ➤ | | | US-backed sanctions on Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil have sucked billions of dollars out of Moscow’s war machine, leaving Putin scrambling to stave off an economic crisis. As Hans van Leeuwen, our International Economics Editor, reports, Trump’s crackdown is driving the Kremlin out of Eastern European economies, dealing a crippling setback to Putin’s visions of restoring Russia’s imperial glory. Continue reading ➤ | | | Sir Keir Starmer’s officials have been complaining about the supposed impossibility of getting anything done in the labyrinth of rooms that lie behind the famous front door of 10 Downing Street. David Blair, who used to work in No 10, tells us what it is really like in the top office. He says that the Labour Party should stop blaming the building for their policy failings and learn to love the house for its quirks and history. Continue reading ➤ | | | This season, Sky Sports has launched its new multi-view offering, which allows viewers to watch four Premier League matches simultaneously on a “Super-sized Sunday”. Telegraph Sport was granted exclusive access to go behind the scenes with Mark Chapman, Jamie Carragher and a 400-strong team to see how it all works. Continue reading ➤ | | | There are many different opinions on what makes the ultimate descent on a skiing. With the season under way, we asked The Telegraph’s team of ski experts to reveal the adrenalin-pumping runs they love the most. How many have you ticked off your bucket list? Continue reading ➤ Below are two more helpful articles for you this morning: - With the average household wasting £1,000 worth of food each year, we’ve compiled some useful tips on how to clear out and restock your freezer.
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| | Hobnob, from Canine Partners, with her puppies | From Abraham Lincoln’s dog Fido to Eric Knight’s Lassie, a name can be a defining feature for man’s best friend. As part of this year’s Christmas Appeal, we want your help to name two of Canine Partners’ puppies.
One of the chosen charities this year, Canine Partners trains assistance dogs to help perform specialist tasks so their owners can live more independently. Ronnie Paskouis, puppy training manager at the charity, says a good name for an assistance dog is “short, clear and full of character – it needs to be something dogs can recognise and be easy for people to pronounce”.
Two winners, selected by Ronnie, will have their entries used and will receive a cuddly puppy toy, optional regular updates as the dog they named progresses through training, and a Telegraph goodie bag. The competition closes this afternoon at 1pm.
Submit your entry here ➤ | Walks to wet your whistle Every weekday, Orlando Bird, our loyal Reader Correspondent, shares an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Orlando writes...
Just like that, it’s December. But we’re still in the stage of the month where most of us have to keep up at least some semblance of respectable activity, before settling into a regime of relentless carousing. That’s where The Telegraph’s list of the finest winter walks comes in: if you want to feel the glow of virtue en route to the pub, here’s how to do it.
Stuart Ridsdale welcomed our guide: “You can’t beat a roaring fire and a pint after a bracing winter walk in the beautiful countryside of Britain. I speak as an expat in the Middle East looking forward to doing just this for a few weeks”.
Hear, hear. Naturally, though, some readers felt that worthy contenders had been overlooked. Gary Charman wrote: “Somerset has a great and varied landscape with loads of walks. These include the Kennet and Avon canal, the former route of the Somerset and Dorset rail line, the Levels, and various coastal paths.”
Meanwhile, the aptly named Sandra Walker commended “the Ingleton Falls route in North Yorkshire. This ends in Ingleton, where there are several pubs and a tea room”.
Another reader suggested visiting West Yorkshire for “the marvellous walk over Ilkley Moor to Dick Hudson’s pub. The best way to do it is to walk over in the morning, have a pub lunch with a few pints, then walk back in the afternoon and have a few more pints in Ilkley”.
And for DL Thompson, “Red Wharf Bay on Anglesey is our favourite. One of the world’s best beach walks, leading to the Ship Inn”. Regular readers of this newsletter will know that I’m incapable of passing up the opportunity to put in a word for the Tinner’s Arms in Zennor, Cornwall – in my view the best pub in the country. Its spectacular coastal surroundings are good for either a serious walk or a token amble. The reward: a roaring fire and a pint of Zennor Mermaid. Unbeatable.
Send me your recommendations here, and the best of the bunch will feature in a future edition of From the Editor PM, for which you can sign up here.
Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name. | |
Why has Luciano Pavarotti’s widow accused an Italian city of ridiculing her late husband? | | Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including PlusWord, Sorted, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
Yesterday’s Panagram was PLUTONIUM. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle. | | Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow. Chris Evans, Editor
P.S. I’d love to hear what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback here. | |
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