Freed speech

摘要

In a typically British piece of formal pomp, the speaker of the UK House of Commons, John Bercow, last week declared: "I have to acquaint the House that the House has been to the House of Peers, where a Commission under the Great Seal was read, authorizing the Royal Assent to the following Acts." In the list of new legislation that followed, alongside the 'Marine Navigation (No. 2) Act' and the 'Groceries Code Adjudicator Act', Bercow announced the Queen's formal approval of a long-awaited reform to libel laws in England and Wales.