Categories
Politics

The Legal Dope

Saturday’s protest called “Cannabis Reform Demonstration” has sparked off a few interesting discussions on the ether. The Times finds itself at the end of many an accusing finger for what seems to be a deliberate attempt to put cannabis in a bad light through “slanted” reporting and not so hidden innuendos. It’s not that reports on the harmful effects of drugs suddenly surface as the demo-day draws closer – it’s the deliberate attempt at confusion, putting cannabis on the same scale as the real killer drugs. I am not here though to go into the scientific evidence of the effects of drugs or to discuss the salutary effects of a good high or, for that matter, the negative consequences of control-freak prohibition.

Another interesting aspect has surfaced in this sudden revival of the Dope Discussion. MaltaToday carried a feature about the fact that “lurking behind next Saturday’s planned march in Valletta is a far wider-reaching challenge, which aims to end the absolute discretion enjoyed by the office of the Attorney General on decisions which would radically affect the possible sentences for certain crimes – drug-related offences being but one example.” Now I may be physically cut off from the Maltese scene but I have still to find a reference elsewhere to this aspect of the demo.

Is the demo or is it not a challenge to “the absolute discretion enjoyed by the AG’s office”? MT has quotes from two lawyers specialising in criminal defence – Joseph Giglio and Franco Debono. We do find a frank “admission” if you like halfway through the article that:

Independently of Saturday’s protest, lawyers like Giglio and Debono openly question the sheer breadth of the Attorney General’s discretion to choose between different courts (with all the serious implications for sentencing), in the light of a number of anomalous and often inconsistent decisions: including, but not limited to, the case of Daniel Holmes, whose 11-year sentence exceeded the very maximum he would otherwise have faced, had his case been heard before the Magistrates’ Court.

Well yes. The thing is that the aim of such a demo is probably best served if the demonstrators were to concentrate on the punishment – the severity of punishments determined by law for the crime of possession of cannabis and similar crimes. Even if it is not all out legalisation the problem here is more that a Welshman is in prison for 10 years for possessing what many would agree to be a harmless drug (though not the experts consulted by the Times). That is where the focus should be.

Whether politicians who in their spare time act as criminal lawyers (or should it be vice-versa) should be diverting the focus of the protest in connivance with a newspaper is questionable. I have no doubt that there could be an occasion to discuss the merits and demerits of the set-up for criminal prosecution and the very specific powers of the Attorney General but this is definitely not the time to be confusing issues. Taking advantage of public sentiment (even if a minority) with regards to the issue of penalties for cannabis-related crimes in order to rough through an amendment to an important part of our criminal procedure is just not done.

And one last note, one that we have often repeated from this blog. It is hard enough to be living in a country where human resources are not that easy to come by and therefore where specialisation in a field means you stand there with a few other good men or women. What we do not need is the two-hat politician who reforms the laws with one hand and benefits from them in his professional capacity with another. Good intentions or not is beside the point.

Like justice, law making must also be performed in a transparent manner.

 

 

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Categories
iTech

The Hard Drive

While shopping for goods to fill the Christmas stockings you might have gone to some IT product store and had a good look at the prices for hardware goods. If you were shocked at the sudden hike in price for external drives for your PC/Mac or in the price for certain laptops you might be glad to know there is a reason for that. As L’Essentiel reports, we are witnessing the butterfly effect from the floods in Thailand. Companies producing hard drives and laptops have had their production practically halted and the slowdown has caused a lower supply: enter the magic of market forces.

This kind of news is an eye opener for those among us who tend to think that prices of goods and the operation of the market is entirely dependent on some paper-pushing Ministers’ decision. The same applies for those among us who believe that markets and even national economies can ever operate again in isolation.

And if a series of floods in Thailand can effect the purchasing habits in a medium-sized French town I am baffled at how some commentators can still shout hurray at David Cameron’s choice of isolating Britain from the decisions that will be taken from now on to consolidate the European Union’s (and it’s Single Market) position economically and on the world stage.

