Is Shabana Mahmood’s proposed overhaul of immigration policies, modelled on Denmark’s stringent system, likely to go too far? As the Justice Secretary sends officials to Denmark to study its famously strict asylum rules, is there a danger that a tougher approach will simply risk the Labour party losing votes to the Greens and Crobyn on its left? Or might a less liberal approach save Labour from Reform UK?

In this episode of Double Jeopardy, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC provide expert legal commentary on political current events, such as the proposed immigration reforms and the accidental release of potentially dangerous prisoners from Wandsworth Prison. The Wandsworth incident underscores systemic issues in the UK’s prisons and sentencing system, problems exacerbated by austerity and huge budget cuts. To close out the episode, Tim makes a nod to American politics, discussing Trump’s potentially unlawful use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and US Solicitor General D. John Sauer’s high-paced advocacy in the Supreme Court. 

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Covering the critical intersections of law and politics in the UK with expert commentary on high-profile legal cases, political controversies, prisons and sentencing, human rights law, current political events and the shifting landscape of justice and democracy. With in-depth discussions and influential guests, Double Jeopardy is the podcast that uncovers the forces shaping Britain’s legal and political future. 

What happens when law and politics collide? How do politics shape the law - and when does the law push back? What happens when judicial independence is tested, human rights come under attack, or freedom of expression is challenged? And who really holds power in Britain’s legal and political system? 

Get answers to questions like these weekly on Wednesdays. 

Double Jeopardy is presented by Ken Macdonald KC, former Director of Public Prosecutions, and Tim Owen KC, as they break down the legal and political issues in Britain. From high-profile legal cases to the evolving state of British democracy, Double Jeopardy offers expert legal commentary on the most pressing topics in UK law, politics, and human rights. 

Ken Macdonald KC served as Director of Public Prosecutions from 2003-2008, shaping modern prosecutorial policy and advocating for the rule of law. He is a former Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, a crossbench member of the House of Lords, and a leading writer, commentator and broadcaster on politics and the rule of law. 

Tim Owen KC has been involved in many of the most significant public, criminal and human rights law cases over the past four decades.  

Both bring unparalleled experience from the frontline of Britain's legal and political landscape. 

If you like The Rest Is Politics, Talking Politics, Law Pod UK and Today in Focus, you’ll love Double Jeopardy.

Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC are joined by Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Dame Emily Thornberry, to discuss the evidence given to the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy by key individuals involved in the decisions to prosecute and ultimately abandon the Chinese Spying case (R v Cash and Berry). 

In a highly unusual public examination of the collapse of a politically sensitive prosecution only weeks before it was due to commence, the Joint Committee subjected DPP Stephen Parkinson, First Treasury Counsel Tom Little KC, Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Collins and Attorney General Lord Hermer KC to detailed cross examination over some 4 ½ hours with a view to understanding what had changed since the charging decision in April 2024 to make the case against Messrs Cash and Berry impossible to continue as the DPP and Tom Little claimed.   

Did the judgment in the Russian spy case (R v Roussev) handed down in July 2024 really make any difference to the DPP’s ability to present a case under the Official Secrets Act 1911?  Given the clear and consistent evidence of China’s active threat to the safety and security of the UK during the indictment period as set out in Matt Collins’s three witness statements, why couldn’t a jury determine that China was in law “an enemy” for the purposes of the charge?  

And was Lord Hermer right to lay the blame for the collapse of the trial on the failure of the Conservative government speedily to replace the 1911 Act with an updated National Security Act as recommended by the Law Commission in 2017?

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Covering the critical intersections of politics and law in the UK with expert commentary on high-profile legal cases, political controversies, prisons and sentencing, human rights law, current political events and the shifting landscape of justice and democracy. With in-depth discussions and influential guests, Double Jeopardy is the podcast that uncovers the forces shaping Britain’s legal and political future.   

