bruceandholly

Concerns Over Jury Trials in Leveson’s Proposals

July 12, 2025 bruceandholly

I’m nervous about Leveson’s proposals to abolish jury trial in intermediate cases and replace them with trial by a judge and two magistrates. It is as though he’s suggesting that either way offences carrying a likely penalty of less than 3 years imprisonment are not serious. But a theft conviction can be very serious if you lose your career as a result. Fair enough if you are actually guilty of the offence charged. That’s where the jury comes in. People like you and me with the same collective sense of fairness and justice. Not quite the same when you are facing an impatient prosecution-minded magistrate or judge who just wants to get through their case list. And what is the point of even electing trial, if you are not going to get to argue your case before 12 people who are living similar lives as you are.

Another thing I have long noticed is the increasing remoteness for our justice system from common expectations of right and wrong. Where everything seems to be decided on on academic technicality. We’ve come a long way since the passing of ‘people’s judge’, Tom Denning. Then there is the secrecy over the judicial appointments process itself. Whether it’s the appointment of judges and magistrates or the members of a parole board, who ignore public outrage when releasing a dangerous murderer. Who appoints these people? I’m sure that I have never been consulted. All that is left between them and us is 12 members of a jury. Now they want to take that away, Why? Because of successive government incompetence when it comes to our criminal justice system. How does it save money by delaying a case for two or three years instead of bringing it on now? It just doesn’t make sense to me.

My own solution would be to move to an American system of elected judges and magistrates. Make them accountable.

culture, Uncategorized

Glastonbury 2025 – too much of the same old

June 28, 2025 bruceandholly

We talk a lot about diversity. But when it comes to popular music, there seems to be none. This year’s Glastonbury Festival looks to me like too much of the same-old. When I switched on my television, the first act I saw was a slightly overweight young lady singing and dancing in a leotard. The audience loved it. So perhaps it was just me.

Don’t get me wrong. There were a couple of acts I did enjoy watching, like the two rap singers and Gracie Abrams, an interesting artist who I hadn’t seen before. Then it was back to the same old. Look! I want to be entertained. Not listen to someone giving me a message.

Then there are the headliners. Usually bands I’ve never heard of. That’s not to say that there are some artists whom I would gladly make time to watch. Like Dua Lipa, Blondie or Robbie Williams, who appeared a year or two back. This year I believe it’s Rod Stewart, whom I last saw live at the 1973 Weeley Pop Festival. So maybe I’ll spend an hour watching Rod

society

Why We Should Enjoy Hot Weather: A UK Perspective

June 21, 2025 bruceandholly

I never understand why today it is fashionable to see hot sunny weather as a problem instead of something to be celebrated. As a child going up in the UK, we never had weather like this. Yes, we might get a few sunny days. Rarely above 75°. But mostly, English weather was dreary dreary dreary. Rarely a winter went by with at least one heavy snowfall during January or February, lasting several weeks. Another winter feature was the fog, which made driving conditions difficult. A new phrase was coined, ‘motorway madness’ to describe the vehicle pile ups which occurred when drivers would insist on driving at speed through heavy fog, following the tail-lights of the vehicle in front. In those days, if you wanted hot sunshine, you had to pay for it by buying a package holiday to Spain.

I remember driving through London at the end of 1978 after heavy snowfall and in freezing temperatures.

Because it happened in the days between Christmas and New Year, no-one was prepared to get out of bed to grit the roads. That was a journey I’d never want to repeat. We passed so many smashed up cars.

Things had already begun to change with the long hot Indian summer of 1976 when we had an invasion of giant red ladybirds which would bite you. Anyone remember that? Then in September 2003, the Mercury hit 100° for the first time in living memory in the UK. Wouldn’t someone living in the mini ice age of 17th century Britain have envied that?

