tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411161795798360588.post1769022352816281311..comments2024-03-26T09:38:39.888+00:00Comments on Borthlas: Are we there yet? How do we know?John Dixonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07447224248021209852noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411161795798360588.post-41792366186798502822020-09-16T07:48:27.663+01:002020-09-16T07:48:27.663+01:00Spirit,
"As for the WA the question is do, t...Spirit,<br /><br /><i>"As for the WA the question is do, they have the power to do it? The latest legal briefing I have read states they do ,based on a case in 1964 when HMG signed the Geneva Convention on the Seas, 20 days later they broke the terms and a court case ensued where Justice Diplock (as he was then) stated in a legal (not political) judgement that they did, as the Crown in Parliament is sovereign."</i> I'm not a lawyer, but I don't doubt that the 'parliamentary sovereignty' principle means that it is entirely legal under UK law for parliament to renege on, withdraw from, or amend the terms of, any international agreement made by the UK Government. BUT - and there are at least 2 big 'BUT's - firstly that doesn't make it legal in international law; other parties to agreements can still potentially use the terms of those agreements in international courts, and secondly, the 'sovereign' domestic parliament cannot bind other parties to uphold their side of the bargain once an agreement has been unilaterally breached. John Dixonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07447224248021209852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411161795798360588.post-64664323908358748902020-09-15T19:22:56.201+01:002020-09-15T19:22:56.201+01:00I read Little Dickie Murphy’s piece and I do not t...I read Little Dickie Murphy’s piece and I do not think we are quite there yet. He is right in pointing out the slide into government by decree ,which you and I called out at the time, when no opposition party ( In fact they support even harder rules) stood up to the Emergency Powers Bill that has created this health dictatorship we now live under.<br />Although the English have deep in their water their past Germanic genes, which in an emergency shows itself as a yearning for order and power, they do act differently, and the script goes like this.<br />The first thing post crisis, the usual political statement that ‘lesson have been learnt’, will be issued, which is code for no official or politicians will be dismissed or go to jail for the cockups they have masterminded. Then, (and this is the dangerous bit) based on this statement new Bills on Security and Health will be put forward in passive language that encompasses the basics of the current power but will render the emergency powers redundant.<br />As for the WA the question is do, they have the power to do it? The latest legal briefing I have read states they do ,based on a case in 1964 when HMG signed the Geneva Convention on the Seas, 20 days later they broke the terms and a court case ensued where Justice Diplock(as he was then) stated in a legal (not political) judgement that they did, as the Crown in Parliament is sovereign.<br />Germany has a similar position, as the Constitution is sovereign and trumps any treaty or law that the government enacts. We saw this recently when the EU proposed a bond floatation ,which the Constitutional Court ruled illegal in Germany and it was withdrawn ( a clue here as to who might be running the show) , Greece and Slovakia need not apply the same argument as it will be ignored. <br />Spirit of BMEnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411161795798360588.post-59426677318576651042020-09-14T10:23:00.956+01:002020-09-14T10:23:00.956+01:00authoritarian, incoherent, lacking specific direct...authoritarian, incoherent, lacking specific direction - these are all characteristics of a kind of unwelcome style of government but I doubt whether we are yet into anything like full on Fascism. There again you are never likely to recognise such an extreme until it has you in its grip, unlike the old style authoritarian shit which relied on a series of events, as in Italy and Germany, or full blown revolutions in the case of China and USSR. <br /><br />We are now paying for the gift of a large majority in a GE which gives the culprits the defence of democratic process. We are becoming aware slowly how undemocratic our democracy is in reality but things will need to change before there is any real reduction in democratic deficit. Sadly Middle England, which is a large proportion of the electorate, seems content to let Johnson and Co have their way but things will change when the cost of their misconducts comes home to roost.dafishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04216920242825385976noreply@blogger.com