MSPs have voted in favour of the general principles of the Scottish Parliament (Recall and Removal of Members) Bill, with 81 MSPs voting in favour & 35 abstaining (no votes were cast against). The Bill will now proceed to Stage 2 where amendments to the Bill can be considered #holyrood #devolution

JFC. I thought that the Gingerbread Doritos I saw the other week was absolute rock bottom in terms of appalling flavour combinations.

"Kilts" 🤨

This is a great line: "Lords reform is always like watching a turtle do gymnastics: incredibly slow and baffling to everyone but at the same time fascinating to those who care willing it on to succeed”

For fans of the post-ministerial career of former First Ministers and/or the work of inter-parliamentary assemblies, the UK Govt has confirmed that Lord Jones of Penybont (aka Carwyn Jones) has been appointed the Leader of the UK's delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

NEW - Political Scandals and Vertical Contagion in Multilevel Systems - cup.org/47wHeJB - @jaclarner.bsky.social, Robert Johns, @ailsahenderson.bsky.social, @frasmcm.bsky.social & @cjcarman.bsky.social #OpenAccess

What's with pronouncing "legislation" as "leg-islation"?

You cannot mansplain to a man.

Being handed down next week: Keir and Daly v Scottish Ministers UKSC judgment on whether Scottish courts’ rules relating to admissibility of sexual history evidence breach Art 6 ECHR We know the answer is no, but written reasons to come next week supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2...

Don't forget to order your 2026 Law Paw calendar! Calendars cost £20 and feature dozens of adorable law-themed pet photographs. Plus all the money raised goes to @savechildrenuk.bsky.social . www.billablehour.org/calendar/uk2022-n5hfj-bkdhx-nya88-t88th

I have long advocated a variation on this approach: 1. Consider whether the request might actually be a good idea (you never know). 2. If not, is compliance unavoidable? 3. If neither 1 or 2, ignore, because it will be forgotten soon enough.

V pleased that my Public Law article on judicial retirement (written with @bymyong.bsky.social) is now open access - see the link in Peter's post below. For those interested, some highlights of our research in this thread: bsky.app/profile/did:...

It's a tight race. Callum still needs a bit of support from Team Dog.

Good morning from the adorable Callum, posing big questions this early in the morning. We love his gentle but determined eyes – he can tear your legal argument apart, but he will do so nicely.

Callum needs your vote!

"Dialoguing". FFS.

Proposal: any academic making up a new word when a perfectly suitable one already exists has their output reduced by one whole REF grade.

I’m told Labour MPs have been told by whips to *abstain* in the vote on Nigel Farage’s ten-min rule bill on leaving the ECHR, which has left some furious. Whips’ arguments seems to be to just ignore it. Labour MPs worry it leaves Lib Dems/Greens looking like only they care on this.

In my Stage 3 briefing I invited MSPs 2 reject power 4 Ministers 2 "clarify" definiton of lg landholdings by 2ndary legislation. Meanings should b clear in primary legislation. Noone spoke to this though & for 1st time in SP, we have a <(or clarify)> in legislation andywightman.scot/2025/10/stag...

I really must stop accidentally buying two copies of the same book and start actually reading them instead.

1/9 the video of my UCL current legal problems lecture is now up: "Bureaucracy and Distrust: The Civil Service in the Constitution". It looks at the civil service’s constitutional foundations, and how it might respond to a populist govt. @sirjjkc.bsky.social  chairs. www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx3P...

It is the twenty third day of October in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty five, and I have just seen a house with Christmas lights up.

Excellent topic for a conference, though personally I will not be touching "financial elements of the devolution settlements" with a bargepole.

Scotland remains in breach of a United Nations (UN) environmental convention, a new report has found

No Parliament (good or bad) can tie the hands of its successors. That does not make retrospective legislation good. The Conservative party needs to go back to Dicey, who emphasised the twin foundations of the UK constitution on parliamentary sovereignty AND the rule of law.

Irrespective of whether the UK or Scottish Govt should pay for this, the idea that "private visits" should cost the taxpayer £24.5 million is extraordinary.

President Trump is demanding that the Justice Department pay him about $230 million in compensation for the federal investigations into him. Whether he gets paid will ultimately be up to DOJ's second-in-command, who was recently his personal lawyer. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/u...

Shit jobs only.

Clothing items that I would ban: - open-toed boots - coats with no sleeves There are basic values in this country and we should stand up and defend them.

I've been thinking about this cultural coherence thing and I've decided that my absolute red lines are that I will under no circumstances use the terms "holibobs", "crimbo" or "fur baby". I also refuse to watch Naked Attraction.

In case anyone missed the sad news, Bill Twining passed away on 9th October. A great intellect, an inspirational academic, and a kind & generous colleague. www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/news/20...

It is extraordinary that, little over a year after we elected a Labour govt with a huge Parliamentary majority, political discourse is dominated by the most obnoxious and dangerous right wing views that I've ever encountered. Just how far does this cultural homogeneity extend?

Kevin Costello on the de facto officer doctrine in the 21st century. Sarah Nason and Lee Marsons provided the current survey. @lewisgrahamlaw.bsky.social took care of the reviews of books from Johanna Frohlich, Andras Koltay, Dimitrios Kyritsis and Christina Lienen.

That should be Richard Craven, not Cave.

The October 25 issue of @publiclaw.bsky.social will land on Westlaw shortly. Analysis from Farrah Raza on NHS regulation and patient choice and @a-b-evans.bsky.social on recall proposals for the Senedd. Articles are from @echrhawk.bsky.social on the vulnerability of the UK's HR protections; ...

Very much looking forward to @bymyong.bsky.social' s CLP lecture this evening, on Bureaucracy and Distrust: the Civil Service in the Constitution www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/...

This is a really important tipping point in constitutional conversation. Now, NI parties that represent the majority of the electorate (by any recent election) want the UK Govt to clarify the arrangements for a Border Poll (they are at least "change curious"). Hard for ministers to just ignore:

I realise there is already a queue to buy a drink for the long-suffering local government official who wrote this. Please consider me part of that queue. (The weight of the sigh on "We do not apply admiralty law" alone could tear a hole in the fabric of the universe.)

🔥

No prizes for guessing which Conservative MSP said this.

I‘m giving a public talk at UCL on Thurs 16 Oct. The title is “Bureaucracy and distrust: the civil service in the constitution” looking at the civil service’s constitutional foundations, and how it might respond to a populist govt. @sirJJkc.bsky.social will chair! www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/...

It was quite windy last night.

Thrilled to share this call for papers for a conference on the Future of Constitutional Reform in the United Kingdom at @uomlaw.bsky.social with the support of @ukcla.bsky.social ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/10/03/e...

But another 25% are also deluded.

Easyjet has decided that I'm a man.* Can't change this online, as I didn't book the flight directly with them. Need to call their customer service team instead. But there's no customer service number to call. Aaargh! *Assume this is because I used the title "Dr" on my package booking.

I shouldn't laugh ...

A modern day waiting for Godot

I have been entertaining myself by asking AI to give REF scores to various random articles. So far *everything* has been rated at 4*. I beg to differ ...