The front page of today’s Times reports speculation that the royal family’s lawyers are preparing a privacy test case to prevent paparazzi harassment of Prince William’s girlfriend, Kate Middleton. No doubt, they have been emboldened by the decision of the Court of Appeal before Christmas that Prince Charles was entitled to assert that his private diaries about the handover of Hong Kong were confidential and protected by copyright. Of course, they will look at the full spectrum of available remedies, but the strategy most likely to be successful will be to build upon recent privacy decisions.

Last Saturday’s Irish Independent carries a story which gives a flavour of what this action is designed to prevent. …

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This is not just an issue of alphabet soup. WAN and WEF are nothing to do with wrestling, or wildlife, but instead are two global media representative organisations which have called on the Government to withdraw the government’s proposed Privacy Bill. As Christine Newman reports in today’s Irish Times, the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and the World Editors Forum (WEF) have jointly written a letter to the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) and the Minister for Justice, arguing that the current Privacy Bill would overly inhibit press freedom in Ireland. The clamour against the Bill is getting louder. Is it too much to hope that the Government will listen?…

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Government’s propose; oppositions oppose. It’s what they do. The government has proposed a Privacy Bill. Predictably, Fine Gael, one of the main opposition parties, has called for the Privacy Bill to be scrapped. Yesterday’s call, reported in today’s Irish Times, is not their first: when the Bill was first proposed last July, Fine Gael opposed it then too.

But although the business of opposition is to oppose, there is much to be said for Fine Gael’s position. …

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