#SHOWBIZ: Hugh Grant calls for laptop and tablet ban in classroom
LONDON: Hugh Grant has blasted "pathetic" schools and called for a ban on laptops and tablets in the classroom.
According to The Telegraph newspaper yesterday, Grant, a father of five, joined the campaign group Close Screens, Open Minds at an event at a school in West London, where he aired his frustrations alongside social psychologist Dr Jonathan Haidt and actress Sophie Winkleman.
Grant described himself as "another angry parent fighting the eternal, exhausting, and depressive battle with children who only want to be on a screen".
He said: "The final straw was when the school started saying we give every child a Chromebook, and they do a lot of lessons on their Chromebook, and they do all their homework on their Chromebook. That's the last thing we need."
Grant said that many parents feared "rocking the boat".
He explained: "I don't think politicians ever do anything because it's the right thing to do, even if it's the right thing to do to protect children. They'll only do what gets them votes. They only care about their career.
"Therefore, I think the option on this, which is to go after parents, is the right one.
"That's also when schools start to listen because they're scared of people leaving their schools and losing business."
He blasted the "ridiculous posh private schools" he sends his children to for restricting outdoor play.
Grant said: "They're the ones saying they're not going to play outside today because it's raining, or they can't go on the climbing frame because it's windy. It's pathetic. It seems to me that there is space here for a hero school, a set of schools, to break the mould."
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New Straits Times
29-04-2025
- New Straits Times
#SHOWBIZ: Hugh Grant calls for laptop and tablet ban in classroom
LONDON: Hugh Grant has blasted "pathetic" schools and called for a ban on laptops and tablets in the classroom. According to The Telegraph newspaper yesterday, Grant, a father of five, joined the campaign group Close Screens, Open Minds at an event at a school in West London, where he aired his frustrations alongside social psychologist Dr Jonathan Haidt and actress Sophie Winkleman. Grant described himself as "another angry parent fighting the eternal, exhausting, and depressive battle with children who only want to be on a screen". He said: "The final straw was when the school started saying we give every child a Chromebook, and they do a lot of lessons on their Chromebook, and they do all their homework on their Chromebook. That's the last thing we need." Grant said that many parents feared "rocking the boat". He explained: "I don't think politicians ever do anything because it's the right thing to do, even if it's the right thing to do to protect children. They'll only do what gets them votes. They only care about their career. "Therefore, I think the option on this, which is to go after parents, is the right one. "That's also when schools start to listen because they're scared of people leaving their schools and losing business." He blasted the "ridiculous posh private schools" he sends his children to for restricting outdoor play. Grant said: "They're the ones saying they're not going to play outside today because it's raining, or they can't go on the climbing frame because it's windy. It's pathetic. It seems to me that there is space here for a hero school, a set of schools, to break the mould."
Malay Mail
28-04-2025
- Malay Mail
Leave to appeal warranted as questions of law posed are novel, of public importance — Hafiz Hassan
APRIL 28 — In 'Will AG seek leave of Federal Court to appeal against Court of Appeal's decision?' I referred to the case of Attorney General of Malaysia v Sabah Law Society [2024]. In that case, the High Court had granted the Sabah Law Society (SLS) leave to apply for judicial review of the Federal government's failure to review the amounts payable to Sabah between the years 1974 and 2021 under a Special Grant provided for Sabah under Article 112C read with Article 112D and Section 2 of Part IV of the Tenth Schedule of the Federal Constitution (FC'). SLS's grievance was that a second review of the Special Grant was not made by the end of 1974 as was provided for in Article 112D(4) of the FC. Instead, on April 20, 2022, the Federal government had passed a review order providing only for annual grants payable to Sabah for the five years from 2022 until 2026 without making any provision for the 'lost years' between 1974 and 2021. SLS took the position that the failure to review the Special Grant prior to 2022 was a breach of the Federal government's constitutional duty towards Sabah. Through the judicial review application, SLS sought to compel the Federal government to comply with its obligations to Sabah in accordance with the provisions of the FC. The Federal Court granted leave to the Attorney General to appeal the Court of Appeal's decision in a case regarding Sabah's Special Grant review, highlighting key questions of law. — Unsplash pic The Court of Appeal (COA) affirmed the High Court's decision to grant leave to SLS. The attorney general (AG) sought leave of the Federal Court under Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 (CJA) to appeal against the COA's decision on the following questions of law: whether SLS's application for judicial review fell within the Federal Court's exclusive jurisdiction under Article 128(1)(b) of the FC; whether SLS had locus standi to file the application for judicial review and whether the subject-matter of the judicial review was justiciable. The Federal Court unanimously refused leave to appeal. The apex court ruled, among others, as follows: the AG's application for leave to appeal was not in relation to the substantive merits of SLS's application