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Does this mean Huhne’s going to be charged or not charged?

February 2nd, 2012


Telegraph

What can we read into this afternoon’s news?

In a discussion over a drink at the weekend my lawyer friend who’s had a career as a prosecutor suggested that one of the major considerations for the CPS over the Huhne case would be whether it would be possible to hold a fair trial.

This has gone on for such a long time and received a massive amount of publicity that an initial consideration would be whether it would be possible to find a jury.

The normal process is that once a charge has been made then the media are put under massive constraints not to publish anything that could be prejudicial.

So how does that fit with the DPP making a statement to camera at 10am tomorrow morning? The very process of letting it be known this afternoon that the statement will be issued tomorrow raises the ante.

Certainly the DPP will be aware that Huhne’s lawyers will be looking for anything to impede the process if a charge is made.

So I might be completely wrong but I would be put chance of a charge at no more than 40%.

Mike Smithson @MikeSmithsonOGH
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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Geoffrey-Harrison/665801094 Geoffrey Harrison

    “Would he do a good job?”

    Yes.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Geoffrey-Harrison/665801094 Geoffrey Harrison

    ”
    MODERATED
    (Edited by a moderator)”

    Ooh!

  • http://twitter.com/MorrisF1 Morris Dancer

    Did we need the IFS to tell us that a party that had a policy of borrowing more money than the Coalition would’ve borrowed more money than the Coalition?

  • MrJones

    ice age is coming, the sun’s going dim
    freezing expected, power stations getting thin
    windmills stop running but huhne has no fear
    windmills stop running but Huhne…he’ll buy a villa in spai-ai-ain

  • Anonymous

    Not sure if already posted but the Boundary Commission has announced:

    1)  All representations made in respect of its initial proposals will be published on 6 March 2012.

    2)  Secondary consultation period will run from 6 March 2012 to 3 April 2012.

    http://tinyurl.com/83hdgpq

  • Save Ed

    They are mistaken.

    Ed Balls says that borrowing more would obviously reduce the deficit faster, and he is never wrong.

  • http://twitter.com/MorrisF1 Morris Dancer

    It is true to say that Labour’s approach to the economy is pure Balls.

  • Plato

    OT this is rather interesting re economics of online advertising

    182,901 Ads, 26 Clicks: My Short Life as a Facebook Advertiser http://go.bloomberg.com/facebook-unleashed/2012-02-02/182901-ads-26-clicks-my-short-life-as-a-facebook-advertiser/

  • Anonymous

    even tim has given up on his £150BN more than Darling fantasy.

  • Marquee Mark

    Strangely, you never mention that Gabble was doing the Sky-Cable tweeting posts…like, er, “his life depended on it”.

    Why would that be?  Does it conflict with a narrative you have spent a year building up…in your mind?

  • Anonymous

    @TimGattITV: Paddy Power: “We’ve suspended betting on Chris Huhne to be the next to leave the UK coalition cabinet..flood of bets in past few hours.

  • Anonymous

    Paddy Power suspend Huhne market.

  • Save Ed

    The accurate figure is £158BN

    Ed Balls says so

  • Rotten Borough

    >Clegg just said ‘it would be a very serious matter’ when asked last
    > week. He’d surely have to be the one to sack Huhne since he’s LD >leader?

    Dont think so. It is PM who hires and fires the cabinet, one of the few actual direct powers that he has as I understand it. Obviously he’d run it all by Clegg, but I’m sure that happened weeks ago.

    This might be a great time to ditch Lansley while he’s at it. Before that particular monster has sped completely out of his control.

  • Marquee Mark

    But that £158bn was tim’s blue blanket.

    His blue blanket!!

    The IFS have also not said what rate of interest Labour would have had to borrow that money at.  An extra 2%, anyone?  Certainly, Darling would not have been borrowing at rates last seen when Victoria was on the throne….

  • Tissue Price

    I would estimate that over 80% of substantial market moves on politics are driven by punters from this site.

    However, Guido was mostly responsible for getting the Huhne price to crash – and he’ll have been a little unlucky, imo, should Huhne be charged tomorrow (in view of the delays).  I understand he’s on the bet again though.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Geoffrey-Harrison/665801094 Geoffrey Harrison

    For Plato:

    “In Britain, 47% of households with a cat have at least one person educated to degree level, compared to 38% of homes with dogs.”

    So say Prospect in Fact (whomever they may be).

  • Marquee Mark

    Perhaps Huhne drives a BMW Neutrino.  That would explain everything…he could have arrived home before he set off from Brussels.