What happens when politics and law collide? How do politics shape the law - and when does the law push back? What happens when judicial independence is tested, human rights come under attack, or freedom of expression is challenged? And who really holds power in Britain’s legal and political system?  Get answers to questions like these weekly on Wednesdays.  

Double Jeopardy is presented by Ken Macdonald KC, former Director of Public Prosecutions, and Tim Owen KC, as they break down the legal and political issues in Britain. From high-profile legal cases to the evolving state of British democracy, Double Jeopardy offers expert legal commentary on the most pressing topics in UK law, politics, and human rights.   

Ken Macdonald KC served as Director of Public Prosecutions from 2003-2008, shaping modern prosecutorial policy and advocating for the rule of law. He is a former Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, a crossbench member of the House of Lords, and a leading writer, commentator and broadcaster on politics and the rule of law.  Tim Owen KC has been involved in many of the most significant public, criminal and human rights law cases over the past four decades.  Both bring unparalleled experience from the frontline of Britain's legal and political landscape.   

If you like The Rest Is Politics, Talking Politics, Law Pod UK and Today in Focus, you’ll love Double Jeopardy.

Does Shabana Mahmood, like Dominic Cummings before her, believe that the Home Office is a broken, dysfunctional bureaucratic institution that needs a radical overhaul?   

In this week’s episode Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC discuss these and other questions with the former BBC Home Affairs Correspondent and former adviser to Yvette Cooper, Danny Shaw.  The trio respond to the publication of the 2023 review of the effectiveness of the Home Office commissioned by former Home Secretary Suella Braverman in November 2022. See this link for access to the report -https://nicktimothy.com/report-by-nick-timothy-mp-on-the-home-office-exposes-a-culture-of-defeatism-and-poor-management/ 

After debating the implications of Nick Timothy's Review, they discuss the announcement by the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, in the wake of the farcical arrest of comedian Graham Linehan and the decision that he will face no charges, that the Met will no longer investigate Non Crime Hate Incidents (NCHIs).  Will this lead to a nationwide change in policy? 

The Timothy review also finds that the Home Office has a culture of defeatism with immigration staff feeling that failure is inevitable in enforcement of immigration policy and the department’s ability to deliver has worsened rather than improved. Anyone reading Timothy’s findings can well understand why Home Office officials were so keen to ensure that they never saw the light of day,  but does this simply reinforce the need for intense, honest public debate about a key area of Government? 

Finally, the duo revisit the Chinese spying case  and make clear their bemusement at the explanations given by DPP Stephen Parkinson and First Treasury Counsel, Tom Little KC for their decision to drop it.

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Covering the critical intersections of politics and law in the UK with expert commentary on high-profile legal cases, political controversies, prisons and sentencing, human rights law, current political events and the shifting landscape of justice and democracy. With in-depth discussions and influential guests, Double Jeopardy is the podcast that uncovers the forces shaping Britain’s legal and political future.   

What happens when politics and law collide? How do politics shape the law - and when does the law push back? What happens when judicial independence is tested, human rights come under attack, or freedom of expression is challenged? And who really holds power in Britain’s legal and political system?  Get answers to questions like these weekly on Wednesdays.  

Double Jeopardy is presented by Ken Macdonald KC, former Director of Public Prosecutions, and Tim Owen KC, as they break down the legal and political issues in Britain. From high-profile legal cases to the evolving state of British democracy, Double Jeopardy offers expert legal commentary on the most pressing topics in UK law, politics, and human rights.   

Ken Macdonald KC served as Director of Public Prosecutions from 2003-2008, shaping modern prosecutorial policy and advocating for the rule of law. He is a former Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, a crossbench member of the House of Lords, and a leading writer, commentator and broadcaster on politics and the rule of law.  Tim Owen KC has been involved in many of the most significant public, criminal and human rights law cases over the past four decades.  Both bring unparalleled experience from the frontline of Britain's legal and political landscape.   

