Lecturer in Information Technology, Intellectual Property and Media Law at the University of East Anglia Law School. Tweeter, blogger, Wolves fan, and occasional poet. I blog mostly on issues connected with privacy, human rights and the internet, but also occasional political stuff, child rights stuff – and even a few bits of personal stuff. And yes, it’s a real lion.
You can find my personal web pages here: www.paulbernal.co.uk
Paul Bernal's Blog 
Hi Paul
Loved your Dalai blog! Indeed I like your cuase in egneral, so thanks:)
Alan
Thanks! 🙂
Hi paul just read your article Does Keir Starmer see the problem with poppy burners? I am writing an investigation for university (UCA Epsom) and also for my online journal. I too am waiting for what new guidelines Keir Starmer is going to release. I was wondering if i may ask you a few questions over email. I also tweeted you just now.
As a publicly funded criminal lawyer I’d be grateful if your series of Mr Men books could stretch to a certain Mr Grayling, his political history and current demolition of equality of arms in the justice system. It amazes me that the academic community have been almost silent whilst access to justice has been removed and criminal justice is a political football to such an extent that the concept of separation of powers is denuded to oblivion. Very very dangerous guys…
I wish I had the time… and I may have to find it! I agree completely, and I know academia could do much more. I’ll be on the London Legal Walk on the 20th May, followed by a public meeting at the LSE which will be discussing the whole mess…
Well Paul, re your tirade against Mr Gove. It’s always interesting when academics & teachers who have never worked in the real world resent anyone else daring to comment on their nice little fiefdom, & wants to curtail their often bloated privileges & cosy lifestyle. Now when they do that, THAT’S what I would call arrogant.
Spookily enough, I have worked (rather a lot) in the ‘real world’. I’m a former accountant, have worked in the City and run my own business, before returning to academia after almost 20 years away…
…try again…
Well, thanks for your response. Fairenuffski tha you have real world experience unlike so many academics who’ve never had to worry where about the next order is coming from, or hwo they can afford a pension or don’t dare take a day off sick. It’s just a shame you can’t use your experience effectively to make colleagues realise that whilst China & India is turning out MBA’s by the MILLION, we in the UK seem to be content to let down our own young people by dumbing down educational standards to the lowest common denominator, resisting all change in order to safeguard outmoded vested interests in the educational world. I have personally encountered people with MBA’s in India working in Call Centres. We in the UK have no idea of what is going to hit us – being more concerned about our so-called rights than our responsibilities to our children & grandchildren in an ever more competitive world. That’s the reality of the big picture academics so often fervently turn a blind eye to, not just the micro-delusion of self-interest.
I think you might be surprised how much we know – and indeed how much we all want standards etc to improve. No-one I know in education doesn’t want that – and the objections to Gove are nothing to do with his aim of improving standards – they’re connected with how he’s going about it, and that the likely results of his ‘reforms’ are going to be exactly the opposite. It will lower standards, and make us less competitive, not more.
Dear Paul,
I would appreciate it if you would share this fast growing reality with as many people as you can.
India is a free country today, but how free are her people? Watch, reflect and share.
Hi there,
I just have a quick question about your blog! Please email me when you get a chance.
Susan
Hi Paul,
Do you accept guest posts? Look forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
Alex
Hi Alex
Yes, but very rarely, and from people I know, and on a subject that fits closely with my areas of interest!
Regards
Paul
Hi Paul – I came across your blog today. I love the Mr. Gove sketches..! Keep up the good (and entertaining) work. All the best – Amanda
Thanks! There will be more… 🙂
Almost 18 months since a comment was made in this section of the blog, so…greetings from Cape Town!
All I did was search for ‘knows the price of everything and the value of nothing’ and now I have a new commentator to follow – yippee and thanks!
Thanks! 🙂
Question for you,
Do we live in a belief/trust system or do we have full disclosure?
Desperate to find an answer to this question. Forgive me, it will be obvious I’m very inexperienced with social media and such… as I prefer to be merely a “reader of the information presented.” I have googled this question in vain, and the ONLY close match was your 2012 post on 10 reasons to leave Facebook. Therefore, I am hoping you can help me. Here’s my dilemna:
I don’t have a Facebook account; don’t want one. However, during the past year I have discovered the tremendous advantage to “public” facebook pages, such as our local Sheriff’s Office, local newspaper, police department, etc. In our small mountain town, which has no local television coverage other than the occasional mention by one of the Atlanta stations when something really momentous occurs, and has only a weekly newspaper, these facebook posts have been invaluable with regard to road conditions during an icy winter, traffic delays due to accidents, BOLOs, plus ordinary community information and public announcements.
Hence my dismay at being met since yesterday, on every Facebook page I am accustomed to visiting, a large notice telling me to sign up and log in. The previous two days, that same notice popped up each time – very annoying, but with an X in the corner of the box so I could get rid of it and view the page. Then as of yesterday…. no X.
I feel very unsafe without the ability to visit our Sheriff’s page, especially as wintry conditions will commence soon. Do you have any information on this situation? Is it across-the-board Facebook policy, or something less ominous, such as the mechanics of my online browsing? I use one of the early iPads, updated to 9.2, and access Facebook through Safari. Don’t have a Facebook app, if there is such a thing.
I apologize in advance if I have violated the accepted standards for commenting. Perhaps I should have asked you to email me instead.
Now I REALLY feel foolish. Have spent the past two hours trying everything I could think of to resolve this problem. My son commented that I needed to clear history cache and re-start iPad daily in order to correct sluggishness. I had already re-started (actually re-set) in an attempt to clear up the Facebook problem, but in trying to make the iPad more responsive, I cleared the history cache and once again re-set iPad. Then, just out of curiosity, I went to one of the Facebook pages and, voila! No more nasty sign-up boxes. Go figure!
So sorry to have bothered you, Mr Bernal, and anyone else who might have seen my comment and been scratching their head in perplexity. If you have time, Mr B, I would appreciate your emailing me for a quick comment. Thank you.
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A very interesting blog professor, you taught me internet law and privacy in UEA, and was amazing info. and a great module that benefited me a lot later when returning to Egypt
best of luck
Your “personal web pages” URL looks as if the domain is for sale. Did you remember to renew …?