Cameron thinks he drove a hard deal. A hard drive? Sure, but with expensive consequences.

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Politics

Parliamentary Salaries

Italy’s parliament has rejected a first project to reduce the perks and salaries of Italian MPs. The cut was another link in the chain of actions being taken by Monti’s technocrat government and although the collective salary of a bunch of MPs will never ever solve the national deficit – whatever the national parliament we are talking about – this kind of move tends to be an important symbolic move if nothing else. According to the Italian MPs the reason they are rejecting this law is because the terms in which it was phrased were unconstitutional. House leader Gianfranco Fini confirmed that the salary cut will happen – sooner rather than later. The MP salary deal in Malta will remain a sour deal and a tough cookie to wave aside in the pre-election tam-tam. Government friendly observers might point out that the move served to put ministers and opposition MPs on the same standing and that it will benefit ALL parliamentarians but the fact remains that the Maltese raise was made as surreptitiously as they could manage. It might be good to bear in mind though that the issue at hand when the anti-government complaints come through is not whether the salary suffices but whether the politicians are acting in solidarity with the people.

And yes, the people will always put themselves before their politicians. How else could it be?

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Articles

J’accuse : Cool Britannia?

Listening to London’s Heart radio on a Saturday morning, I got to know that for the first time ever the capital’s Oxford and Regent streets would be traffic free for the whole day. The reason for this car-free bonanza was of course shopping. Londoners who forwent the option of visiting such colossi as Bluewater and Brent Cross would be granted the possibility of traipsing around the main shopping streets free from the polluting nuisance of cars. Conservative estimates had it that by the evening of this busiest shopping day of the year (for London), a million and a half shoppers would have hit the stores − presumably to spend some of their well-earned British Pounds.

Nothing abnormal there is there? Whether it is Sliema, Valletta or London, every town will be doing its best to get the lion’s share of the Christmas spending market and London is no exception. Enthusiasm oozed out of the radio as the announcer coordinated listeners through traffic jams, transport hitches and special opening times towards the giant Mecca of consumption. Here was Britain’s answer to the US Black Friday. There was even a whiff of the Dickensian Christmas that could be detected through the advertorials… until the half-hourly news stepped in.

Are you being deceived?

Yep. For the news could not miss out on the greatest item of the day. Europe (the naughty, naughty EU) had decided to forge ahead without the UK. It was all over the place − from the indignation and anger of Sarkozy, the unaffected matter-of-factness of Frau Merkel, and the schoolboy half-hearted apologies of David Cameron: The Euro 17 + 9 others (that means all the EU minus the UK) will forge ahead with an intergovernmental pact. The Euro Debt Summit (you know how bad things are when the word “Debt” creeps into the summit title) had unsurprisingly resulted in egg on the face for whoever thought that states would pool sovereignty as easily as they pool debts.

The best off-record comment I read about the summit has been attributed to an anonymous French diplomat. He said: “The Brits turned up to the Euro Summit like a man who turns up to a wife-swapping party without a wife.” I’m assuming it was not Strauss-Kahn who said that but probably someone with very much the same mentality. What did happen of course is that many states were not that eager to have a rapid tinker with the Treaties as the Merkozy duo had suggested at the beginning of the week. What they have opted for is the sort of Intergovernmental Agreement that consolidates the belief that we are still at a stage where nations and their sovereignty come before any idea of union and solidarity, which is also what federations are about.

United we lend

Behind the minutiae of the agreement lie a few unaltered truths. States will hang on to their fiscal policies and will only allow a mechanism that punishes deficit defaulters if they are allowed to create the deficit in the first place. Essentially, while the Lisbon criteria regarding deficits were a sort of invitation to budgetary discipline, the new agreement turns that invitation into compulsory conformity − with consequences for those who fail.

Why is the UK out? The UK is out because it never was really that far in. It sat at the table for 10 hours demanding the impossible in exchange for its participation. Frankly, the UK is not the problem. The issue here is how much of this is a long-term solution and how much will turn out to be cosmetic playing to the markets. The opting for an intergovernmental approach is also a clear sign that Europe might have once again missed its chance of institutional integration within a federal framework. One of this week’s blog posts on J’accuse (http://www.akkuza.com/2011/12/06/aaa/) looks at a speech delivered by Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski.

