Court on camera

Are there no more heroes? Where are the lionhearted knights of yore? Not dissapeared, they have but slumbered. Idris Francis, from West Meon, Hampshire, and Gerard O'Halloran, from London have accepted the baton and are taking their fight to Europe.

Both these plucky motorists claim British laws affect the right to a fair trial. European judges are being asked to rule in a case requiring car owners to reveal details of who was driving a vehicle caught speeding on camera. The pair insist it is a breach of their right to silence.

We can only hope that upon arrival at the European Court of Human Rights, they bump into, say, an orphan driven from home by a militia that systematically raped and killed a whole family, or a dissident jailed and tortured by a regime - and decide to grow up.

You broke the law. Now do your punishment. Grow the fuck up. Just because there may be a way to weasel out of your conviction doesn't mean you have to grab it with both hands, how about taking a little bit of responsibilty? I know it's out of fashion these days.

If this pair are successful, oh joyous day, the upshot will be desperately hasty legislation (the best kind you'll agree) to close the loopholes - kneejerk rulings that will errode your civil rights forever. Something to be hoped for eh?

If there's any kind of cosmic justice on the steps of the courthouse one of their family members will be mown down by a drunken driver who then successfully claims diplomatic immunity.