Should we be able to question judgement?
I THINK it is possible in a democracy to venture an opinion upon a ruling by a judge as to whether or not what the judge has decided is fair.
I have been arguing for years that many rulings sanctioned by judges may be legally correct. But yet many ordinary people up and down the country would maybe argue that they are not morally fair.
I remember reading several years ago where a Mafia boss was known to have done some atrocious crimes including murder. Yet, the judge in the case was unable to punish the villain because the police had omitted to read the accused man his rights at the appropriate time (which if I remember rightly was when they arrested him).
This is an example of where most people would think that the judgment was not fair from a moral point of view. Even though it was legally correct.
Similarly, let’s look at the case of the two locked briefcases which serial killer Ian Brady stipulated to his solicitor Mr Makin should never be opened.
Ian Brady is now dead. But a judge has made a ruling that Brady’s wishes in this connection should be honoured. But I think most people would consider it to be fairer all round if the brief cases were opened, because their contents may possibly reveal the whereabouts of the remains of Keith Bennett.
So once again we have a decision by a judge which is legally correct as by the law of the land. But many people would nevertheless not regard the outcome as being morally fair.
In my opinion some laws should be redrafted to put a greater emphasis on what’s fair, morally acceptable and allows for more common sense to be introduced into the judges decisions. I once listened to an eminent judge trying to justify why it is so important that we do maintain some of these legal technicalities.
And I can assure you his explanation was a little bit out of this world in its complexity and in its attempts to make plausible highfalutin principles.
In my judgment those highfalutin principles are only appropriate if we live in a perfect world – and the truth is as we all know that we don’t. Howard Gardner, address supplied
Flypast was a story of hope
GIVEN the state of unrest in the world, the flypast honouring 10 airmen who died when their WWII plane – a B-17 Flying Fortress known as Mi Amigo – crashed in a Sheffield park, should serve to tell the world that today’s culture of ‘Live each day as though it’s your last’/‘Live life to the full.’
The fly-by was ignited when BBC Breakfast presenter, Dan Walker, met 82-year-old Tony Foulds.
As an eight-year-old, he witnessed the crash, and his belief that the airmen sacrificed their lives to avoid killing him and his pals who were playing in the park, led to a 75-year commitment of tending a memorial to them – and also living a life of immense gratitude and guilt.
Isn’t gratitude as rare as a £100m Lottery win?
Tony Foulds has suffered 75 years of guilt, now he can die a happy man, hopefully, peacefully in his sleep!
Hence, isn’t it time for every speeding driver to be found guilty of unlawfully burning fossil fuel, (fuelling asthma and cancer), and denying today’s children ‘All hope of peace on Earth’? Allan Ramsay, Radcliffe
Where are trade deals?
WHY does Theresa May insist that her Brexit deal delivers on what the British people want?
The truth is that the deal virtually delivers on what the Remainers (she being one) wants.
The majority vote was to leave and this spineless Government quaked in its boots when the result of the referendum came through.
Whatever happened to the true grit, determination, courage and standing up to the bullies that Britain is renowned for?
Our ancestors showed all the above attributes in abundance through two world wars, and in true British fashion began to re-build, prosper and have a major standing in the world.
I can’t help but feel that this Government missed a trick from day one of the referendum verdict – namely, to put it to the EU that our people had voted to leave and that’s exactly what we shall do as of now.
If the EU would like to discuss any future deals then we would be only too happy to listen to what they have in mind.
Instead this gutless Government, fronted by the feeble Mrs May, took the cap-in-hand route and, in my eyes, almost begged the bullies for a deal. The needless, tedious last two years has laughed in the face of democracy and achieved absolutely nothing. We could, and should have, by now be reaping the rewards of trade deals around the world, and showing the EU that this is Britain. Alan Walker, Salford