spokesperson for Sadiq Khan: “We are not going to dignify his appalling and bigoted comments with a response. “London is the greatest city in the world, safer than major US cities, and we’re delighted to welcome the record number of US citizens moving here.”

Interesting thread. Christina is quite right about the MHRA, which is in law simply an agency of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with no separate legal personality.

SPEAKER UPDATE: We are delighted to announce that @chrisbryant1962.bsky.social and @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social will speak at our rally at Labour Conference! They join: Nick Thomas-Symonds MP @stellacreasy.bsky.social @yuanfenyang.bsky.social @naomipohl.bsky.social @pes.eu

Idea for next UK ambassador to the US: someone who’ll open doors, has no connection to Epstein, will Trump’s attention and respect, and for whom it would be perfect preparation for his future job.

As Barbara says.

Yup. The “It’ll all sort itself out” delusion.

The problem - which was discussed at some length yesterday - is that Colin's and Aoife's forensic demolition of that PX misleading report on NI/ECHR has got NO traction among the numerous media organisations that gave prime national relevance to the latter. Dark money wins over accuracy

"The changes will require new legislation in the UK, which is expected to be largely compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights, enabling the Irish Government to abandon its legal challenge [before the European Court of Human Rights] to the previous British legislation." 1/

I gave a talk this week on the vulnerability of UK institutions to a populist govt and I was told by an audience member that the US and Hungary couldn't happen here. I said it absolutely could and Reform are learning fast. The complacency is scary

My brief thoughts on how to sell the HRA/ECHR 1. “These are *your* rights”: cases where ordinary people have needed the ECHR (Hillsborough and the “gays in the military” case are good: plenty of others. 2. “Do you trust bureaucrats and politicians with your rights? Really?”

Unpopular opinion: 1)What is happening in America is hugely concerning. 2) It is in both Britain‘s and Europe's interest to work closely together. 3) Neither Brits nor Europeans can afford to openly break with the US right now. 4) Making the most of that impossible situation is very hard.

NEW: Britain’s fiercest libel firm, Carter-Ruck, acted for the $4bn OneCoin fraud and threatened its critics. Now they’re being prosecuted at the SDT. Their response? An anonymity order to cover it up. But Carter-Ruck just lost that order - and it's all coming out. Thread

Very good post by @joshuarozenberg.bsky.social: TLDR: “no”.

Who knew?

Transcript of the AG's evidence at the Constitution Committee. Interested that he considers that the UK is softer on Art 8 of the ECnHR than it needs to be, & doesn't appear to consider much value in pushing Strasbourg on it. committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence...

There is no effort to inform readers in the Mail, on the basis that interim relief has been granted to hear an arguable case with regard to protections against human trafficking. There's just a screaming headline about *waves hands* human rights. A diet of falsehoods is suffocating UK public debate.

Important and timely contribution by the Attorney General, reported here.

It's time to tell the racists to fuck off (FREE TO READ!) takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/this-is-en...

Still waiting for newspapers and media to give visibility to this excellent explainer, refuting the core inaccuracies in that PX report on NI/ECHR

No substitute for reading the Murray/O’Donoghue paper, but this is my way of summarising some key flaws in the PE paper. open.substack.com/pub/societyo...

This is an excellent rebuttal of the Policy Exchange paper that tried to cast doubt on whether leaving the ECHR would (unless Ireland agreed) be in breach of the UK’s binding obligations to Ireland under the Good Friday Agreement.

For aspiring barristers: don’t draft pleadings like this. (As my pupil supervisor taught me: beware adjectives.)

Reminder that immigration policy and practice is foreign affairs. So it shouldn’t be left to Interior Ministries / Home Office without concern for / experience of international relations.

This is an excellent piece by @berryadrianc.bsky.social. cosmopolismigration.com/2025/09/11/t...

