Monday, February 2, 2015

How to galvanize opposition to a bill

How to galvanize opposition to a bill

I have to admit, it is a masterstroke of pure genius. If I were a practising lawyer who stood to lose a lot of work from a bill going through Parliament, how would I galvanize opinion? If I start talking about the intricacies of the law, people will probably turn off as the debate gets bogged down in arguments and opinions. The simplest and best tactic is to say that there is no debate. This is what the opponents of the Saatchi Bill have done.

The non-legal opponents of the bill have accepted this at face value. This means that the entire debate about the law is bypassed on a false premise. There are several authoritative legal opinions that the current tests for the standard of medical care are prejudicial to innovation, one example being an article by the Samantas. So the anti-bill camp should accept there are arguments for a change in the law, rather than steamroller the debate by pretending there is no intellectual support for the premise of the bill that the law can stifle innovation. Of course, even if there is a need for the law to be changed, this does not mean that the bill currently proposed is right or could not be improved. But it would entail a shift in position from the current absolutism of the anti-bill camp.

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