There have been some interesting and subtle changes to the way the law works in the UK. For example a recent decision has established that someone is ‘guilty by accusation’ even if it’s been proved those accusations are in fact false!!
The case of John Pinnington who was falsely accused of sexually assaulting three of his pupils whilst teaching a school for autistic youngsters is one of these.
Despite the cases being investigated by police and having no action taken in any of them, the accusations are on Mr Pinningtons record and a judge has determined there they should remain! The decision means any and all potential future employers must *also* be told about the accusations meaning he can never again resume his career in teaching!
The argument is that any accusation that includes unsubstantiated abuse allegations should only remain on record if there is good cause to believe they are true. A subjective decision perhaps but surely one that could be worked with. However, the judge decided employers needed to know that allegations had been made and for them to be able to make their own decisions, especially when they were employing people working with vulnerable youngsters.
The question remains though… if this decision stands… how does one clear ones name from false allegations? The answer seems to be that mud sticks and basically… you can’t!
For John Pinnington this means his career in teaching is probably at an end.
The Eclectic Interweb 
shades of the French Revolution —–I denounce so and so – off with his head!
and now there are serious moves afoot for some trials to be conducted without a jury as the issues may be too “complicated” for them to follow
Land of the Free? This Labour government purporting to represent the working class, of which the majority of us are members, is .gradually becoming more draconian and dictatorial using the time honoured excuse of all those who deprive the people of their liberty that we are doing this for YOUR pritection and you should be thanking us instead of complaining.
One camera for every seven of the populatio
Big Brother is watching YOU abd him and him and him etc
To be fair well before we left the UK we’d been out in the streets protesting about Maggie Thatcher’s Police Bill which extended police powers way beyond what we thought was reasonable and fair.
It isn’t just Labour who have been eroding civil liberties. The Conservatives were eroding civil liberties long before Labour started doing it. For more evidence, just look what they did to the GLC!! It seems to be more and more widespread that the worlds democracies are taking on board the major features of dictatorships.