If you like The Rest Is Politics, Talking Politics, Law Pod UK and Today in Focus, you’ll love Double Jeopardy. 

With the China spying case continuing to generate headlines, mystery and yet more uncertainty surrounding the true reason for the DPP’s decision to drop charges against Chris Cash and Chris Berry under the Official Secrets Act 1911, and Double Jeopardy having been sent an anonymously leaked copy of his expert witness statement, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC secure an exclusive interview with Professor Kerry Brown, the former UK diplomat, academic and China expert who was due to be a defence witness on behalf of Chris Berry had the case gone to trial.

Ken and Tim discuss with Prof Brown a number of the issues he was due to cover at the trial – the recent history of UK/China relations; the networks in Britain engaged with China; the structure of decision-making in China; whether Chris Berry could conceivably have met the second most powerful man in China, Cai Qi, as the Security Services had “assessed”, in the course of his alleged spying activities; analysis of the likely security and intelligence value of the information passed between Cash, Berry and the alleged Chinese State Security agent “Alex”; and, finally, the concept of China as an “enemy” State.

Bearing in mind the force, clarity and weight which was bound to be attached to Prof Brown’s defence report, Ken and Tim suggest that the timing of the service of his report and the DPP’s decision to drop the case appears to be more than a coincidence.  Was service of the Brown report on 29th August 2025 the trigger for the meeting convened on 1st September (Chaired by National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell and attended by 20 senior mandarins and spy chiefs as well as Doug Wilson, director-general of the attorney general’s office) where the general theme was how the UK’s relationship with China was going to be damaged by the case and where the main “action point”, according to Caroline Wheeler’s well briefed article in the Times, was for the AG’s office to relay these concerns to the DPP?  The duo conclude by agreeing that unless and until the written advice given to the DPP by prosecuting counsel, Tom Little KC, as to why the case was dropped is published following a waiver of privilege by the Attorney General, the mystery surrounding this case will continue.

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Covering the critical intersections of politics and law in the UK with expert commentary on high-profile legal cases, political controversies, prisons and sentencing, human rights law, current political events and the shifting landscape of justice and democracy. With in-depth discussions and influential guests, Double Jeopardy is the podcast that uncovers the forces shaping Britain’s legal and political future.  

Double Jeopardy is presented by Ken Macdonald KC, former Director of Public Prosecutions, and Tim Owen KC, as they break down the legal and political issues in Britain. From high-profile legal cases to the evolving state of British democracy, Double Jeopardy offers expert legal commentary on the most pressing topics in UK law, politics, and human rights.  

Ken Macdonald KC served as Director of Public Prosecutions from 2003-2008, shaping modern prosecutorial policy and advocating for the rule of law. He is a former Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, a crossbench member of the House of Lords, and a leading writer, commentator and broadcaster on politics and the rule of law.  

Tim Owen KC has been involved in many of the most significant public, criminal and human rights law cases over the past four decades.  Both bring unparalleled experience from the frontline of Britain's legal and political landscape.  

If you like The Rest Is Politics, Talking Politics, Law Pod UK and Today in Focus, you’ll love Double Jeopardy.

In the wake of Robert Jenrick’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference likening Attorney General Lord Hermer KC to a “Mafia lawyer”,  accusing him and Keir Starmer of treason in relation to the Chagos Islands agreement and calling for the sacking of “activist” Judges together with the return of political appointments to our judiciary, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC ask whether Jenrick’s disgusting, populist bile make him the Stephen Miller of UK politics. 

They also debate the Government’s kneejerk response to further demonstrations in support of Palestine Action in the form of Shabana Mahmood’s promise to legislate to ban protests on the basis of “cumulative disruption” to the community, despite there being ample powers under existing laws to do just that.  