for judicial review but related purely to the decisions of the courts below — that is, the High Court and COA — to grant SLS leave to apply for judicial review; the matter was related to the threshold standing or locus standi rather than substantive standing in a judicial review application. On the law as it stood, SLS had locus standi to commence judicial review; there was no reason to warrant the grant of leave to appeal under Section 96 of the CJA as the matter dealt with was whether the failure to review and provide Sabah's Special Grant amounted to a breach of the relevant provisions of the FC, and for prayers to remedy the same. That was not a matter of policy. Therefore, the grant of leave was not warranted and the matter should proceed to be heard on its substantive merits. In contrast to the above, the Federal Court this morning (April 28) allowed the AG's application for leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal's majority decision to grant former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak leave to apply for judicial review. In the AG's application for leave to appeal, seven questions of law were proposed to be heard in the appeal. Four of them involve the issue of admissibility of fresh evidence and the rest involve the AG's role in judicial review proceedings. 'The questions posed are novel and of public importance which should be fully ventilated before this court,' Chief Judge of Malaya Hasnah Mohammed Hashim, who chaired the three-judge panel of the Federal Court, said. So let the questions of law be fully ventilated before the Federal Court. *This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
Malay Mail
25-04-2025
- Malay Mail
UAE becomes first country to use AI for law drafting, review
The UAE will use AI to draft and review laws as part of a major digital overhaul. Leaders say AI will speed up lawmaking and cut political delays. However, experts warn AI still faces reliability and trust issues. DUBAI, 25 April — The United Arab Emirates has announced plans to become the first country in the world to systematically use artificial intelligence for writing and reviewing laws. This ambitious initiative will extend beyond federal and local legislation to include judicial rulings, executive procedures and public services as part of the Gulf nation's broader digitalisation strategy, The Telegraph reported. Last week, the UAE government established the Regulatory Intelligence Office, a new cabinet unit tasked with overseeing this technological transformation of the legislative process. 'This new legislative system, powered by artificial intelligence, will change how we create laws, making the process faster and more precise,' said Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the UAE's Vice-President and ruler of Dubai. The UAE's commitment to artificial intelligence is not new. In 2017, it appointed Omar Sultan al-Olama as the world's first AI minister shortly after launching the UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence. According to Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, an Emirati political commentator, 'The UAE is very serious about AI. It wants to be a global AI and digital economy hub just as it is a global financial and logistics hub.' He noted that the country is 'investing massively in digital infrastructure to stay ahead of the crowd in the next 50 years, just as it invested generously in its physical infrastructure over the past 50 years.' Words reading "Artificial intelligence AI" are seen in this illustration taken December 14, 2023. — Reuters pic The economic implications are substantial, with the UAE estimating that by 2030, AI will have a global market value of US$15.7 trillion (RM69 trillion), potentially boosting the country's GDP by 35 per cent while reducing government costs by half. Hesham Elrafei, a solicitor and UAE law drafter, explained that this initiative goes beyond merely using AI to write laws. 'It's introducing a new way of making them. Instead of the traditional parliamentary model — where laws get stuck in endless political debates and take years to pass — this approach is faster, clearer, and based on solving real problems,' Elrafei said. According to Elrafei, AI technology can analyse court judgments, identify problems and suggest legislation to address gaps in the legal framework. It can also study successful laws from around the world and help draft improved versions tailored to the UAE's specific context. This capability is particularly valuable in a country where only 10 per cent of the population is local, and clear legal communication across multiple languages is essential for a community comprising approximately 200 nationalities. While Brazil has previously tested AI for drafting a single law, the UAE's approach represents a more comprehensive transformation of the legislative process. Elrafei described it as 'a move away from outdated systems built on political compromise, towards one built on technology,' potentially redefining how modern governments create laws. In contrast to many Western democracies, where lawmaking is influenced by political negotiations, the UAE is shifting towards a model based on 'data, logic, and results.' However, some experts have expressed concerns about this technological shift. Vincent Straub, a researcher at Oxford University, cautioned against complete reliance on AI systems, arguing that 'we can't trust them ... they continue to hallucinate [and] have reliability issues and robustness issues.' Keegan McBride, a lecturer at the Oxford Internet Institute, said the UAE has had an 'easier time' implementing sweeping government digitalisation compared to many democratic nations due to its governance structure, commenting: 'They're able to move fast. They can sort of experiment with things.'
