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PODCAST

Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics

Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC

Covering the critical intersections of law and politics in the UK with expert commentary on high-profile legal cases, political controversies, prisons and sentencing, human rights law, current political events and the shifting landscape of justice and democracy. With in-depth discussions and influential guests, Double Jeopardy is the podcast that uncovers the forces shaping Britain’s legal and political present and future. -What happens when law and politics collide? -How do politics shape the

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All Episodes

37:41

Labour Goes To Denmark - And Why Are We Releasing...

Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics ·

2025/11/12

Is Shabana Mahmood’s proposed overhaul of immigration policies, modelled on Denmark’s stringent system, likely to go too far? As the Justice Secretary sends officials to Denmark to study its famously strict asylum rules, is there a danger that a tougher approach will simply risk the Labour party losing votes to the Greens and Crobyn on its left? Or might a less liberal approach save Labour from Reform UK?In this episode of Double Jeopardy, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC provide expert legal

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44:49

Emily Thornberry and the Great China Spy Trial Mystery

Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics ·

2025/11/05

Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC are joined by Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Dame Emily Thornberry, to discuss the evidence given to the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy by key individuals involved in the decisions to prosecute and ultimately abandon the Chinese Spying case (R v Cash and Berry). In a highly unusual public examination of the collapse of a politically sensitive prosecution only weeks before it was due to commence, the Joint Committee subjected

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44:28

Lifting the Lid on the Home Office: Crashed,...

Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics ·

2025/10/29

Does Shabana Mahmood, like Dominic Cummings before her, believe that the Home Office is a broken, dysfunctional bureaucratic institution that needs a radical overhaul? In this week’s episode Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC discuss these and other questions with the former BBC Home Affairs Correspondent and former adviser to Yvette Cooper, Danny Shaw. The trio respond to the publication of the 2023 review of the effectiveness of the Home Office commissioned by former Home Secretary Suella

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48:48

Why Did The Chinese Spying Case Really Collapse?...

Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics ·

2025/10/22

With the China spying case continuing to generate headlines, mystery and yet more uncertainty surrounding the true reason for the DPP’s decision to drop charges against Chris Cash and Chris Berry under the Official Secrets Act 1911, and Double Jeopardy having been sent an anonymously leaked copy of his expert witness statement, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC secure an exclusive interview with Professor Kerry Brown, the former UK diplomat, academic and China expert who was due to be a defence

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35:39

Can Jenrick Go Any Lower? Plus Palestine Action,...

Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics ·

2025/10/15

In the wake of Robert Jenrick’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference likening Attorney General Lord Hermer KC to a “Mafia lawyer”, accusing him and Keir Starmer of treason in relation to the Chagos Islands agreement and calling for the sacking of “activist” Judges together with the return of political appointments to our judiciary, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC ask whether Jenrick’s disgusting, populist bile make him the Stephen Miller of UK politics. They also debate the Government’s

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45:06

ECHR Rights, Cruelty, Chinese Whispers, and the...

Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics ·

2025/10/08

After a brief explanation for the non-appearance of last week’s episode (severe back pain and hard-core painkillers) Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC review Reform’s rapidly evaporating policy agenda, Keir Starmer’s rhetorical revival and Kemi Badenoch’s predictable decision to dump the European Convention on Human Rights and repeal the Human Rights Act having taken legal advice from Lord Wolfson KC. They then revisit the mysterious – and as yet unexplained – decision by the DPP to abandon the

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42:53

Lucy Letby’s Trial Strategy Under the Spotlight, Why...

Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics ·

2025/09/24

With Parliament in recess till mid-October, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC reflect on a number of issues which have dominated the headlines over the past week. After a brief apology from Tim for misquoting in last week’s episode Lord Hermer’s evidence to the House of Lords Constitution Committee on the issue of reform of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), Ken and Tim discuss what may lie behind the Director of Public Prosecutions’ (DPP) decision suddenly to drop serious charges

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46:58

Peter Mandelson, Graham Linehan, Palestine Action,...

Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics ·

2025/09/17

The recent mass arrests at Palestine Action protests, Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom rally, the turmoil generated by the sacking of Angela Rayner and Peter Mandelson and the political fall-out from the arrest of Graham Linehan all contribute to a mood of crisis in UK law and politics. Can a weakened and wounded Government reverse the tide?Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC begin with an obituary to their Matrix chambers colleague and friend, Conor Gearty KC, the esteemed Professor and

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47:50

Small Boats and the Irresistible Rise of Reform UK:...

Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics ·

2025/09/10

Unpack one of the most dramatic moments in the life of the Labour government so far: Angela Rayner’s resignation, a sweeping cabinet reshuffle, and Shabana Mahmood’s arrival as Home Secretary. With David Lammy moved to Justice and Yvette Cooper shifted to the Foreign Office, what does this signal for immigration, asylum, and criminal justice reform?To explore the current events in UK politics, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC are joined by Sir Jonathan Jones KCB KC, former Treasury Solicitor,

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29:44

Mr Farage Goes To Washington: The Truth About The ECHR

Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics ·

2025/09/03

Does the ECHR really block the UK’s ability to implement effective immigration/asylum policies? And why is Nigel Farage doing his best to persuade the foreign US government and its increasingly far right tech bro cronies, to bully the UK over the Online Safety Act, so recently passed by Parliament? And how does this behaviour align with his loudly professed patriotism and promotion of British sovereignty? This week on Double Jeopardy, hosts Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC provide expert legal

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30:10

Farage, Tolerating Torture, and Mass Deportations:...

Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics ·

2025/08/28

Can the UK tighten its asylum policies without abandoning its commitments to human rights? Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC provide expert legal commentary on the Bell Hotel Judgment and its far-reaching impact on the government’s asylum policy. They examine the legal reasoning, the clash between local and central government, and the Court of Appeal challenge now underway. The conversation also covers the limited turnout at far-right protests, new polling showing immigration dominating public

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34:28

Holiday Postbag: Lucy Connolly, Lucy Letby, the...

Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics ·

2025/08/20

Is Chris Philp’s tweet about the different outcomes in the Lucy Connolly/Ricky Jones cases simply moronic and embarrassing or something more sinister? What do the ITV and Panorama documentaries tell us about the safety of Lucy Letby’s convictions? What could potentially derail some of Sir Brian Leveson’s proposals for radical reform of the right to trial by jury? What impact will the Supreme Court’s decision to quash the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo have on the future prosecution of

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38:47

Is Our Government Any Good? Palestine Action, Shabana...

Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics ·

2025/08/13

In this week’s episode of Double Jeopardy, hosts Ken Macdonald and Tim Owen are joined once again by an old friend of the podcast, the award-winning, former BBC, journalist and crime and justice commentator Danny Shaw. Together, they dive into the legal, political, and social repercussions faced by Palestine Action supporters following mass arrests in the wake of the decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group under the Terrorism Act 2000. The trio also debate the claim by former

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37:08

LIBOR, Farage’s Cure for Lawless Britain, and...

Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics ·

2025/07/30

What happens when the criminal justice system gets it wrong and takes years to admit it? And what does it say about the state of UK law when protestors are labelled terrorists while populists call for military-built prisons?From the Supreme Court’s critical judgment in the high-profile legal case against the LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) traders calling out systemic failure in the appeals process to the explosive policy platform launched by Reform UK, this episode of Double Jeopardy

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46:22

Super Injunctions, Afghanistan, and UK Law

Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics ·

2025/07/23

Is it ever justified for the Government to secure a superinjunction in the face of a perceived risk to the life and limb of countless individuals caused by human error? A catastrophic data leak in February 2022 exposed over 18,000 Afghan applicants for resettlement in the UK to violent retribution by the Taliban and a superinjunction granted in August 2023 prevented Parliament and the public from knowing what had happened. Public law specialist, solicitor Daniel Carey has spent years litigating on

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49:01

Sir Brian Leveson and Criminal Justice: A Requiem For...

Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics ·

2025/07/16

The UK criminal justice system is facing an existential threat with court backlogs surging, trial complexity increasing, and decades of chronic underfunding pushing the system to the edge of collapse. Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC are joined by Sir Brian Leveson to discuss the findings of his landmark independent review of the criminal courts. The discussion explores proposals to overhaul the structure of criminal trials, reduce pressure on the courts, and restore public trust touching on

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42:40

Lucy Letby: Will She Waive Privilege as UK...

Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics ·

2025/07/09

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is reviewing new allegations against Letby herself, alongside claims of corporate failings that could amount to corporate manslaughter. As police investigate, questions are mounting about accountability at the highest levels of the health system and beyond. As police escalate their investigation into the National Health Service (NHS) leadership, three former senior managers at the Countess of Chester Hospital have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence

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32:50

Bombing Iran: Self-Defence or a Lawless Attack?

Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics ·

2025/07/02

Has the United States & Israel broken international law by bombing Iran?Or was it an act of Self-Defence? Professor Marko Milanovic, a leading expert in international law joins Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC to assess the legality of the recent Israeli and US military actions against Iranian nuclear facilities. From Article 51 of the UN Charter to the legacy of the Caroline Doctrine, the discussion dives deep into the legal justifications for self-defence, the meaning of "imminent

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42:01

When UK Law and Politics Collide: Abortion, Assisted...

Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics ·

2025/06/25

How should members of Parliament decide matters of life and death? In the midst of passionate public debate, Parliament has begun to rewrite the legal boundaries around abortion and assisted dying, but what does that mean for the future of UK law? And has the United States broken international law by bombing Iran?Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC explore the shifting lines of morality, medicine, legality and war in some of Britain’s most divisive debates. They examine the legal, ethical, and

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45:03

Politics and Money in UK Justice: Juries, Abortion...

Double Jeopardy - UK Law and Politics ·

2025/06/18

What happens when a justice system is asked to do more with less and at what cost to fairness, freedom, and the rule of law?Crime and justice commentator Danny Shaw appears on the show to examine the political and legal fallout from the UK government’s spending review. With stretched police forces, an underfunded probation service, and mounting pressure on the courts and the prisons, how can Labour’s Manifesto commitment to “Take Back Our Streets” be fulfilled ? Ken and Tim then turn to the

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124 results

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