London Lives

Walking to hear Michael Mansfield speaking at City University was a good experience; it led me along streets beyond Gray’s Inn Road and Calthorpe Road where I’d never walked before. There was free champagne before the talk (very lawyerly!)

Michael Mansfield spoke about some of his defence cases (and where he acted as a prosecutor on behalf of Stephen Lawrence‘s family). He touched on the Birmingham Six (two of whom were present) and spoke about Barry George’s appeal against his conviction for killing Jill Dando. He spoke about the problems of witness statements and of cross-contamination of DNA.

He also spoke about other kinds of things I expected him to: the erosion of civil liberties and recent governments’ tinkering with cornerstones of the law (such as the right to silence). Someone asked about David Kelly and MM felt there were issues surrounding his death. Someone else asked about Lockerbie and he said Al-Megrahi‘s appeal should have been expedited more quickly, or that there should have been a prisoner exchange.

I bought the book and queued up for him to sign it, which was a thrill. A great evening, different, and fascinating to hear about such an interesting career. These are serious issues, things which have been eroded (particularly by the Blair government).

Got the 153 home, ricocheting around the Georgian streets of Barnsbury.

This is just out by Michael Mansfield QC and I badly want a copy. I think he’s a very interesting character and he’s doing talks and signings all over the place at the moment.