s/forget passphrase for/cause permanent destruction of/ , Re: Letwin wantsincreased penalties for refusal to decrypt

[Ken Brown]

Pete Chown wrote:
> 
> David Hansen wrote:
> 
> > These people [judges] are government employees,
> > despite a transperent pretence of impartiality.
> 
> Judicial independence in Britain is a bit messy.  Judges are appointed
> by the Queen, by convention on the advice of the Lord Chancellor.  In
> other words the head of the executive branch appoints judges on the
> advice of a senior officer from the legislative branch.  (The Lord
> Chancellor, wearing his other hat, chairs debates in the House of
> Lords.)

Lord Chancellor is the best demonstration that there is no fundamental
separation of powers on US lines in Britain.  LC is a member of
Parliament (legislature) managing goverment business in the Lords and
*not* a neutral chair like the Speaker in the Commons,  the chief
officer of the judiciary, and the minister in charge of an executive
department. Also he's a cabinet member, usually thought of as the 4th or
5th most senior (traditionally 1 or 2, but these days Home & Foreign
Secretaries are plummier jobs, as well as Chancellor of the Exchequer)

The anomaly in the US constitution that the VP in the USA also has a
casting vote in their Senate is probably a hangover from this - don't
believe them when they say they invented it all or got it from the
Iroquois :-)