BBC Radio 4 LW

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BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

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The Law Show

Documentaries

Factual: Crime & Justice

Factual: Politics

Conversation about the laws making headlines, and the laws that shape everyday life.

The Law Show is your guide to the law and the legal decisions that have a bearing on everyone in the UK.

Weekly conversation that will give you an in-depth understanding of the law stories making news and the legal decisions that could have a bearing on everyone in the UK. Whether it's unpicking a landmark legal ruling, explaining how laws are made or seeking clarity for you on a legal issue, The Law Show will be your guide.

Law in Action

The Law Show: Can the PM Go to War?

Can the PM Go to War?

21/10/2014

BBC Radio 4 - The Law Show, Can the PM Go to War?

Does the PM have to ask Parliament before committing Britain to military action overseas?

Joshua Rozenberg asks whether the prime minister needs to seek consent from Parliament before committing Britain to military action overseas.

The House of Lords votes this week on a government proposal to increase the sentence for internet trolling to two years. We ask Baroness Deech QC - herself a victim of trolling - what she thinks of the idea.

Also: with British military aircraft now deployed against the forces of Islamic State in Iraq, we ask whether the Prime Minister needs to seek consent from Parliament before committing British forces to action overseas.

Did the vote in the House of Commons in 2013 rejecting military action against President Assad of Syria create a convention that should now be followed in all cases? We hear from Sir Malcolm Rifkind, chair of the House of Commons Intelligence and Security Committee, and Gavin Phillipson of Durham University.

The Minister of Justice and Lord Chancellor, Chris Grayling, gave evidence last week to the House of Lords Constitution Committee. He was asked whether the Lord Chancellor should be a lawyer. Mr Grayling, who is not a lawyer, didn't think so. But what do others think? And does it matter?

And TV justice: we talk to the criminal barrister Robert Rinder who, as "Judge Rinder", is attracting large audiences to his ITV show, in which he adjudicates on real disputes.

Presenter: Joshua Rozenberg
Producers: Keith Moore and Tim Mansel
Editor: Richard Knight.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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The Law Show

Can the PM Go to War?

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