Law and Disorder

Our guest today – Jonathan Sumption – sat, until June of this year, as a Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. He left that role – "in high dudgeon" – as a critique of the creeping totalitarianism of pro-Beijing influences in the east Asian territory. In this wide-ranging discussion with Nicholas Mostyn, Helena Kennedy and Charlie Falconer, Lord Sumption discusses how he came to that decision and looks at how the remaining British judges ought to handle their continued work in the region.

If you have questions, criticisms, praise or other feedback, please do send your thoughts to us via [email protected]!

Law and Disorder is a Podot podcast.

Executive Producer and Editor: Nick Hilton.

Associate Producer: Ewan Cameron.

Music by Richard Strauss, arranged and performed by Anthony Willis & Brett Bailey.

PR by Sally Jones.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Caroline Norton was a sensation of 19th century London. A writer and social reformer, she hit the headlines in 1836 when she accused her husband, George Norton, of coercive behaviour. What proceeded was a legal case that embroiled the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, and, in some ways, changed women's place in the law. But how much did Norton really achieve? And has the dust really settled on women's equality in marriage? For a special dive into the past, join Helena Kennedy, Nicholas Mostyn and Charlie Falconer in the time machine for a journey back to Victorian England.

If you have questions, criticisms, praise or other feedback, please do send your thoughts to us via [email protected]!

Law and Disorder is a Podot podcast.

Executive Producer and Editor: Nick Hilton.

Associate Producer: Ewan Cameron.

Music by Richard Strauss, arranged and performed by Anthony Willis & Brett Bailey.

PR by Sally Jones.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Pratt and John Smith: the last two men to be executed in Britain for the crime of homosexuality. It is a story recounted by politician and historian Chris Bryant in his book James and John: A True Story of Prejudice and Murder. But how far has the law come since the 19th century? Was the image that Charles Dickens painted the truth? And how did feminist historian Naomi Wolf come to misunderstand the term "death recorded"? These, and many more, issues will be tackled in this episode of Law & Disorder, where Nicholas Mostyn, Charlie Falconer and Helena Kennedy look at Britain's dark, and homophobic, legal history.

This episode was generously sponsored by Harbottle & Lewis.

If you have questions, criticisms, praise or other feedback, pelase do send your thoughts to us via [email protected]!

Law and Disorder is a Podot podcast.

Executive Producer and Editor: Nick Hilton.

Associate Producer: Ewan Cameron.

Music by Richard Strauss, arranged and performed by Anthony Willis & Brett Bailey.

PR by Sally Jones.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Britain's prisons are in crisis. In the past week, we've seen the early release of some 1,500 prisoners in order to free up space in our nation's jails. But how did we get here? On this week's Law & Disorder, Charlie Falconer, Helena Kennedy and Nicholas Mostyn are joined by Ian Burnett, who served as Lord Chief Justice from 2017 to 2023. They have a candid and critical discussion about the state of our prisons, the nature of sentencing (and sentence inflation), and whether there are any remedies to hand.

If you have questions, criticisms, praise or other feedback, pelase do send your thoughts to us via [email protected]!

Law and Disorder is a Podot podcast.

Executive Producer and Editor: Nick Hilton.

Associate Producer: Ewan Cameron.

Music by Richard Strauss, arranged and performed by Anthony Willis & Brett Bailey.

PR by Sally Jones.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The streets of the UK have been gripped by disorder. Fuelled by racist rhetoric, rioters have taken to the streets from Southport to Bristol and the criminal justice system is now facing the huge task of processing these criminals and re-establishing order. Can quick sentencing decisions offer a deterrent to further unrest? How are prosecution decisions being made? And can anything be done about the large social media institutions that foment so much of this violence? Charlie Falconer leads Nicholas Mostyn and Helena Kennedy through the grim realities facing the UK, in this emergency episode of Law & Disorder.

For inclusion in our next mailbag edition, do send your thoughts to us via [email protected]!

Law and Disorder is a Podot podcast.

Executive Producer and Editor: Nick Hilton.

