© Matthew Buck Hack Cartoons

Parliament has passed a Royal Charter which provides a form of statute (or statutory underpinning) for the regulation of publication in the UK. This changes the relationship between politicians and the business of publication that has been in place since 1695. The draft of the charter, which you can get here  as a pdf, is not clear about how it will regulate digital publication and this non-national distribution network is to be regulated within our national jurisdiction.