Here’s a question for the lawyers. I’d be interested to hear any thoughts from those who study such things..

In this hypothetical case B has been charged with a serious offence and is being tried at the Crown Court. Local press, TV and radio are reporting the trial and it has aroused the interest of several local bloggers who are reporting proceedings and commenting on their blogs. B is found guilty and remanded for sentencing in a few weeks’ time.

During this period media coverage stops. The sentencing hearing (if it ever happened) is not reported. Some time later local bloggers, mystified, check the websites of the local press and broadcast media and find reports of the trial – and the conviction – have disappeared.

Six months later B is again on trial for the same offences. There is no mention in the media of the previous trial and conviction. B is found not guilty and acquitted.

The only explanation the local bloggers can think of is that between the original guilty verdict and sentencing B’s defence team have found a reason for the trial be to declared a mis-trial and have been granted an injunction to prevent the media reporting the original trial and conviction. This prohibition extends to requiring them (or the media’s lawyers to advise them) to delete all on-line references to the trial.

The question is, how are local bloggers expected to know about any such injunction? Presumably they are covered by it, and would potentially be in contempt of court if they mentioned the original conviction when reporting on the second trial. And presumably the court and/or B’s defence lawyers have well-established mechanisms for informing the papers, TV and radio stations. But given the spread of on-line reporting and commenting by people outside the mainstream, how does the court expect the existence and terms of the injunction to be brought to their knowledge? And if a blogger, in all innocence, mentioned the original trial and verdict, what could her defence be?

With credit unions in the news after Archbishop Justin Welby @abcjustin told pay-day loan company Wonga the Church of England would “compete them out of business”, I wondered how easy it would be for Headington residents to access a credit union.

A quick search found just two in Oxford. In case you didn’t know, one of the quirks of credit unions is that members have to have a “common bond”, which means something that links them together. This can be a postcode or group of codes, work (there is one for police officers for example), membership of a particular trade union, etc. Both Oxford ones are postcode-based, and the good news for those of us in OX3 is that the Oxford Credit Union is open to anyone living or working at an address with an OX1, OX2, OX3, or OX4 postcode. The other, the Blackbird Leys Credit Union, is only open to people with OX4 postcodes.

Both credit unions have an office in Oxford where transactions can be made. The Oxford Credit Union is in Temple Cowley, the Blackbird Leys Credit Union is in the Blackbird Leys Community Centre.

Other things you might like to know about Credit Unions (and I’m indebted to the FAQs on the Oxford Credit Union’s website for a concise summary of these points) is that their interest rates on loans are capped at no more than 2% a month (26.8% APR) compared to the hundreds or even thousands of percent charged by commercial pay-day loan companies. If you deposit money with them your savings are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and the Financial Ombudsman Scheme. Credit unions also offer free life insurance on all savings and loans. You can save from £2.50 a week upwards, to a maximum of £10,000. Interest on savings is set once a year at the Union’s AGM.

Links: Oxford Credit Union
     Blackbird Leys Credit Union (website under construction) or see creditunions.co.uk.