British Judges face a furious backlash from MPs who have demanded a parliamentary debate over the widespread use of superinjunctions. One Tory MP has described the judiciary as an "ass" for its behaviour in recent months.
Growing discontent at the ease with which celebrities have attained injunctions has previously led to members of the House of Commons and the Lords naming those protected by court orders, including the former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Sir Fred Goodwin.
Frustration in parliament reached new heights on Friday when the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, took the unprecedented step of criticising MPs for "flouting court orders" in the Commons. Judge also urged ways to be found to curtail the "misuse of technology" after the identity of a professional footballer hiding behind an injunction was widely leaked on Twitter.
The footballer has since launched a high court action to force the social media site to reveal the identity of those behind the leaks, but users of the social media site responded by swamping the site with posts, repeatedly naming one player at a rate of up to 16 times a minute.