Juries? It's time they went the way of the ducking stool | Simon Jenkins

The soap opera that is the Vicky Pryce trial shows the archaic rituals of our courts to be little more than legal parlour games

Can we declare the emperor naked at last? Is it possible that the exasperation of Mr Justice Sweeney with the Vicky Pryce jury might take us where home secretaries, human dignity, common sense and the 21st century have together not dared to tread?

Some aspects of the British way of life are immune to reason. If you want a cheap cheer on Any Questions?, refer reverentia...