“Brave the Shave”, a campaign by the UK charity Macmillan Cancer Support, encourages people to seek sponsorship to shave off all their hair and share the event on social media. Brave the Shave has...

Ending the influence which politicalparties exercised over judicial appointmentswas a prominent aim of the project of reformingthe Belgian criminal justice system in the1990s. However, focusing on various highprofile scandals affecting public confidence inthe judiciary, this paper questions whether thepolitical nature of the judiciary is capable ofbeing eradicated. Drawing on the work ofChantal Mouffe, this analysis starts with aconsideration of the discursive element inpolitical identity, which is furthercorroborated by the semiotics of Saussure andGreimas. Applying this perspective to theBelgian situation in the (...) 1990s, it is arguedthat a redefinition of politics in terms of an``us/them'' divide between citizens andinstitutions took place. In this process,judges were targeted as part of theestablishment and cast as the constitutiveoutside buttressing the collectiveidentification between the media, victims ofcrime and the general public. In explaining theinstitutional gap, individual traits of judgesconstituted a significant focus, as can beshown through the extraordinary visibility ofone judge who courted media attention when hewas tried for sadomasochistic activities in1997. (shrink)

The Human Rights Act 1998 is one of the most important constitutional reforms to have been implemented by the New Labour administration in Britain. In addition to incorporating the European Convention on Human Rights into domestic law, its main ambition is the creation of a human rights culture. However, while citizens appear to have very little understanding of what the legislation entails, there is a strong tide of negative media publicity which depicts the Human Rights Act as a ‘villains’ charter’. (...) It has been suggested that the government should do more to promote human rights. This paper reflects on how this may be achieved. An important strategy for creating a positive public awareness of human rights involves eradicating myths which have been allowed to flourish in sections of the British press. However, drawing on the work of Roland Barthes, this paper argues that this may be an unattainable goal. Human rights are empty signifiers which invite mythical appropriation. Both proponents and detractors of human rights legislation mobilise this capacity for mythmaking in their rhetoric. (shrink)

In this appeal the House of Lords held that a school’s refusal to change its school uniform rules to accommodate the religious beliefs of one of its pupils did not constitute an interference with freedom of religion and the right to an education. This note asks whether the House of Lords by framing the issue as a matter of individual choice and informed consent may have underestimated the potential for social harm inflicted by a school’s unwillingness to accommodate certain types (...) of religious beliefs where it has already adapted its school uniform rules for others. (shrink)