Since on the question of admissibility the fact that the evidence might

Since, on the question of admissibility, the fact that the evidence might have been obtained unlawfully was irrelevant, cross-examination to show that the intercept was not consensual could not be entertained, quite apart from s 9(1)(a).John Spencer QC (Middleweeks, Manchester) for the appellant; Bernard Levell (CPS) for the Crown.TaxSarsfield (HMIT) v Dixons Group plc; ChD (Lightman J) 3 Jan 1997.A company which provided transport services for a retail chain of shops operated by another member of the same group of companies was entitled to capital allowances for industrial buildings or structures for costs incurred in providing warehouse accommodation. The buildings were industrial buildings within s 7(1) of the Capital Allowances Act 1968 and were not disqualified as being used for purposes "ancillary to any retail shop" within s 7(3). The transport company was carrying out a business separate from the retail shops.Michael Furness (Inland Revenue); Rex Bretten QC, Stephen Brandon QC (Titmuss Sainer Dechert) for Dixons.. You can probably remember Ben Bradshaw's voice better than his face.

It was he, broadcasting on Radio 4, who described the Berlin Wall as it was dismantled piece by piece in 1989. Or you may recall his calm professional tone on the car radio in recent years as you drove to friends' for Sunday lunch when he presented The World This Weekend. You may even have been moved last summer when, to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, Bradshaw read a letter from an infantryman who described the scene in no man's land in graphic, gruesome detail and then broadcast a centenarian survivor singing the old trooper's song "I Want To Go Home". At 36, Ben Bradshaw has, at least until now, been a rising star at the BBC "He was touted as the next Jeremy Vine," said one insider. "He has a good broadcasting voice, he's intelligent, accessible, sweet-looking and pleasant." But serious national fame for Bradshaw came properly only last week.

It emerged that the BBC has been maintaining him on what amounts to paid leave since September, when he was taken off the air after being selected to fight a parliamentary seat for Labour For five months, Bradshaw did nothing for the corporation. Worse, he spent his time on the stump in the Exeter constituency. There was the inevitable outrage at the notion of licence-payers funding one of Tony Blair's new model army.BBC executives rushed to save face and hurriedly announced that Bradshaw had suddenly been found a job - he's due back at his desk this morning to work on a project to integrate radio and television business programmes. Eventually, at the end of the week, the top brass threw up their hands and finally admitted management failure in not reassigning Bradshaw sooner.But the predictable row, touching raw Tory nerves about alleged prejudice against them within the BBC, was a short-lived wonder. The reality seems to be that the BBC bureaucrats were in fact so conscientious in avoiding any accusation of bias that they dithered endlessly about what to do with their bright but embarrassing young star.In any case, Bradshaw is not the first high-profile BBC figure to cross over into politics Tony Benn was a BBC producer. Sir Geoffrey Johnson Smith, Tory grandee and vice chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, was a BBC reporter when he won his first seat.

Likewise, Tory MP Roger Gale had been a Blue Peter presenter before the charms of Westminster took precedence over those of sticky-backed plastic. And standing as a parliamentary candidate for the Liberals did not stop Sir Robin Day hosting Panorama and Question Time. Meanwhile, there were few raised eyebrows last month when Francis Halewood, the deputy editor of the Today programme, joined Tory Central Office. Who worries that Howell James, former head of corporate affairs at the BBC, is now a right-hand man in John Major's private office? And most newspapers - for all their vitriol about the BBC - employ journalists who will be seeking election this year.In fact, the row about the licence-payer subsidising Ben Bradshaw has obscured a much bigger story. "If I win," he explains, "I will be the first openly gay candidate ever to be returned to Westminster." Surely not, is the typical reaction to this claim. After all, Labour's shadow health secretary, Chris Smith, is known to be gay, as was Matthew Parris before he jumped from the Tory back benches to the Commons press gallery.