The John Terry Saga

John Terry: Captain Fantastic

As a law student (albeit a Scots law student) and an ardent Chelsea fan, you might have thought that I would have had a conflict of interests as John Terry's trial at Westminster Mags unfolded last week. I saw the Youtube video (as apparently did everyone in the world) and saw the same words being uttered as everyone else. As it happens, my situation (the potential conflict of interests) meant that I've spent the last few months defending John Terry from both points of view. Firstly my law student mind saw me defend him from the point of view of the 'innocent until proven guilty' stance. People don't like to hear that argument but it's one that I will stick to because it's the right argument in a society such as ours. My Chelsea supporter's mind was telling me that I had to defend him because I like him as a player and as a captain of the team that I'm a fan of. The latter, as you can well imagine, was not as strong a standpoint.

Tragedies and Their Futures

A week not of tragedy itself but of the memories of tragedy. In the last week we've seen the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic and in the week ahead we'll see Anders Behring Breivik go on trial for the atrocity that he conducted last summer. Two events that seem are so far removed from each other but which share such a bitter common factor: the loss of lives of many innocent people. In the Titanic's case 100 years is a poignant anniversary but people seem to have missed the point. The commercialisation of the anniversary (talked about below) can only but make you cringe - not the desired response to the memories of over 1500 people. In the case of Breivik, a madman will be dumped onto the conveyor belt of justice this week and rightly so. Why, though, do I pick up on these two things in the same post? Well read on and let me explain.