Mike Semple-Piggott, AKA legal blogger Charon QC, turned up a couple of interesting podcasts this week – interviewing Labour MP Diane Abbott about her latest campaign to prevent the use of secret evidence in UK courts, and chatting to Tim Kevan, the author of the Times Online BabyBarista blog, about his forthcoming novel BabyBarista and the Art of War.
Earlier in the year, Abbott – known for her appearances alongside Michael Portillo on cult BBC1 news analysis show ‘This Week’ – tabled an early day motion declaring “that this House believes the use of secret evidence in UK courts is fundamentally wrong”, and called on the government “to begin an immediate independent review into the use of evidence that is not ever heard by the defendant or their lawyer but which is used to justify indefinite detention, severe bail conditions or control orders”.
