The Law Society’s Human Rights Committee is looking for new members. A really rewarding opportunity to contribute, meet some great people across the profession, and help shape the Law Society’s work on human rights. Applications close Friday 12 June. www.lawsociety.org.uk/about-us/our...

UN Special Rapporteur on torture urges Israel to review its detention laws, policies and practices, in her latest transmission of a substantial body of torture allegations, including sexual violence, and other serious abuses, to Israeli authorities. www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...

A legal aid solicitor has been cleared of an allegation that he took £250 in a car park from a client - after an investigation lasting five years. Five years. And the SRA wanted him to pay £77,000 costs too! www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/tribuna...

Government threatened with legal action unless it scraps a key element of its controversial drug pricing deal with Donald Trump. It is claimed that a change to how drug treatments are approved for NHS use could lead to the NHS paying higher prices for them. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

"What Israel has done is, in my view, illegal. What happened is absolutely unacceptable and wrong": Irish prime minister condemns the detention of Irish citizens, including the Irish president's sister, by Israel. They were taking part in an aid flotilla to Gaza. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Up to 57 individuals and 20 organisations are facing criminal charges over the Grenfell disaster. Prosecutors have said they aim to announce the charges by next June. Only took them 10 years. www.lbc.co.uk/article/57-i...

In news that will surprise no one, more than 21,000 incidents of racist abuse were reported by nursing staff across the UK over the last four years – surging by 78% in that time. www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

The sister of the Irish President has been detained by israel. Catherine Connolly is among at least six Irish citizens on an aid flotilla to Gaza who have been detained by Israel off the coast of Cyprus. news.sky.com/story/irish-...

David Lammy has promised to cut the number of children kept in jail while they await trial by a quarter as part of an overhaul of youth justice rules that could also end lifelong criminal records for under-18s. www.theguardian.com/law/2026/may...

A neo-Nazi obsessed teenager who tried to behead a Kurdish barber with an axe because she wanted to “kill all Jews and Muslims” has been jailed for more than 15 years. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Hundreds of children every month face being separated from their families since the UK suspended refugee family reunion last September, according to analysis by the British Red Cross. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

"Parents face jail if they fail to help steer their children away from committing crimes, under proposed court orders". www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

The Ukrainian flag has been removed from outside Essex County Council's offices by the newly elected Reform UK administration. A second Union flag was instead put up in its place outside County Hall in Chelmsford on Friday. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A disabled man who was wrongly sacked after being spied upon by his bosses said he felt "justice had been done" after his former employer agreed to pay him £329,000 in damages and lost earnings. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A pro-suicide online forum which has been linked to at least 50 deaths has been fined £950,000 by the UK's media regulator. Ofcom said the site did not comply with the Online Safety Act (OSA) "to protect people in the UK from illegal content". www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

“I followed with concern the exceptional attempt to refer Rajiv Menon KC. A barrister has a duty to represent clients fearlessly and judge-instigated contempt proceedings risk chilling effect. Ct of Appeal judgment is welcomed; it is hoped this is an end of this troubling episode": Bar Council Chair

"Openness for judiciary has historically not been easy, and gap between judges and public is enforced physically by court set-up and archaic legal dress of wigs and gowns. While these quirks add charm for those in the system, there can be no doubt it puts space between us and the public": LCJ Carr

Three night-time safety volunteers arrested on suspicion of plotting a Just Stop Oil protest to disrupt the King’s Coronation are suing the Metropolitan Police for £100,000 in damages. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05...

A Reform UK election candidate who called the Holocaust a "hoax" and "propaganda" has been elected in the local elections. www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpo...

The Press watchdog Ipso has ruled that publications are entitled to describe Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05...

Wonderful! Just give Francesca Albanese all the prizes. "Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez has awarded the Order of Civil Merit to Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on Palestine, for her advocacy throughout Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza". www.middleeasteye.net/news/spain-p...

Rwandan singer Aimable Karasira has died as he was being released from prison, according to the Rwanda Correctional Service. He was known for his videos, in which he criticised the government and the ruling party. He was sentenced to five years for inciting division. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

ECtHR: Criminal conviction of protest organiser breached Article 11 (freedom of assembly & association). She herself had not breached any conditions the authorities had imposed and any disruption by other protesters was in spite of her instructing them to comply. The conviction was disproportionate.

The BBC article says he was cleared of GBH with intent?

