How did I miss “It's astonishing that my name can be defamed in the media simply because I wrote an erotic novel” - CLEARLY the best political quote of 2025?

Here: www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

sorry to be sentimental but this is the most amazing heartwarming story

I know you've heard that a federal judge ordered the release of 5 year old Liam Conejo Arias and his father, and that they're now home. But did you look at the judge's order? It's less than 2.5 pages and well worth a minute. "Jesus wept." Link to pdf: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

SOLICITOR: I really don’t understand your defence LIAM: WHAT IF THEORETICALLY THIS HAPPENED SOLICITOR: then theoretically you would need to plead guilty LIAM: THEN THEORETICALLY THAT DIDNT HAPPEN SOLICITOR: I’m theoretically hanging up the theoretical phone now

lol what

French police detain British far-right protesters www.independent.co.uk/bulletin/new...

Strike off for solicitor who told colleague to lie zurl.co/2nZj6

Kobani Syria, the last remaining stronghold of Kurds is totally surrounded. Syria’s Kurd have been corralled into Kobani. Now, Al-Sharaa’s forces with help from Turkey are preparing to go in. Will Kurds and Christians be cleansed from the region. Will the Yezidi face yet another massacre?

SOLICITOR: did you receive the papers LIAM: AM FUMIN SOLICITOR: why LIAM: SNEAKY BASTARDS BUGGED ME VAN SOLICITOR: yeah.. LIAM: A WERE SHAGGIN ME MRS IN IT SOLICITOR: I’ve never felt more sorry for the police than I do right now LIAM: WHAT ABOUT ME?! SOLICITOR: they’ll need YEARS of therapy.

It's annoying that we already had so many existing problems to solve before these assholes created a bunch of new ones for no reason

I just thought everyone should see this

Not saying this is what happened, but I'm not saying it's *not* what happened. BTW, the fiscal depute mentioned is better known today as Lady Elish Angiolini.

SOLICITOR: the police want you to come in on a voluntary LIAM: WHAT, FOR A CONSPIRACY SOLICITOR: it is something to do with an incident involving a vehicle LIAM: WHAT ABOUT THE CONSPIRACY?! SOLICITOR: you want me to tip them off that you’re in a conspiracy? LIAM: I THINK THEY ALREADY KNOW TBF

SOLICITOR: hello LIAM: ITS ME SOLICITOR: you’ve been quiet. I was hoping you’d turned your life around, found a girl, settled down LIAM: YOU CANT TURN AROUND WHEN UR LIFE IS A ROUNDABOUT SOLICITOR: Sigh. wanted for what? LIAM: PERHAPS A CONSPIRACY SOLICITOR: that explains why you’ve been quiet

Watching my criminal defence instructing solicitor yesterday dealing with a very young Liam with significant MH issues who couldn’t remember his GP surgery’s name or address. He took him calmly through online photographs of local surgeries until he recognised his. Genius.

This sign (not my design) says it all:

Tehran, Iran. They shut off the street lights to scare people back into their homes. It did not work. Iranians are standing stronger than ever, in the dark, without fear. I stand with these brave people.

Stephen Miller’s cousin 👇🏽

Hey booking.com that’s a ruin you’re trying to pitch me for £840 hokay what do I do camp near it?

Happy new year to everyone but especially the very anxious lady in the crown court waiting area who made me talk to her daughter - fully robed - on FaceTime because she was too overwhelmed to ask me in person how to find her son’s barrister or where to go. And to her daughter who kept apologising 💔

This is making the US’ position on Afghanistan, which is effectively now being run by Al Qaeda, very confusing. (Remember Al Qaeda, guys? Yeah them)

How about we just shut the hell up and leave a grieving and traumatised man alone

A reminder that Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra’s parents emigrated here during a period when Italians were considered to be a genetically inferior and criminal-minded underclass that Stephen Miller’s racist predecessors said should be excluded from America

Nadolig Llawen Pawb xxxx

In 2023 I became obsessed with videos of dads in cargo shortswaiting in parking lots during Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. So when she came to town, I grabbed a camera and headed down to talk to them. I thought it'd be funny. It turned out to be something else entirely.

🔥💪Unbelievably heartwarming to me to see that £1,000 has been raised for @calaisappeal.bsky.social since I posted this video. Let's keep sharing & donating because the far right thrive on hate, but our love & solidarity will always be so much stronger ❤️🥰👇 www.justgiving.com/campaign/tog...

Sincerely one of the funniest things the WSJ has ever written or done. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anth...

One of those sad days when a person you remember as a toddler becomes a defendant in a case…. you check the name, place and date of birth about three times before giving up any hope that you’re possibly mistaken. The cycle continues.

Fantastic detail from the PA court coverage of Lib Dem peer Lord Razzall getting his second driving ban of the year.

❤️

Jews can’t live peacefully in their homes, they can’t go to a music festival and they can’t congregate openly on a beach in Australia and there are still people out there who will say these massacres and attacks are justified. Or just as bad, stay silent when it happens. Call it out for what it is

The cutest argument you can have with small children is when you ban them from growing up because they are too small and cute and you don’t ever want them to get big

New career lowlight yesterday when I finished speaking on a remote conference to see my lay client had moved his phone over to his bed, laid down and gone to sleep. And yes, I know, fellow criminal hacks, it could be a lot worse.

One of my neighbors has been putting up these fish facts posters. All kinds of different fish, marine, freshwater, deep, shallow, all kinds. This is a good one. “Stg this real fish” took me out. Good work, neighbor.

“Mummy, do our bodies sink or float in water?” *launch into explanation of what happens to the human body in water ante and post mortem in pathological detail* “Mummy I just meant.. when we swim in the sea do we float” Oh, right.

Google maps knows me so well now that when I put a city’s name into it, it immediately offers up the crown court as the first option.

I will never get over the weirdness of robing at home to sit in front of a laptop and think it should be banned.

Royal Mail have written a GDPR policy for their letter to Santa scheme that is a) pitched at children explaining how their data is used and b) fully committed to the existence of Father Christmas and it’s just… really cute

A wonderful example of why disinvestment in arts and humanities is too clever by half. These are fundamental to a society's curiosity and imagination!

It’s the time of year where barristers all over the country balance the solemnity of the crown court with improving client morale by the wearing of cute festive earrings. Sure, you got 15 years for firearms trafficking but your barrister did wear tiny Rudolph earrings that made you smile.

I didn’t have quoting David Lammy to argue against David Lammy on my 2025 bingo but here we are

"Curtailment of jury trials has generally been reserved for exceptional circumstances, such as war or force of terrorism… the idea of jury trials being pared back in peacetime suggests a failure of governance. It is a symptom of national crisis." David Hardstaff, partner at BCL Solicitors

Pardon

A really sobering story about how vulnerable UK universities are to intimidation to get them to abandon human rights research. Claims by China in this report of inadequate "fact checking" should always be accompanied by mention of their exclusions from Xinjiang: share.google/KY9SxTEk3rUM...

Looks like extraordinary cowardice. "...following pressure from the Chinese state and a separate defamation law suit against the university, Sheffield Hallam decided not to publish a final piece of research by Prof Murphy and her team into forced labour." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...