11th June 2020
This blog has been quiet recently, though not through lack of law and policy material.
The main reason has been illness – nothing too serious nor covid-related – but another reason is the fast pace of recent events mean that considered responses are often quickly redundant or at least stale.
My personal Twitter account has therefore been my main means of providing commentary.
There has also, however, been another outlet for my commentary – I have now done two videos for the Financial Times (where I have the wonderful title of “contributing editor”).
I have called these videos “guided tours”.
I sit with a document (but without notes) and speak away into a mic as I go through the document.
The Financial Times’ production wizard Tom Hannen then takes the audio and then applies it to a visual tour of the document which he creates.
The intention of these “guided tour” videos is two-fold.
The first is to give an exposition of a topical document by showing the viewer the way through the document for themselves.
The second is to use that document as a way of explaining things about such documents more generally.
The first document was Dominic Cummings’ statement, which I analysed as a witness statement.
The second was the recent quarantine regulations, which I analysed as a statutory instrument.
My hope is that we can go on to do Acts of Parliament and significant court judgments.
These videos were Tom Hannen’s idea and initiative, not my own (and so he should take the credit), though I instantly realised how they could be useful devices for promoting the public understanding of law.
The videos are hosted at FT.com and also free to view on YouTube – and I have created a playlist to which you can subscribe where I will add each video.
The videos, as with any novelty, have faults but the feedback from legal professionals, trainers and teaches of law has so far been positive – though that may be partly because the videos are a novelty.
Any constructive feedback and suggestions for further videos welcome.
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Comments are welcome but pre-moderated, and so comments will not be published if irksome.
It’s not just the content which is excellent: the video presentation really enhances the viewer’s understanding of the topic.
Agree absolutely
Fascinating content even though I am not a lawyer, and they make an excellent contribution to better understanding the documents covered and their legitimacy.
Just a note: the link to ” a playlist to which you can subscribe” is not yet active. (11 June 10:45).
I hope that borked link is now fixed
The video guides are brilliant and shine light on issues which are not clear to a non lawyer.
Keep up the good work.
Excellent news. Will certainly subscribe but at present the subscription link doesn’t lead anywhere.
I’ve just watched the guided tour of the Cummings statement, and found it very illuminating. I look forward to seeing more work like this, as it’s so vital to have some clear insight when the government’s policy is all about sowing confusion.
Thank you.
I thoroughly enjoyed these videos which were fascinating and informative, managing to carry the lay person with you as well and, l would imagine, being valuable for law students.
This format (audio/visual) will enable more people to understand these worrying laws which dodge Parliamentary discussion if they experience eyesight problems (no pun intended).
I guess now is the time to be a spacecraft controller!
I have been watching your guided tours on the FT and have just watched the Statutory Instruments one. I wanted to say how illuminating they are so searched out this blog. Like Colin I’m not a lawyer. I do sometimes have to explain specialist information to non-specialist audiences and I am deeply impressed how well you are doing it. I know it it not simple to so elegantly draw people’s attention to points they must understand as you do. Thank-you.
The most bizaar aspect of the The Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) (England) Regulations 2020 is that there are no restrictions at all on seasonal horticulatural workers. One could understand why they might be exempted from the need to stay indoors if they would be working in fields on a farm, but they are completely exempted from the requirement to self isolate for 14 days (Regulation 4).