Much of what the Magna Carta contains no longer has relevance or has been superseded by legislation, yet 800 years on it’s being awarded anniversary celebrations.

According to Cambridge professor Robert Tombs, whose prepared talk traced for us the Charter’s history from its origins in King John’s reign of 1215, the Magna Carta’s popularity is more the idea of it than the fact, over time embedded in our culture as a symbol of rights and freedoms we like to think we have.

Shami Chakrabarti pointed out the legal inefficacy of the Charter and shifted focus to the European Convention On Human Rights. Her favourite principle, that all people are equal before the law, is easily accepted.

However whilst Chakrabarti’s reputation is for ‘holding the powerful to account’, she alienated this audience claiming it was an insult to our intelligence for her to spell out why the proposed British Bill Of Rights doesn’t stand scrutiny, and curiously suggesting that rants would be preferable to questions.

To his credit, Tombs challenged her on this and other of her unsubstantiated opinions, criticised by one audience member as scaremongering.

For all her proximity to the central debate, she seemed to be winging it.

Three stars