The duo then revisit the continuing mystery of why the DPP felt he had to abandon the criminal trial of Christopher Berry and Christoper Cash on charges of spying for China under the Official Secrets Act 1911 before finishing with praise for the judgment of Mr Justice Bennathan in acquitting a Turkish man for burning a Koran outside the Turkish Consulate in Knightsbridge earlier this year in protest at the Islamisation policies of the Erdogan government.  Who said freedom of speech is dead in the UK? 

See the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights Report on the downright lies, lazy misrepresentations and repeated distortions in media reporting of the ECHR and the case law on the issue of deportation of foreign criminals under Article 8 - https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/content/bonavero-reports-series

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Covering the critical intersections of politics and law in the UK with expert commentary on high-profile legal cases, political controversies, prisons and sentencing, human rights law, current political events and the shifting landscape of justice and democracy. With in-depth discussions and influential guests, Double Jeopardy is the podcast that uncovers the forces shaping Britain’s legal and political future.  

What happens when politics and law collide? How do politics shape the law - and when does the law push back? What happens when judicial independence is tested, human rights come under attack, or freedom of expression is challenged? And who really holds power in Britain’s legal and political system?  Get answers to questions like these weekly on Wednesdays. 

Double Jeopardy is presented by Ken Macdonald KC, former Director of Public Prosecutions, and Tim Owen KC, as they break down the legal and political issues in Britain. From high-profile legal cases to the evolving state of British democracy, Double Jeopardy offers expert legal commentary on the most pressing topics in UK law, politics, and human rights.  

Ken Macdonald KC served as Director of Public Prosecutions from 2003-2008, shaping modern prosecutorial policy and advocating for the rule of law. He is a former Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, a crossbench member of the House of Lords, and a leading writer, commentator and broadcaster on politics and the rule of law.  Tim Owen KC has been involved in many of the most significant public, criminal and human rights law cases over the past four decades.  Both bring unparalleled experience from the frontline of Britain's legal and political landscape.  

If you like The Rest Is Politics, Talking Politics, Law Pod UK and Today in Focus, you’ll love Double Jeopardy.

After a brief explanation for the non-appearance of last week’s episode (severe back pain and hard-core painkillers) Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC review Reform’s rapidly evaporating policy agenda, Keir Starmer’s rhetorical revival and Kemi Badenoch’s predictable decision to dump the European Convention on Human Rights and repeal the Human Rights Act having taken legal advice from Lord Wolfson KC.  

They then revisit the mysterious – and as yet unexplained – decision by the DPP to abandon the prosecution of Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry on charges of spying for China two weeks before their Old Bailey trial was due to start.  Was it really because UK National Security adviser Jonathan Powell directed that China could not be characterised in open court as “an enemy” under the Official Secrets Act 1911, thereby shafting the prosecution’s case at the eleventh hour?  Or was it to avoid the embarrassment of a hopelessly weak case being exposed by the defence?  

Finally, Ken celebrates Ed Miliband’s Conference call for Elon Musk “to get the hell out of our politics” and doubles down on his contempt for the Silicon Valley tech tyrants who seek to lecture us about free speech and cancel culture.

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Covering the critical intersections of politics and law in the UK with expert commentary on high-profile legal cases, political controversies, prisons and sentencing, human rights law, current political events and the shifting landscape of justice and democracy. With in-depth discussions and influential guests, Double Jeopardy is the podcast that uncovers the forces shaping Britain’s legal and political future.  

What happens when politics and law collide? How do politics shape the law - and when does the law push back? What happens when judicial independence is tested, human rights come under attack, or freedom of expression is challenged? And who really holds power in Britain’s legal and political system?  Get answers to questions like these weekly on Wednesdays.  

Double Jeopardy is presented by Ken Macdonald KC, former Director of Public Prosecutions, and Tim Owen KC, as they break down the legal and political issues in Britain. From high-profile legal cases to the evolving state of British democracy, Double Jeopardy offers expert legal commentary on the most pressing topics in UK law, politics, and human rights.  

