Monthly Archive for October, 2006

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Kafka didn't do dialogue

By NL on 13/10/2006. 0 Comments

But I am very impressed that Brian Barder, the ex-SIAC lay member who resigned on principle does. Mr Barder commented on my post via the trackback at his blog. I’ve posted a comment in response, but I’d like to post his comment and my response here, for two reasons.

Firstly, because I still find it astonishing that a blog post from a relatively ill-informed person like me can attract a response from someone who has held a significant position in the matter under discussion/ranted about.

Secondly, because he makes some entirely valid criticisms that I would like to admit or address in the same place as the original post.… Read the full post

Posted in Various (non-housing). Tags: , , .

Kafka

By NL on 12/10/2006. 0 Comments

Beetle

Ah yes, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission.

Lest we forget, this is the tribunal which hears evidence that is so secret that the Defendant isn’t allowed to know what it is, and in which there is no need for the Defendant to actually be charged with anything.

Because there are no charges, there is, naturally, no burden of proof – balance of probabilities or reasonable doubt – to satisfy. The Tribunal’s job is to decide whether the Home Secretary’s suspicions that the Defendant might, possibly, at some indeterminate time in the future, pose a threat to national security, are reasonable. Of course the potential threat to national interests or … Read the full post

Posted in Various (non-housing). Tags: .

Liberty on the barricades

By NL on 11/10/2006. 0 Comments

Jonathon Freedland has an eminently sensible opinion piece in the Guardian on why legal aid matters and where Carter is a disaster. The article is clear and impassioned, but also sadly true in suggesting that this is unlikely to be an issue that leads to the barricades springing up on the boulevards. Delacroix’s Liberty, leading her class mixed band to freedom under the equal rule of law, would weep.

Civil legal aid takes a back seat again, though. Given the apparent dramatic increase in ‘middle class’ seekers after help and advice that the CAB has noted over the last few years, and that I have anecdotally heard about from local … Read the full post

Posted in Various (non-housing). Tags: , , .

Mea Culpa, but not wholly.

By NL on 11/10/2006. 0 Comments

Ok, so I’ve had to make an embarrasing addition to this post on the 5 year grace period for pay and holiday bonuses under the age discrimination regs. Pure laziness. No excuse (except I was knackered, overworked, blogging on a combination of wine and tannin and nobody else actually referenced the paragraph).

Also ‘loyalty’ is featured as a possible justification for holiday increments beyond that period. I still think loyalty is open to challenge -the need for loyalty both in benefiting the employer and in relation to competion for the attentions of the employee might need to be shown. Hmm. And the sex ‘n’ age combo is hopefully still open.… Read the full post

Posted in Various (non-housing). Tags: .

Bob Cratchit.

By NL on 11/10/2006. 0 Comments

Prompted by a comment by Anna and my own musings, I’ve been idly wondering about incremental or seniority based increases in holiday entitlement in relation to age discrimination (and pace Cadman, sex discrimination).

Such schemes are fairly common, x years of service result in extra holiday entitlement. In principle, like incremental pay increases, such things apply to entrants to an organisation regardless of age. However, as we all know, entry age tends not to be evenly distributed at all. By and large, I would be quite surprised if a significant distinction could not frequently be drawn between an entry level age group and an older group in the same role, … Read the full post

Posted in Various (non-housing). Tags: .

All shall have prizes

By NL on 07/10/2006. 0 Comments

On 3rd October, the European Court released its judgement in Cadman v HSE. Few people can have missed this as, for instance, there were large articles in the Guardian and the Times. Moreover, few people can miss that these articles draw deeply divergent conclusions from the judgement, because the headlines are a bit of a give-away.

Did Cadman win or lose? Does this change everything or nothing? Well, let’s look at the judgement. These were the questions referred:

(1) Where the use by an employer of the criterion of length of service as a determinant of pay has a disparate impact as between relevant male and female employees, does

… Read the full post

Posted in Various (non-housing). Tags: .
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