Well.

This may be Trump's perfect social media post. A true work of art. He confirms: ✅He personally directs criminal investigations. ✅He is targeting opponents. ✅Epstein "records" exist and he knows the contents. Bonus points for connecting it to investigation of his fondness for Putin.👀

David Allen Green: The BBC is right not to pay damages to Trump

My latest.

Why the BBC is right not to pay damages to Trump By apologising, the broadcaster has taken the sting out of Trump’s excessive attack By me, at New Statesman www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Great piece by @davidallengreen.bsky.social on Trump's lawfare power trip and why the BBC played it right.

Why the BBC is right not to pay damages to Trump By apologising, the broadcaster has taken the sting out of Trump’s excessive attack By me, at New Statesman www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

My next post gives me a lot of pleasure, as I spent many happy years as their legal correspondent and did some of my best work there. It is nice to return as a guest writer.

I admit to being obsessed with Labour's adversarial review into ECHR Article 8 right now, but I want to see the Article 8 assessment Ofcom did on this and I want it now. I accept tips, leaks, and FOIs. www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-priv...

Whenever I feel bad About not really understanding politics and economics, the government of the day does something to show they don’t understand politics and economics either. #gilts #budget

Coming up later today by me, at a different news outlet to usual: How the BBC responded to President Trump’s legal threat in the right way By apologising but not paying damages the broadcaster took the sting out of his excessive demands

READ THIS: A British-Russian dissident sentenced to 25 years of solitary confinement by Vladimir Putin has said his sanity was saved by the European Convention on Human Rights👇 🔗 www.yahoo.com/news/article... via @telegraphnews.bsky.social #ECHR #OurRightsAndFreedoms

‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn’ is not just a title of a famous album, it was originally a wonderful - if disconcerting - chapter in The Wind in the Willows. And now Westminster Abbey are banning illustrations from beloved children’s books… www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Looks like @davidallengreen.bsky.social got it bang on. BBC apologises to Trump over Panorama edit but refuses to pay compensation

Gosh, did any legal blogger propose this approach? www.bbc.com/news/article...

This is why government officials shouldn’t tweet

Like waste plumbing and banking - if it's exciting someone's about to get covered in shit.

Less interested in politics than in constitutions, and so will be interested to see if the politics of Trump and the disclosed emails will lead to his removal/resignation when he has, within the very same constitutional framework, survived so many scandals before. >

Never turn the replies on for a joke, or a parody, or a satire. If it works then people will enjoy it without a comment. (Or they can just scroll past.) And you will be spared the earnest, soul-destroying 'actually' replies disputing the premise or 'correcting' the content which make one weep.

“No 10 says Johnson has been told by Downing Street staff that none of them had parties during Covid.”

The Empty City substack is one to follow just for amazing lines like this gem. "Legal letters should be instruments, not ornaments."

The law cannot be separated from its performative aspects - but damn, some performances (like the letters discussed here) could've used more rehearsal.

So good. DAG being brutally honest about how he would miss these ludicrous legal press releases.

Really interesting reading here. I think we need to see this as part of a broader pattern with law increasingly being deployed to performative ends not just in relation to legal letters, but also the act of legislating and the claim of 'legality' or 'illegality' as an artefact of political debate.

Daft idea now abandoned. What a waste of everyone's time.

And amendments can be grouped together if they deal with something very similar, although a peer can object to their amendment being grouped and keep it separate if they really really want to

Worth noting here as well that- unlike in the Commons, where the Speaker selects which amendments are debated- in the Lords, any peer can insist on having their amendment debated and voted on (although there aren't *usually* lots of amendments pushed to a vote)

NEW Performative Litigation Letters How certain lawyer letters are intended for news and social media consumption By me, on the legal threats of Truss and now Trump emptycity.substack.com/p/performati...

Great post on an extraordinary case, by the estimable @jonbainesdata.bsky.social

Watching Frankenstein on Netflix, and screaming “the books would have all looked new“ at every library scene.

Worth listening to.

Adelita Grijalva is FINALLY sworn in and is now officially a member of Congress

I just walked out of federal court where I pleaded NOT GUILTY to the charges against me. I will continue to stand up to authoritarianism and call this out for what it is: a political prosecution.

Further to this, it is disappointing that most of the news coverage of the $1bn threat letter did not critically engage with its content. Instead, most coverage accepted the content of the letter at face value.

NEW The letter the BBC could send back to Trump A proposal for a reply to his $1bn claim By me. Enjoy. emptycity.substack.com/p/the-letter...

A man has been found guilty of writing a stream of consciousness novel. He is about to start a 4 year sentence.

"situation room" House of Dynamite, but with an incoming House of Representatives petition motion.

Entertaining myself with the definition of 'pet' being inserted by the Renters Rights Act 2025. Probably should add: '(e) Fear of retribution from the animal if otherwise' to cover most cats

Such concrete outcomes do not grow on trees.

Left: Donald Trump’s Jan 6th quote, as presented in the dossier that brought down two BBC bosses Right: What Donald Trump actually said. Full story in @thenewworldmag.bsky.social: www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-e...

Literary theorists distinguish between fabula - the sequence of events - and syuzhet - the way those events are presented to a reader. This is a useful distinction also when dealing with the disclosure of documents. And the sequence of disclosure can shape a story.

Dear gods, like any mention of "Magna Carta" getting Pavlovian replies, a chorus of reply-guys gleefully saying in unison "I prefer Arkell v Pressdram" is the curse of writing about litigation letters. That famous reply can only be used, if at all, in limited circumstances, not present here.

Kudos to @beelbeebub.bsky.social who suggested the ending to that letter.

Some have suggested that the BBC should adopt the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram. Alas, that only really works when you can stand by your journalism. But here the BBC mucked up. BBC can defend and defeat this claim, if made. But it is in a less strong position than Private Eye was then.

Many of you are citing Arkell v Pressdram. This is why that robust approach would not work in these circumstance.

The letter the BBC could send back to Trump - brilliant stuff from @davidallengreen.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/emptycit...

NEW The letter the BBC could send back to Trump A proposal for a reply to his $1bn claim By me. Enjoy. emptycity.substack.com/p/the-letter...

In 2015 Cameron won an overall majority, and it was thrown away by May in 2017 because of Brexit. In 2019 Johnson won a thumping majority, and yet he was out of office less than three years later. In 2024 Starmer won a thumping majority and seems to have no idea what to do with it. >

Manic day, so no time for a full analysis of the European Sleeper to run Paris-Berlin night trains from Spring 2026, so just this quick thread Important: chances this happens are GOOD, upwards of 80% Chances it can’t launch in spring and start is delayed is higher than it not happening at all

My post yesterday on the $Ibn Trump legal threat against the BBC has been picked up by newspapers around the world. It would appear few had gone through the letter and spotted that, well, it contained no evidence in support of its claims of damage. >