John Jackson

John Jackson is a lawyer who has never practised the law professionally. He is Chairman Emeritus of Mishcon de Reya and was a founding member of the Board of openDemocracy. He recently launched JJ Books.

Epitaph for a politician

A farewell to Minister of Justice Michael Wills

By John Jackson

/ 5 Mar 2010

Tom Bingham in Lord Bingham’s Footsteps

In the first of two reviews of the former lord chief justice’s book on the rule of law, John Jackson discusses the issue of its compatibility with the doctrine of Parliamentary Sovereignty

By John Jackson

/ 3 Mar 2010

Let them claim immunity!

I hope very much that those MPs now facing the prospect of prosecution for the way in which they ‘managed’ their parliamentary expenses do claim immunity because, as MPs, they

By John Jackson

/ 9 Feb 2010

The Kindle era

The author looks forward to the 'Kindle Era', predicting that the Kindle will facilitate self publishing online, and so break publishing houses' 'commerical' oriented grip on what can be published

By John Jackson

/ 5 Jan 2010

Paul Myners has a point

On Tuesday morning one of our Treasury Ministers, Paul (Lord) Myners, remarked in a radio interview on the dangers inherent in ‘push button' computerised trading...

By John Jackson

/ 5 Nov 2009

The hidden origins of the modern party stitch up

This article originally appeared on the blog of Open Up Now, the campaign for open primaries.This article originally appeared on the blog of Open Up Now, the campaign for open primaries.

By John Jackson

/ 30 Oct 2009

Do we prefer dishonest politicians?

I have just returned from a short visit to some of the (increasingly expensive) countries of the European Union. For much of the time I was in the enjoyable company

By John Jackson

/ 19 Oct 2009

Les Miserables and Power 2010

The man in the moon observing the current political scene in our country could be forgiven for concluding that our supposed leaders are competing with each other to see which

By John Jackson

/ 24 Sep 2009

Should we praise Rupert Murdoch?

When I was very young in the early 1930s there was a period of some two years during which my parents could not afford to buy a daily newspaper. Instead

By John Jackson

/ 11 Aug 2009

Peter Oborne is half-right

John Jackson joins the discussion of the possible strategies for democratic reform post-expenses launched by Anthony Barnett in his recent post. Anthony Barnett > Peter Oborne > Melissa Lane >

By John Jackson

/ 16 Jul 2009

Why do we have them?

Whilst I was putting on my socks this morning I listened to an unsuccessful attempt by the Today Programme to engage a government minister in discussion about Trident. It reminded

By John Jackson

/ 30 Jun 2009

A Response to Laura Sandys

My good friend Laura Sandys – Conservative candidate for Thanet and Chair of openDemocracy ( on whose board I also serve and which owns OurKingdom ) – wrote the equivalent of a party political

By John Jackson

/ 5 Jun 2009