Ken Macdonald KC served as Director of Public Prosecutions from 2003-2008, shaping modern prosecutorial policy and advocating for the rule of law. He is a former Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, a crossbench member of the House of Lords, and a leading writer, commentator and broadcaster on politics and the rule of law.  Tim Owen KC has been involved in many of the most significant public, criminal and human rights law cases over the past four decades.  Both bring unparalleled experience from the frontline of Britain's legal and political landscape.  

If you like The Rest Is Politics, Talking Politics, Law Pod UK and Today in Focus, you’ll love Double Jeopardy.

With Parliament in recess till mid-October, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC reflect on a number of issues which have dominated the headlines over the past week.  

After a brief apology from Tim for misquoting in last week’s episode Lord Hermer’s evidence to the House of Lords Constitution Committee on the issue of reform of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), Ken and Tim discuss what may lie behind the Director of Public Prosecutions’ (DPP) decision suddenly to drop serious charges of spying for China contrary to the Official Secrets Act 1911 against Christopher Berry and Christopher Cash only a few weeks before they were due to stand trial at the Old Bailey – was it because of the legal difficulty in proving that China was an “enemy” State?  Or, more likely, was it because the DPP concluded that his duty of disclosure to secure a fair trial meant he had to disclose material which the Security Services were unwilling to reveal for reasons of national security?  

They then debate the interview with Dr Mike Hall on The Trial of Lucy Letby Podcast conducted by Daily Mail journalists Liz Hull and Caroline Cheetham – instructed by Lucy Letby’s defence team as an expert in neonatal medicine, Dr Hall attended every day of Letby’s 10 month trial but was ultimately not called as a defence witness for what he concludes were “tactical reasons”.  He attacks what he calls “the game of law” which meant, in his view, that the jury were deprived of crucial alternative expert evidence which may have undermined the prosecution’s medical case on causation.  Ken then lays into the extraordinary behaviour of tech behemoth Meta in defending its use of back-to school pictures of schoolgirls as young as 13 to promote its Threads site as “bait” to attract adult male followers.   

The duo conclude with a less than complimentary review of an article in the Daily Telegraph by former Tory Attorney General Sir Michael Ellis KC where he sets out his 10 ways to save the UK from the road to ruin.  Is Ellis simply a fool to be ignored or should his ideas be taken seriously as yet another indication of the rise of radical right-wing populism? 

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Covering the critical intersections of politics and law in the UK with expert commentary on high-profile legal cases, political controversies, prisons and sentencing, human rights law, current political events and the shifting landscape of justice and democracy. With in-depth discussions and influential guests, Double Jeopardy is the podcast that uncovers the forces shaping Britain’s legal and political future.  

What happens when politics and law collide? How do politics shape the law - and when does the law push back? What happens when judicial independence is tested, human rights come under attack, or freedom of expression is challenged? And who really holds power in Britain’s legal and political system?  Get answers to questions like these weekly on Wednesdays.  

Double Jeopardy is presented by Ken Macdonald KC, former Director of Public Prosecutions, and Tim Owen KC, as they break down the legal and political issues in Britain. From high-profile legal cases to the evolving state of British democracy, Double Jeopardy offers expert legal commentary on the most pressing topics in UK law, politics, and human rights.  

Ken Macdonald KC served as Director of Public Prosecutions from 2003-2008, shaping modern prosecutorial policy and advocating for the rule of law. He is a former Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, a crossbench member of the House of Lords, and a leading writer, commentator and broadcaster on politics and the rule of law.  

Tim Owen KC has been involved in many of the most significant public, criminal and human rights law cases over the past four decades.   

Both bring unparalleled experience from the frontline of Britain's legal and political landscape.  

If you like The Rest Is Politics, Talking Politics, Law Pod UK and Today in Focus, you’ll love Double Jeopardy. 