  • Plato

    In some households with dogs – I suspect that its the canine that’s got the qualifications…

  • Anonymous

    Evening all,

    I see that Huhne is the talk of the throng today. My guess is they are not going to prosecute and there will be some waffly and inconclusive explanation.

    Anyway for those particularly interested here is Michael Crick’s assessment of what might happen if Huhne departs (from July).

    Reshuffle ready if Huhne has to quit?

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14316905

    In other loony Huhne news it turns out that morale at his DECC ministry is quite good. Apparently despite the nation suffering from austerity measures somehow the workforce at DECC is still rising. Go figure…..

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Geoffrey-Harrison/665801094 Geoffrey Harrison

    And when, as we’ve had – three cats and a dog, what then?

    And what happens when a household with a dog, and it dies, and is replaced by a cat?  Does someone suddenly become a PhD?

  • tim

    Within 37 minutes of seeing that poll, ordinary bloke David Cameron was photographed here.

    http://www.forwardslashnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Cameron1.jpg

    Singing

    As soon as you’re born they make you feel small
    By giving you no time instead of it all
    Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
    A working class hero is something to be

  • Anonymous

    Great to see Dave supporting a charity like the Blue Cross.

    Especially when there are people like this who own dogs.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2095451/Cruel-couple-facing-jail-appalling-neglect-sheepdog-trapped-ball-matted-hair.html

  • Plato

    Well DECC spent a small fortune on taxis and is still enjoying taxpayer funded day out jollies – so no wonder…

  • Plato
  • Anonymous

    Whatever the decision, it beggars belief that it has taken so long for the Met/CPS to get to the bottom of this one. It sounded like no more than an afternoon’s work to suss it out…
     
    I will stick my neck out and say “no charges” on the basis of inconclusive evidence insufficient to mount a prosecution with a realistic prospect of conviction. But I really find it hard to believe that in what seems a straightforward open and shut matter they can possibly come to that conclusion.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Geoffrey-Harrison/665801094 Geoffrey Harrison

    “The case was adjourned for sentencing until February 8.”

    ‘ang ‘em

  • Anonymous

    Either way, I suspect by the Ten O’Clock News tonight, or tomorrow’s front pages emerging, we will know whether he’s gonna get done or not. It will leak out one way or another…

  • Anonymous

    ‘on the basis of inconclusive evidence’ – we have a published statement from his wife admitting the offence.  Has she withdrawn it?  If she has not then there is no excuse for not prosecuting.

  • http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/history/union_and_jacobites/the_darien_scheme/ TubOfLard

    A lot of moderated comments. Should this have been posted ?

    ”This has gone on for such a long time and received a massive amount of publicity that an initial consideration would be whether it would be possible to find a jury.”

    We political anoraks sitting inside our bubble tend to overestimate the impact of such a story to enter into the conciousness of the average juror.

    From my two experiences of jury service the intellect and politica antennae of the average juror to current affairs is not that great.

    So long as the ‘exposure to the story’ is the main criteria for rejecting a juror then I reckon that the twelve ‘vacant’ minds can be obtained.

  • tim

    I’d consider voting for Dave if, rather than sending the Cameron Squad to the Algarve, he’d send out armed response teams to take out dogs that crap on pavements and in parks, and their owners.
    Besides motorists whining about speeding fines dog owners have to contain the most self interested subset of selfish bastards of any group of people in the country.

  • Fitter Happier

    Darling’s budget plans perform best on an overhead projector.

  • Anonymous

    Sean Trende says the turnout at the GOP primaries is not an indicator for the election:

    “I think what we’ve seen — and why turnout is down this year — is that participation in presidential primaries is driven by close contests with multiple candidates vying for the vote.”

    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/02/01/how_much_does_voter_turnout_matter_112990.html

    (Mr Smithson gets a mention!)

  • Plato

    LauraITV
    It’s exactly what they did over MP s expenses – he did VERY brief statement and certainly didn’t take questions….

  • Anonymous

    Within 10 seconds of reading your post tim was desperately searching to use it as a smear against Cameron.

    Even Ed can’t find it funny

    http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/53281000/jpg/_53281662_jex_1068630_de27-1.jpg

  • Anonymous

    Well you’d expect the Libdems answer to Gordon Brown to be irresponsibly profligate with taxpayers money now wouldn’t you….

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Geoffrey-Harrison/665801094 Geoffrey Harrison

    Despite all Tim’s best efforts to ingratiate himself, I can say unequivocally my dog wouldn’t deign to drop his load on any part of Tim’s estate.

