Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics

• We'll Be Right Back: This Week's Episode Will Be Out on Friday, 12 December

  Hello listeners, Thanks to bad weather delaying Tim’s flight from the USA, this week’s episode with Riel Karmy-Jones KC and Chris Henley KC will be released on Friday, 12 December. We appreciate your patience!

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• Are the Courts Flinching on Article 8? And Who’s Trying to Kill the Assisted Dying Bill in the House of Lords?

  Does the Judgment of the Court of Appeal in the Palestinian Family case of IA & others v. Home Secretary - https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/IA.MediaSummary.Final_.pdf - indicate that the Judges are submitting to the political pressure to weaken the protection that Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights provides for the concept of “family life”?    In asserting that the Home Secretary’s policy is a matter for her and for the UK Government; that this was a question of respect for the UK’s law and democratic process; and that the courts must attach considerable weight to the Home Secretary’s immigration policies at a general level, was the Court of Appeal sending a message to immigration and asylum judges that they must adopt a fundamentally different approach when conducting the proportionality balance under Article 8 (2) of the ECHR?   Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC debate the political implications of the Court of Appeal’s ruling and question whether it will do anything to persuade Jenrick, Farage and their followers that the ECHR is not the cause of the UK’s problem of illegal migration.   Ken and Tim then move on to discuss the continuing campaign by a small number of Peers to secure the assisted, filibustered death of Kim Leadbeater’s Assisted Dying Bill.  Is the - apparently co-ordinated - plan to table some 587 amendments to the Bill as approved by the House of Commons a democratic outrage?  Or does the fact that it’s a Private Members’ Bill, to which the Salisbury Convention does not apply, mean that “Kill The Bill” is a legitimate expression of democratic scrutiny of flawed legislation?    Finally, the duo respond to audience questions, including the thorny issue of whether Irish novelist Sally Rooney’s publishers should withhold her royalties for fear of committing a terrorist financing offence in the wake of her public announcement that she intends to use future royalties from her work to donate to Palestine Action.  --    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.

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• Is the Right To Jury Trial Just History? And is the House of Lord’s Assisted Dying Filibuster an Attack on Democracy?

  As the Courts Minister, Sarah Sackman, announces the Government’s intention to enact most of the recommendations in Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, including the abolition of the right to jury trial in cases of serious, complex fraud, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC discuss the devastating attack on Leveson’s justification for Judge alone fraud trials launched by the former Resident Judge at Southwark Crown Court, Geoffrey Rivlin KC, in an article on the Red Lion Chambers Substack – ⁠https://redlionchambers.substack.com/p/judge-alone-trials-in-serious-fraud⁠  Is retired Judge Rivlin right to argue that the Leveson proposals lack a solid evidential basis and “hang on the thread of Sir Brian’s long-held belief that judges sitting alone can be relied upon to do a better and more efficient job than trials with juries”?  And is Rivlin right to echo Lord Devlin’s warning that if the jury system is allowed to crumble, it can never be rebuilt?  Ken and Tim respond to listeners’ questions.  What will the CCRC and/or the Court of Appeal make of the way in which retired neonatologist, Dr Shoo Lee, is alleged to have approached professional colleagues with a view to them providing fresh evidence for Lucy Letby’s attempt to overturn her convictions for murder and attempted murder? Is Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins right to argue that an organised group of Peers are committing a democratic outrage in pursuing a filibuster campaign with the aim of blocking the Assisted Dying Bill?  Is the approach to oral argument in the US Supreme Court a better way to determine appeals than the way we do things in the UK?   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1ExItQZSL0    Finally, the duo discuss Dominic Cummings’s bizarre, almost certainly defamatory, Twitter attack on Lady Justice Hallett and Counsel to the Covid Inquiry, Hugo Keith KC, in the wake of the publication of the Inquiry’s Second report examining “Core UK decision-making and political governance”.  ---  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.

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• Trump Versus The BBC, and Shabana Mahmood’s Asylum Crackdown

  Is Trump’s threat to sue the BBC for $1billion in a Florida Court over the Panorama documentary just another example of his baseless, abusive use of the Courts to intimidate media companies?  And should the BBC submit to his intimidation given the uncertainties of a Florida jury trial?   Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC are joined by leading media law Silk, Gavin Millar KC, to discuss what went wrong in the editing process behind the Panorama documentary and the differences between US and UK defamation laws. Gavin explains the potential knock-out blows that the BBC might deliver should Trump issue a defamation claim and why Trump’s claim would be doomed to fail before an English court. Ken and Tim then dissect Shabana Mahmood’s announcement to Parliament of Labour’s major reforms to the UK’s asylum and returns system and reflect on her defiant rejection of the charge that she is aping Reform’s racist policy agenda.  Will the Government’s reforms achieve the aim of halting the daily flow of migrants across the Channel as well as increasing the removal of those with no right to stay? And can domestic law reform change the way that our Courts interpret the impact of Articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights in a way which will be immune from review by the Strasbourg Court? Click here for a link to the Government’s paper on Restoring Order and Control - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-and-returns-policy-statement/restoring-order-and-control-a-statement-on-the-governments-asylum-and-returns-policy Finally, the duo follow up last week’s episode on the mistaken Wandsworth prisoner releases with an update on the explanation given by the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Charlie Taylor, about the dire state of our prisons in terms of the recruitment and retention of prison officers against the background of a crazy sentencing system which is calculated to confuse and confound. --- 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.

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• Labour Goes To Denmark - And Why Are We Releasing Prisoners By Mistake?

  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.  —-  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.

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