Music by Richard Strauss, arranged and performed by Anthony Willis & Brett Bailey.

PR by Sally Jones.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Extradition goes back a long way, in principle, but the modern application is complex. What are the grounds for refusing extradition? How has Brexit changed our relationship with European countries? And why is our relationship with America so asymmetrical? This week on Law & Disorder, Nicholas Mostyn, Helena Kennedy and Charlie Falconer romp through the history extradition via three case studies. Firstly, the failed attempt to send Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet to face trial in Spain. Then, the US attempt to extradite hacker Gary McKinnon to face espionage charges. And finally – and most topically – the long saga of Julian Assange.

For inclusion in our next mailbag edition, do send your thoughts to us via [email protected]!

Law and Disorder is a Podot podcast.

Executive Producer and Editor: Nick Hilton.

Associate Producer: Ewan Cameron.

Music by Richard Strauss, arranged and performed by Anthony Willis & Brett Bailey.

PR by Sally Jones.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the 17th July, the new Labour government enjoyed their first King's Speech. In it, they put forward dozens of bills for consideration in this parliamentary session. But do those commitments get to grips with the necessary constitutional changes in our system? And do they address the years of decay and debasement of the Rule of Law, experienced under the previous governments? Charlie Falconer, Helena Kennedy and Nicholas Mostyn discuss.

For inclusion in our next mailbag edition, do send your thoughts to us via [email protected]!

Law and Disorder is a Podot podcast.

Executive Producer and Editor: Nick Hilton.

Associate Producer: Ewan Cameron.

Music by Richard Strauss, arranged and performed by Anthony Willis & Brett Bailey.

PR by Sally Jones.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Divorce is a complex business, especially when the participants are part of the mega-rich elites who spend millions quibbling over the balance and share of assets and proceedings. Our guide, this week, through the maze of monied marital misery is Tim Bishop KC, one of the UK's leading specialists in top-level financial cases on divorce. Alongside Nicholas Mostyn, Helena Kennedy and Charlie Falconer, he talks us through the evolution of British marriage law, what protections there are for spouses, and whether the legal quagmire of the wealthy has applications across the socio-economic spectrum.

For inclusion in our next mailbag edition, do send your thoughts to us via [email protected]!

Law and Disorder is a Podot podcast.

Executive Producer and Editor: Nick Hilton.

Associate Producer: Ewan Cameron.

Music by Richard Strauss, arranged and performed by Anthony Willis & Brett Bailey.

PR by Sally Jones.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's time for us to open up the mailbag and see what Law & Disorder listeners have made of the first six months of the show's existence. From the right to protest to the right to die, Liz Truss to Amber Heard, your questions run the gamut of the topics covered in the podcast. Should we televise courts? How badly did Charlie screw the pooch on his Lord Chancellor reforms? And are we all really just a bunch of whinging lefties? Listen to our mailbag and find out more!

For inclusion in our next mailbag edition, do send your thoughts to us via [email protected]!

Law and Disorder is a Podot podcast.

Executive Producer and Editor: Nick Hilton.

Associate Producer: Ewan Cameron.

Music by Richard Strauss, arranged and performed by Anthony Willis & Brett Bailey.

PR by Sally Jones.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Libor: a little known, or understood, mechanism by which banks set an interest rate average. It became headline news when, in the crucible of the financial crisis, the practitioners were accused of rigging the rate to inflate public perceptions of their banks' health. But was all as it seemed? And were the traders – men like Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo – who carried the can for Libor rigging, really just scapegoats? In this joint podcast with A Long Time in Finance, Nicholas Mostyn and Helena Kennedy ask whether a miscarriage of justice was administered in the pursuit of retribution on a broken financial system.

Do send your own thoughts to us via [email protected]!

Law and Disorder is a Podot podcast.

Executive Producer and Editor: Nick Hilton.

Associate Producer: Ewan Cameron.

Music by Richard Strauss, arranged and performed by Anthony Willis & Brett Bailey.

PR by Sally Jones.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.