0:00:10 > 0:00:19Tonight on news I Scotland: Us senior lawyer slams the quality of
0:00:19 > 0:00:23legislation coming out of Hollywood. We ask Scots law is safe with MSPs.
0:00:23 > 0:00:28And protests at the festival as an Israeli Dance Company faces calls
0:00:28 > 0:00:32to withdraw because they are part funded by their government.
0:00:32 > 0:00:37Does Scotland have a third world legal system, but criticism of what
0:00:37 > 0:00:41the government says tantamount to treason? That is the charge
0:00:41 > 0:00:46levelled at Holyrood's lawmakers by his solicitor advocate Alistair
0:00:46 > 0:00:56Bonnington. He claims MSPs make laws up depending on what the
0:00:56 > 0:00:59
0:00:59 > 0:01:02Scots law in all of its majesty. Ancient, proud and with an
0:01:02 > 0:01:07independence guaranteed in an Act of Union more than three centuries
0:01:07 > 0:01:12ago. Rather more modern - the Holyrood parliament whether
0:01:12 > 0:01:16criminal law of Scotland has been debated and enacted since
0:01:16 > 0:01:22devolution in 1999. But how effective have our legislators been
0:01:22 > 0:01:26at protecting and strengthening Scots law? In today's times, a
0:01:26 > 0:01:30leading legal commentator argues huge damage has been done to it,
0:01:30 > 0:01:34more than Westminster managed in more than 300 years. These are the
0:01:34 > 0:01:43charges laid by Alistair Bonnington, a former law professor at Glasgow
0:01:43 > 0:01:53University. Employers can't afford to buy it -
0:01:53 > 0:01:55
0:01:55 > 0:01:59that grade the right to a fair trial has been dumped. And he
0:01:59 > 0:02:07claims lawmakers followed tabloid headlines, making criminal acts
0:02:07 > 0:02:12which were already illegal. Stalking could be prosecuted before
0:02:12 > 0:02:19new laws were passed but it is now the subject of a specific new
0:02:19 > 0:02:22legislation, carrying a lower sentence. Lawyers also point to
0:02:22 > 0:02:28amenities in parliamentary draftsmanship. This the Criminal
0:02:28 > 0:02:33Justice and licensing Scotland Act 2010 and it defines an extreme
0:02:33 > 0:02:41pornographic image as an image which is obscene, pornographic and
0:02:41 > 0:02:45extreme. Quite. Alistair Bonnington it argues that Scots lawyers are
0:02:45 > 0:02:52having to defend Scots law against their own parliament. Clearly, he
0:02:52 > 0:02:56says, it is not safe in their hands. We invited the Lord Advocate and
0:02:56 > 0:02:59the Justice Secretary to come on at this evening but they both declined.
0:02:59 > 0:03:05Accepting an invite was Alistair Bonnington, who joins us from
0:03:05 > 0:03:08Edinburgh, and we are also joined from Edinburgh by the convenor of
0:03:08 > 0:03:12the justice committee, MSP Christine Grahame. Of thank you for
0:03:12 > 0:03:21coming on the programme. Alistair Bonnington collate you use very
0:03:21 > 0:03:25strong language in this article. How serious are you? I start, it is
0:03:25 > 0:03:30extremely important to say, that the position of the Lord Advocate
0:03:30 > 0:03:35constitutionally is unsatisfactory to say the least. I am not alone in
0:03:35 > 0:03:39this. Truck Thompson, an advocate and a very well-known defence
0:03:39 > 0:03:44lawyer, has said Scotland is going the way of a banana republic
0:03:44 > 0:03:48because of the position of the Lord Advocate being merely a government
0:03:48 > 0:03:53employee as opposed to an independent legal adviser. Ian
0:03:53 > 0:03:58Hamilton, who is not unknown to the SNP, is a person who has described
0:03:58 > 0:04:01the lord advocate's position as that of a pimp for the government.