Calling spades

Sikorski’s speech has the added advantage of having that no-nonsense approach. Here are his words of advice to the UK:

You have given the Union its common language. The Single Market was largely your brilliant idea. A British commissioner runs our diplomacy. You could lead Europe on defence. You are an indispensable link across the Atlantic. On the other hand, the eurozone’s collapse would hugely harm your economy. Also, your total sovereign, corporate and household debt exceeds 400 per cent of GDP. Are you sure markets will always favour you? We would prefer you in, but if you can’t join, please allow us to forge ahead. And please start explaining to your people that European decisions are not Brussels’ diktats but results of agreements in which you freely participate.

If you can’t join us please allow us to forge ahead. That was Sikorski’s “plea” to the UK on 28th November. By 9th December, Europe was doing just that − forging ahead.

The UK was left wondering whether this opt-out was really such a good deal after all. Either that or, instead of wondering, it was busy shopping in Oxford and Regent streets because the recession might turn out to be one big Brussels lie after all … might it not?

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Mediawatch

We are like dictatorate state

The abysmal levels to which we have descended insofar as the language of Shakespeare is concerned provide much food for thought about our nation. It’s not just pronunciation in the manner of a Maltese Arsenal fan during an impromptu interview outside the Emirates Stadium. It’s not a flustered Miss Malta doing her best to sound like a woman of the world who juggles between sushi lessons and saving the Japanese nation from the tsunami aftermath. It’s a general “alazobbizmu” that has taken over when it comes to stringing a few words in English. The cult of “u ijja fhimtni” (bah… so long as you understood) has long overtaken the “chip on the shoulder” reply of “I’m Maltese and not born in London” which is also an enigmatic reply.

The UK might have started the slow and painful separation process from the EU project. English as it is spake in the outlying lands of Europa is in for a jolly funny ride. Here is Mario J Spiteri commenting on Bocca’s column and providing us with more than one candidate for funny t-shirt slogans.

 Mario J Spiteri

Today, 15:31
Oh Dr. ABC, like PN had done last week at their HQ. Shame on you dear with all respect, you should be sorry for insult the intelligence with your contribution. YES if you want to hide that now we are the same when PN was, one cannot show that he/she is Labourite. We are not a totalitary state. Well you’re showing properly that we are like dictatorate state with the peaceful angels (devils dressed in angels vest)

Bumper sticker 1: SHAME ON YOU DEAR WITH ALL RESPECT

Bumper sticker 2: SORRY FOR INSULT THE INTELLIGENCE

Bumper sticker 3: WE ARE THE SAME WHEN PN WAS

Bumper sticker 4: WE ARE NOT A TOTALITARY STATE

Bumper sticker 5: YOU’RE SHOWING PROPERLY

Bumper sticker 6: WE ARE LIKE DICTATORATE STATE WITH THE PEACEFUL ANGELS

 

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Euroland

That Intergovernmental Feeling

 

 

So we have the first results out from the latest round of talks to “save the Euro” and “tackle the crisis”. You have probably read about the UK’s latest “opt-out”, about how this means that there will be further “deepening” between the euro-zone 17 + (probably) 8 others while the UK, Sweden and (some have mentioned) Hungary sit on the fence. You might have quizzed the use of the words “golden rule” and wondered whether Malta’s PM and Opposition leader actually can do anything about the direction Euro politics is taking – was their adamant stance against a common fiscal system just a bit of brinkmanship or did they really mean it? Has Europe just skipped a gluttonous opportunity/excuse to go federal? Will the UK’s “splendid isolationsim” be justified?

Those questions and much more will be tackled (or left unanswered) in the next full post on J’accuse. Yes.

P.S. The current layout is temporary and we sincerely apologise for the sporadic posts on your facebook newsfeeds.

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