‘Accountability is the antithesis of independence. Judges who hold their positions at the pleasure of the executive will be expected to please the executive. Which, of course, is the whole idea’

Prosecutors, judges and politicians unite to deny us the right to trial by jury. Yet, like democracy, it is the least bad option

Mandatory reporting of suspicions of child abuse may sound like a good idea, but it would make prosecutions less, not more, likely

The MP's suggestion that I had stolen from his pamphlet rankled. I did nothing of the sort.

'The European Convention on Human Rights is to a substantial degree a Conservative document. Withdrawal is a bad idea'

The 'modernising' of the judiciary by politicians, and their insistence judges be cosy with senior civil servants, undermines a centuries-old institution