- There is a discussion progressing that Rupert Merdoch, the media overlord, will begin to charge for all his outlets’ online content. The new development is a story in the FT today that he has some robust plans to protect this content once access is restricted. It sounds like a boon for some lawyers, as News Corp. produces a lot of content. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ab874200-cd28-11de-a748-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss
- Amending 50 year old legislation always seems to be an odd solution to jump to, but that is the suggestion of a group trying to combat metal theft. It was previously quite easy to dismiss as a rural quirk that some beautiful old churches were losing their copper lighting conductors in the dead of night, but less quaint when your landline goes dead. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/industrials/article6908863.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=1185799
- Lastly, I’d like to combine two political links to make one legal point. If http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/5520203/electoral-wipeout.thtml and http://blogs.wsj.com/iainmartin/2009/11/09/cameron-as-heir-to-blair-not-quite-fair/ both have strands of truth in them, it would be a once in generation opportunity for great constitutional reform. A new, huge and well whipped Conservative party in government would be capable of all the things that were fudged since 1997. Lords reform, changes to the voting system, devolution, tort reform, fully codified criminal law – everything could be on the table. However, I don’t have the impression that they have any ambitions in this area. I suppose we must wait for manifestos to emerge.
