Cross-examining Portia
On Friday evening, I attended the inaugural Chancellor's Lecture at the University of Ulster. The speaker was one of Britain's best-known QCs, (nicknamed "the nation's favourite Portia"), who spoke about "Law and Democracy in a Changing World."
Just prior to the lecture, I interviewed Helena Kennedy. We talked about her working-class roots in Glasgow, her decision to make a career in the law, and her involvement in new Labour politics. She indicted Tony Blair as the perpetrator of an illegal war, who has harmed international law and human rights; though, when pushed, she said she wouldn't like to see him tried for war crimes in an international court. She also comes to the defence of the embattled former education secretary Ruth Kelly. Helena Kennedy is, as always, extremely engaging, provocative, and candid -- and you can hear that interview in full on tomorrow's Sunday Sequence from 8.30 am.
Comments
God save us from middle-aged born again ex communists and ex socialists who have found personal salvation in the sacrosanct religion of the law. They鈥檙e on a crusade to save the world by remaking it into their own private vision of Utopia. Remarkable how they always find ways to wield the legal scepter in the name of their cause so selectively, forgetting all the prior transgressions by the criminals on their own side. They come armed with truth, the law, and their moral indignation. Did the war in Iraq damage international law? I for one hope and pray it has been struck down stone cold dead, a wooden stake straight through its black heart. Useless in the extreme it has become a menace to all of us in the civilized world. The absence of that farcical pretense would be far preferable to anarchy with a fig leaf we have now. Kennedy is a confused bundle of notions and contradictions about people and institutions with no sense of the real world. She鈥檇 indict Tony Blair? Where was her indictment and outrage at Saddam Hussein? Does her notion of law require a politically agreed to piece of paper to forcibly remove a tyrant who murdered over a million people and likely had her nation on his list of upcoming targets? War resulting in lots of deaths? Yes Baroness, that is one inevitable consequence of war, that鈥檚 how it鈥檚 waged, by killing dangerous people we don鈥檛 like and are afraid would kill us given the opportunity. Do you suppose she would have indicted Winston Churchill for Dresden? How dare she refuse the Iraqis a chance at life after liberation from the domination of a merciless psychopathic tyrant when she and her family enjoyed exactly the same? Doesn鈥檛 she know enough history to understand why she speaks English and not German?
She doesn鈥檛 like the Conservative Party because it support鈥檚 鈥渢he kind of small government that feeds into individualism of a kind of that I don鈥檛 like.鈥 A slip of the tongue madam? Hardly, that鈥檚 her true nature. That tells me all I need to know about Baroness Kennedy. What kind of individualism doesn鈥檛 she like? I鈥檇 bet any kind which allows people to deviate from her notion of the collective morality, which allows them to profit from their own initiative, inventiveness, and industry. In short, she鈥檚 a typical Euro-socialist. She is still in my view deep down a Bolshevik tyrant at heart. Her transformation from revolutionary radical to crusading lawyer is a tactical one, not one of substance or ultimate motive. Her views are not all that different from her namesakes, the clan that controls The People鈥檚 Democratic Republic of Massachusetts. Her devotion to public service to further her own cause gives new meaning to the aphorism 鈥淣oblesse Oblige.鈥 Portia?鈥r Lucrecia Borgia?
Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws interview was inspirational and motivational and I would suggest that working class kids listen to it on how education can be used by the working class as a means for social transformation sadly the majority of working class families still haven鈥檛 learnt this costly lesson.
The motivation behind Baroness Kennedy professional achievements has been the social deprivation that she experienced growing up in Glasgow, I connected with her as she mentioned going to the public baths for her weekly bath as I attended the Grove Baths for my weekly bath along with my mates every Saturday.
She had an unselfish sacrificial attitude for the small people starting out in her professional legal career which was the bases for her future success, she has only reaped what she has sown all credit to her.
Thankfully she has a social conscience and has a vision for social justice and compassion which has stood the test of time throughout her legal career her actions speak louder than words.
