New post In a recent lecture, Lord Briggs places renewed emphasis on the common law’s ability to protect human rights, and argues that we should not doubt its capaity to step in if the UK were to withdraw from the ECHR. Is such optimism well-founded? publiclawforeveryone.com/2025/11/14/m...

Thank you for contributing & for this excellent lens on the discussions. Externalising/othering constitutional (fundamental) rights takes the othering of the individuals they protect to an extreme. Migration debates are instrumentalised to justify a broader assault on human&constitutional rights.

An interesting opportunity from the Constitution Society: 'The Constitution Society invites applications for a Research Fellowship dedicated to promoting the life and constitutional contributions of Richard Haldane (1856-1928).' consoc.org.uk/haldane-rese...

New post Prompted by an excellent conference at @biicl.bsky.social marking the ECHR's 75th anniversary, I reflect in this piece on key themes about the likely trajectory of the UK's human rights debate, given the current (and developing) political climate. publiclawforeveryone.com/2025/11/07/t...

TEXTILE SHAKESPEARE is official-publication-date-minus-2-weeks (11 November) which is a LOT👀 (I can't remember feeling this wound up about other books, I have the concentration of a gnat at the moment🙄) but seems to be live as an e-book already so, available to your Kindle right now, apparently...

This latest "barrister meets AI" disaster is something all stage 1 law students should read. It is vital about the key skill of case reading - you mustn't use AI to substitute for the skill of being able to find cases and find key content in cases: tribunalsdecisions.service.gov.uk/utiac/ui-202...

NEW - UPDATE POST Did the CPS make a fundamental mistake with the charging decision in the Chinese spying case? How the CPS may have asked the wrong legal question and so made a wrong charging decision By me emptycity.substack.com/p/did-the-cp...

Trying to make sense of the China spy case? Join @profmarkelliott.bsky.social, @ruthfox.bsky.social & @darcyxtip.bsky.social on our Parliament Matters podcast as they unpack the key issues and what they mean for Parliament. 🎧 New episode out tomorrow. Listen and subscribe here: pod.link/1714627828

New post, following publication of the Deputy National Security Adviser's witness statements in the China case: No winners in the China espionage blame game: Six outstanding questions for prosecutors and ministers publiclawforeveryone.com/2025/10/16/n...

An extraordinary outburst—directed at a small hospice charity subject to devastating funding cuts—from the CEO of a major NHS trust. I doubt that Arthur Rank Hospices's patients and families share his assessment of the 'value' of the oustanding care provided. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A few preliminary thoughts on/questions prompted by the China espionage case witness statements, which have now been published. /1 www.gov.uk/government/p...

I was pleased to speak with Sarah Montague on BBC Radio 4's The World at One today about the latest developments concerning the collapse of the China espionage trial. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Excellent, forensic analysis of the many twists and turns (so far) of the China espionage case.

NEW Trying to make sense of the nonsensical decision to drop the Chinese spying prosecutions How the positions of neither the CPS nor the government stand up to scrutiny By me emptycity.substack.com/p/trying-to-...

I was pleased to hear my analysis of the China espionage case being relied on by the Leader of the Opposition in yesterday’s House of Commons debate. parliamentlive.tv/event/index/...

New post, in which I argue the government's attempt to pin the blame for the collapse of the China spy trial on a single official will not wash constitutionally. Ministers must bear responsibility for an apparently deeply flawed decision-making process. publiclawforeveryone.com/2025/10/13/c...

New post | Cock-up or conspiracy? The Security Minister’s statement on the China espionage case /1 publiclawforeveryone.com/2025/10/13/c...

A very helpful post on the Palestine Action judicial review so far. In particular, I agree with @conorcrummey.bsky.social that the court's approach to the argument concering ultra vires/the principle of legality was problematic. /1 ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/10/13/c...

It will be interesting to see what Ministers are prepared to say about the China spying case from the despatch box. I am surprising that this morning's line to take still seems to turn on China not having been "designated" a threat/enemy by the last government. /1

A letter from @crwerren.bsky.social @suzmd.bsky.social @storiesfromjack.bsky.social and me on the plans to allow cumulatively disruptive protests to be regulated by the police www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Really enjoyed this piece. "Lawyers and academics therefore find themselves in the difficult position of ... trying to reason people away from a view or belief they never reasoned themselves into to begin with. We are bringing facts to a vibes fight."

I was pleased to speak to Sky News about the China espionage case, including the difficulties that arise from the PM's attempts to explain why the CPS dropped the charges following the government's failure to provide relevant national security-related evidence. news.sky.com/story/the-bl...

New post | On China, the Official Secrets Act and 'enemies': Is the Prime Minister wrong? publiclawforeveryone.com/2025/10/08/o...

Excellent (but depressing) analysis by @gsoh31.bsky.social on the fragile state of higher education in the UK. This passage particularly struck me. politicalquarterly.org.uk/blog/where-n...

This is happening up and down the country. It's heartbreaking and the Government needs to join the dots.

