Comment from The Economist

For now, the ruling has made some long-term critics of human rights think twice. Just as the campaign for Gurkha soldiers’ settlement rights attracted the backing of those who normally oppose immigration, the ruling on soldiers’ rights has won support in unlikely quarters. The Daily Express, a tabloid newspaper that often rails against the “madness” of the human-rights act, said it was good that soldiers would get the protection already given to criminals. Campaigners for human rights, meanwhile, are delighted to have some more popular examples of the act’s benefits to talk up.

• The Economist, 21 May: Soldiers' human rights: The charge of the legal brigade