Goodbye Ozzy. Very glad you got to experience the best of send-offs. Here you are, singing from on high, courtesy of the very wonderful @coldwarsteve.bsky.social

Goodbye Brian. You lit up the world.

Quite unusual to see a civil servant explicitly blaming the last government: “This data breach was made possible by the long years of neglect and mismanagement of the justice system under the last government….” www.theguardian.com/law/2025/may...

Had an excellent morning running laps at HMP Brixton for @prtuk.bsky.social with @sperls.bsky.social and residents. There is still time to leave our fundraising on a nice satisfying round number... justgiving.com/page/thebrix...

#medalmonday Two fifty milers down for 2025. Three to go! Next up though is half marathon at HMP Brixton for @prtuk.bsky.social This will be @sperls.bsky.social first half and we are only £55 away from our target. Can you help? ☺️ justgiving.com/page/thebrix...

The state alleging that someone is a criminal is not a justification for denying them due process, it’s what creates the need for it.

I am less keen on the endless loops. This will be further than I have ever run before (unlike Emma who basically runs the earth most weeks). Any donation, however small (or large) will be very welcome. Please also suggest a suitably themed song for our combined running playlist…

Congratulations to @laurajanes.bsky.social for her appointment as the new Chair of @prisonlawyersapl.bsky.social. Pretty disgraceful that it has taken over 15 years to get the first female Chair of APL but Laura always has been a trailblazer.

Interesting to see Mr Yaxley-Lennon aka Tommy Robinson is a recent convert to the idea of human rights. The article 3 claim was quite ambitious. If anyone wants an enjoyable lunchtime read and can tell me how I attach a file on here I’ll happily post the judgment

I am less keen on the endless loops. This will be further than I have ever run before (unlike Emma who basically runs the earth most weeks). Any donation, however small (or large) will be very welcome. Please also suggest a suitably themed song for our combined running playlist…

There is much more to this story than the ‘alarm’ angle and the perspective of the unidentified probation officer. This new policy is actually delaying Parole Board reviews because there is now a backlog of cases awaiting review by MOJ officials. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Absolutely gutted about Rick Buckler. His drumming on Funeral Pyre is utterly magnificent. Check this out m.youtube.com/watch?v=Endq...

This week was an important one for some people serving IPP sentences. Blog post

The ultimate narcissist has succeeded in having everyone talk about, write about, read about and listen about him day in and day out. His ratings are GREAT.

For those who continue to deny that Trump and the MAGA GOP's objection to asylum-seekers and refugees isn't racist, check out which group, out of all the conflicts on earth, Trump has made a very special refugee resettlement for. Yep. White South Africans. Beyond parody.

This week marks an important milestone for a few hundred people serving IPP sentences. A change in the law implemented by the Victims and Prisoners Act reduces the period that IPP prisoners have to wait before they can apply for their licences to be terminated. A brief explainer thread…

This is essential reading and viewing for anyone who has wilfully or otherwise airbrushed the events of January 6th 2021 and thinks that Trump pardoning the rioters is normal. Recommended listening also - the excellent podcast series by @restispoliticsus.bsky.social on January 6th.

Oh come ON now. This new JWST image is just ASTOUNDING. I feel like I’m falling looking into it, and that I would fall forever, and that I would enjoy it. NASA, ESA, CSA, K. McQuinn (STScI), J. DePasquale (STScI)

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock left the government meeting, refusing to be photographed with Chancellor Olaf Scholz after his decision to block the allocation of a new aid package for Ukraine, - Bild. Instead of a thousand words.

Hoping that I manage to have a fine Lynch tribute dream tonight. But nothing too terrifying. I’m not up for a visit from Frank or Bob.

David Lynch gave us the language we needed to better articulate the indescribable strangeness of our shared reality. “Lynchian” is so overused because it’s a viscerally understandable word without any known synonyms. I can’t imagine a more beautiful artistic legacy than that.

