Momentous decision. Palestine Action has won a legal challenge against the Home Office’s decision to ban it as a terror group. Banning the group under anti-terror legislation is unlawful, the High Court has ruled, as the ban is "disproportionate".

Plans to make migrants wait longer to get the right to live in the UK permanently should not apply to people already in the UK, a group of 35 Labour MPs, 17 from other parties, 21 peers and 33 civil society organisations has advised the Home Secretary. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"Enjoying mafia movies doesn’t make me a killer. So be wary of the state using rap music to prove murder": Baroness Shami Chakrabarti writes about an amendment to the victims and courts bill before parliament about admissibility of defendants' creative expression. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Lord Sales, Supreme Court Dep President: Drafting of ECHR in 1950 was not an exercise of pure creation. There was much in terms of understanding of English law for drafters to work with. British lawyers were closely involved. Substance, if not form, of the rights was largely familiar & established.

A government contractor has been accused of being “petty and vindictive” after tearing down brightly coloured artworks carrying motivational messages that were intended to improve the conditions for people held in court cells. www.theguardian.com/law/2026/feb...

A former Metropolitan Police inspector has been charged with five counts of rape along with a string of offences over 12 years. www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...

"The government unlawfully trespassed in a barrister's office and seized legal papers from her safe in a major national security case, the High Court has heard". The case centres on claims of complicity by UK intelligence services in torture. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

More Brits feature on Trump's list of “worst of the worst” criminals than Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria. Brits outnumber France, Germany and Italy combined. Killers, drug traffickers, child sex criminals, fraudsters and hoax bomb threat suspects make up the Brit cohort. www.thesun.co.uk/news/3816004...

To those who complain that it's always young men on the boats, this is what happens when there are children and babies on board.

Tragic news. A rubber boat carrying 55 passengers, including two babies, has overturned off the coast of Libya. The only survivors, two Nigerian women, were rescued by Libyan authorities. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

UK supreme court hearing interrupted by podcast played from judge’s phone. www.theguardian.com/law/2026/feb...?

"The current position in Cardiff is untenable": LCJ Baroness Carr becomes first chief justice to give evidence to a Senedd committee. She said £1.3billion is needed to get the courts estate in Wales up to standard, as the current facilities are unfit for purpose. www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/13bn-ne...

So glad I could attend this very special evening in memory of the legendary Conor Gearty. Warm, fitting tributes, celebrating a human rights giant and the loveliest of people. As was said, Conor would have been delighted with an entire evening of people singing his praises. You are missed, Conor.

After the good Samaritan helping a drunk woman home rebuffed her demands for a hug, she falsely reported to the police that she had been lured into a car and gangraped by him and two other Pakistani men in a layby. www.thesun.co.uk/news/3812674...

Solicitors Regulation Authority chief executive Sarah Rapson marked her first 100 days by promising to ‘reset’ the SRA's relationship with solicitors: "I would like us to come across as empathetic." We'll believe it when we see it. www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/sras-ne...

A magistrate who identified his role on a radio programme has been issued with a formal warning for misconduct. He phoned into a live LBC programme and criticised a statement made by a junior government minister regarding the deportation of immigrants. www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/magistr...

Individuals and business are ‘very likely’ to want their minor disputes to be decided by machines ‘when they understand such resolutions will be far quicker and far cheaper’ than human judges, the master of the rolls has predicted. www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/master-...

Over 30 people died attempting to cross the English Channel in a small boat on 23-24 November 2021. An inquiry has now found that the decisions and actions of the French Navy and HM Coastguard contributed to the deaths.

A recently released audio recording captures Jeffrey Epstein and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak discussing the “gigantic” sums paid to Tony Blair for his consulting work, and questioning his financial arrangements. www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/...

Israeli forces have bulldozed part of a Gaza cemetery containing the war graves of British, Australian and other allied soldiers killed in the first and second world wars. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

A report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) has found that the UK Government’s use of surveillance, its “repressive anti-protest laws” and anti-terrorism legislation has eroded freedom of expression, assembly and association in the country. www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

The state of British justice. "Berry had been jailed for two years and four months, but remained in prison 15 years later". Disgusting and inhumane. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Is decisions like this the reason for the government wanting to get rid of juries?

