Saturday, April 25, 2015

THE BOOK OF BRIAN: The top judge who set his sights on the media, and then quietly detained transparency at his lordship’s pleasure

Transparency is unwelcome in Lord Gill’s court. SCOTLAND’S top judge is not a big fan of transparency - that much is clear.

Lord President Lord Brian Gill (73) is not much keen on change, governments, politicians, political process, legal reforms, accountability, the Scottish Parliament, Freedom of Information, the media, journalists, Julian Assange, Wikileaks, protesters standing on the Heart of Midlothian, or anyone else who does not fit into the judicial world of legal vested interests.

But, Gill does like classical music – blaring out over all eight octaves.

Our top judge also enjoys his ‘diplomatic commitments’ – even if sometimes his Judicial Office officially deny Gill and colleagues secretly travelled to the far east for the judiciary’s version of a good old ‘Top Gear’ style lads day out – lasting eight days.

The courts – as Gill told last week’s Commonwealth Law Conference - are his courts, not ours. We pay for it all, but that is as far as it goes.

Do not expect accountability, or transparency for near on a hundred million pounds a year – for that will infringe on Judicial Independence – claims Gill.

Last week at the Glasgow Conference event, the ageing Gill even went so far as to publicly define transparency, along with well meaning governments & politicians - as “insidious”.

Gill just had to get in some digs against anyone and everyone – right before he, Lord Neuberger and other judicial figures fled the conference after learning of the booking of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

According to last week’s latest instalment of the Book of Brian – strewn across seventeen pages of - the hangman’s noose, cops, lawyers are lovely, even a recipe for cooking the ideal judge, and behold - evil itself - the audience were treated to a spectacle of Nostradamus Gill implying the world would stop turning, if the judiciary were required to declare their vast secret wealth in a well meaning Petition PE1458: Register of Interests for members of Scotland's judiciary

If people found out judges are little more than “Victorian” bankers cloaked in 18th Century ermine gowns - life, and Scotland as we know it - would cease to exist.

The sheer sums of judicial wealth, the efforts gone into hiding it, the connections, the links, the business, the money, the property, the assets, the travel, and the criminal records of judges - are simply too much to disclose – for Gill.

But seriously, would anyone be surprised to learn the judiciary are collectively hiding billions under their beds - after we all witnessed the spectacle of a 73 year old judge waging a two year war with the Scottish Parliament in a bid to halt MSPs investigations and hearings on accountability and transparency in the judiciary?

The answer of course is No. Everyone gets the argument that judges should, like everyone else, declare their interests.

Transparency is good, even if Gill says it is not. The more Gill protests, the more we know there is something to hide.

One abiding theme of the mounting chapters of the Book of Brian and his battle with transparency, are his Leveson inquiry style attacks on journalists and the media.

What could possibly be the motive for a top judge to demonise journalists, the media, well meaning reforms and all things transparency?

The answer to this is an easy one.

Lord Gill and his closed shop Scottish Court Service – are about as open and transparent as a brick wall.

If you ask too many questions, you are liable to get clobbered by an ageing judge holding one of those bricks.

Last year - in between state visits to Qatar, authorising dodgy media guides on how court staff should reply to journalists, and churning out edicts on judicial travel – but only after being rumbled as a big time jet setter funded by public cash - Lord Gill cast his aim at the media and threatened to block journalists from his courts.

The terms of Gill’s anti-media proclamation were clear - journalists were only in court at his pleasure. If his displeasure was incurred, the media would be denied access to his courts.

Gill’s fit of pique was a little bit sad, certainly a bit bad, and definitely, a bit mad.

The following report from the Scottish Sun newspaper is how Lord Gill’s stand against the press was viewed by the media.

Mr Big of the judicial world sets his sights on the media

by Russell Findlay. The Scottish Sun

HE jets around the world to be feted by wealthy tyrants involved in organised killings and corruption.

He rose from the shadow of Barlinnie prison in Glasgow’s east end to mix with the elite of Scotland’s chattering classes.

Far from the tenements of post-war and gang-infested Riddrie, his fortune is funnelled into a complex network of property and shares.

With a razor-sharp mind, he treats critics with a barely concealed contempt.

Now in his 70s, and with two sons following in his footsteps, the white-haired father-of-six retains a tight grip on his empire.

Despite the CV, Brian Gill is not some Mr Big from the sewer of organised crime.

He’s Scotland’s top judge whose wealth, status and overseas connections are from life on the other side of the law.

But our two-bob crooks can but dream of the power wielded by Brian – or (according to society bible Debrett’s) the Lord Justice-General and Lord President of the Court of Session.

Take last week for example.

From his book-lined office in Parliament Square, Brian quietly issued a 216-word public pronouncement on a single sheet of A4.

It amounts to a cloak of judicial ermine being placed over the workings of our criminal courts.

He believes that us grubby hacks – and you, our readers – already know too much, saying “it is now clear that the information being disclosed is excessive”.

He cites the Data Protection Act 1988 as his motive, when that law clearly exempts information relating to legal proceedings.