0:04:01 > 0:04:06Similar remarks in more measured terms have been made by Professor
0:04:06 > 0:04:11Robert Black about this. There is a fundamental constitutional problem
0:04:11 > 0:04:14here with the role of the Lord Advocate. There is concern - as
0:04:14 > 0:04:20there should be - that even if it is not the case that the lord
0:04:20 > 0:04:23advocate's position is influenced by politicians and his closest of
0:04:23 > 0:04:27politicians, but there is clearly a perception that that may well be
0:04:27 > 0:04:31happening and the integrity of the whole system is attacked by that
0:04:31 > 0:04:35kind of constitutional stupidity. Explain to those who do not follow
0:04:35 > 0:04:41all the legal references you have just given us how things are
0:04:41 > 0:04:44different under holly route than they were before hand. -- Holyrood.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49The Lord Advocate, under the previous system, was an independent
0:04:49 > 0:04:57law officer, not a member of the Cabinet, and was not an employee of
0:04:57 > 0:05:00the government. That is the major and important difference. I may say
0:05:00 > 0:05:05that at a legal conference I attended a little while ago I spoke
0:05:05 > 0:05:09to Lord Advocate's equivalent, the Attorney General of India, and he
0:05:09 > 0:05:14could not believe the situation we had in Scotland, which he regarded
0:05:14 > 0:05:17as positively third world. Christine Grahame, the accusation
0:05:18 > 0:05:24there is essentially MSPs have turned up an independent figure
0:05:24 > 0:05:29into a pimp. A family separate government from MSPs? I know
0:05:29 > 0:05:35Alastair Bonington's attack lots of other things, that MSPs a parody
0:05:35 > 0:05:38just put through on the nod. He has attacked double jeopardy, the fact
0:05:38 > 0:05:41that there was an attempt to get rid of the need for corroboration
0:05:41 > 0:05:49as if we're all going to lie down and let these things happen. With
0:05:49 > 0:05:54regard to the Lord Advocate, it is very melodramatic stuff. The Lord
0:05:54 > 0:05:59Advocate is far more removed than in the previous Scottish parliament
0:05:59 > 0:06:04sessions by the SNP government than before. I think there are issues in
0:06:04 > 0:06:07perception, if not in fact, that would have to be dealt with. The
0:06:07 > 0:06:13trouble with Alistair Bonnington and all these arguments is he is
0:06:13 > 0:06:15firing off dramatically and not really looking coolly at what
0:06:15 > 0:06:20Members of Parliament are actually saying and doing and, in particular,
0:06:20 > 0:06:24the members of the justice committee. You are not being fair
0:06:24 > 0:06:30is what Christine Grahame is saying. Just to be clear, is your
0:06:30 > 0:06:34accusation that MSPs aren't up to the job or that the structures of
0:06:34 > 0:06:39Holyrood are not up to the job? structure of the constitution is
0:06:39 > 0:06:46what I was talking about when I was talking about bladder good. Frankly,
0:06:46 > 0:06:53some of the legislation that has come out looks as if it has been
0:06:53 > 0:06:58written by a child. It really is absolutely awful. There are
0:06:58 > 0:07:01parliamentary draftsmen, as I understand it, and I can only
0:07:01 > 0:07:05assume the old parliamentary draftsmen have not been willing to
0:07:05 > 0:07:10come to Holyrood or alternatively, MSPs are over ridding them because
0:07:10 > 0:07:13the language used here it is quite extraordinarily childish. I am not
0:07:13 > 0:07:21saying it is a universal positioned but it happens again and again and
0:07:21 > 0:07:24again. You also have this idiotic habit of following tabloid agendas.
0:07:24 > 0:07:29"and let's make something illegal that started being illegal about
0:07:29 > 0:07:33500 years ago so we can get on the front page of the Sun or the Daily
0:07:33 > 0:07:36Record and say we are doing something about this". You deal
0:07:36 > 0:07:41with crime by having more policemen arresting wrongdoers and
0:07:41 > 0:07:46prosecuting. You do not pass laws and say how awful it is. What
0:07:46 > 0:07:50difference does that make? None at all. Respond to that tabloid
0:07:50 > 0:07:54allegation club which is that MSPs follow the headlines, rush into
0:07:54 > 0:08:00legislation and did not know what they are doing. It is not the first
0:08:00 > 0:08:05time I have said "legislate at haste, litigate Alastair". I agree
0:08:05 > 0:08:09we should take time over legislation. Can I deal with the
0:08:09 > 0:08:15fact that we have additional police men on the street and that crime is
0:08:15 > 0:08:17at an all-time low? Let's park that one. Let's look at the legislation
0:08:17 > 0:08:21that Alistair Bonnington is referring to, which was the
0:08:21 > 0:08:25offensive behaviour at football matches and communications. I was
0:08:25 > 0:08:30the first person to say that this should not be emergency legislation.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35The first person. My duty as a backbencher and my duty as chair of
0:08:35 > 0:08:39the committee is to deal with things in an objective fashion.
