16 MayHRMC Wins Goldman Sachs Court Case

The case of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the High Court ended with victory. The reason for the case was that HMRC was accused of illegally letting investment bank Goldman Sachs off part of its tax bill.
Due to data of the campaign group UK Uncut Legal Action the taxpayer
had been cheated with about £20m.
In [...]

01 MayDeadline passes for UK City of Culture 2017 bids

Tuesday is the last day for bids to become UK City of Culture 2017.
Those who take part in the running areAberdeen,Chester, Dundee, eastKent,Hastingsand Bexhill-on-Sea,Hull, Leicester,Plymouth,Portsmouthand Southampton, Southend-on-Sea andSwanseaBay.
The city who manages to win will be the second one to hold the title after Derry-Londonderry.
Many cities were backed by celebrities as good examples for this are [...]

26 AprPrison Governors Call For Change On UK Drug Policy

According to the Prison Governors Association (PGA) theUK’s approach to tackling drugs needs a “fundamental review”.

The association is on the opinion that if Class A drugs are prohibited there is a big chance that addicts turn into criminals as they will have to do crimes in order to fund their habits.
There is an international project [...]

22 AprEuropean Financial Transactions Challenged by the UK

The government of the United Kingdom launched a legal challenge against plans for the European financial transactions.

The main aim of these plans is raising public money and disincentivising speculative trading. They will observe the trading of shares, currencies and bonds taxed within the 11 EU states which have signed up to it.
No matter that theUKhas [...]

12 AprBarrister Loses DIY Tax Scheme Case

Rex Bretten who made his own tax avoiding scheme aiming to avoid paying £190,000 in tax scheme has lost his tribunal appeal against HM Revenue & Customs.
The scheme of the former tax barrister entailed investing £500,000 in discounted securities.
According to his words this scheme created a loss of £475,000, which he intended to set against [...]

11 AprAmnesty Claims Death Penalty is on the Wane

According to data of Amnesty International death penalty gradually loses its popularity and is soon about to become a thing of the past.
There are, of course, some countries likeIndia,Japan,PakistanandGambiawho still admit the death penalty but as a whole it is a world-wide tendency that this kind of punishment is being rejected.
The imposed death sentences last [...]

10 AprJudiciary urges caution on contempt

In response to a law commission consultation the judiciary announced that in cases in which there is contempt of court, the very last thing to think about are proceedings against publishers and jury members.
According to Lord Justice Treacy and Mr. Justice Tugendhat, these measures might ‘undermine the trust which must exist between judge and jury’.
A [...]

04 AprBenefit Cuts need Serious Defence

Charities, churches and campaign groups opposed strongly to the decision of Chancellor George Osborne for the benefit cuts.
Many social housing residents with spare rooms will be affected by these changes.
Soon people will understand what the cap on the total sum of benefits which each household can receive is and what the rise in working age [...]

03 AprFears For Legal Aid

The Law Society warned that because of the cuts to legal aid people would be forced to rely on themselves when in court and take the law in their hands.

Yesterday government brought into effect deep cuts in the legal funding as ministers announced they wanted to reduce the annual £2.2bn legal aid bill by £350m.
Due [...]

29 MarEast Coast and West Coast rail franchise arrangements announced

As the East Coast has been run in the public sector since 2009 now private companies will bid for the East Coast rail franchise.
It was announced that West Coast Main Line would continue been run by Virgin Trains until April 2017. It had previously been running the same line but as it later lost the [...]