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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 48m

The end of @profmarkelliott.bsky.social's latest analysis of the China spy claims hits home. Ministers seem to have delegated vital security decisions to the CPS. The same ministers note, who in NI legacy cases are "uniquely" responsible for security issues:

publiclawforeveryone.com/2025/10/13/c...

Cock-up or conspiracy? The Security Minister’s statement on the China espionage case

The Security Minister, Dan Jarvis, has made a statement to the House of Commons regarding the collapse of the prosecution of two individuals who had been accused of espionage contrary to section 1(…

publiclawforeveryone.com

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 6h

Your regular reminder that goods going from GB to Ireland (as in, the EU Member State) are no different from goods going to France. The problems for affected business - all of the extra checks: that's Brexit kids. Full UK SPS agreement will, however, undoubtedly help:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Windsor Framework: NI customers paying more post-Brexit, says catering firm boss - BBC News

Andrew Lynas' comments come as a House of Lords committee finds the Windsor Framework is "impossible to navigate".

www.bbc.co.uk

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 6h

Bessent bringing this energy. But less catchy.

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 8h

McAlinden J would like everyone to know that he's very bored with everyone running to the courts ALL THE TIME because the Northern Ireland Executive is dysfunctional. Much as I sympathise, I don't think the underlying issues with Stormont are going away:

www.judiciaryni.uk/files/judici...

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 10h

This is a really important tipping point in constitutional conversation. Now, NI parties that represent the majority of the electorate (by any recent election) want the UK Govt to clarify the arrangements for a Border Poll (they are at least "change curious"). Hard for ministers to just ignore:

RTÉ News @news.rte.ie · 11h

Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill has welcomed comments by Stormont’s Justice Minister Naomi Long who has called for Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Hilary Benn to set out the criteria for when he would call a border poll

O'Neill welcomes Long's call for border poll criteria

Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill has welcomed comments by Stormont's Justice Minister Naomi Long who has called for Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Hilary Benn to set out the c...

www.rte.ie

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RTÉ News @news.rte.ie · 11h

Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill has welcomed comments by Stormont’s Justice Minister Naomi Long who has called for Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Hilary Benn to set out the criteria for when he would call a border poll

O'Neill welcomes Long's call for border poll criteria

Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill has welcomed comments by Stormont's Justice Minister Naomi Long who has called for Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Hilary Benn to set out the c...

www.rte.ie

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 13h

New HoL committee report on NI post Brexit. A surprising amount of agreement across a broad spectrum of witnesses that much more could be done to smooth the process of applying EU law in NI. Key recommendations for UKMis (FCDO in Brussels) & the UK Govt:

publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5901/ld...

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 15h

It's all a bit too clever by half. Take away the issue with ministerial powers retrospectively, rather than directly deny the detainees a remedy. But it all but dares the courts, and Strasbourg, into a direct confrontation with the clear words of a statute and hope they blink, ratcheting tensions.

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Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 1d

Indeed.

The government has chosen to prioritise reducing (skilled, legal, for work) migration over growth and hence over improving public services.

No economic rationale - but even worse, no political rationale either.

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 1d

One mistake Labour made in their first year is loading quite a few new costs onto business all at once. They are risking doing something similar on immigration, I think.

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 1d

The UK Govt isn't a huge fan of Gerry Adams. Fine. But hundreds of people, including him, were locked up without trial in NI and one of the v few safeguards, Secretary of State permission, was not fulfilled. The UK, too often, cannot cope with its own wrongdoing:

www.irishtimes.com/world/uk/202...

New UK legislation moves to block payouts to Gerry Adams and other Troubles detainees

UK supreme court previously ruled internees who were detained without trial during conflict were held unlawfully

www.irishtimes.com

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 1d

Grok has been fed a diet of raw Policy Exchange papers for days and now doesn't feel too great....

Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 1d

Well, it's certainly *artificial* intelligence.

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Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 1d

Well, it's certainly *artificial* intelligence.

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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 1d

Jim Dickinson on the Office for Students adopting restrictions on lawful speech: ruling out holocaust denial, and adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism, having been sceptical of this (because it restricts lawful speech) and the potential clashes over boundaries
wonkhe.com/blogs/ofs-re...

OfS rebalances the free speech/harassment see-saw on antisemitism

A probing exchange with OfS director Arif Ahmed exposes the legal and practical tensions at the heart of campus free speech guidance. Jim Dickinson looks at when happens when promises to Jewish studen...

wonkhe.com

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[email protected] @francescrook.bsky.social · 1d

New law to give police powers to stop repeat demonstrations will allow police to stop trades union pickets. Labour serreptitiously cutting union and workers’ rights

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Civil liberty groups express concern over plan for more anti-protest powers

Home secretary says police can consider ‘cumulative impact’ of rallies as Palestine Action ban opponents vow ‘escalation’

www.theguardian.com

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 1d

TFW you've spent too long watching Sir James Eadie do his "court whisperer" routine for too long and you are starting to doubt everything you thought was real...

