Letters: the courts are not trying to subvert parliament

Judge not

Sir: The claim by Ross Clark (‘Keir’s law’, 22 June) that the left can achieve what it wants by relying, in part, on ‘judicial activism’ is uninformed and misleading. I can assure Mr Clark and those who might share his sentiments that the courts are, in general, at pains to respect the separation of powers and the will of parliament.

A cursory consideration of recent decisions from the Supreme Court would have revealed this. For example, in a judgment handed down in April, Lord Sales (delivering the unanimous judgment of that court) reaffirmed the already well-established principle that ‘in the field of social welfare policy, courts should normally be slow to substitute their view for that of the decision maker who has the democratic authority to make the relevant judgment, whether parliament or a secretary of state’. The secretary of state’s appeal was allowed and the human rights claim in question was dismissed. Mr Clark’s article fails to reflect this reality, not to mention the incredibly difficult balancing exercise that our judges are daily engaged in, seeking to faithfully interpret and apply the law, without fear or favour.

Steven J McQuitty KC
Bar Library, Belfast

Prosecuting decisions

Sir: Re. Ross Clark’s article, it is of course the job of the Director of Public Prosecutions to decide whether to prosecute cases or not. Keir Starmer’s decision not to prosecute the parents of the tetraplegic 23-year-old Daniel James, who had helped their son travel to Dignitas where he ended his life, did not decriminalise assisted suicide; five new assisted suicide cases have been referred to the CPS in the past year. The decision in 2013 not to prosecute two doctors for offering sex-selection abortion likewise did not decriminalise abortion on those grounds – in fact in November 2014 MPs voted 181 to one in favour of the Abortion (Sex-Selection) Bill to ban abortions on grounds of gender, after it was agreed the law needed clarifying.

Who does Ross Clark think should be in charge of making such decisions, anyway?

Jane Martin
Staffordshire

Critics of Islam

Sir: Ed Husain is spot on (‘Don’t outlaw Islamophobia’, 22 June). Islamophobia encapsulates both prejudice against Islam and prejudice against Muslims. To legislate against the former would amount to legislating against freedom of speech and freedom of thought. Being a critic of Islam does not make one anti-Muslim. Secular Muslims and liberal Muslims are critics of Islam, yet they can hardly be called anti-Muslim. The irony is that if legislation against Islamophobia is brought in, they are the ones likely to pay the price.

Randhir Singh Bains
Gants Hill, Essex

Violence in the library

Sir: Panda La Terriere asks ‘are libraries really workplaces in which people fear for their own safety?’ (‘Video nasties’, 22 June). As a worker in a public library, over the past year I have been spat on, sworn at, threatened with assault and followed home. More than once colleagues have had to lock themselves in the building. This behaviour has been getting worse since the pandemic. Maybe body-worn cameras are not the answer, but something has to be done.

Josephine Kaye
Bradford, West Yorkshire

Hay, really?

Sir: I do not recognise Douglas Murray’s dyspeptic description of the Hay festival as ‘a left-wing summer camp’ consisting of ‘a bunch of celebrities who happen to have had books written for them’ (‘Our museums are run by cowards’, 22 June). I attended recently to hear Theresa May address a massive, completely full marquee. A few days later, in the same spot, I heard Max Hastings talk captivatingly about a second world war commando raid, Operation Biting, to another huge audience. Both speakers were very warmly received. A ‘left-wing summer camp’? Come off it!

The Revd James Harris
Wrexham, North Wales

Farage’s appeal

Sir: I detect a whiff of fear in Matthew Parris’s column this week (‘How repulsive is Nigel Farage?’, 22 June). He may be right about the limits of Nigel Farage’s appeal to the electorate as a whole, but that is true of all the party leaders. However, his worry about a post-electoral rump of Conservative MPs aligning with the Farageists and the ‘head-banging right’ must be misplaced. The rump seems likely to consist mainly of One Nation nonentities parachuted into the safest seats by Central Office. They represent that section of the Conservative party which has been demonstrably abandoned by their traditional supporters for the abject failure to act on such voters’ concerns. Matthew feels they should maintain their centrist (actually leftist) profile, and that in doing so his favoured brand of conservatism will once more prevail. I feel it is more likely that this will guarantee them future electoral oblivion.

Iain Cassie
Lymington, Hampshire

Commons sense

Sir: Rod Liddle complains of the ‘chronic unfairness of our electoral system’ (‘How to lose voters’, 22 June). How right he is. If the polls are accurate, no opposition will be able to stop the next government doing whatever it wants. Instead, I would like a single transferable vote system, which would give us two or three main parties with a reasonable balance between government and opposition (not proportional representation, which ends up with a parliament full of small parties unable to enact anything).

Martin Down
Witney, Oxon

Buyers and cellars

Sir: Charles Moore rightly praises the Wine Society, but is pessimistic about the age of its membership falling, given many younger people cannot afford homes with a cellar (Notes, 15 June). Thankfully his pessimism is misplaced. The Wine Society only charges a modest annual fee for storage and sells many wines that it has itself aged. I thought this should be pointed out in case any readers were put off joining.

John Budd
Wapping, London

Simpsons character

Sir: Tanya Gold (Food, 15 June) writes nostalgically of the late lamented Simpsons in Cornhill. More than 40 years ago I used to have lunch there occasionally, when the chef toiled over a flaming grill wearing little more than an apron and trousers. He would gratefully accept a bottle of cold beer which, on occasions, he poured over himself.

John Parry
Shropshire

Drill, baby, drill

Sir: The history of krautrock review (Books, 22 June) reminded me of my favourite story about the group Faust: on the way to a gig they were delayed by roadworks and, on spotting and hearing a workman, persuaded him to join them with his pneumatic drill, which he ‘played’ on stage that night.

Martin Brown
Coventry