Politics

Mihir Bose recalls a classic case highlighting the problems with Britain’s antiquated libel laws.

History Today Volume: 63 Issue: 5 2013

The decision to set up a royal charter to underpin Justice Leveson’s recommendations on regulating the press may or may not mean the end of press freedom in this country, 334 years after the expiry of the 1662 Licensing of the Press Act. But the Leveson report has done little to deal with a problem that has done much to discourage good journalism: Britain’s wretched libel laws.

Leveson did not look at the libel laws, arguing that Parliament was already debating a new bill. However he did comment on the cost of libel and proposed a free arbitration service for anyone who feels unfairly treated by the press. It would have the power to impose fines and compensation. That sounds worthy but the problem is the system, as now agreed by Parliament, may result in exactly the opposite of what Leveson intended. As Simon Jenkins has pointed out, it could result in a ’stampede for anyone – including lobbyists – trying to grab a compulsory correction plus a quick payoff … Fines and compensation at the arbitration stage will put editors in thrall to chief executives and nervous publishers. Worse ensues if editors reject the new regulator and, because a matter of law is at stake, the case goes to a proper court. They there face punitive “million-pound” fines.’

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Channel 4 News

Krishnan Guru-Murthy discusses whether Britain should give aid to India with Mihir Bose.

Click here to watch the discussion (Note: This programme will only be available to watch for 7 days)

Outlook

The riots in Britain, the worst for over a century, have come as a rude shock to the British. Until this week, the British had a cosy, self-satisfied feeling that things in their ‘right little, tight little island’ were in many ways much better than in other parts of the developed world. The economic downturn may have seen America’s AAA credit status downgraded and several European countries in turmoil—this may yet befall Italy and France—but not Britain. The government has imposed painful cuts, but British political leaders have been confident that, in the face of the worst downturn since the 1930s, the country has avoided real trauma. Now that illusion lies shattered like so many shards of glass littering Britain’s streets.

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Evening Standard

In the 1930s, as the British were trying to hold on to India, a violent uprising erupted in Bengal.

Such was the panic that English women stopped travelling on Calcutta’s trams following reports that handkerchiefs contaminated with secretions of venereal diseases had been left on the seats. It led to George V asking the Bengal Governor: “What is wrong with Bengal?”

We now need to ask the same question about Pakistan.

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