The one defendant on the charge of GBH with intent was cleared of the ‘with intent part’. Found guilty of GBH

The Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner cannot be extradited to Britain to face trial because of Brexit, German officials have said. www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

A lawyer who filed Hamas’s challenge to proscription in UK was recorded by police as being a member of the banned group. A detective inspector, who authorised his detention under the Terrorism Act, wrote “Hamas” in the space for “membership of a known group”. www.theguardian.com/law/2026/may...

Four Palestine Action activists have been found guilty of criminal damage at a UK site of an Israel-based defence firm. One has also been found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent after striking Sgt Kate Evans with a sledgehammer. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A US judge has apologised to the man accused of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump for the “legally deficient” treatment he has faced in a Washington jail, including being placed on suicide watch, separated from other inmates and denied a Bible. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Lord Justice Snowden has been appointed to the Supreme Court. www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/lord-ju...

Not that Reform UK is a petty, small-minded, vindictive parody of a party, but it "has pledged to build new detention centres for illegal migrants in areas that vote Green if it wins the next general election". www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05...

A man has admitted setting fire to an East Sussex mosque. Ricky Ryder, 38, pleaded guilty to arson that was reckless as to whether life was endangered. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Israeli legislation that seeks the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks “perpetuates racial discrimination against Palestinians and amounts to a grave erosion of human rights”: UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblo...

The government has defeated a move by rebel MPs to amend the Courts and Tribunals Bill by introducing specialist rape courts - a Labour manifesto commitment. www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/rebel-m...

I wanted us to work in a much more collegiate way and I think I have achieved that. Last year, we were unanimous in 92% of our cases, which is quite remarkable when you think that we deal with only difficult cases, so they have to be arguable either way: UK Supreme Court President, Lord Reed

A deputy High Court judge has been issued with formal advice for misconduct after he interrupted a barrister so much that it amounted to ‘excessive intervention’ and raised his voice to her while she was making submissions. www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/deputy-...

Margaret Connolly, a sister of Irish president, Catherine Connolly, has set sail on a boat bound for Gaza as part of the Global Sumud Flotilla in an attempt to deliver life-saving aid and challenge the ongoing Israeli blockade. www.independent.ie/regionals/sl...

Scholars, writers and artists are risking arrest with their letter in support of Palestine Action before next week’s appeal hearing. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

The contractor responsible for the Bibby Stockholm asylum barge and quarantine hotel rooms has admitted to overcharging the UK government by an eyewatering £118m. www.thecanary.co/uk/2026/04/2...

None of the “heady promises of various Leave campaigns” have been met. “No one can credibly claim that we have marched to the sunny uplands of sustained economic growth as a consequence of Brexit": The civil servant who led Britain’s preparations for Brexit has said that it is time to rejoin the EU.

The Foreign Office unit tracking potential breaches of international law by Israel in Gaza and, more recently, in Lebanon has been closed due to cuts. It is the only programme in the UK that collects, verifies and analyses human rights and conflict incidents in Israel and the occupied territories.

Advocacy groups warn that visitors to the US for the World Cup may face arbitrary detention or deportation, among other human rights abuses. Players and others may face racial profiling, search of devices, or inhuman treatment if they end up in immigration detention, according to the advisory.

'Interesting' exchange with Grok on X just now. I asked it the same question in public and private. It gave me completely different replies, deleted the public response when confronted, then denied deleting it. Finally, it refused point-blank to publicly post the response it gave me in private.

International Criminal ‌Court confirms murder charges against former Philippine President Duterte as crimes against humanity, paving the way for a trial. It says there are "substantial grounds" to believe Duterte played a key role in murders during his "war on drugs". www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...

I most certainly didn’t feel like that was the reason I was out there in 2003

Discussing Hermer's career, Johnny Mercer says "... effect this has on people like Brian... fighting in a war no one at home seems to care about, leading men with supreme acts of bravery in foreign field to protect our way of life" Are we still claiming we were in Iraq "to protect our way of life"?

The medical data of half a million volunteers to Biobank, the UK's health information database, has been offered for sale online, the government has said. news.sky.com/story/medica...

Lord Justice Cobb has been appointed as the new president of the family division. He will take on the role following Sir Andrew McFarlane’s retirement earlier this month. www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/lord-ju...

Riot-trained police will be sent to beaches in France as part of a new £662m deal with the UK to stop illegal migrants from crossing the English Channel. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Reform are investigating eight candidates over social media posts. Prospective councillors called the Nazis “real visionaries”, said migrants breed “like rats” and told rioters to burn down a mosque. www.thetimes.com/article/3ede...