0:08:39 > 0:08:44Other backbenchers do that as well and what really got my goat about
0:08:44 > 0:08:48the article but Alistair Bonnington rate is that it was ill-informed
0:08:48 > 0:08:53about the actions of Paris peace - not just myself but others - in
0:08:53 > 0:08:57holding the government to account. For example, on double jeopardy, I
0:08:57 > 0:09:01already raised with the first minister and the Cabinet Secretary
0:09:01 > 0:09:04in Parliament that I do not want to see this used to give the Crown a
0:09:04 > 0:09:10second bite at a running a case when they didn't run it probably
0:09:10 > 0:09:14the first time. I don't know when Alistair Bonnington knows that but
0:09:15 > 0:09:18other politicians have said that, so there is integrity in MSPs. They
0:09:18 > 0:09:25are endeavouring to hold the government to account and it is up
0:09:25 > 0:09:28to the press to report it. I due essentially suggesting that you are
0:09:28 > 0:09:32questioning the integrity of MSPs - whether they are doing their job
0:09:32 > 0:09:36properly or not? You surely don't believe they going to Hollywood to
0:09:36 > 0:09:39make bad laws? I am not saying that there is an intention to create bad
0:09:40 > 0:09:44laws but I think what Christine Grahame has just said is very
0:09:44 > 0:09:48revealing. She said she has spoken to the first minister in the hope
0:09:48 > 0:09:53that a particularly stupid piece of legislation is not going to be used
0:09:53 > 0:09:57in a particular way. Below all is their. It is on the statute book.
0:09:57 > 0:10:02It is up to lawyers to decide what it means and to enforce it. But
0:10:02 > 0:10:06First Minister has got nothing to do with it at all. You have got a
0:10:06 > 0:10:09retrospective piece of legislation. Retrospective legislation, as
0:10:09 > 0:10:14Christine and I both know, is something that hardly ever happens
0:10:14 > 0:10:21a democratic countries. Bus, the terms of this legislation asked
0:10:21 > 0:10:26such that an extraordinarily low threshold is asked for. On the
0:10:26 > 0:10:35basis of that very low threshold on the balance of probabilities, the
0:10:35 > 0:10:39person accused who has been The Scottish Government says it
0:10:39 > 0:10:43double jeopardy issue follows a detailed assessment by the
0:10:43 > 0:10:49independent Scottish Law Commission. The Government consultation when
0:10:49 > 0:10:51Ford and safeguards for pretend to make sure that strict map -- strict
0:10:51 > 0:10:57requirements Warren Place. Ministers to seek wider advice
0:10:58 > 0:11:02before they legislate. I have just giving you a precise
0:11:02 > 0:11:08example. If you were saying that on the balance of probabilities, that
0:11:08 > 0:11:11somebody, not even the accused, has been found on the balance of
0:11:11 > 0:11:16probabilities to committed an offence against the course of
0:11:16 > 0:11:20justice, which could be as little as lying in court - and accused
0:11:20 > 0:11:24people to lie in court quite a lot - and on that basis perhaps they
0:11:25 > 0:11:30were acquitted, and if that is the threshold for trying a person the
0:11:30 > 0:11:35second time, we really have gone back to the Stone Age.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39It is very naughty of Alastair to translate what I said. What I said
0:11:39 > 0:11:44was, it must not be used when evidence that should have been used
0:11:44 > 0:11:49in the first trial was either overlooked in the examination of a
0:11:49 > 0:11:54crime scene or not produced by the Crown and prosecution. And it is
0:11:55 > 0:11:58only in very serious crimes we're talking about, but what can happen
0:11:58 > 0:12:03is that if scientific measures at that time were not available, then
0:12:03 > 0:12:07there is a very narrow argument in very special circumstances for
0:12:07 > 0:12:13someone who has been acquitted to be tried again. All I was doing in
0:12:13 > 0:12:18raising it in the chamber was alerting colleagues and Cabinet and
0:12:18 > 0:12:22everybody else that I did not wish this to be used by the ground and I
0:12:23 > 0:12:28was given a straight answer - it will not be used in that way.