The recent mass arrests at Palestine Action protests, Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom rally, the turmoil generated by the sacking of Angela Rayner and Peter Mandelson and the political fall-out from the arrest of Graham Linehan all contribute to a mood of crisis in UK law and politics. Can a weakened and wounded Government reverse the tide?

Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC begin with an obituary to their Matrix chambers colleague and friend, Conor Gearty KC, the esteemed Professor and barrister who died suddenly last week at the age of 67. They then go behind the headlines to discuss a host of issues which have combined to create a crisis for a Labour government only recently elected with a thumping majority, including: Palestine Action demonstrations-  the escalation of arrests under UK anti-terrorism laws and the legal challenges to these laws and their implications; the Cabinet reshuffle– what will be the impact on the Home Office and Ministry of Justice policies?; The sacking of Peter Mandelson and the failures of “due process”; the arrest of Graham Linehan – what does it say about the state of free speech laws in the UK?; is the Assisted Dying Bill in peril following the House of Lords’ debate? 

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Covering the critical intersections of politics and law in the UK with expert commentary on high-profile legal cases, political controversies, prisons and sentencing, human rights law, current political events and the shifting landscape of justice and democracy. With in-depth discussions and influential guests, Double Jeopardy is the podcast that uncovers the forces shaping Britain’s legal and political future. 

What happens when politics and law collide? How do politics shape the law - and when does the law push back? What happens when judicial independence is tested, human rights come under attack, or freedom of expression is challenged? And who really holds power in Britain’s legal and political system? 

Get answers to questions like these weekly on Wednesdays. 

Double Jeopardy is presented by Ken Macdonald KC, former Director of Public Prosecutions, and Tim Owen KC, as they break down the legal and political issues in Britain. From high-profile legal cases to the evolving state of British democracy, Double Jeopardy offers expert legal commentary on the most pressing topics in UK law, politics, and human rights. 

Ken Macdonald KC served as Director of Public Prosecutions from 2003-2008, shaping modern prosecutorial policy and advocating for the rule of law. He is a former Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, a crossbench member of the House of Lords, and a leading writer, commentator and broadcaster on politics and the rule of law. 

Tim Owen KC has been involved in many of the most significant public, criminal and human rights law cases over the past four decades.  

Both bring unparalleled experience from the frontline of Britain's legal and political landscape. 

If you like The Rest Is Politics, Talking Politics, Law Pod UK and Today in Focus, you’ll love Double Jeopardy. 

Unpack one of the most dramatic moments in the life of the Labour government so far: Angela Rayner’s resignation, a sweeping cabinet reshuffle, and Shabana Mahmood’s arrival as Home Secretary. With David Lammy moved to Justice and Yvette Cooper shifted to the Foreign Office, what does this signal for immigration, asylum, and criminal justice reform?

To explore the current events in UK politics, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC are joined by Sir Jonathan Jones KCB KC, former Treasury Solicitor, and Permanent Secretary of the Government Legal Department 2014-2020. Together they offer expert legal commentary on the growing calls to repeal the Human Rights Act, withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and even abandon the Refugee and Torture Conventions. They discuss whether such moves are legally possible in UK law, the lessons from Denmark’s hardline asylum model, and the challenges of redefining refugee status in a world of mass displacement and criminal gangs exploiting the terms of the 1951 Convention.

The conversation also tackles the complex question of whether withdrawal from the ECHR would breach the Belfast Good Friday Agreement, the role of the common law in safeguarding fundamental rights, and whether a populist government could truly legislate away protections against torture and inhuman treatment or punishment. 

With the debate on human rights law at its most febrile in decades, Ken, Tim and Jonathan ask: how far could Britain really go—and at what cost to its international standing, constitutional integrity, and democratic values?

Link to The ECHR and the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement on policy exchange here.

Link to the ECHR & Immigration Control in the UK: Informing the Public Debate document, authored by Victoria Adelmant, Alice Donald and Başak Çali here.

