From the Library

23 September 2008 at 15:37 | In Personal, Random | 1 Comment

I’m writing this from the Uni Library.  I have no access to the internet from my new place (yet).

More soon!

A place to live

18 September 2008 at 23:52 | In Personal, Random | 1 Comment

Today my accommodation problems were solved.   I have signed a lease and paid a deposit.  I now share a nice 4 bed house with three other guys!

It is such a relief to know that I actually now have a place to live, and in time for the new semester beginning on Tuesday.

I am one of the lucky ones.  There are still hundreds of students in Anytown still trying to find a place to live.  There is a massive shortage of accommodation and the rental prices are much higher than normal due to there being too high a demand for the available stock.  This is the second year in a row that students in Anytown have faced this problem and I suspect, given the state of the UK economy, it will be something that shall be repeated next year.

Update: A personal journey

15 September 2008 at 01:46 | In Personal, Random | 5 Comments

Okay, so I discussed with a friend of mine my current personal journey and he recommended going on an Alpha Course.  I got a bit more information from him as to what it was all about and then punched it into Google.

Lots of fascinating articles and website came up and I spent hours reading and listening to speeches and such like.  The more I read and listened the more it made sense.  I still find much of it hard to believe, but slowly it is making sense.

Is there a God?  I’m still not sure, but I think there might be.

Revealed: UK’s first official sharia courts

14 September 2008 at 18:26 | In Civil Law, English Law, Legal System, Scots Law | Leave a Comment

The Times published this article today on their website and it has caused a massive pro-BNP discussion on a forum which I am a member of.  It is really quite infuriating as everyone seems to have lost all reason and are paying no attention whatsoever to those of us on the forum (it’s a student on) who happen to undertake the study of Law when we explain the situation of it.  So, I’ve decided that I am going to explain it here (just in case anyone else has gotten the wring idea).

Sharia Law conjures up many nasty images, and quite rightly so.  The criminal aspects to Sharia law are abhorrent with thieves having their limbs amputated, gay people being executed and so on.  However, this is not only what Sharia Law is about.

Sharia Law is a description of the set of principles Muslims are meant to live by, including aspects worship, penal law, and personal law. Sharia is everywhere a group of Muslims are, and it’s practised in Britain today too in the form of Muslim ‘councils’. But these councils don’t obviously sentence any Muslim, they can’t practice penal law, in fact these councils primarily use are to handle divorces under Islamic law.

Nothing has really changed.  The tribunals that this article is referring to are still not allowed to practice penal (or criminal) law.  They are using a widely used method of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) called arbitration.  Companies and private individuals in the UK have been resolving disputes through Arbitration and other methods of ADR for quite some time.  There are many advantages to using Arbitration such as it being cheaper and quicker than going to litigation through the civil courts.

What has changed is that the awards from these tribunals can now be enforced by the civil courts, like awards from arbitration have always been.

The main difference is that these Sharia tribunals are slightly more organised than the arbitration we are used to.  This doesn’t mean that it is fundamentally different, it just means that the Muslim community have been motivated to organise their ADR in this way.

We are not, as a result of this, going to see Muslim Police running around Britain, arresting Muslim people for crimes and then dispensing the penal justice Sharia Law has come to be associated with.  This is outside of the jurisdiction of ADR.

A personal Journey: Religion

12 September 2008 at 00:22 | In Personal, Random | 6 Comments

For as long as I can remember I’ve been nothing other than atheist and have never quite understood why someone would choose to blindly follow a religion when there is absolutely no evidence to support the existence of God or much in the way of conclusive evidence to support the very foundations of many of the worlds major religions.

In fact about 8 months ago I stood and gave a speech on religion and spoke about Christ psychosis and the various ways in which religion mimics many of the symptoms of mental illness such as Schizophrenia (and considering my audience was made up entirely of devout Christians I managed to come out relatively unscathed)

However, over the last month or so (for some weird and unknown reason) I have been looking at it all differently.  I’m as confused now about religion as I was five years ago over my sexuality.  I’m prepared to go on what ever personal journey that this change in thought takes me on and see where I come out at the end.

It’s just weird though, how six months ago I was standing giving the speech I mentioned above (I still have a typed copy of it and may publish it here for you to read) and now I’m starting to question my own lack of belief in God…

Perverse Verdict

11 September 2008 at 11:17 | In Criminal Justice, Criminal Law, English Law | 1 Comment

Yesterday at Maidstone Crown Court a jury returned what can only be described as one of the most perverse verdicts in recent legal history.  They cleared six Greenpeace activists of causing £35,000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power station in a direct action protest.

The jury accepted the defence argument that the six activists had a lawful excuse to cause the damage.  Under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 a person may lawfully cause criminal damage to prevent bigger damage from happening i.e. one could lawfully kick in the door of a burning house in order to tackle the fire.

This verdict raises massive problems; it seriously raises the possibility of massive amounts of damage that would otherwise be criminal during future direct action protests and for more people to get away with it.

Yes, climate change is a big problem and we should be tackling it.  However, t should not be used as an excuse to get away with causing tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage to private property.  This verdict really is perverse and shows just how wrong juries can get it (not that I’m in any way advocating the abolition of juries).

Score!

10 September 2008 at 23:59 | In Personal, Random, University | Leave a Comment

I went through the online matriculation system at university for next year and was pleasantly surprised.  Under the finance section I had expected to see a figure that needed to be paid, instead it read “Fully funded”!

As I’m repeating part of my second year I should have been paying a pro rata equivalent of the full time fees (£1,775), which in my case was to be £665.00, but it would appear that I don’t have to!

That will ease the pressure ever so slightly next year financially!

Love?

7 September 2008 at 15:15 | In Random | 12 Comments

What is love?

Is it when they’re the first and last thing you think about each day and not an hour goes by without them being in your thoughs?

Or is it when you skip a heartbeat when you see them or hear their name?

When you become ever so slightly breathless when you’re in the same room as them?

Is it more than that?

Is it too great for words to describe?

Sorry

6 September 2008 at 12:32 | In Personal, Random | Leave a Comment

I do apologise for my lack of blogging recently.  It has not been anywhere near as frequent as I would like it to be.

I am still in the search of somewhere to live and only have another week off work to look.  I have had to move back to HomeCity and into my parent’s house as I have nowhere to live in Anytown.  I am considering approaching the council when I am in Anytown next week to see if they can be of any assistance.

Torcher Teens Sentenced

5 September 2008 at 00:07 | In Criminal Justice, Criminal Law, Scots Law | Leave a Comment

The two teenagers who injured people at the annual Torcher parade in Aberdeen when the motorcycle they were driving crashed into spectators of the event have been sentenced.

17 year old Lewis Westlake-Tritton was at the controls of the bike and earlier admitted to driving the bike erratically.

Graeme Hunter, 18, was found guilty of culpable and reckless conduct, at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.

In sentencing the two teenagers to a period of detention at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, Sheriff Graeme Buchanon said:

It was absolutely clear that an accident of some kind was inevitable.

As a result of this accident, a number of people suffered serious injuries which are likely to cause them difficulties for a lengthy period of time.

There is really no alternative for me other than impose a custodial sentence.

Each was sentenced to a period of 5 years detention.

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