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Aer Lingus and Foss v Harbottle

Submitted by Ciarán on Wed, 15/08/2007 - 09:10

Update: I get a lot of traffic from people at academic ip addresses googling Foss v Harbottle. I should emphasise that the following is at best rather speculative. So don't go sticking it in a university essay!

One last comment on the Aer Lingus move to Belfast. As I said last night, I have my doubts about Ryanair's motives towards Aer Lingus.

Aer Lingus is, essentially, a 25% subsidiary of Ryanair. But that doesn't mean that the maximisation of Ryanair share values (which its Michael O'Leary's legal obligation to deliver) would result from the maximisation of Aer Lingus share values. So I wonder about what he's up to. Does it involve him envisaging an actual reversal of Aer Lingus's decision? Such a reversal would involve wandering into some strange legal territory.

If Ryanair and the government did succeed in changing the decision, my guess is that Aer Lingus would be liable, at least in theory, to be taken to court by any of the minority shareholders, people like Denis O'Brien. read the rest of this post »

Sizist jokes only please

Submitted by isabel on Wed, 17/01/2007 - 22:20

Reading Judge Paul Darlow's reasoning for not prosecuting a man for a racially aggravated offence in today's London Times inspires a few double-takes.

The accused was already in custody for a crime he hadn't committed, which can't have helped his state of mind. However, he didn't exactly help himself by firstly refusing to be examined by the doctor and secondly calling the doctor a "f..king paki".

Understandably outraged, the doctor took the case to court, only to have the case thrown out by Judge Darlow who claimed he should have taken the insult on the chin. Apparently, being in a position of power means that you should ignore these slurs when they are thrown. To add insult to injury, the Judge advised the accused that should the situation occur again, he should “call him a fat bastard and don’t say anything about his colour.” (!)

The Commission for Racial Equality are studying the case. No doubt, support groups for the over-weight are also!

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