MPs do not – and should not – always follow judicial orders | Letters
Stephen Sedley, writing of parliament’s freedom of speech and action, says it has “for centuries reciprocated by respecting court decisions and orders” (Letters, 19 December).This is to forget, for example, the 2011 naming, in defiance of court orders, of Ryan Giggs and Fred Goodwin, the origins of which lay in the Trafigura controversy of 2009, when solicitors who had claimed MPs were covered by a gagging injunction withdrew their claim after an MP referred to the injunction in a written question.The reality is that although the Commons has a rule restricting references in the house to current court cases (the “sub judice” rule), it reserves the right to defy judges who threaten to ignore their duty to respect parliamentary free speech.The same also applies to judicial attempts to undermine parliament’s ability to protect itself from people who illegitimately interfere with its work.Parliament should exercise its rights with moderation and restraint, but judges should also show moderation and restraint when their rulings might restrict democratic decision-making.
Parliamentarians might be finding moderation and restraint difficult to achieve in the current overwrought state of politics, but that is no excuse for judges to abandon those qualities, which lie at the heart of any reasonable conception of the rule of law,David HowarthProfessor of law and public policy, University of Cambridge; MP for Cambridge 2005-10 Do you have a photograph you’d like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it,A selection will be published in our Readers’ best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays,
Sir Gino’s scintillating debut puts chaser bang on track for Cheltenham festival
What looked likely to be a duel in the fog turned into more of a rout in the gloom at Kempton on Friday, as Nicky Henderson’s Sir Gino made one of the more memorable debuts over fences in recent years, and established a strong claim to be the best two-mile novice chaser in Britain or Ireland.Ballyburn, a Grade One winner over hurdles at Cheltenham in March, simply could not live with the speed and accuracy of Sir Gino’s jumping in the Wayward Lad Novices’ Chase, a race that has been won by an extensive list of future two-mile champions from the Nicky Henderson yard over the years. Remittance Man, Sprinter Sacre, Altior and Shishkin are all on the roll of honour, and Sir Gino, who is now odds-on with most bookmakers for the Arkle Trophy at next year’s festival, could yet prove to be as good as any of his illustrious predecessors.Ballyburn led in the early part of the race but by the time that Sir Gino jumped to the front at the seventh, he was not only clearly relishing his first race over fences but also going much better than his market rival. He went clear on the bit from two out and cantered across the line nearly eight lengths in front
Val Dancer wins Welsh Grand National: horse racing news and results – as it happened
Well that’s it for Welsh Grand National day and while it was terrific to see (when you could see any of the action) a stirring finish for the Chepstow contest there was just one horse to concentrate on … and that was Sir Gino, who put up one of the most impressive novice chase debuts for many a long year at Kempton.The Arkle Chase beckons for that brilliant winner of the Wayward Lad Chase for trainer Nicky Henderson, who reported afterwards: “He’s always had a huge amount of talent and this sort of track suits him really well because he’s got a lot of speed.“I think he has to have another run. You could say ‘what can you teach him?’. Probably not a lot, but you’ve just got to be respecting these things because it is all a little bit too easy for him today
Handré Pollard back at Twickenham and still enjoying pressure of big occasions
There will be those at a sold-out Twickenham on Saturday who will be sick of the sight of Handré Pollard. The 30-year-old fly-half returns to the stadium with Leicester six weeks after his accuracy from the tee kept the Springboks out of reach against England, his goalkicking once more a dagger to the heart of Steve Borthwick. That his opposite number will be Harlequins’ Marcus Smith only heightens the sense that England’s bete noire is back.As was the case in the 2023 World Cup semi-final, Pollard began November’s victory over England on the bench, only to come on and turn the screw from the tee. He is the elder statesman of South Africa’s pool of No 10s but is at home playing the role of safe hand on the tiller, just when Rassie Erasmus needs it
GB again set standards at Paris Paralympics – now to fill in the gaps
Athletes such as William Ellard and Bly Twomey starred this summer but much needs doing to boost disabled sport between GamesThere was a lot riding on the Paris Paralympics, but they delivered. A Games that had the challenge not only of exciting the people of Paris but of reviving the movement behind disability sport served up world-class entertainment to full stadiums and made the French capital more accessible on top. Paris was a triumph, if not quite a perfect one, but the question already being asked is: what next?For ParalympicsGB the answers are relatively clear. After another second place in the medal table, ahead of the US and the host nation and behind only China, funding has been locked in for the next four-year cycle for Los Angeles 2028. A £330m package across Olympic and Paralympic programmes enriched every one of the latter’s 18 world-class programmes with a funding increase
Sport in 2024: the moments that made us smile
Guardian writers recall their memorable occasions over the past year, from fraternity in the F1 paddock to an indiscreet moment in the dartsYou hear all sorts of whispers at the Olympics; my favourite this year was about the 61-year-old grandmother Ni Xialian, who had an outside shot in the women’s table tennis. She won world titles for China in the early 1980s, then fell in love with another player, Tommy Danielsson, and moved to Luxembourg to run a hotel. She still plays and at this year’s Games she won her first match but lost to the world champion in the second. Afterwards, she spent a happy hour offering life advice to the assembled press. “I was worried if I was good enough, but if you never play, you’ll never know,” she said, “and as I always say: ‘I’m always younger today than I will be tomorrow
Sailors killed in double Sydney to Hobart tragedy named ahead of ‘challenging night in the Bass Strait’
Two sailors on separate Sydney to Hobart yachts, Flying Fish Arctos and Bowline, have died at sea on the first night of the race. They were fatally struck by a boom – a large horizontal pole at the bottom of the mainsail – and mainsheet on their respective boats amid wild weather conditions that forced line honours favourite Master Lock Comanche to withdraw, among mass retirements.The incident aboard Flying Fish Arctos occurred about 30 nautical miles [55.5kms] east-south-east of Ulladulla on the NSW south coast, with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) receiving a mayday call just before midnight.Roy Quaden, a 55-year-old crew member from Western Australia, was struck in the back of the head by the boom
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