    He would find it impossible to find a virgin spot clear of the landlord’s own deposits.

  • Anonymous

    Presumably you don’t have a problem with cats sh1tting everywhere when their owners let them out to roam free and unhindered, causing a bloody nuisance, or horses dropping big mounds of sh1t all over the highway that nobody ever clears up and which can stay there for months once it’s been driven through?
    As for speeding fines, I think for many it’s not the fine they whinge about, it’s the draconian enforcement and the focus on easy pickings in areas with ridiculously low reduced limits rather than a genuine concern on safety by enforcing limits outside schools, old folks’ homes and at recognised blackspots.

  • Anonymous

    An interesting insight into the mindset.  Thank you.  But I think you should complain to Joe Anderson.  He is the one in charge.

  • Anonymous

    delete

  • Anonymous

    Very OT, but fascinating.

    The only known audio recording of Otto von Bismarck. Very poor quality, but even so …

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/science/bismarcks-voice-among-restored-edison-recordings.html?_r=3&ref=science

    You can link to it (and another one by Moltke) from a sidebar on the left hand side of the article.

  • Anonymous

    Dirty Dick’s gets a mention here (chortled at ‘Camel Toe’).

    http://www.beertastetest.com/blog/dirty-dozen-sexually-influenced-beer-names

    I once popped into Tesco (I think it was) after a bit of a boozy lunch and spotted a birthday cake in the shape of giant pink breasts with glace cherries for nipples. Not that I cared, but just out of mischief I decided to make a scene about them not stocking a cake in the shape of a giant penis. I think at one point I said ‘I demand a giant cock cake!’ I was made to leave my shopping and was escorted off the premises by two bouncers.

    What happens (if anything) to the ex if Mr H is tried/convicted?

  • tim

    I thought it was taken for granted that cats who crap in other peoples gardens should be taken out by snipers returning from Afghanistan and sacked by the Tories.
    £5 a pelt, that should work.

    Then go after the owners

  • Plato
  • Anonymous

    @NicoHines: “Romney and Trump: they both like firing people” DemRapidResponse team have new ad up 2hrs before the endorsement http://t.co/C4WWqeJe

  • Save Ed

    @ipsosnewspolls: In GB 13% say #ukeconomy in “good” shape, up 5 points http://t.co/uov0igQY #ukpolitics

  • Anonymous

    I cannot condone your drunken antics but I hope when you got home you put on an appropriate apron to cook the tea.
    I think its disgraceful what grown adults can buy. I hope Ms Green expands her draconian campaign.

    http://www.4yourkitchen.co.uk/images/_lib/novelty-apron-sexy-stockings-18010317-0-1285000981000.jpg

    http://chocolatefantasies.com/WherestheBeefApron.jpg

  • Jonathan

    Watched a Dylan Moran Video last night.   Insightful comment.

    Cats are Right Wing
    Dogs are Left Wing

  • Anonymous

    I hope I had something more subtle in mind! Though you can’t fault it for the all-important sense of humour.

  • Socrates

    Cats generally bury what they produce. Horses I agree with you.

  • Anonymous

    Well Cats are independently minded and Dogs slavishly follow their pack leader.

    But then we all know that all animals are equal except some animals are more equal than others.

  • Jonathan

    LibDems must be mice. 

  • Anonymous

    £156 billion gold bars stored in former canteen under london.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2095535/Bank-Englands-glittering-stash-156BN-gold-bars-stored-canteen-London.html

    Lucky our Gordon is out of power ;-)

  • tim

    Then put me down for the armed wing of the Lib Dems.

  • Anonymous

    When’s your birthday, tim?

  • Plato

    OT School prayer is back on the boil again as US Senate approves bill http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/01/2619976/senate-approves-school-prayer.html

  • Anonymous

    I would hazard a guess that a large percentage of the public have no clue about the Huhne speeding story.

    A leftie friend was talking to me yesterday about the Labour leadership… she didn’t even know that Yvette Cooper was Balls’s wife.  (Then again, she also thought EdM was “sincere” and a “man of integrity” …) 

    I think pb.com tends to overestimate the depth of political interest/knowledge amongst the general populace. 

  • Anonymous

    A canteen?  How did that work then?
    It must have been part of a WW2 bunker.

    It would have only worth 40 billion when Brown was selling it off.

  • malcolmG

    Next you will be trying to kid us that you won money on it using your hug eintellect and betting prowess.

  • Plato
  • malcolmG

    He only prospered in his imagination

  • Tissue Price

    Tim doesn’t have a birthday.  He became operational at the T—I—M plant in Urbana, Illinois, on the 12th of January, 1992.

