Reviews

46-60 of 122 Articles
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Robert Shiels commends a new biography of the comic genius who fell victim to the USA's post-war red scare. This attractively produced book, with many photographs, is a social, political and cultural history of a crucial period in the life of an influential 20th century figure, an original and indep

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Former sheriff Douglas Cusine commends a new practical guide to running a Sheriff Court proof. The final sentence of this very useful book is this: “Running a proof can be enjoyable, but you will find it more so if you have prepared it well, you are properly funded, and you are as well organis

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Professor Joseph Bristow’s impressive new study, which deserves close attention, shows that the civil libel suit and the criminal trials involving Oscar Wilde were understood to be within the legal procedures of the time. The significantly wider importance of his book may be that the detailed

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Douglas Thomson reviews a new book by Ian O'Donnell, professor of criminology at University College Dublin, examining four very different prison regimes. In this book, Professor Ian O'Donnell visits and investigates four very different prison environments, all considerably unlike those within the ma

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Robert Shiels welcomes an important new study on the Glasgow Sugar Aristocracy, the Clydeside merchants who made fortunes from Caribbean misery. The nature and extent of the economic impact of Caribbean slavery in British society is a highly topical and political issue. There is no doubt that many m

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Former sheriff Douglas J Cusine is impressed by Gillian Mawdsley's new study of sudden deaths and FAIs in Scotland. For me, there are two very significant sentences in this impressive book: “The public should be able to understand the role of an FAI…” (para. 2.01) and “It is

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In the wake of the dropping of proposed legislation in Scotland to pardon those unfortunate women convicted of witchcraft, Robert Shiels reviews the latest book to consider witchcraft trials of the past – and present. There was before the Scottish Parliament from June 2022 a proposal for legis

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Ever since the publication of George Dangerfield's classic 'The Strange Death of Liberal England', the demise of the Liberal Party pre-WW1 has fascinated historians. Robert Shiels reviews the latest addition to the literature.

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Graham Ogilvy reviews the autobiography of James McIntyre, the Scottish criminal defence lawyer who got too close to his clients and ended up on the wrong side of the law. Firstly, a declaration of interest. I knew and liked James McIntyre at university where he was popular, cheerful, charismatic an

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Robert Shiels is sceptical of a proposed link between the Nazis and modern corporate management.

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Robert Shiels reviews the latest book on the murders that terrified Glasgow in the sixties. After the early short study by Charles Stoddart, who passed away last week, Bible John: Search for a Sadist (1980), there have been at least four or more books, in the last 20 years, specifically on a we

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Robert Shiels reviews the autobiography of distinguished KC Michael Beloff. Michael Beloff KC has had a very varied career as a barrister in practice, arbitrator, and judge. His career followed an education as scholar at the Dragon School in Oxford, then Eton (a King’s Scholar and Captain of t

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This small book, with a big title, is commendable in several ways: it shows quite how many courts or tribunals and different types of case a member of the Bar, in the author’s generation at least, might have had to deal with. The nature and extent of the pressing political and legal issues tha

46-60 of 122 Articles