La La Land - Tuesday's Report of Burials

Buried under the Reports of how the Financial Crisis has been sorted by Gordon we have the following list just from today.

1. Secret Coroners Inquests dropped from the Counter Terrorism bill. The bill is now a complete waste of time.
   
2. SAT tests dropped for 14 year olds.
3. Inflation at record high for 16 years.
4. Justice Department to cutback over 10,000 jobs.
5. Mandy in double trouble.
6. New Terror alert coincidence day after 42 days bill dropped. "Reckless" Comments by Lord West.

Remarkable! Considering yesterday was a bad day as well.

MOD and its ‘Co-operation’ in Inquests

Please read the blog entry by Beau Bo D'or and see the image.

MOD and its ‘Co-operation’ in Inquests at Beau Bo D’Or

Military Inquest Disgrace - Scotland to become England

Typically, because of archaic laws and the complete disinterest that this government has in it's armed services and the consequences of being at war, it looks like there is a possibility of Kinloss RAF base becoming part of England. This is because under current law, all military deaths abroad must be examined by an English coroner.

The new proposal would give England jurisdiction over a small part of a Scottish site - such as RAF Kinloss. Under Scottish Law there is no provision for Fatal Accident Inquiries ( The equivalent in Scotland of Inquest) into deaths not occurring in Scotland and it might be difficult to change the law to just cover service personnel.

This would allow inquests on members of the armed forces who have died in Service to take place in Scotland if they arrive back at RAF Kinloss from abroad. Currently inquests have to take place in Wiltshire as all returning flights arrive at RAF Lyneham. This of course means that relatives of Scottish Armed forces personnel who die in service are then faced with long journeys to inquests when they are finally heard.

It might also help the government out of a problem it has long had in that because of it's inertia in dealing with the deaths of members of our armed services in Iraq and Afghanistan we now have a huge backlog of inquests that must be heard. According to reports nearly half of the deaths since the Iraq invasion in 2001 have still to have an inquest completed. Although according to the BBC the Justice ministry reports

The UK Ministry of Justice said hard work by coroners and staff and additional resources provided by the UK government had seen the backlog of inquests handled by the Oxfordshire coroner fall from 86 to two.

A spokesperson said: "To ensure that a backlog of inquests does not develop in Wiltshire, the government has agreed to provide coroner David Masters more additional resources in the form of an additional departmental coroner, a coroner's officer and administrative support.

The reduction from 86 to 2 is a completely misleading figure as inquests now have to be held in Wiltshire as Brize Norton is currently closed and all inquests have to be initiated in Wiltshire after the arrival of the bodies at RAF Lyneham .

Even more misleading is the following

Former Armed Forces minister Adam Ingram MP said he was surprised at the proposal as he had written to the Scottish Government six months ago suggesting a change in the law to allow inquests to be held in Scotland.

He added: "I am a bit stunned by this proposal if this is what they are going to do.

Now I wonder who the the Scottish Government was six months ago, yes it was then Labour, so a different approach from the SNP has been daubed as being cynical because Labour had previously failed to accept proposals when they were in Government.

Cynically I can only imagine the reason for this delay is to keep bad news out of the papers.

Scotsman.com News - Politics - Scottish military base may become part of England

Military Inquests- More delays

Because of our archaic laws and Government and MOD inertia inquests for Service Personnel killed overseas will be even more delayed as a result of a change in location of the Inquests. The reason for this change is that Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire, where all flights used to end is being redeveloped and so the Military Transport aircraft will now have to land a RAF Lyneham which is in Wiltshire. This means the Wiltshire Coroner now has to lead all proceedings.

Geraldine McCool, the solicitor who represented the family of Matty Hull, who was killed near Basra in March 2003 when a US pilot fired on his tank convoy, said she was "appalled" to learn of the decision.

"We have at least got now established in Oxford a centre of excellence for army deaths - and to hear that that is going to change for no good reason whatsoever is very disturbing," she told the BBC.

She added that spreading the workload around the country looked "initially quite attractive" but was actually "foolhardy".

Coroner Andrew Walker and two others were brought into Oxfordshire last May to clear a backlog of 85 cases of dead service personnel awaiting hearings.

Shadow Defence Minister Liam Fox said:

"There's a lot of hardship and a lot of heartache that's being endured by service families here, and the government needs to address this a little more thoroughly than they've been willing to do up 'til now."

The Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) said that no new resources had been allocated to Wiltshire, but this was under review.

A spokesman said Oxfordshire had done a "fantastic" job, but that relatives of service personnel had found travelling long distances difficult.

He added:

"We are confident that any coroner can build up the same level of expertise on military inquests as Mr Walker and his colleagues did."

Considering it took over 3 years to "build up" that expertise in Oxfordshire, it will take a while before this will happen.

BBC NEWS | UK | Military inquest venue to change