Oral proceedings live all day today here:

www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2...

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Commissioner for Human Rights @commissionerhr.coe.int · 1d

Read my two letters to the #UK:
1. Protests: I call for a review of the legal framework and the reconsideration of provisions in the Crime & Policing Bill that could restrict freedom of assembly.
2. Trans people: I warn against exclusion&zero-sum approaches
👇#HumanRights
www.coe.int/en/web/commi...

United Kingdom: Commissioner addresses human rights issues in policing of protests and the situation of trans people - Commissioner for Human Rights - www.coe.int

Strasbourg 14/10/2025

www.coe.int

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Mark Elliott @profmarkelliott.bsky.social · 1d

New post, in which I argue the government's attempt to pin the blame for the collapse of the China spy trial on a single official will not wash constitutionally. Ministers must bear responsibility for an apparently deeply flawed decision-making process.

publiclawforeveryone.com/2025/10/13/c...

Cock-up or conspiracy? The Security Minister’s statement on the China espionage case

The Security Minister, Dan Jarvis, has made a statement to the House of Commons regarding the collapse of the prosecution of two individuals who had been accused of espionage contrary to section 1(…

publiclawforeveryone.com

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 2d

Sad to hear of William Twining's death. Will have to give Pericles and the Plumber a reread in honor of someone who always thought deeply on what legal education is and could be. Stories of gatherings at his house in Belfast in the late 60s are near legendary...

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Chris Grey @chrisgrey.bsky.social · 2d

This deserves more attention than it has received.

Gove: "we were too anxious as a government to secure those deals in order to show that Brexit was working".

Exactly as so many of us warned at the time, and as the government denied at the time.
www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/country-and-...

Michael Gove admits that post-Brexit trade deals were bad for farmers

Michael Gove has admitted for the first time that the Australia and New Zealand trade deals negotiated by the former Tory government did not protect Britain’s farmers.

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk

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Mark Elliott @profmarkelliott.bsky.social · 2d

It will be interesting to see what Ministers are prepared to say about the China spying case from the despatch box. I am surprising that this morning's line to take still seems to turn on China not having been "designated" a threat/enemy by the last government. /1

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 2d

Brilliant morning read from @conorcrummey.bsky.social on the banning of Palestine Action. The UKSC's recent reticence on the principle of legality is (dangerously) filtering down to lower courts in this case. Lots of deft analysis - Inc this general point:

ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/10/13/c...

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Philip Boucher-Hayes @philipb-h.bsky.social · 4d

Q: Why was the person responsible for the Blackwater fish kill never found?

A: it wasn’t anybody’s job.

I talked to the heads of all the agencies involved in the investigation, about why the biggest pollution event in Irish history fell between the cracks.

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

CountryWide - RTÉ Radio 1

The CountryWide team feature the events, people and happenings that bring colour and life to communities, towns and villages across the country.

www.rte.ie

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Charlie Lynch @charlielynch.bsky.social · 5d

“I knew that homosexuality was a sin - I didn’t want to be homosexual. I went to my G.P and said I had read Freud’s book on dreams, that I suffered from homosexuality, and that I would like to change.”

My new article now out in Irish Historical Studies:

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Between sickness and sin: models of male homosexuality in Northern Ireland c.1960-1990 | Irish Historical Studies | Cambridge Core

Between sickness and sin: models of male homosexuality in Northern Ireland c.1960-1990

www.cambridge.org

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 5d

The notion that last year's Russian spy ring case makes it more difficult to prosecute the Cash/Berry case doesn't stand up to momentary scrutiny. It isn't an effective dodge to the "China question"; it's a claim that calls the DPP's competence into question:

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

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Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 5d

The Nobel Peace Prize 2025 has been awarded to Venezuelan democracy activist María Corina Machado.

The Nobel Committee recognised her “struggle to achieve a just & peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

In other words, exactly the opposite of what Trump is doing to the United States.

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Lewis Goodall @lewisgoodall.com · 5d

I do wonder if Labour might look at the sorts of people dominating the discourse and dominating the content wars and maybe, just maybe, rethink the sorts of grey figures they routinely put up for interviews, instructed at that to be as cautious as possible. Things have changed. Their comms hasn’t.

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 6d

I chickened out of my long-time working title:

Trains and Borders and Orangemen, Oh My!

But the first sight of a new publication in the wild still feels nice. Thanks to @conormccormick.bsky.social, David Capper and Norma Dawson for assembling this collection:

www.cambridge.org/core/books/l...

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Emily Jones @emilyjones.bsky.social · 6d

Join us on the 22nd October 2025 from 1-2pm UK time for this talk by Professor Susan Marks (LSE) on: 'If the World Is a Family, What Kind of Family Is It?' This event will be held online and in person and all are welcome. To register, please go to: www.ncl.ac.uk/law/events/i...

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 6d

They do their job as journalists and source a broad range of opinion. Or they don't make quality assessments on research "detail" that they are not qualified to make.

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 6d

Totally.

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