  • malcolmG

    That would be Tim ,  piling in to increase his already huge winnings

  • tim

    hug eintellect – a German friend of yours or someone named after a number plate to save money later in life?

  • Anonymous

    ‘HAL’ stands for Heuristcally programmed ALgorithmic computer.

    I wonder….

  • Anonymous

    Starmer may decide not to prosecute but I am not sure that puts Huhne back into the sunlight.

    Any hint of strong evidence but not sufficient for a successful prosecution opens two lines of pressure.

    First was he guilty but gets away with it? You can see the conspiracy theorists in the media loving that line.  That could run and run.

    Secondly, is the DPP being too cautious? He is someone who is from a left wing tradition – see the name – and made his career from the HRA. Is he too soft? Is he too pessimistic about a successful prosecution? Should he let a court decide rather than making that judgement himself?

    Being DPP gives no excuse for not explaining himself, and he will have to if he doesn’t prosecute after the vast resources consumed by this affair. His judgment can  be tested by democratic challenge as much as any other public servant. Is he using taxpayer resources wisely?

  • malcolmG

    Cameron is too scared to do anything about it,  would cause major upset so no hope of it happening.  They should get on with paying their fees and stop whinging about us spending our money on trying to educate the great unwashed youth.

  • Max

    I don’t think it’s all ours, most of it is just stored in the BoE vault on behalf of other nations.

  • malcolmG

    stick to lying it suits you better saddo

  • tim

    Sussed

    Have you seen the size of shadsy’s overround on the next out market?

  • Anonymous

    Don’t tell Ms Green but, ‘David Beckham: My naked days are over’

    ‘http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/article/TMG9055576/David-Beckham-My-naked-days-are-over.html

    Those of a nervous disposition should not open the link.

  • Anonymous

    Its not labelled!

    But yes – its my belief that when gold is bought and sold its not physically moved.  Some people are very trusting. 

  • Anonymous

     Browne is very loyal to Clegg.  There is certainly no love lost between Browne and Huhne.

  • Plato

    Lummie – that’s a LOT of Ye Olde Photoshoppe. Has a single original pixel remained? They’ve even touched up the rope…

  • Tim B

    One of the best things about living in the USA is that I have not heard anything about the Beckhams for years – except when ESPN talk about soccer and make the obligatory joke about Beckham playing for the Galaxy and being injured again.

    So all this underwear modelling stuff is news to me – well perhaps ‘news’ is putting it a little strong

  • dr spyn

    Unfortunately there is a huge poster with that huge poser Beckham alongside the M5 in Birmingham.

  • Anonymous

    If Huhne is charged, and Clegg & Cam tells him to resign, then what happens if the jury finds him “not guilty”. He should rightfully get his job back. Will he ?

  • dr spyn

    Just for the SME lovin’ Kate Green MP – Red Dragon.

    http://www.breconshirebrewery.com/index.php?page=our-beers 

  • Anonymous

    Just seen the Beckham ad on TV for first time tonight. Not a patch on Daniel Craig in Casino Royale. It took nearly 40 years, but the ladies finally got their iconic Bond coming out of the sea moment. :D

  • Anonymous

    I love the implication in the headline article that somehow everyone knows a) Huhne and b) everyone knows this story.

    Millions don’t, easy to pick a jury.

  • dr spyn

    If you are a cat lover, look away now.

    http://tinyurl.com/felineontoast 

    From the Telegraph website.

  • http://tomknoxbooks.com SeanT

    “I think pb.com tends to overestimate the depth of political interest/knowledge amongst the general populace.”

    Er, yeah. This is, in fact, a well known phenomenon long-acknowledged by the pb commentariat, such that it has its own name.

    The error to which you refer is called The Smithsonian Fallacy: it means the easy but mistaken presumption that normal people are as well-informed about, and interested in, politics and political debate as people who comment on pb.com.

    Many misjudgements spring therefrom. One recent example of The Smithsonian Fallacy in action is tim’s fond belief that the government’s alleged bureaucratic f*ckup over the NHS will translate into electoral disaster for the Coalition.

    It won’t, not unless people start dying of smallpox. No one cares.

  • Anonymous

    If you have a problem with cats and horses shitting everywhere, spare a though for the citizens of Bangkok, where occasionally elephants are to be seen in the city.

  • Plato

    Ah – I’m more of a Beckham bod job myself – thought Daniel Craig was a bit chubby – he’s also got a little mouth.