It is good to see that she is a supporter of the Scottish Presbyterian socialist, Gordon Brown, another person that has a sense of social compassion and justice for the greater good of the community at large.
Of course every parent wants the best for their children, but part of her argument in supporting Ruth Kelly鈥檚 decision to make use of private education is flawed because Ruth Kelly鈥檚 political philosophy of state education isn鈥檛 consistent with her practice; the facts speak for themselves Ruth Kelly presided over the axing of 2,770 places in special needs schools in 2005 and another 2,051 in 2006 effectively removing education for special needs children from socially deprived backgrounds who haven鈥檛 the same privileged position as Ruth Kelly, New Labour are so hell bent on having the general populous suffer the inadequate state educational system as being sufficient to meet the needs of all dyslexic children when it clearly isn鈥檛, this is visibly evident by Ruth Kelly鈥檚 selfish attitude.
Very good interview, most enjoyable.
BC
Billy, are you surprised that Ruth Kelly turned out to be a limousine liberal and that Baroness Kennedy supported her? I'm not, where I come from that is the norm. Especially for the likes of a big fat old gray one who would have found himself in prison for much of his life for drunk driving manslaughter had his father not bought him and his family an entire State with some of the profits of his illegal whiskey smuggling business he ran during prohibition.
Yes, very good interview Will, most enjoyable. I think however the species is far less rare and exotic on my side of the pond. Mercifully, most of them will die out in the next few decades although I don't expect them to become entirely extinct.
Baroness Helena Kennedy's major fault is that she sees collectivist policies as the only answer to the kind of social deprivation she managed to escape. Socialism, to her, is the only way to achieve her goals. But, as Mark points out, it's her own version of morality that becomes the morality of the collective. Individuals are the enemy- she said it herself. Scary, scary stuff. Thankfully I rarely hear that kind of arrogance so blatantly here out west.
I don't blame anyone in the UK for not posting on this subject given the libel laws there and the possible consequences of arousing the wrath of "She who must be obeyed." :>)
Baroness Kennedy revealed quite a bit about herself. She said that while age had made her more reflective, she had not changed or presumably tempered her views from earlier in her life. In my view the answer to William's question about the change in political position by those who are extreme radicals on the left in their youth to exteme right wing later in life is that their basic view of other people, that they need to be forcibly controlled has not budged one inch, only the rationalization in their own minds justifying it has changed.
I've known and known of a lot of people with her views including some radical lawyers. Some I haven't known are famous. William Kuntsler (now deceased) was one. A popular radio talk show host Ron Kubie "whose mommy was a commie" airs on WABC in NYC every weekday morning and shares billing with Curtis Sliwa who heads a neighborhood crime watch organization (unarmed of course.) They pretend to battle each other (their theme song is from the movie Rocky) but they are actually good friends.
Somewhere I read that there are two million lawyers in the US. Is that even possible, that one out of every 150 of us is a lawyer? Nah, couldn't be. Having been absorbed with Rumpole of the Baily during the last week, I'd like to know if any of it actually reflects the state of judicial practice in the UK. It certainly is very different from what happens in the US in both form and substance. Do judges still wear those silly Santa Claus suits and horsehair wigs? Are they really so inane? Yes my Lordship, No my Lordship, whatever pleases you my Lordship. Nah, couldn't be.
Question; what is the difference between a lady lawyer and a pit bull?
Answer: Lipstick. :>)
Oh how I'd love to see Baroness Kennedy try a case in Judge Judy's (Judith Scheindlin) Court. Judge Judy makes an excellent case...against marriage. I think Judge Judy would eat the Baroness for lunch....just like she eats everyone else. Now that would be a cat fight worth the price of admission. It would make that silly row on BB that has Britain and India up in arms look like a minor spat. Do you get this rebroadcast in Britain? It's on national TV every weekday in America.
Here's another take on Judge Judy
Will, I don't know if this link is suitable for this forum. Check it out carefully first if you consider publishing it but it is pretty funny.