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The article discusses various updates to English common law as of 2010. It cites provisions made to the Crime and Security Act 2010, and the Bribery Act 2010, which were both ratified on April 8. Amendments to the Criminal Justice Act 2003, take effect in England and Wales on May 1. A consultation paper has been issued by the Law Commission on reforming the law on public nuisance and outraging public decency.

The article reports that the Sentencing Council published a consultation paper on September 15, 2011 on three aspects of sentencing. They include totality, offences taken into consideration, as well as allocation. The objective of the draft guidelines was to ensure that the principles in each areas of sentencing practice are applied across courts in England and Wales.

The article presents the author's views on the incidents which took place in the summer of 2011 in Great Britain and the role played by digital media in highlighting the events. According to the author, events including riots, phone hacking and the Wikileaks revelations, indicated that privacy of individuals is at risk. The author believes that public outrage over mobile phone hacking gave privacy a new respectability.