Sir Fred Goodwin's Penance

If we were not permitted to report parliamentary proceedings we would not be able to observe that, protected by parliamentary privilege, the Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming revealed the existence of a superinjunction taken out by Goodwin to prevent reporting on, well, who knows what? But for Mr Hemming’s actions, revealling the existence of this superinjunction would risk being held in contempt of court.

Two things arise from this: what kind of judge thinks it appropriate to grant the kind of injunction that includes an injunction on revealing its existence? Is the judiciary not troubled by the apparent ease with which rich public figures can purchase protection from being inconvenienced in any fashion by the press or, eventually, public? Doubtless there may be privacy concerns arising from time to time but the increasingly common – we are led to believe – recourse to the superinjunction is deeply troubling.