Five Palestine Action protesters have been cleared of aggravated burglary after Elbit Systems building was targeted. They were also charged with criminal damage and violent disorder but jury reached partial or no verdicts on those, for which they could face a retrial. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"Two Human Rights Watch employees, who make up its entire Israel and Palestine team, are stepping down from their positions after leadership blocked a report that deems Israel’s denial of Palestinian refugees the right of return a “crime against humanity".". www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

The Information Commissioner’s Office has opened formal investigations into X and X.AI covering their processing of personal data in relation to Grok and its potential to produce harmful sexualised content. ico.org.uk/about-the-ic...

Offices of Elon Musk's social media platform X in France are being raided by the cyber crime unit, the Paris prosecutor's office says. Musk and former X CEO Linda Yaccarino have also been summoned to appear at hearings in April as part of the probe. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"The British Institute of International and Comparative Law is delighted to announce the appointment of Sonya Sceats as its next Director and Chief Executive Officer. She will join the Institute in April 2026". www.biicl.org/newsitems/16...

Reform council spends £600k on eight free parking spaces for senior councillors. www.lbc.co.uk/article/refo...

China has lifted sanctions on UK MPs and peers after the Starmer-Xi meeting. However, the parliamentarians affected insist they will not accept change in status while Uighur ‘genocide’ continues. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

A snap inspection of a Bristol secondary school criticised for postponing a visit by an MP who is a member of a group that advocates for Israel has found “no evidence of partisan political views”. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Seems quite unfair. Rape claim against a solicitor/coroner was being investigated. He told Chief Coroner the allegation was "touching up". He was never charged or convicted. He's been dismissed as both coroner and as a solicitor for downplaying the allegations. www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/former-...

"The Solicitors Regulation Authority has been ordered to pay £50,000 in costs after a tribunal ruled that it had ‘poorly investigated’ a matter leading to prosecution". No wonder the already extortionate fees solicitors pay to the SRA keep rising. www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/sra-hit...

Home Secretary announces that a licence to practise for police officers - similar to the one for doctors - would be created.

Following my complaint, the Telegraph has deleted an inaccurate and misleading article that claimed "Jurors who find activists not guilty for moral reasons could face jail". This was incorrect and not what the court ruled.

Nothing psychopathic to see here.

Telegraph publishes correction about the article: “Double killer wins human rights case because prison left him ‘depressed’." The headline and article have been amended as well.

Wonderful news. Many congratulations, Alasdair!

A law lecturer is bringing a libel claim against a former student who alleged he threatened to reduce her mark unless she slept with him. www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/law-lec...

The United Arab Emirates must pay more than £260,000 to a victim of human trafficking who was exploited by one of its diplomats in London, the high court has ruled. www.theguardian.com/law/2026/jan...

Situation of British children leaving Syrian camps is “brutal” & there is risk they may be “hunted down & killed". "Ethical point is very strong. They're entirely innocent. They were brought by dreadful parents; it’s not their fault": @terrorwatchdog.bsky.social. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01...

Awfully sad. "A man suffered fatal head injuries after falling from a ladder intoxicated, while tying a Union flag to a lamppost". www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

MPs have voted to remove a measure providing conditional immunity from prosecutions for Troubles-era crimes. bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A former minister and Women and Equalities Committee chair has become the Bar’s first ever Commissioner for Conduct following a review into bullying and harassment. Dame Maria Miller will lead the Bar Council’s work to eradicate these behaviours. www.barcouncil.org.uk/resource/for...

Formal inquiry: Nigel Farage breached MPs' code of conduct 17 times by failing to register financial interests on time. This added up to more than £380,000 in outside earnings that were not declared according to the code. www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/breaking-nigel-farage-breaks-mps-36586641.amp

An attempt to halt the use of pepper spray on children in young offender institutions has failed after high court rules that the weapon’s rollout is lawful. The government has authorised the use of pepper spray in prisons holding boys as young as 15. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

"Criminals could be stopped before they strike under Minority Report-style policing plans. Police chiefs are evaluating around 100 projects in which officers are trialling the use of AI to help combat crime". www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01...

Tribunals annual report: Increase of 36% in immigration and asylum appeals received by the first-tier tribunal in 2024/25. The outstanding caseload increased by 80% during the same period. www.judiciary.uk/senior-presi...

The UK government has paid "substantial" compensation to a man who was tortured by the CIA and remains imprisoned without trial at Guantanamo Bay after 20 years. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"What’s frightening is that in Farage’s Britain people like me could be lawfully discriminated against and British businesses would be encouraged to bin our CVs": Nadhim Zahawi. conservativehome.com/2015/03/23/n...