Cargo Bomb

A bomb device was yesterday (29 October) discovered on a UPS freight plane at East Midlands airport. The bomb was made in a form of a printer toner cartridge filled with white powder and it was discovered that it was also a ‘viable’ one. The bomb had a great chance of exploding while the plane was flying.[1]

The Home Secretary, Theresa May stated that: ‘The target may have been an aircraft and had it detonated the aircraft could have been brought down’. Speaking after a meeting of Cobra, the Government's emergency planning committee, the Home Secretary added: ‘We do not believe that the perpetrators of the attack would have known the location of the device when it was planned to explode.’ In addition, all unaccompanied air freight from Yemen have been halted and Yemen authorities have reported that they have arrested 26 suspects.[2]

In my opinion, if this action is proven to be a terrorist act, then States should take more serious measures on searching planes either public or cargo. It seems that the terrorists have changed their methods from public planes to freight planes in order to catch the authorities in sleep, but luckily, proper investigation has been made and tragic incidents were avoided.

Posted by Ioannis Masonos

[1] Sadie Gray, The Times, ‘East Midlands Package was ‘Viable’ Bomb’, 30 October, 2010 http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/

[2] David Harrison, Telegraph, ‘Bomb found on cargo plane in UK ‘was viable’’, 30 October, 2010 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/8098779/Bomb-found-on-cargo-plane-in-UK-was-viable.html

---

Kosovo style...

As ‘Kosovo-style social cleansing’ was the Government’s housing benefit cuts been

characterised by Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, resulting in flaming up the tensions

between him and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron. Mr. Johnson

argued that such cuts would force the poor out into the suburbs.[1] In response, Mr.

Cameron’s official spokesman stated that the Prime Minister was angered by the

Mayor’s comments and also dissatisfied by the way he characterised his statements.

Additionally, urban MP’s were also frustrated with Mr. Johnson’s intervention.[2] But

what if his words are proven true? That would mean that many poor people living in

the major cities will have to leave...

 
Posted by Ioannis Masonos

[1] Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent, Telegraph, ‘David Cameron scolds Mayor of London Boris Johnson over ‘Kosovo’ comment’, October 28, 2010 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/borisjohnson/8094151/David-Cameron-scolds-Mayor-of-London-Boris-Johnson-over-Kosovo-comment.html

[2] Philippe Naughton, the Times, ‘Johnson fuels Cameron row with ‘Kosovo’ gibe on cuts’, October 28, 2010 http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/

---

Summary of Fair Trade Essay (task for workshop 4)

The concept of Fairtrade has been active for about four decades now and consumers all around the world are aware of the benefits that Fairtrade claims to bring about since they advertise these benefits on their products. Moreover, the concept of Fairtrade seeks to ensure that the producers are receiving their share of fair price and help these producers evolve since they are from third-world countries. However, in practise, it is questionable whether the initiatives of fair-trade are fulfilled and achieved the fairness of this concept.

Many consumers are satisfied by purchasing products marked and certified by fair trade, since it ensures them that a fair price has been paid to the producers. For example, a cup of coffee printed with the fair-trade mark at Starbucks. Any coffee-drinker would assume his or her contribution to the economic development of the coffee producer back in Africa. This is affirmed by the Fairtrade Labelling Organisation which shows an increase of employment rate in Eastern Africa.

Meanwhile, with such economic progress, one may question the ‘true’ effect of fair-trade considering the fact that poverty and unemployment still exists substantially. As Dr. Alastair Smith implies that the producers and workers are being encouraged by fair-trade to live in poverty for the rest of their lives and are being stopped from growing beneficially. The ‘real prices’ of goods which are certified by FLO have been falling continuously whereas the ‘real prices’ of goods which are manufactured are rising. As suggested by Dr. Smith, it seems that the producers in third-world countries will remain poor while the manufacturers in wealthy countries will get richer at the poor’s back. This fact can be seen represented in the publication of Madeleine Ace, where Oxfam, another fair-trade organisation, accused Starbucks for actively blocking Ethiopia’s trademark bid for the reason that the company sold a pound on coffee beans up to $26 ( £13.40) while growers selling to Starbucks earned between 75 cents and $1.60 a pound.

With such facts in view can a coffee-drinker still think that he is contributing to the economic development of under developed countries?

However, although there are some loopholes, the concept of fair-trade focuses on gradual development and it is for this fact that such countries will need time until they are titled to be a rich industrially developed country.

Consideration Case - Contract Law

Stilk v Myrick [1809] EWHC KB J58 has been my favourite Contract law case for a long time. It is the main case used by the UK courts to emphasise that when a person is obliged to perform a duty under a contract, any new promise (consideration) made towards him by his contractor under the same terms, (to perform exactly the same terms of the original contract) can not amount as valid.


The Case:


Stilk was contracted to work on a ship owned by Myrick for £5 a month, promising to do anything needed in the voyage regardless of emergencies. After the ship docked at Cronstadt two men deserted, and after failing to find replacements the captain promised the crew the wages of those two men divided between them if they fulfilled the duties of the missing crewmen as well as their own. After arriving at their home port the captain refused to pay the crew the money he had promised to them.


The defense, represented by Garrow, argued that the agreement between the captain and the sailors
was contrary to public policy, and utterly void. In West India voyages, crews are often thinned greatly by death and desertion; and if a promise of advanced wages were valid, exorbitant claims would be set up on all such occasions.


This ground was strongly taken by Lord Kenyon in Harris v Watson (1791), where that learned Judge held, that no action would lie at the suit of a sailor on a promise of a captain to pay him extra wages, in consideration of his doing more than the ordinary share of duty in navigating the ship; and his Lordship said, that if such a promise could be enforced, sailors would in many cases suffer a ship to sink unless the captain would accede to any extravagant demand they might think proper to make.

Stilk v Myrick [1809] EWHC KB J58 is a leading judgment from the British High Court on the subject of consideration in English contract law. In his verdict, the judge, Lord Ellenborough decided that in cases where an individual was bound to do a duty under an existing contract, that duty could not be considered valid consideration for a new contract.

Oscola

      Check this out, I have found an essay on the web that shows how to use OSCOLA referencing. I have found it very useful and I think you will find it too...
http://www.port.ac.uk/library/guides/filetodownload,110060,en.pdf

Introduction

        This is my blog which I made for the purposes of my University and more specifically, the course of Legal Research in Commercial Law. I am currently studying my LLM in International Commercial Law at the University of Nortumbria. This blog will mostly relate to Law as you can see from the title which I chose. The quote 'Dieu et Mon Droit' means in English 'God and my right' and I have chose it because I saw it in a Magistrates Court in England when I went to visit. Additionaly, this quote is also the motto of the British Monarch as you can find it on the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom and hopefully I will not get sued by the Queen since I can not afford it.
       Furthermore, my personal goals after I hopefully graduate are to work in a Law firm that will trade with foreign countries and which will be established either in Cyprus which is also my homeland either in an other country.