Harriot Harman on Question Time

24 September 2009 at 23:17 | In Immigration Law, Politics | Leave a Comment

I’m just watching Question Time and noticed that Harriet Harman was told that she was wrong when she was correct (rare I know, but she was and I feel I should point this out).

As I said, I hate to say it but Harriot Harman was correct when she said the maximum fine for Baroness Scotland was £5,000 – the £10,000 fine only applies to those who made no attempt to check that someone is entitled to work in the UK.  £5,000 is the maximum fine for making enquiries but not keeping proof of those enquiries or making enough enquiries into someone’s eligibility to work in the UK; which is what the UK Border Agency found in the case of Baroness Scotland.

Saving the UK money

18 September 2009 at 14:47 | In Politics | 4 Comments

Where should the government make savings?  The answer to that is simple:

  • Withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan
  • Cut defence spending
  • Scrap ID Cards
  • Scrap the National Identity Database
  • Cut MPs expenses
  • Cut ministerial salaries
  • Cut MPs basic salaries (do they really need 64,766 a year for what they do – cutting the salary by £20,000 per year would instantly save £12m a year! I say go further though and half the salary saving more than £20m )
  • Stop employing management consultants in the public sector (especially when the reason fro employing the management consultant is to tell you how to cut spending)
  • Scrap PFI – costs the country far more than it does for the Government to actually pay for it itself.
  • Scrap or cut back Trident (scrap would be preferable)
  • Reduce the number of MPs we have (reduce the number by 200 to 445 would be a start; saving £129.5m a year at current salary rates or a further £64m a year at my salary figure above – on top of the savings by cutting the salary)

Telephone Numbers

8 September 2009 at 16:59 | In University | Leave a Comment

Are you a student in Scotland?  Rely on your mobile phone to make all your phone calls?  Need to speak to SAAS or the Student Loans Company?  Well the following two telephone numbers will significantly reduce the cost of these calls as they are local “01″ numbers rather than “0845″ numbers, which often cost more from mobiles.

SAAS Customer Services – 0131 476 3121
Student Loans Company (General Enquiries) – 0141 243 3900

This has been a public service announcement from Ramblings of a Scottish Student

Serach terms

8 September 2009 at 13:42 | In Random | 1 Comment

Following on from Android and Michael’s search terms, here are some of mine for the last month.  Mine are not very funny, some are concerning and the vast majority of the search terms over the last month have been related to compassion within Scots Law and the release of the Lockerbie bomber:

“lord gill’s icl disaster” – I wonder what an ICL disaster is…  I’m assuming this relates to Lord Gill’s report into the ICL Stockline Plastics explosion in 2004, published earlier this year.

“i failed my law exams” – join the club…

“scots law exam” – there are many, which one are you wanting to know about?

“how should i pass my contract law exam?” – revising usually works, but given I’ve failed it twice if you discover the secret then please let me know

“paracetamol overdose” – Once again, this is very bad.  Do not attempt it, yes, put the paracetamol down.  Thank you.

“will a cold get me out of prison early?” – No, it won’t.  Not unless the cold has somehow mutated into a terminal illness.

“is killing the Queen treason?” – Do I really need to answer that one?  Yes, it is.

“what is a perverse verdict?” Well, let’s see…a verdict that is perverse maybe?

“scottish government plural” There is only one of them, thankfully.

“scottish criminal justice jury system” – all criminal trials tried on indictment have a jury of 15

“america annoyed with lockerbie bombers release” – they can be annoyed all they want, not their decision and I don’t really care.

“is it scottish law to let sick prisoners go?” – The terminally ill ones with three months or less to live yes, otherwise no.

“parole board rules for compassionate release” – They have none – the decision falls to the Cabinet Secretary for Justice.

“is torture fun?” – I wouldn’t image so…

My most read post of the last month has been my post on whether changes are needed to the rules and laws on compassionate release from prison

What next? (Part 2: The Decision)

4 September 2009 at 11:49 | In Personal, University | 5 Comments

I have taken a big decision:  I am giving up the Law (at least for just now).

My plan is to move back to my parents’ house and have a year out from university, working full time.  The aim is to get a job that will allow me to be in a financial position to begin studying full time again in September 2010.  Those of you following me on Twitter may have noticed a mention of UCAS several hours before this post went up, so I am sure that you already had guessed that my future lay elsewhere.  Now you are about to find out exactly where I hope that future lies.

I have decided to try and get into a Social Work degree for September 2010.  What does this mean for the blog?  Well I will endeavour to keep blogging and commenting on key political and legal issues from Scotland, the UK and around the world.  Then, come September 2010 should I get into Social Work there will be the student dimension added back in as I record my experiences as a Student Social Worker.

As for the Law, I’m not sure if I will ever return to it.  I may do at sometime in the future; I never rule anything out completely.  Maybe, being a Lawyer is not for me and that I’m just to be content with my interest in the Law.  The time I have spent studying it has been an amazing experience and I have a pretty good grasp of the legal system and the complexity of legal decision making:  something which I am sure I would never have been able to truly understand without having spent this time studying Law.

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