0:12:28 > 0:12:34You have identified a potential problem. Give us the solution. More
0:12:34 > 0:12:41lawyer's? A second chamber? There's an idea! I could volunteer
0:12:41 > 0:12:46for that! Are a one parliamentary system is rare in the world. We are
0:12:46 > 0:12:51suffering, I think, even if I give everybody the best of intentions,
0:12:51 > 0:12:57the best efforts, we are suffering from the fact that legislation is
0:12:57 > 0:13:01not being scrutinised as well as it would be in other systems. I am
0:13:01 > 0:13:05Scottish and I want to be pride of Scot's Law. But we just do not
0:13:05 > 0:13:12compare with what comes out of Westminster.
0:13:12 > 0:13:19We are running out of time. Thank you. Thank you for joining us.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22Protesters halted a Israeli dance show up at the Edinburgh
0:13:22 > 0:13:26International Festival this evening. Batsheva Dance Company hat to be
0:13:26 > 0:13:32stopped three times after protest inside the theatre. Earlier, more
0:13:32 > 0:13:35than 100 people gathered outside to urge the festival's director to
0:13:35 > 0:13:43reconsider his invite to the company that is funded by the
0:13:43 > 0:13:47Israeli Government. Born from their embers of the
0:13:47 > 0:13:52Second World War, their Edinburgh International Festival promised a
0:13:52 > 0:13:55platform in peacetime for all cultures. This dance show from Tel
0:13:55 > 0:14:05Aviv, just one of the many international pieces being staged
0:14:05 > 0:14:07
0:14:07 > 0:14:11this year. Palestinians, stand very firm! But outside the theatre,
0:14:11 > 0:14:15there is a growing protests and calls for the show to be abandoned,
0:14:15 > 0:14:19not least because the Israeli culture minister is due to attend.
0:14:19 > 0:14:24It has nothing whatsoever to do with their national while --
0:14:24 > 0:14:29nationality, ethnicity or anything else. It is because they are
0:14:29 > 0:14:34financed by the Israeli ministry of foreign affairs and their part of
0:14:34 > 0:14:37an Israeli Government idea called Brand is real. For the sign a
0:14:37 > 0:14:41contract with the Israeli Government not to mention the
0:14:41 > 0:14:45occupation and not to mention his real been accused of war crimes and
0:14:45 > 0:14:50crimes against humanity. To draw a veil over these war crimes, that is
0:14:50 > 0:14:55why they are targeted. Miss Anne Israeli came here to sing or Oscar
0:14:55 > 0:15:02on the Royal Mile, there would be no interest in that whatsoever. --
0:15:02 > 0:15:04Singh or bask. Edinburgh's festivals are famous for offering a
0:15:04 > 0:15:10platform to many different views and protest has always had its
0:15:10 > 0:15:13place, onstage and off. But this is different. This is about stopping a
0:15:14 > 0:15:18performance going ahead and it has the backing of some of Scott and's
0:15:18 > 0:15:23best known writers and performers, among the more Liz Lochhead, AL
0:15:23 > 0:15:25Kennedy and Iain Banks, for all of whom signed a letter, appealing
0:15:25 > 0:15:30today it rector of Edinburgh's International Festival about
0:15:30 > 0:15:35putting the show on at all. And for some fellow performers, that
0:15:35 > 0:15:41amounts to artistic censorship. This is an international festival.