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Covering the critical intersections of law and politics in the UK with expert commentary on high-profile legal cases, political controversies, prisons and sentencing, human rights law, current political events and the shifting landscape of justice and democracy. With in-depth discussions and influential guests, Double Jeopardy is the podcast that uncovers the forces shaping Britain’s legal and political future.

What happens when law and politics collide? How do politics shape the law - and when does the law push back? What happens when judicial independence is tested, human rights come under attack, or freedom of expression is challenged? And who really holds power in Britain’s legal and political system?

Get answers to questions like these weekly on Wednesdays.

Double Jeopardy is presented by Ken Macdonald KC, former Director of Public Prosecutions, and Tim Owen KC, as they break down the legal and political issues in Britain. From high-profile legal cases to the evolving state of British democracy, Double Jeopardy offers expert legal commentary on the most pressing topics in UK law, politics, and human rights.

Ken Macdonald KC served as Director of Public Prosecutions from 2003-2008, shaping modern prosecutorial policy and advocating for the rule of law. He is a former Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, a crossbench member of the House of Lords, and a leading writer, commentator and broadcaster on politics and the rule of law.

Tim Owen KC has been involved in many of the most significant public, criminal and human rights law cases over the past four decades. Both bring unparalleled experience from the frontline of Britain's legal and political landscape.

If you like The Rest Is Politics, Talking Politics, Law Pod UK and Today in Focus, you’ll love Double Jeopardy.

Does the ECHR really block the UK’s ability to implement effective immigration/asylum policies? And why is Nigel Farage doing his best to persuade the foreign US government and its increasingly far right tech bro cronies, to bully the UK over the Online Safety Act, so recently passed by Parliament? And how does this behaviour align with his loudly professed patriotism and promotion of British sovereignty? 

This week on Double Jeopardy, hosts Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC provide expert legal commentary on the Court of Appeal’s ruling on the Bell Hotel injunction case and discuss the broader implications of UK and European asylum policies, with special focus on Denmark and Sweden. The episode also covers Nigel Farage's political manoeuvres, the populist claim that we have a "two-tier justice" system and insights from a recent research paper examining the impacts of European Court of Human Rights rulings on UK deportation policies. 

Link to the UK in a Changing Europe 2025 article by Dr Alice Donald, Dr Joelle Grogan and Victoria Adelmant located here: https://ukandeu.ac.uk/explainers/does-the-european-convention-on-human-rights-stop-foreign-criminals-being-removed-from-the-uk/

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Covering the critical intersections of law and politics in the UK with expert commentary on high-profile legal cases, political controversies, prisons and sentencing, human rights law, current political events and the shifting landscape of justice and democracy. With in-depth discussions and influential guests, Double Jeopardy is the podcast that uncovers the forces shaping Britain’s legal and political future.

What happens when law and politics collide? How do politics shape the law - and when does the law push back? What happens when judicial independence is tested, human rights come under attack, or freedom of expression is challenged? And who really holds power in Britain’s legal and political system?

Get answers to questions like these weekly on Wednesdays.

Double Jeopardy is presented by Ken Macdonald KC, former Director of Public Prosecutions, and Tim Owen KC, as they break down the legal and political issues in Britain. From high-profile legal cases to the evolving state of British democracy, Double Jeopardy offers expert legal commentary on the most pressing topics in UK law, politics, and human rights.

Ken Macdonald KC served as Director of Public Prosecutions from 2003-2008, shaping modern prosecutorial policy and advocating for the rule of law. He is a former Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, a crossbench member of the House of Lords, and a leading writer, commentator and broadcaster on politics and the rule of law.

Tim Owen KC has been involved in many of the most significant public, criminal and human rights law cases over the past four decades. 

Both bring unparalleled experience from the frontline of Britain's legal and political landscape.

If you like The Rest Is Politics, Talking Politics, Law Pod UK and Today in Focus, you’ll love Double Jeopardy.