The law of unintended consequences.

I would never have heard of Trafigura, nor would I have thought it such a big deal, I might have even skimmed over the report not even noticing it was there. But thanks to Carter Ruck and an attempt to gag the Grauniad, but who forgot the political reporting  blogs. This is the question the Guardian was gagged from reporting:

Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura.

Most people I suspect would not have been even remotely interested (save in certain specialist fields) but the minute you attempt to gag someone, people automatically want to know why. So when Trafigura look at the bill from Carter Ruck I suspect it's going to be sliced and diced to check for value for money. After all, the 'Streisand Effect' is very well known.
Mind you Carter Ruck do have form in banning orders, it's something they specialise in have they've become expert at pressing certain legal buttons and the failure of some  judges to understand the nature of this affront to democracy and press freedom in this country is the underlying problem.

In March media specialists Carter-Ruck obtained a legal injunction to protect pop star Lily Allen from harassment by Big Pictures and rival agency Matrix Photos. Carter-Ruck also obtained an injunction "restraining further harassment" by other paparazzi photographers in a case which was presented to the high court by barrister David Sherborne, who also represented Winehouse.

Still it's nice to know that as yet they can't get around the freedom of the internet, but I'm sure they're still looking at it.

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Gotcha!

Breaking news on the BBC Gordon Brown is to pay back £12,415 in expenses.

So, turns out our glorious Reichsfuhrer did have his hand in the till too, along with whatsisname the  Lib Dem guy, the leader, the one who people can never remember who has to pay back  £910 and Call me Dave has been asked for more details over his mortgage.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown will repay £12,415 after an independent audit of all MPs' expenses claims since 2004.

Downing Street confirmed he would repay the amount which is believed to include claims for cleaning costs.
It was within the rules but auditor Sir Thomas Legg has set retrospective annual limits on what he thinks should have been claimed for some services.
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg is to repay £910 of the £3,900 he claimed for gardening between 2006 and 2009.
Sir Thomas believes £1,000 a year is sufficient to cover gardening.
All MPs are getting letters about their expenses claims from Sir Thomas.
The former civil servant was asked to scrutinise all MPs' claims after details of what they had been claiming under their second homes allowance and others were leaked and published by the Daily Telegraph in May.
'No quibbling'
The BBC understands he has set retrospective limits for some items and annual limits on what he believes they should have claimed - including £1,000 a year for gardening and £2,000 for cleaning.
Some MPs will be told their expenses presented no issues, others will be asked for more information and many are expected to be asked to repay money.
Earlier Mr Clegg told the BBC MPs should pay up if asked to do so: "The last thing MPs should be doing ... is quibbling, questioning, trying to drag their heels.

Paying it back though is just the start, apologies are not enough, if I did this at my place of work I would be sacked and charges brought. These people are thieves, they are corrupt, they've tried to hide the evidence, they've even sought to prevent the public going to court to get compensation.

This Parliament should be dissolved and any MP who has had to pay back their ill gotten gains prevented from ever standing for public office again, if we can't trust you to be honest with our money then we can't trust you to run the country.

I've no doubt "Call me Dave" will try to get elected on a new broom agenda, however I'm sick of the mainstream political parties and their hegemonic grasp on the levers of power, it is time, well past time for change and that has to start with getting rid of the "Big Three" from power. People should look to independent parties see what's out there, look to change the face of UK politics forever. The "Big Three" just don't care anymore, have become too used to the trappings of power.

It's time for change and no-one in this current Parliament is prepared to deliver it, so the only way we'll get change is for them all to go.

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