A report on tonight’s Channel 4 News about the devastating funding cuts at Arthur Rank Hospice in Cambridge. It is unconscionable to reduce access to palliative care while simultaneously contemplating the legalisation of medically assisted suicide. www.channel4.com/news/budget-...

Just as the state contemplates the possibility of a fully-funded assisted dying service, public funding for the award-winning Arthur Rank House Hospice in Cambridge is being cut by almost £1 million pa, risking the closure of nearly half of its in-patient unit. www.arhc.org.uk/protectourca...

It was a great pleasure to speak at today's annual training day for the Administrative Court (at the Oval cricket ground: hence the photo!), looking at how recent case law intersects with key academic debates about substantive judicial review.

A new paper from Philip Murray and me: 'In Defence of Classical Administrative Law'. We argue that the voidness of unlawful administrative acts is central to the rule of law and that recent challenges to that view can and should be resisted. publiclawforeveryone.com/2025/09/16/i...

Good stuff from @profmarkelliott.bsky.social. Mark's right, I think, that the Supreme Court's recent practice of issuing bland, single judgments "has arguably had the effect of oversimplifying, or at least obscuring important and contentious issues". publiclawforeveryone.com/2025/07/29/t...

There is a risk that this will get missed over the summer, so just to flag up this important call for evidence on human rights and the regulation of AI from the Joint Committee on Human Rights (and deadline for response is 5 September) - committees.parliament.uk/work/9220/hu...

In which I am not impressed by Suella Braverman’s plans for leaving the ECHR. open.substack.com/pub/georgepe...

New blogpost The Supreme Court’s judgment in Shvidler v Foreign Secretary: Lord Leggatt’s Liversidge v Anderson moment publiclawforeveryone.com/2025/07/29/t...

Another opportunity to join Durham Law School as a three-year career development fellow in public law. A great Law School and a vibrant public law community with opportunities to teach in both core and optional modules, and excellent support for research. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNX378/c...

The Warwick 'rebrand' crystallises much of what is wrong with UK higher education today: namely (with honourable exceptions, of course) a fundamental disconnect between senior leaders and the reality of running academic departments and delivering teaching and research 'on the ground'.

Excellent post by @paolosandro.bsky.social on the (many and important) constitutional implications of the super-injunction arising from the Afghan data breach

Very timely piece by @daviderdos.bsky.social highlighting, against the background of the absence of any formal regulatory action in respect of the Afghan data breach, the ICO's 'doubling down' on 'its hyper-selective and hyper-discretionary approach' to enforcement.

The executive chair of the AHRC, @christophersmith.bsky.social, has now deleted the post that I quoted below and another post. In them, he claimed that @timeshighered.bsky.social’s article on cuts to PhD funding is misleading. /1

So in fact the @timeshighered.bsky.social report isn’t inaccurate but it doesn’t align with the way in which the AHRC wishes to spin its decisions about reductions in PhD funding, both generally and specifically student-led projects.

Two quick points about today's Braverman/Prosperity Institute report on ECHR exit & the GFA. (i) Advocating a return to the legal situation that applied in Northern Ireland in 1969 is an interesting choice of approach. (Cue the quote about the Bourbons forgetting nothing & learning nothing.) 1/2

A very informative thread. But my concern is that we are now in a political era in which sufficient sections of the media and public are so disinclined to engage with evidence and reasoned argument as to enable such 'policies' to be advanced without political risk. /1

I'm lucky to have an AHRC scholarship on a proposal I developed. It was highly competitive and went through about 7 or 8 drafts before submission. And led to many collaborations with colleagues in different unis. I've loved my PhD experience partly thanks to the scholarship. This is terrible.

A thread on the silliness of the Braverman report on leaving the ECHR. Incoherent on the rights in question and how an international agreement like the GFA is reworked, deaf to the failures of these shenanigans during Brexit and promoted by those who confuse English Nationalism with Unionism:

Now seen the paper itself. It’s of the standard one expects from Ms Braverman. www.prosperity.com/wp-content/u...

NB the Prosperity Institute is the thinktank formerly known as the Legatum Institute...

Today's report by Suella Braverman on leaving the ECHR is, unsurprisingly, full of myths (the common law will protect us), lies (the ECHR stops us from having our desired immigration system) and exaggerations (human rights are incompatible with sovereignty). It's not worth taking seriously.

The Prosperity Institute's report on 'Why and How to Leave the ECHR' makes for interesting reading. A short 🧵 /1 t.co/3GPYLqsDW5

As someone who couldn't have undertaken a PhD without funding, the AHRC scholarship I received (many years ago) was life-changing. It's incredibly concerning that the the next generation of prospective academics are being denied such opportunities. www.timeshighereducation.com/news/student...

In relation to the Afghan data breach, the ICO 'determined that there was little we could add in this case that would justify the further allocation of resource away from other priorities'. What could be a 'higher priority' than addressing this particular breach? ico.org.uk/about-the-ic...