Independent: Richard Ingrams' Week
Quote:
If David Davis wants another item to add to his list of vanishing civil liberties, he might think about Jack Straw's latest wheeze to allow witnesses in criminal trials to give evidence anonymously.
This change in the law is, according to Straw, so vitally necessary that it will be rushed through Parliament next week before anyone is given much of a chance even to think about it.
Yet it ought to be obvious that if the expression "a fair trial" means anything at all, then you cannot allow charges to be made by people who are not identified and who therefore cannot be properly cross-examined by defence lawyers.