Perhaps Lord Air Miles was inspired by his recent jolly to Qatar, whose oil-rich emirs know all about keeping the pesky media in check.

Brian’s anti-transparency fatwa would be laughable were it not so serious.

The free press in this country has valiantly resisted a sustained attack culminating in the tedious Leveson Inquiry – led by another judge called Brian.

Our Brian has already overseen a creeping tightening of the media’s access to civil court cases.

So when the police, NHS and councils pay out vast sums of taxpayers’ cash in grubby compo deals, the public are kept in the dark.

Brian’s regressive bid to curtail access to criminal cases will be music to the ears of Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, an ex-lawyer addicted to cheap headlines about falling crime.

The European Commission revealed two years ago that in Scotland 59 per cent of crimes reported by police to prosecutors didn’t get to court. That compares to just nine per cent in England and Wales.

Our civil and criminal courts are in danger of becoming little more than private playgrounds for lawyers to strike secret deals.

Eric McQueen, Scottish Court Service chief executive, should be telling his board chairman Brian to get a grip.

In the US - where the public right to know runs through the heart of the justice system - they have the PACER website.

Anyone, from anywhere in the world, can access 500 million court documents from all 50 states.

Brian’s chilling 216-word edict ought to send shockwaves through the Scottish Parliament.

He has already shown contempt for Holyrood by refusing to discuss a proposed register of interests for him and his brethren.

Let’s hope that some of our 129 MSPs have some fire in their belly.

It’s time for Brian and his judicial chums to learn about scrutiny and accountability.

And perhaps his next foreign junket should be to land of the free rather than a despotic Middle East regime.

37 comments:

  1. Good old Brian - he can always be relied upon to dig a bigger hole than before.

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  2. I was at the CLC and can assure you many eyes were rolling as the words dribbled out.

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  3. "If people found out judges are little more than “Victorian” bankers cloaked in 18th Century ermine gowns - life, and Scotland as we know it - would cease to exist."

    People should be told and the whole register made law for all judges everywhere not just in Scotland!

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  4. This may interrupt someone's quiet weekend in the Cayman Islands :)

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  5. Lord Gill and his closed shop Scottish Court Service – are about as open and transparent as a brick wall.

    If you ask too many questions, you are liable to get clobbered by an ageing judge holding one of those bricks.

    LOL!

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  6. Lord Bonkers has something to hide methinks

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  7. Good points about PACER I have often browsed the site myself.The USA are years ahead of the SCS search engine for court opinions and users often end up discovering half the opinion is missing.

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  8. Proving once again judges cannot be trusted no matter the myths their friends in the legal industry spin about them.

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  9. Sad, Bad and a little Mad


    What an accurate and befitting description to be carved on his grave stone?

    It cannae be long now surely, he is long since past retireal age but is still drawing a vastly inflated salary?

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  10. Note to the judge - it is not a good idea to take on the press and make an enemy of transparency.

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  11. Lord Gill said in his speech in the other story the judiciary face criticism and cannot reply.Is this Gill's way of answering back as in shutting out the press from court?
    This is a very peculiar affair.If the press were barred from English courts under the same terms Gill uses there would be uproar in the media and at Westminster.

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  12. Good article from the Sun I'll have to take a subsc now they are running more legal stuff.

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  13. Yes just as you say there is too much to hide and Gill knows it.Easy to spot the friends of the bankers and shredders eh m'lud

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  14. This character has done more to bring down the trust in the Scottish Judiciary than anyone else in history?

    Some say that he has a similar comedy value as the Monty Python crew?

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  15. Thanks for ruining my weekend.
    Calls all round to read this after someone said quiet few days due to your number on Stevenson/slcc.**!

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  16. If you ask me you are giving the judges a bigger clobbering than they are to you!

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  17. What music does Gill listens to during his speech writing?
    Wagner?

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  18. Anonymous said...
    Good points about PACER I have often browsed the site myself.The USA are years ahead of the SCS search engine for court opinions and users often end up discovering half the opinion is missing.

    25 April 2015 at 18:24
    ££££££££££££££££££'mm

    I have noticed that the SCS has planned their search facility to be the most unhelpful possible, whereby unless you know the full details of a case or get even a single letter or digit wrong, it blocks you?

    Also, cases which may cause embarrassment are hidden, never to be found again?

    Also, cases which they do not want the Scottish Public to find out about or where they seek to protect the identity of the person or organisation are recorded as single letters like, AB v CD Ltd?

    So, often times even if you know the name of a person or organisation, when you try to type their name into the search database to scrutinise details of the case, you are blocked from ever finding their details as their names are abbreviated and or anonymised?

    So much for accountability and transparency to the Scottish Public?

    Every day that passes the Scottish Judicial System becomes more a Private abuse forum for crooked Scottish lawyers?

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  19. Anonymous said...
    Lord Gill said in his speech in the other story the judiciary face criticism and cannot reply.Is this Gill's way of answering back as in shutting out the press from court?
    This is a very peculiar affair.If the press were barred from English courts under the same terms Gill uses there would be uproar in the media and at Westminster.

