Along with other Magistrates who 'blog' it would appear that I shall shortly have to amend my blog to conform to a diktat issued by the Judicial Office and supported by no less than the Deputy Senior Presiding Judge and the Magistrates' Association.
The essence of this supposed 'guidance' is:
"Officer holders who blog (or who post comments on other people’s blogs) must not identify themselves as members of the judiciary. They must also avoid expressing opinions which, were it to become known that they hold judicial office, could damage public confidence in their own impartiality or in the judiciary in general.
The above guidance also applies to blogs which purport to be anonymous. This is because it is impossible for somebody who blogs anonymously to guarantee that his or her identity cannot be discovered.
Judicial office holders who maintain blogs must adhere to this guidance and should remove any existing content which conflicts with it forthwith. Failure to do so could ultimately result in disciplinary action."
In my opinion, this 'guidance' is in direct contravention of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees 'Freedom of expression' and of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, which states that:
"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."
and I have so informed both the Judicial Office and the Magistrates' Association, time will tell as to the extent of the bollocking I will no doubt receive, but I'll keep you advised. Until then I'm not making any changes or, like some bloggers, entering into a pretence as to who writes this blog. If forced then no doubt I'll be able to come up with some subtefuge, which will fool no-one but which may satisfy our 'masters'.
And they wonder why the ordinary Magistrate has lost faith with those who are supposed to support him or her.
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