    Then again, Mr Beckham sounds like Sunny Hundal so I’d prefer it if he didn’t speak ever again ;^)

  • Anonymous

    I wonder how whether she drinks here?

    http://tinyurl.com/7g42rtn

  • Socrates
  • Plato

    For those hoping that Vince gets reshuffled – he won’t be able to cry in these toilets ;^)

    http://web-images.chacha.com/images/galleryimage-1692360882-jan-17-2012-600×448.jpg

  • Anonymous

    Wrong actually Jonathan. Dogs are natural small c conservatives. 
    P J O’Rourke has nailed this 
    “Cats are to dogs what modern people are to the people we used to have. Cats are slimmer, cleaner, more attractive, disloyal, and lazy. It’s easy to understand why the cat has eclipsed the dog as modern America’s favorite pet. People like pets to possess the same qualities they do. Cats are irresponsible and recognize no authority, yet are completely dependent on others for their material needs. Cats cannot be made to do anything useful. Cats are mean for the fun of it. 
    http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/25107.P_J_O_Rourke 

  • dr spyn

    Did they sell Owd Tom or Old Dog?

  • Anonymous

    zerohedgeMerkel Snubs France As Europe’s “AAA Club” Meets In Berlin Tomorrow ex-Sarko http://t.co/uE8tQfyq02/02/2012 19:58

  • rodwarner

    Re Huhne – Not really caring much about this sap either way, I consulted the I Ching and the reading is as follows:

    ‘The first (bottommost)
    line, undivided, shows one with his feet in the stocks and deprived
    of his toes. There will be no error.The second line, divided, shows
    one biting through the soft flesh, and going on to bite off the nose.
    There will be no error.The fourth line, undivided, shows one gnawing
    the flesh dried on the bone, and getting the pledges of money and
    arrows. It will be advantageous to him to realise the difficulty of
    his task and be firm, in which case there will be good fortune.The
    sixth line, undivided, shows one wearing the cangue, and deprived of
    his ears. There will be evil.The situation is changing rapidly, and
    Yin (the passive feminine force) is gaining ground.

    The future is
    embodied in Hexagram 7 – Shih (The Army): With
    firmness and correctness, and a leader of age and experience, there
    will be good fortune and no error.

    (A ‘cangue’ apparently is: ‘ a large, heavy flat board with a hole in the center large enough for a
    person’s neck. The board consisted of two pieces. These pieces were
    closed around a prisoner’s neck, and then fastened shut along the edges
    by locks or hinges. The opening in the center was large enough for the
    prisoner to breathe and eat, but not large enough for a head to slip
    through. The prisoner was confined in the cangue for a period of time as
    a punishment.’  (Source Wikipedia).

    Blimey…

    But at least toasting speculation has spared us from the Land That Shall Not Speak Its Name and its clumsy obsessive band of acolytes – i.e. the mcherd…

  • tim

    In those circumstances it won’t be his old job he’ll want back, it’ll be Cleggs.

  • antifrank

    I can put you both right.

    Dogs are animals.  Cats are animals.  Neither understand the concepts of left-wing, right-wing, liberal, socialist or conservative (with a big or small c).

    Humans anthropomorphise.

  • Plato

    There’s a rather interesting little meme on Twitter 54Dinner. These are Joey Barton’s choice

    Mohammed Ali, George Orwell, Adolf Hitler, Steve Jobs. Then its was a toss up between Martin Luther King and Henry VIII #54dinner

    I’d go for:

    Arthur Conan-Doyle, Margaret Thatcher, Harry Houdini, Claudius and Patrick Moore.

  • Jonathan

    AntiFrank you could not be more wrong.  

    Here are Some Famous Extreme Right Wing Cats
    http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/cgi-bin/seigbest.pl 

  • Anonymous

    ”
    Humans anthropomorphise.” 

    That is of course true. 
    But, if you ever have a few hours free in Africa, carefully observe a troop of baboons. 
    Politics is very old. Certainly pre-human.  

  • antifrank

    What an idiot Joey Barton is.  How could he think of inviting Adolf Hitler?  Doesn’t he know what a pain it is catering for vegetarians?

  • Plato

    And there is of course – the Parliament of Magpies. I’ve only ever seen one once – and it was gripping theatre.

  • Anonymous

    No but they do sell a brew called ‘Bitter & Twisted’ (from Scotland ~ where else would it be from)?

    http://www.theoldredcow.com/beer-ale/cask-keg

    They need to be careful though in case someone slips them a ‘Thatcher’s Gold’. Such an event could have dreadful consequences….

  • Anonymous

     I presume birds have some concept of left wing and right wing though.

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