    25 April 2015 at 22:57
    ££££££££££££££££££££££££

    Especially when you consider the complete daftness of his reasoning?

    You only get complaints about a judicial system if it is inherently corrupt or dysfunctional?

    The Gill's attitude is that when he speaks about Scottish Justice then everyone should listen and obey his every word, without question and that they should bow before him in all his omnipotence? Anyone who questions his version of events is either evil or stupid and he is only content, when he gets everything his own way 100% of the time?

    Judgement?

    You are having a laugh?

    It's a private abuse club?

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  20. Lord No NO wants to keep his Pandoras box of secrets.

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  21. How can Scotland afford such an expensive, intransigent, beligerant and stuck-in-the-mud Lord President?

    How come he can keep being employed when he should've retired nearly a decade ago?

    Can he not bare to give up on his over inflated jumped-up salary?

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  22. This is good.The article by Russell Findlay is excellent and spot on in every detail.
    A damning indictment of how Brian Gill has mishandled the entire debate on judicial transparency.

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  23. Gill has far too much power, and he aims to keep it.

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  24. I guess if you are Scottish this Gill guy counts and kinda runs the country in a way cause politicians are scared of him because of his power.

    Looking at this from the outside Scotland he kinda sounds as you say a bit sad bad mad

    love this and ur blog!

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  25. Old Lord Grumpy at it again I see but then he can afford it because he has the power!

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  26. We get it already!
    Peter you are correct about all this and the angry Santa LGill is WRONG!

    Only a dumbass or potentially a crook argues against transparency!

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  27. Scotland's People are subjugated by Scottish lawyers who seem to take delight in causing as much damage and destruction as they can, whilst the Law Society of Scotland laugh away in the background.

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  28. "The sheer sums of judicial wealth, the efforts gone into hiding it, the connections, the links, the business, the money, the property, the assets, the travel, and the criminal records of judges - are simply too much to disclose – for Gill.

    But seriously, would anyone be surprised to learn the judiciary are collectively hiding billions under their beds - after we all witnessed the spectacle of a 73 year old judge waging a two year war with the Scottish Parliament in a bid to halt MSPs investigations and hearings on accountability and transparency in the judiciary?

    The answer of course is No. Everyone gets the argument that judges should, like everyone else, declare their interests."

    Of course you are correct,Peter.Gill is completely out of touch on this one.

    Your call for the register of interests is in keeping with the public mood and I believe you will get it in some form or another.

    Keep up the good work!

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  29. Anonymous said...

    How can Scotland afford such an expensive, intransigent, beligerant and stuck-in-the-mud Lord President?
    =====================================
    It is the historical way they enginneered the system to protect themselves. He and his profession are detached from society but wield horrendous power over it.

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  30. How come this guy is allowed to still be working long after he is supposed to be retired?

    Is it something to do with making the rules up as you go along and all about the Caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaashhhhhh?

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  31. Leveson was a joke - just a political revenge against the press and this is exactly what your top judge is doing - going after the press in a clearly failed attempt to mute or control publicity about the courts and justice.

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  32. How come The Gill can get away with paying himself a huge salary long after he should have retired?

    One rule for him and his over paid champaign 1st Class Flyers and one rule for everyone else?

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  33. I don't get it.

    How can somebody who professes to have good judgement be so completely out of touch with reality that the Scottish public have which is that transparency and accountability is a non negotiable pre-requisite of our Public Servants?

    It is almost as if Lord Gill is saying to the Scottish Public and MSP's, stuff you lot, I am in control and I will decide what is best for judges and don't give a monkey's whether you agree with me or not. I am all powerful and whatever I say is the law?

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  34. Apparently, Lord Gill is apoplectic with rage that the truth media keep referring to his age being around a decade after retiral age?

    If we had transparency and accountability, we would see if it is established policy that Scottish Judges are allowed to continue working for many years past when they should have retired, so as to milk the system for as long as possible to bump up their millionaire golden pension pot?

    If the pension age is set down so that the deterioration which comes with age is not allowed to affect their job performance, then presumably each of the geriatric Scottish Judges undergo 'fit for purpose' assessments every 6 months they work beyond the retirement age limit?

    This evidence should be produced by Lord Gill as proof to the Scottish Public that the Scottish Judiciary are fit enough to carry out their duties under law and would be a prerequisite under a system where there was transparency and accountability?

    So long as Lord Gill refuses to be honest with the Scottish People about these vital confirmations, he will be in contempt of his own position in law and will continue to bring the Scottish Justice system into disrepute?

    There should be an Interim Interdict brought against the Scottish Judges until these answers are provided?

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  35. A liar is always lavish of oaths.

    Pierre Corneille

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  36. Why the paranoia from Gill?

    Could it be that he has skeletons in the cupboard that are close to being revealed and he is threatening to throw his weight around in a desperate tantrum?

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  37. The sooner we get rid of Gill and bring back Moi Ali, the quicker we can begin to rebuild Scotland's judicial system back towards being fit for purpose, so that Scotland can be viewed impartially as being a decent, principled country instead of a swirling sewer of Scottish crooked lawyers?

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