The Week 22Feb2020

22 NEWS Talking points

THEWEEK 22 February 2020

BorisJohnsonisgunning

forBritain’sjudges,saidThe

Guardian.Unhappywithwhat

heregardsastheirincreasingly

politicalrole,particularlywith

regardstoBrexit,hewantsto

restraintheirabilitytohold

theGovernmenttoaccount.

ThePMandhisnewAttorney

General,SuellaBraverman,

reportedlyhavetworeforms

inmind.Thefirstistogive

ministersmoreofasayin

judicialappointments.The

secondistoweakenthepower

oftheSupremeCourt–which

ruledlastSeptemberthat

theGovernment’sdecision

tosuspendParliamentwas

unlawful–byplacingpartsoftheroyal

prerogativeoff-limitstojudicialreview.Both

ideasare“troubling”,aimedastheyareat

fetteringtheindependenceofthejudiciaryand

weakeningitspowerto challengeexecutive

overreach. Atbest,this isaretrogradestep.

Atworst, it’s “pureTrumpism: anattemptto

remakethe courts inJohnson’sown image”.

“Nooneisseriouslyadvocating untrammelled

executive power,”saidSirStephenLaws inThe

DailyTelegraph.Ministerssimplythinkthatthe

balanceof power between judgesandelected

politiciansisoutof kilterand needsadjustment.

Therealityisthatjudicial reviewdoesoften

disruptpolitics inanunhelpfulwaybyinhibiting

decision-makingand preventingour

representativesfromdelivering

ontheirelectionmandate.

Uncertaintyaboutthelikely

legalconsequencesoftheir

actionsoftenleadsministers

totakethesafeoptionof

inaction.Atothertimes,their

opponentslaunchlegalappeals

simplytoholdproposalsup

andexactconcessions,thus

usingthecourtsfor“politics

byothermeans”.

There’snodenyingthatthere

isaproblemwithjudicial

review,saidJonathan

Sumption,aformerjustice

oftheSupremeCourt,inThe

SundayTimes.Thecourts

havebecometooreadytochallengeministersin

caseswheretheysimplydisliketheunderlying

policy.Thiscreepingjudicialactivism

“underminesthefoundationofourdemocracy,

which depends onanelected assembly being

theultimatejudgeofpolicy”. Butthisisn’t

somethingthe Governmentcan fixon its own.

“Theproblemisoneof judicial attitudes.And

youcannotchange judicialattitudes byanact

of Parliament.” Anyattempt tocurbthepowers

of the judiciary,or toselectjudgeson thebasis

of theirattitude, would proveineffectiveand

illiberal. This issueneeds tobe sortedoutin

conjunctionwiththejudges themselves.

“Heavy-handedgovernment intervention can

onlyprovoke unnecessaryrowsand digging-in

with heels,withoutin theend achieving much.”

Pickoftheweek’s

Gossip

The judiciary: should it butt out of politics?

Weseemto beedging closer tothe breakup

of the United Kingdom,saidMartinKettle in

TheGuardian.SinnFéin’ssuccess in last week’s

general electionin Irelandmarksa“turning

point” fortheRepublic.MaryLou McDonald’s

party nowlookssetto bepart ofeither thenew

government orthemainopposition–ending

almost acentury inwhichpowerin Dublinhas

been“carvedup”between thecentrist Fine Gael

andFianna Fáil parties. It’san “astonishing

change of fortune”forSinnFéin, whoselinks to

the terrorist IRAonce madeit a“virtual pariah

in th eSouth”.Butwhile itssuccess mayhave

been largelybecause of its left-win gpolicies on

housing andhealth ,its unequivocalbackingfor

aunited Irelandnow makesareferendum onthe

issuesign ificantly morelikely on bothsides of

the border.Whatever happens,Irishunification

is firmlyback on theagenda. The former

TaoiseachBertie Ahern thinksavoteonthe

matteris now“inevitable”withinadecade.

Brexit has“spurredon”thisshift, said Jennifer

Duggan in Time. UndertheUK-EU Withdrawal

Agreement,there will be an openborderfor

goodsbetween theRepublicand Northern

Ireland; an economic border will insteadbe

drawn intheIrish Sea.With Nort hern Ireland

havingvoted 56:44 to Remain,the result will be

to driveBelfast andDublin closer together. But

othe rfactors are also at play, said Emma Duncan

inTheTimes.The 1 998 GoodFridayAgreement

(GFA)requirestheUKtocallareferendumin

Northern Ireland when there’s “reason to believe

thereisamajority forreunification”. Opinion

pollsaresplit almost 50:50,butwithCatholics

expectedtooutnumber Protestantsin the 2021

census, thingsare “movingin that direction”.

The GFAreconciledsome Catholicsto staying in

the UK,said TheEconomist.But t he agreement

also set outaclear“political route toaunited

Ireland”. Andif the people of t he Northandthe

Republic “choosethatpath,the politiciansmust

follow it”. The island of Ireland nowneedsa

“plan”for unification:itneeds, forinstance,

away to makeunionist sfeelathomein

theRepublic.That’s notlikelyifSinn Féin are

in charge, said Eilis O’Hanlon in theBelfast

Telegraph.“There have beenincreasingly giddy

predictions frompoliticians,academics and

journalists in recentyears thataunitedIreland

is just around thecorner.”But there’s stillalong

way to go.The Economic andSocialResear ch

Councilsurvey shows that,yes, only 52 %of

peop le in NorthernIrelan dwishtostayinthe

UK –but on the otherhand, only 29% say they

wouldactu ally vote foraunited Ireland. To a

significantminority ofvoters ,boththe UKand

the Republic “feellike imperfect answers”.

Ireland: on the road to unification?

Braverman:thenewAttorneyGeneral

Donald Trumphas an

unlikely obsession: badgers.

The president used to grill

his former chief of staff,

Reince Priebus(who hails

from Wisconsin, the

“Badger State”) about the

creatures during key White

House meetings,anew

book claims. How do they

“work”, exactly? Do they

haveapersonality?What

do they eat? “Enthralled” by

the animals, Trump would

interrupt staff as they tried

to steer him back to troop

numbers in Afghanistan,

say, or health insurance.

“Are they mean to people?”

the president would ask the

beleagured Priebus, “Or are

they friendly creatures?”

Victoria BeckhamandStella

McCartneyhave fallen out;

they’ve unfollowed each

other on social media and

McCartney has reportedly

uninvited the Beckhams to a

family party she is throwing.

What on earth could have

caused sucharift? Nanny-

stealing, apparently.

“Victoria heard on the

playground grapevine that

Stella’s nanny was one of

the best in town,”asource

told TheSun. “She got her

number and made her a

lucrative offer to jump ship.

When Stella found out, she

went nuclear.”

ComedianDavid Mitchell

used to find Twitter fun. “It

was rare for anyone to say

anything negative,” he

recalls of the website’s early

incarnation. “It was people

chatting away to each other,

saying, ‘Oh I’m just having

asandwich. Cheese and

pickle’, and someone replies

‘Cheese and pickle, my

favourite’.” What’s changed

now? “Now it’s all, ‘Cheese

and pickle? You know what

the dairy industry does,

don’t you?’”