Should terminally ill adults have the right to decide how and when they die? The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is discussed by Jake Richards MP and hosts Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC.

They talk about the legislative process, from the intricacies of the committee stage to the broader implications of the private members' bill system.

The discussion also focuses on the historical evolution of social change, counter arguments, and the critical safeguards built into the bill.

Jake, who is the Labour MP for Rother Valley and a co-sponsor of the legislation, shares his personal motivations for championing this change in the law, emphasising the fundamental question at its core: should individuals be granted the autonomy to make their own end-of-life decisions?

Next, Ken and Tim turn to the extraordinary row caused by the recent Sentencing Council paper on pre-sentence reports for black and minority ethnic defendants.

Why did Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood join the Conservative attack that these proposals are an example of so-called two-tier justice? And will she really move to undermine the independence of the Council?

Finally, does the evidence that black defendants are treated more harshly by the criminal justice system really stack up?

Is tougher legislation the answer to crime, or is it just more political posturing?

The Government’s monster new Crime and Policing Bill promises to crack down on antisocial behaviour, knife crime, and retail theft. But is any of this really necessary, or is it just another example of performative lawmaking?

This episode unpacks the bill’s sweeping powers, the political motivations behind it, and asks whether existing laws already cover these issues.

With police resources stretched thinly, what impact will these changes have on frontline policing and public confidence in the justice system?

Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC are joined by leadng commentator Danny Shaw to break it all down.

Why is UK penal policy failing so badly?

This week, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC are joined by former Secretary of State for Justice David Gauke, who has just published Part 1 of his Independent Review into Sentencing. In the face of falling crime, why do we have the highest prison population in Western Europe, and why can’t we reduce our expensive addiction to incarceration?

The discussion looks at how other countries have embarked on a process of prison closures, and questions why a decades long penal arms race between the main UK political parties prevents us from doing the same.

Ken and Tim go on to review the Lady Chief Justice’s recent criticism of Kemi Badenoch and Keir Starmer, as she accuses them of completely misunderstanding a recent judgment granting a Gazan family leave to remain in the UK. Was Lady Carr right to intervene in this way?

A high-profile immigration case takes centre stage at Prime Minister’s Questions, sparking debate over refugee law and the reality of power politics in an age of populism. In this episode of Double Jeopardy, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC dissect Kemi Badenoch’s focus on a controversial ruling involving a Palestinian family.

They go on to consider the UN Convention on Refugees, and ask whether it remains viable in a new age of mass displacement and population movement.

How should governments respond to migration and asylum, when both are massive drivers of populist political movements seeking to promote authoritarianism and destroy liberal democracy?

Finally, Ken and Tim return to the campaign to remove Richard Hermer from his position as Attorney General. Don’t these coordinated attacks, coming from his own ministers, and directed against his close friend and ally, make Keir Starmer himself look weak?

You can find a link to the Gaza judgement here

And the Lady Chief Justice’s angry response to the attack on the Upper Tribunal Judge here

Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC explore the latest developments in the case of Lucy Letby, as her new barrister holds a second press conference revealing the conclusion of 14 experts that every baby died either as a result of natural causes or because of medical neglect.

Do these new medical opinions ‘demolish’ the evidence of the prosecution experts, as her new barrister claims? Or, as some allege, has this new analysis taken place in a vacuum, ignoring all the circumstantial evidence presented to the jury confirming the Crown’s expert testimony that these infants were deliberately harmed, and that their attacker was Lucy Letby?

Ken and Tim also consider the stance of the CCRC in the face of what will certainly be a robust prosecution response to this new material, and look at the approach likely to be taken by the Court of Appeal if the case is referred back to it by the CCRC.

Finally the discussion turns to the increasingly concerted attacks from within government on Richard Hermer, the Attorney General. What does this obviously coordinated campaign of hostile briefing tell us about the relationship between a new Labour administration led by a former human rights barrister, and the law?

Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC are joined by guest Chris Henley KC, to explore the terrible miscarriage of justice which led to Andrew Malkinson spending 17 years in prison for a rape he didn’t commit.

Looking at Chris’s report into the scandal, they examine the failures of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, and its atrocious mishandling of crucial DNA evidence. What lay behind the CCRC’s reluctance to revisit this wrongful conviction, and why did it betray its founding mission?

They also consider the danger of relying on identification evidence, and the Court of Appeal’s much overdue quashing of Malkinson’s conviction, which it delivered with no apology.

Why is there still such cultural resistance to the idea that innocent people can be convicted? And why aren’t Court of Appeal judges providing a stronger lead in uncovering injustice?

Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC review the Southport murder trial, following Axel Rudakubana's sentencing to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 52 years for the murders of three girls in Southport in July 2024.

The discussion examines the implications of recent legislative changes surrounding whole life orders for young people, the public's reaction to severe sentencing, and the challenges of defining terrorism within the legal framework.

The episode concludes by considering the effectiveness of the Prevent program in identifying potential threats and the difficulties of media reporting in high-profile cases.

In this episode, Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC examine the powerful arguments for using telephone intercept evidence in UK criminal trials.

Why are the security services so opposed to a reform that would obviously give a major boost to convicting terrorists and serious criminals, and why have successive governments failed to overcome this opposition?

For context, Ken and Tim look at the 2020 joint French/Dutch police operation which led to the demise of EncroChat (the so-called “WhatsApp for professional criminals”) and the many successful prosecutions that followed in the UK and across Europe, as courts listened to criminals planning their crimes in real time.

Virtually every other fair trial country relies heavily on intercept evidence to fight terrorism and organised crime. Why does the UK continue to stand against it?