Alex Dean

Britain’s plan to curb jury trials is a sharp break with tradition It is a desperate response to a disastrous backlog in the courts

William Blackstone called juries “the principal bulwark of our liberties”. Now David Lammy, the justice secretary, wants to curtail them. What should we make of his plans?

I explore the past, present and future of jury trials in this week’s Economist:

www.economist.com/britain/2025...

Britain’s government seems immobilised by its peril. Compounding earlier mistakes, its budget has failed utterly to lessen the country’s economic and political vulnerability econ.st/4rnW7px

Britain’s budget prioritised Labour's political survival And ducked the painful choices needed to revive the economy

Labour’s budget is unlikely to be inflationary. That, and the absence for the most part of actively harmful policies, meant that the market reaction was muted. But avoiding a bond-market tantrum is hardly enough

Ah yes I saw that one. Thanks for responses. Nice blog post on 12 Angry Men

Fair enough. Am genuinely interested in empirical findings on effectiveness or otherwise of juries. I'm undecided on it myself (tend to think Leveson's proposals were sensible -- baulked a bit at latest ones)

Out of interest, what studies are you thinking of, Hugo?

I've written for this week's edition on Labour's plans to tighten how courts interpret the ECHR.

Leaving the convention would be mad. Renegotiating it would take forever. Doing nothing would be complacent. Tightening how it is applied might be best way through.

This is now outside the paywall, please do read and share

How the world's richest man is boosting the British right How the world's richest man is boosting the British right

"Platforms built as public town squares for self-expression and connecting with others are now more like private property, where the loudest voices belong to those with power, or those with views that align with the views of people who control the algorithm."

news.sky.com/story/the-x-...

I've been getting back into the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series after many years, and the most relatable part is how everyday objects like doors and elevators have been imbued with artificial intelligence and it just makes them obnoxious and frustrating to use and everyone hates it.

Disney+ Cancellations Jump After Kimmel Suspension Roughly three million Americans canceled the streaming service in the month that it temporarily suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s show. About 4.1 million people canceled Disney-owned Hulu.

When Disney temporarily suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” last month, about three million Disney+ customers and more than four million Hulu customers canceled their subscriptions, according to new data.

I was looking at Reform's policy again the other day. They're proposing a £60k salary for people on ILR keeping their visa. Which means pretty much every nurse on ILR would be a risk. It's insane.

I enjoyed David Edmonds' new book on Peter Singer and his influential thought experiment, the "shallow pond". Here's my review, for the TLS

www.the-tls.com/philosophy/c...

In her lunch with the FT the OnlyFans CEO says her company pays more tax than the entire British fishing industry. Quite a stat.

Can Donald Trump muzzle America’s press? He has bullied some outlets, but intimidating them all is a daunting task

The same changes in America’s media industry that have given Donald Trump more influence are also making it harder for him—or anyone—to control it

💯. Progressives have to stop franchising out their consciences to the courts.

Politics is about moral choices.

The problem with Reform's proposal isn't that "the courts won't allow it".

It's that it's grotesque and inhuman.

If we're democrats, we must believe that this argument can be won.

One of the world's finest editors is moving on. It was a privilege to work with Alan at Prospect.

I can't wait to see what Philip Collins, another brilliant journalist, does with the title.

Quality, independent journalism has never been more important.

With the Law on Our Side — Lady Brenda Hale examines how Britain’s courts do and don’t work A powerful account from the former Supreme Court president who describes complicated proceedings in clear prose to give an overview of the justice system

I reviewed Brenda Hale's new book for today's Financial Times. The former president of the UK Supreme Court travels to courts around the country to examine how they work - and don't.

www.ft.com/content/4c85...

A line chart showing that 38% of webpages from 2013 were no longer accessible one decade later.

LINK ROT: 38% webpages that existed in 2013 were no longer available 10 years later.

Even among pages that existed in 2021, 22% no longer accessible just two years later. This is often because individual page was deleted or removed on otherwise functional website.

Many implications for knowledge 🧪

This is moving in exactly the wrong direction! Education & meaningful activity in prison is crucial to reducing violence and improving outcomes

Really good piece, this

This is an excellent piece

Hansard shows what it takes to put democracy on the record Even in an age of artificial intelligence, it’s harder than you might think

Hansard's reporters record every word spoken publicly in parliament. How do they deal with sarcasm, heckles or semi-naked protesters? For this week's Economist I wrote a short piece about the nation's notetakers:

www.economist.com/britain/2025...

Reform council’s Nottingham Post ban a ‘massive attack on local democracy’ Nottinghamshire council’s administration says it will no longer deal with local paper, in unprecedented move A Reform council leader’s decision to ban his councillors from engaging with a prominent local newspaper is a “massive attack on local democracy” and a sign of things to come should the party form the next government, the outlet’s editor has warned. In an unprecedented move, Nottinghamshire county council’s four-month-old Reform administration has said it will no longer deal with the Nottingham Post, its online edition and a team of BBC-funded local democracy journalists that it manages. Continue reading...

Reform council’s Nottingham Post ban a ‘massive attack on local democracy’

From “ChatGPT Bingo” To AI MPs: Parliament’s Split Over Artificial Intelligence MPs are divided over whether artificial intelligence (AI) can help ease the pressures of parliamentary workloads, with some hailing it as an effici...

'PoliticsHome analysis of Hansard shows that the phrase “I rise to speak…” has been used 601 times across the Commons and the Lords so far this year – compared to only 131 in the first eight months of 2024...' www.politicshome.com/news/article...

📣 We're hiring for a Principal Economist 👀

This is a unique opportunity for an individual who can conduct economic and policy analysis independently at an advanced level.

Full details here ⤵️ buff.ly/5pBKLDx

Letter of the day (in the Times)

!

A graph of manufacturing growth broken down by subsector

America has lost 116k manufacturing jobs over the last year—that's the fastest pace of job loss since the early COVID era and worse than any period from 2011-2019.

Big drops in the transportation (-49k) & electronics (-32k) industries drive most of the decline

Good news for tractor production.