One of my favourite things anyone has ever said about art. You'll be missed, David. 🌹

I absolutely loved David Lynch. He changed the way I look at life. And made me laugh a lot. It’s hard to believe that there won’t be any more of his wonderful imagination and creativity in the world.

Throughout 2024, the Guardian aimed to report on every woman allegedly killed by a man. Here are the 80 women whose deaths have led to a man being charged. Let us say their names. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/ng-i...

This is such a distressing read. Yet another IPP prisoner losing their life in prison. It’s an important finding that the delays to his parole hearing contributed to his mental distress. Parole delays have had a devastating impact on many people. www.theguardian.com/society/2024...

We strike again tomorrow and Friday. Please support us SHARE our posts WRITE to [email protected] JOIN US - the picketline was packed last week. Will be the same tomorrow. The strength of feeling is undimmed 💪⬇️

I see The Daily Mail refuses to take any responsibility at all for this entirely predictable result of their reporting. Patel, Johnson, Braverman all queued up to whip people up against lawyers doing their jobs. ‘Activist’ lawyers could well have been dead lawyers.

“Prisons are still expected to reach critical capacity again by July, with fresh prison population projections due to be published by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) on Thursday.” www.bbc.com/news/article...

Post you from a different era

This is my advent calendar for 2024. I just discovered it so I’m a week behind.

Niche but nice. Some of these books bored me. Bowie never did. (actually, to be truthful, I was a bit bored by the cover of Dancing in the Street with Mick Jagger, perhaps the equivalent of Megarry & Wade’s Law of Real Property).

This is a thread about the IPP and DPP sentence (imprisonment or detention for public protection). DPP was given to under 18s. People began to receive these sentences in 2005. Before 2005 life sentences were reserved for murder & the most serious cases of manslaughter, GBH, armed robbery & rape.

One of the knock-on effects of the Louise Haigh “resignation” is that Heidi Alexander has been moved from Minister of State with responsibility for legal aid. The timing of this is dreadful. Alexander has spent months working on the government’s response to the legal aid crisis. 1/3

‘more "Scooby-Doo" than "007”’ is an interesting line. Does that suggest he would have got away with it were it not for those meddling kids?

I really enjoyed this piece. Finding healthy ways to shut out the bleakness of the outside world. I have started climbing which I am rubbish at but which is really good at clearing the mind.

Is anyone up for raising a few quid for Free Speech Warrior and All Round Superhero Elon to go visit a real police state?

Rule of law alive and well in the USA www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...

My very first post on here was about cherishing good news like a priceless diamond. So here is a thread about some good news. It has a happy ending but it is bittersweet, I’m afraid. This is a long read but worth sticking with, I hope. THREAD

I am privileged to have such 'particularly persistent' colleagues.

nobody does more brutal fashion reviews than the irish

Do you think Noel Gallagher is watching Match of the Day?

My very first post on here was about cherishing good news like a priceless diamond. So here is a thread about some good news. It has a happy ending but it is bittersweet, I’m afraid. This is a long read but worth sticking with, I hope. THREAD

Ceremony to welcome new users to Bluesky youtu.be/VXLTVvuAfso?...

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... @davidsonofaaron.bsky.social Glad of the opportunity to share some analysis and possible solutions

This is a very welcome and timely debate. Tomorrow we have a case in the High Court in which we are seeking to challenge the very stringent application of the Secretary of State’s exercise of compassionate release powers. Our client is terminally ill, with a few weeks to live.

I experienced it first hand. It look 6 months and multiple letters + emails from my lawyer to get Wandsworth to acknowledge they'd given me someone else's OASYS on arrival.

Always going to share stuff like this because people have NO IDEA that our legal system is basically hanging by a thread. No politicians of any party seem interested in addressing this.

This is a great thread on prison lawyers and legal aid funding - a particularly serious part of the general lack of criminal lawyers, which is now a major blocking point for the whole criminal justice system.

This is an alarming read about the drastic austerity-era cuts to Government funding for lawyers who work with prisoners, which in turn affects the number of people who get parole.

I wish there was an emoji for "astonished and aghast intake of breath", but there isn't so I had to write it out.