Of course a warmer climate in the UK means that adjustments have to be made. I think we are still too much of an ‘ indoor society’, when we should be getting out and enjoying the sunshine, like they do in other parts of the world. It’s why I like to take my computer outside and do my work instead of sitting in a stuffy box room. I’ve never believed in air conditioning. It has never made sense to me for someone to spend money burning energy to keep us in a freezer. How is that good for the planet? If I need to be inside, I’d much rather have a big wooden ceiling fan chug chug chugging overhead

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Uncategorized

London Borough of Redbridge v G Romford County Court 5th February 2025 – Housing Possession

June 14, 2025 bruceandholly

I’m sorry but if you thought you were going to be able to download a transcript of this important judgement, I’m afraid that you are going to be disappointed. That’s unless you are prepared to pay the court stenographer yourself to listen to the tapes and type up that transcript. And that’s going to be expensive. Because Romford County Court is not a court of record. But the case is important because it reminds local authority conveyancers what can happen if they complete on the purchase of a property which happens to be occupied by a residential tenant. Even if that tenant had previously occupied under a shorthold tenancy, which could be ended as any time on 2 months written notice. What is worse, is that an existing shorthold tenancy automatically then converts into a fully secure tenancy under the Housing Act 1985. What a bonus for that residential tenant! Not only do they now have lifetime security. They’ve also got a statutory right to buy. And all because of a simple conveyancing error.

It is standard conveyancing practice that the existence of any residential adult occupier of the property must be disclosed to the buyer before contracts are exchanged. That will include anyone occupying under a shorthold tenancy. If this is not done and those occupancy rights are not brought to an end before completion, the buyer will take subject to those rights of occupation forevermore. Which was what had happened in this case. In fact there was nothing to suggest that the landlord had taken any formal step to terminate the shorthold tenancy, before that transaction completed.

A further physical inspection should take place on the morning of completion just to make sure that the property is in fact vacant before the balance of the purchase money is released. Getting it wrong is always expensive.

business

Top Tips for Filing Your Self-Assessment Tax Return

June 8, 2025 bruceandholly

I never understand why some people wait until almost the January 31st deadline to submit their self-assessment tax return. Or forget to do it altogether and cop a £100 penalty. I uploaded mine yesterday. And it was easier than I had expected. It’s actually a long time since I last filed my own tax return. I had been using a payroll company to do this. But they stopped providing this service. So I had a choice of either finding another accountant or dealing with it myself. I did the latter.

I always used to fill out my own tax returns using the paper forms which HMRC posted out to me. One day my completed form got lost in the system and I began to worry as I got closer to the submission deadline. Online submission was at that time very new and difficult to navigate. Which was why I gave £150 to the payroll company to file it on my behalf.

Even if you are not required to submit a self-assessment tax return, there may be reasons why it is advantageous to do so, particularly if there are things which you can legitimately deduct from your tax liability, like professional subscriptions. So here are a several tips for anyone who has to fill out a self-assessment tax questionnaire:

Pull together the information and get it in as soon as possible, so that you don’t have to worry about it later. Best time to get it in is as soon as you get your P60 (perhaps more than one if you have a portfolio of jobs). It’s better to know now if something is missing, than later.

2. Keep accurate records so that you have all the information to hand when you fill out the online form, particularly about those legitimate deductibles, like professional subscriptions and training courses. I included in my own tax return a deduction of £177 for sundries. But that deduction could have been much bigger if I had kept better records of business purchases. Like the letter-scale which I purchased several months back from Amazon so that I didn’t have to traipse along to the post office and wait in line every time needed to post a larger item. I’ll make sure that I don’t forget when I fill out next year’s return.

3. Don’t forget those charitable donations which you made through the tax year. Legitimate charities can claim back basic rate tax relief directly on any donations you make. But this doesn’t mean that you can’t set it against higher rate tax by including it as a deductible on your tax return. The effect of a gift aid charitable donation is boost your basic rate threshold to reduce the amount of higher rate tax which you would otherwise pay