willhud9 wrote:

Thommo wrote:

I'm With Stupid wrote:Any protest that starts to threaten that is quickly quashed (see Occupy Wall Street or the pipeline protests).

How quickly was occupy wall street quashed?

or for that matter the pipeline protest?

The judge’s parents John and Linda, 86 and 84, are ­directors of J.C. Altham & Sons.

His sister Jane, 54, is managing director of the firm, which supplies ships’ stores, including food, tools, rigging equipment and clothes. The firm’s website says it is a “specialist supplier to offshore gas and oil platforms”.

Three oil rigs in the East Irish Sea – near Altham’s base at Heysham, Lancs – belong to British Gas owner Centrica, which has ploughed tens of millions of pounds into fracking firm Cuadrilla.

In 2015 Jane’s name and that of her firm appeared on an open letter backed by 119 businesses.

It urged Lancashire County Council to permit fracking and create a “£33billion supply chain”.

The campaign was led by North West Energy Task Force, which allegedly received financial support from Cuadrilla and Centrica. The NWETF was later rebranded as lobbying group ­Lancashire For Shale.

The judicial code of conduct states a judge’s impartiality may be questioned if family members are “politically active” or have “financial interest” in the outcome of a case.

Calilasseia wrote:There's also the little matter of the presiding judge in the original case having ties to the fracking industry. More on this here.

The judge’s parents John and Linda, 86 and 84, are ­directors of J.C. Altham & Sons.

His sister Jane, 54, is managing director of the firm, which supplies ships’ stores, including food, tools, rigging equipment and clothes. The firm’s website says it is a “specialist supplier to offshore gas and oil platforms”.

Three oil rigs in the East Irish Sea – near Altham’s base at Heysham, Lancs – belong to British Gas owner Centrica, which has ploughed tens of millions of pounds into fracking firm Cuadrilla.

The sister in question mentioned above, also engaged in pro-fracking lobbying. Again from that news article:

In 2015 Jane’s name and that of her firm appeared on an open letter backed by 119 businesses.

It urged Lancashire County Council to permit fracking and create a “£33billion supply chain”.

The campaign was led by North West Energy Task Force, which allegedly received financial support from Cuadrilla and Centrica. The NWETF was later rebranded as lobbying group ­Lancashire For Shale.

With respect to judicial conduct, the article reveals this:

The judicial code of conduct states a judge’s impartiality may be questioned if family members are “politically active” or have “financial interest” in the outcome of a case.

Clear case of conflict of interest. This verdict should have been struck down on those grounds alone.

[Edited to include the lobbying information]