The law on murder is most foul. Kenneth Clarke should reform it | Simon Jenkins

The public and the legal profession want change. It would be a tragedy if the justice minister is thwarted by his peers

The justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, should beware of a report published this week advising a change to the law on murder. He has been mugged four times already in the dark alley that passes for law reform. He gets no support from his leader, his colleagues, his party, the opposition or the media. They hurl at him the hobgoblins of prejudice, fear, conservatism...