There is a serious failure in UK govt, politics & media to take sufficiently seriously what Musk said & meant with "fight back or die" = Violence (interethnic civil war) is inevitable so pre-emptive violence - vs migrants, minorities & political opponents - is necessary to avoid existential erasure

There is little or no evidence of any significant rise in support for Tommy Robinson during the last 10-15 years. The 4% strongly supportive within the 1/10 who approve are also steady. 4% is a large target niche (2 million people) from whom to raise money and to bring 50-100k out marching

Good to see on @labourlist.bsky.social a piece by @soclablaw.bsky.social’s Oliver Jackson on why the ECHR should be fought for. labourlist.org/2025/09/what...

I need you to understand what this country feels like right now for those of us who look different. I'm sitting here, trying to plan for Saturday, make sure I don't even need to go to the corner shop for milk, like it's Christmas Day or lockdown. Why? Because I live near where Yaxley-Lennon will 1/

The news of Conor Gearty's death has just been announced and I'm not coping. He was a mentor and the pole star in my constitutional thinking. He was also a great friend and fantastic fun to be around. I'm heartbroken for Aoife and the children.

Quite

Quite.

The DUP’s support for Brexit, then hard Brexit, then Johnson (who betrayed them as he betrays everyone), and now ECHR-exit is perhaps the most obviously self-harming run of decisions that any democratic political party has ever taken.

This is a lovely and moving bit of writing by @felicityspector.bsky.social. open.substack.com/pub/fspector...

This is very good.

Ahead of tomorrow's hearing on European "censorship" of Americans under the Digital Services Act, I have a new blog post explaining why that is not a thing. You can get the gist in about two minutes of skimming the bold text, or stay for the details. 1/ cyberlaw.stanford.edu/a-primer-on-...

Could I take this opportunity to suggest to all my followers that they follow Barbara? She comes from a different political perspective to me but she is always worth hearing even when (especially when) we disagree.

That PX report on the Good Friday Agreement is breathtakingly disingenous. Just waves away all the immense political and practical problems with a bunch of semantic obfuscation.

There is a lot of sophistry in the Policy Exchange GFA report, especially parsing sources to give an inaccurate impression. Here I'm cited discussing the impact of the the GFA on the NI legal order as a whole and it is presented as authority for the commitments only binding NI's devolved bodies:

I’d add two pretty obviously dubious claims in the PE report (read it carefully and you’ll see weasel words creeping in to hide the weaknesses): (1) that the (express) agreement to incorporate the ECHR into NI law with access to courts and remedies doesn’t mean “ECHR as interpreted by the ECtHR);

Here @johnspringford.bsky.social sets out what you need to know about the latest dangerous silliness on the GFA.

It is of course a frivolous charge by a frivolous man. But there is a serious point here: the attempt by some on the reactionary right to claim that left or left of centre affiliation is illegitimate and disqualifying.

Big ruling against Trump's blatantly illegal imposition of tariffs, which are taxes on every American. Working my way through the 127 pages of opinion, so more later. THIS IS A REALLY BIG DEAL, WITH NO LESS THAN THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AT ISSUE! See: share.google/0v8nPm966u0H...

It’s not acceptable and those responsible should be caught, prosecuted, and punished.

This is such a bad take. Two things can be true at the same time: 1) the vandalism at Policy Exchange's offices is unacceptable (and utterly idiotic); & 2) it is perfectly legitimate to ask for transparency about who funds a reactionary think tank with significant influence over UK politics

Tempted.

As Chair, i can confirm that @soclablaw.bsky.social is indeed an ““affiliated socialist society providing legal and policy advice to the Labour Party. And to Labour MPs…”. order-order.com/2025/08/29/j...

As another ex government lawyer, I agree. It’s so frustrating that, despite sympathetic noises, the current government hasn’t legislated to put in place guardrails eg on Lords & other appointments, conduct and ethics, conflicts of interest etc. And hasn’t really tackled over/use of secondary legn

My overview of some of the legal implications of Reform UK’s immigration proposals www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/refo...

Hilary Benn is right. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...