0:15:41 > 0:15:48Where do we stop? Where do we stop banning fella human beings in the
0:15:48 > 0:15:53name of somebody making themselves important? But I care about
0:15:53 > 0:15:57artistic freedom. Are you going to stop a Russian company coming
0:15:57 > 0:16:02because of what they erupt do, because of what they have just
0:16:02 > 0:16:05done? What about the Chinese company? For two others, the
0:16:05 > 0:16:09festival's recent international cultural some it shows the
0:16:09 > 0:16:13political power of culture and the need to have all countries involved.
0:16:13 > 0:16:20His real was invited to send a delicate, although chose not to
0:16:20 > 0:16:25attend. If people come to our country or people from our country
0:16:25 > 0:16:29go to a country like Israel, there are able to express their views and
0:16:29 > 0:16:34are able to get people to see things in a different way. If you
0:16:34 > 0:16:40build that Worlock, then you will never be able to affect a change or
0:16:40 > 0:16:49get people to see things differently. It is important, we
0:16:49 > 0:16:52feel, to keep the dialogue open at all times. Protests are not new to
0:16:52 > 0:16:58Batsheva Dance Company, who faced a similar reception in New York
0:16:58 > 0:17:03recently. We have had protests in some of our past two years. Usually
0:17:03 > 0:17:10over the policy and Government of Israel. Usually, they take place
0:17:10 > 0:17:20outside the theatre and are usually very simple. It is fine for people
0:17:20 > 0:17:23
0:17:23 > 0:17:26to voice their different opinions. They say the work is not political
0:17:26 > 0:17:32but they refused to distance themselves from the Israeli
0:17:32 > 0:17:41Government, their main source of funding. I am quite proud that our
0:17:41 > 0:17:45country funds culture. We are a cultural institution. And while the
0:17:45 > 0:17:52festival's director of sympathises with protesters, he says the show
0:17:52 > 0:17:56must go on. This festival started at a time when there were huge
0:17:56 > 0:18:03disputes over borders, where people were killing each other point 60
0:18:03 > 0:18:08million people had died. I am not trying to trivialise the very real
0:18:08 > 0:18:15political disputes and the very real problems that exist in a place
0:18:15 > 0:18:20like it is real and a place like Palestine. Or any number of
0:18:20 > 0:18:26countries in which we choose to work. But we start always from the
0:18:26 > 0:18:34position of the individual voice, the individual creativity of the
0:18:34 > 0:18:40artists themselves. For those individual artists, at the show did
0:18:40 > 0:18:50go one tonight, although it was halted three times. It continues to
0:18:50 > 0:18:56
0:18:56 > 0:19:01the weekend, as will the protest. Team GB's gold medallist also broke
0:19:01 > 0:19:08the world record. Offshore wind farms on the front
0:19:08 > 0:19:10page of the Scotsman. At the Mirror talk about Frankie
0:19:10 > 0:19:20Boyle's comments about the Paralympics.
0:19:20 > 0:19:28
0:19:28 > 0:19:31After a chilly night, it is going to feel like Alton in the morning,
0:19:31 > 0:19:35despite the early sunshine. But already, another weather system
0:19:35 > 0:19:40coming into Northern Ireland and Scotland with outbreaks of rain and
0:19:40 > 0:19:45a freshening breeze. We will see some drizzle later in the day in
0:19:45 > 0:19:49Cumbria, but he is the sunshine on the other side of the Pennines. For
0:19:49 > 0:19:55a better day for the Paralympics events. None of the gusty winds of
0:19:55 > 0:20:02today. Increasing cloud in south- west England and possibly a bit of
0:20:02 > 0:20:07light drizzle to end the day. Before Northern Ireland, the rain
0:20:07 > 0:20:10starts to clear way through the afternoon. There could be early
0:20:11 > 0:20:14brightness the further west you are. It is a damp afternoon in Scotland
0:20:14 > 0:20:21to the west and North, but it will take much of the day to reach
0:20:21 > 0:20:24eastern Scotland. It is a dull, damp day across much of Scotland to
0:20:24 > 0:20:31end the week, but we will hold on to a bit of brightness and
0:20:31 > 0:20:35Manchester. Cloud on Saturday and more rain coming in the North West.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39A bright day across southern parts of the UK and a bit warmer, with
0:20:39 > 0:20:44some sunshine on Saturday. A possible that start in the south-