Reith lectures - ECHR

Rarely do we get the chance to hear from either non-politicians or non-social media polemicists on matters of urgent threats to democracy. Here we have one of Britains most senior judges setting out with impeccable reasoning the threat posed by judges to what we have understood hitherto to be the preserve of democratic processes and decisions.

He also exposes the most fundamental difference between the supranational globalists ever seeking to expand the powers of unelected authority and those of us stalwart in our defence of democratic rights;

For those who believe that fundamental rights should exist independently of democratic choice, dynamic treaties have an obvious attraction. They create a source of law which is independent of democratic political choices. The European Convention on Human Rights is a classic dynamic treaty.

For a heavyweight argument for the UK’s withdrawal from the ECHR and the ECtHT – not Lord Sumption’s first choice – here are all the arguments. Anand’s irritating vacuous twittering is only a very minor impairment. Don’t bother with the Q&A segment at the end. 

The first two lectures are also well worth hearing – challenging tangentially the moral certainties behind both Remain and Leave – and not always comfortable. There are two more to come.

I haven’t paid the TV Tax since 2015, but here at least is some of my money back.