Got to be an April Fool?

A writer winning a libel case in England? 'Kinell! Things must be looking up.

To be more accurate this was actually the appeal so in fact Simon Singh lost last year when his now-officially-not-a-libel libel case was heard and the judge, Mr Justice Eady (a familiar name) decided that

...Mr Singh's comments were factual assertions rather than expressions of opinion - which meant he could not use the defence of fair comment.

Good result, but justice in England doesn't come cheap. £200 grand apparently. Nor can campaigners for reform of the laws that make England the place to go for all your libel law suit needs rest easy.

After the ruling, Tracey Brown, spokeswoman for the Coalition for Libel Reform, said: "We are delighted with the judges' ruling, but it does not go far enough.
"There is a cardiologist currently being sued by a device manufacturer, we have researchers who have been unable to publish their critique of lie detector technology because of threats of libel action.
"A major science journal is also currently being sued and our academics are being told to pull down blogs.
"We urgently need a public interest defence so that we can all be sure of our rights as publishers, writers, authors and academics."

All too true.