header-logo header-logo

18 March 2022 / Nicholas Dobson
Issue: 7971 / Categories: Features , Public , Covid-19
printer mail-detail

Of busybodies & equalities

75152
Nicholas Dobson reviews the recent challenge to the appointment of Dido Harding as chair of Test & Trace
  • Since Good Law Project had no standing to bring Equality Act 2010 and apparent bias claims against the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (SoS), its claim entirely failed.
  • The Runnymede Trust was granted a declaration that the SoS failed to comply with the public sector equality duty in making certain critical government appointments concerning COVID-19.

Lewis Carrol’s Duchess observed (in a hoarse growl): ‘If everybody minded their own business… the world would go round a good deal faster than it does.’ But while the Duchess was not a paragon of rationality (and her child-care skills somewhat below par), she did echo an engrained feeling from across the ages. So, as Robert Whittington’s 1532 translation of Erasmus’s De civilitate morum puerilium (A Lytell Bok of Good Maners for Chyldren) advised: ‘Be nat ouer besy in other mennes causes.’ The Bible (Peter 4.15) also counsels ‘let none of you suffer… as a busybody in other men’s matters’.

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Anthony Collins—20 promotions

Anthony Collins—20 promotions

20 promotions mark major people investment at national law firm, Anthony Collins

Sidley—Elaine Whiteford

Sidley—Elaine Whiteford

Sidley adds competition litigator Elaine Whiteford in London

Charles Russell Speechlys—Claudina D’Costa

Charles Russell Speechlys—Claudina D’Costa

Charles Russell Speechlys welcomes Claudina D’Costa as Director of Client Development Marketing

NEWS
The 25th Pro Bono Week begins today until 6 November, with events hosted by law firms, chambers, law schools and charities across the UK
Pro bono is celebrating a silver anniversary, with initiatives putting businesses and students at the heart of access to justice
Choosing the wrong expert can cost a clinical negligence claimant more than their case
Judges risk weakening their own independence by staying silent over government reforms, a leading public lawyer argues
A discount on damages does not automatically mean an equivalent haircut for legal costs in military deafness claims
back-to-top-scroll