Cats, dogs, children and old people…

Gillian Nuttall (PR & Marketing Manager)

Thirty years ago if someone had put a cat into a dustbin (bearing in mind that cats, at least the ones in my neighbourhood) enjoy rummaging in bins, it would not have even made the newspapers.

We have all embraced social media, especially the marketing team at Ralli, and we have used it to our great advantage. Had we not had this technology, word of the cat in the bin would probably not have made it to tomorrow’s fish and chip paper.

Quite what Mary Bale was thinking of is beyond anyone’s understanding, sticking a cat in a wheelie bin should not be anyones idea of fun and I fully understand the furore surrounding this matter.

However… only yesterday a Bolton pensioner was sentenced to a prison sentence for the abuse of a young girl over an 18 month period, only a couple of weeks ago the Guardian reported a young, vulnerable 14 year old girl who had been forced into prostitution after being targeted with offerings of vodka and cigarettes, in March of this year an inquest heard of a war veteran who had died in a nursing home just ten days after moving in. It was found that most of the residents in the home (which was eventually closed down) were unkempt, dirty and left wandering around.  www.nursinghomeabuse.co.uk gives far more serious examples of elderly abuse and has acted for some truly shocking, very sad cases.

The point I make here is that we appear to be a nation of animal lovers and are utterly outraged by Mary Bale’s ridiculous act of sticking a cat in a wheelie bin. Yet what of the child abused by the pensioner, the young child prostitute, the war veteran left to die? Who cares about those vulnerable members of society? Where are the CCTV cameras then? Who Tweets that information? Hard to do in 140 characters but certainly food for thought.

Bribery Act Alert

The Bribery Act is due to come into force in April 2011 with a short consultation period which will begin and conclude some time before that date. The Act introduces four new offences:

1. Active bribery including giving or offering a bribe in the private or public sector

2. Passive bribery including agreeing to receive or accept a bribe, which also applies in the public or private sector.

3. An offence of bribing a foreign public official

4. A corporate offence which applies when a commercial organisation fails to prevent bribery Read more »

An Interesting Case (and a warning) for Retiring Shareholders in SME’s

Catherine Davies (Trainee Solicitor)

A very interesting case came in for my attention this morning. A  retired former shareholder/director of a private limited company was very concerned.

Back in 2006 he had managed to dispose of his 50% shareholding in the company under what is known as a “share buyback”. The price was quite substantial and would provide him with a retirement nest egg. It had all been attended to very properly under the statutory procedure. The company was in a satisfactory state in terms of net profit and liquidity at the time. So far so good . Client had already received half his money; but now the Company had stopped paying him. Alarm bells!!  Read more »

No butts: Smokers liable for cigarette fines

Stuart Page (Associate)

I have been asked by a client today to advise on the position of flicking a cigarette butt out of the window of a car.

There have been lots of cases on this since the smoking ban was introduced in 2007 because people have to smoke outside and drop cigarette ends. Under the Environmental Protection Act any dropping of litter is an offence, arguments have been used such as biodegradable but these have been unsuccessful. Read more »