Colin Murray
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colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray
@colinmurray.bsky.social
7.5K followers 1.1K following 1.4K posts

Professor of Law & Democracy @newcastleuni.bsky.social

Constitutional Law | Human Rights | Brexit | Devolution | Political Violence | Colonialism | Other Assorted Dourness

He/Him

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Political science 58%
Law 17%
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colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · Sep 16
A new Explainer out from @aoifemod.bsky.social and me detailing the UK's ECHR commitments under the 1998 Agreement in response to recent speculation. It is short, because there is very little to say - the UK's obligations are evident on the B/GFA's plain text:

caj.org.uk/wp-content/u...

Reposted by Colin Murray, Tom Griffin

alangreene.bsky.social
Alan Greene @alangreene.bsky.social · 11h
The UK has gone from "We need to enshrine the right to jury trial in a British Bill of Rights" to "We need to abolish jury trial" in the space of about 3 years.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Jury trials could be scrapped except in most serious cases
Only cases of alleged murder, rape or manslaughter will be decided by a jury under new proposals to cut court backlogs.
www.bbc.co.uk

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 11h
*Stares from the part of the UK in which jury trials were ditched in very many serious cases half a century ago*
politics.mirror.co.uk Mirror Politics @politics.mirror.co.uk · 12h
The Government has been urged to reconsider sweeping reforms that would see jury trials ditched for all but the most serious cases.
Lawyers raise concerns over plans to scrap most jury trials
www.mirror.co.uk

Reposted by Colin Murray

politics.mirror.co.uk
Mirror Politics @politics.mirror.co.uk · 12h
The Government has been urged to reconsider sweeping reforms that would see jury trials ditched for all but the most serious cases.
Lawyers raise concerns over plans to scrap most jury trials
www.mirror.co.uk

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 17h
Gavin Robinson's push back against the Covid Report is pretty gratuitous. It doesn't take someone to live in NI to point out that the power sharing system facilitates the pursuit of narrow sectional interests and the behaviour of the largest parties showed up the problems of this amid a pandemic:

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 18h
Really important decision for the rights of gay people, who are EU citizens, moving around the EU and seeking to ensure their marriage in one Member State is recognised in another. Notably more weight placed on citizenship rights than in the AG Opinion:

curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/...

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Cas Mudde, Ben H. Ansell , and 68 more

rutgerbregman.com
Rutger Bregman @rutgerbregman.com · 18h
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.

They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 18h
More of the growing wave of scholars working on authoritarianism leaving Trump's United States:

Reposted by Colin Murray

irishlegal.com
Irish Legal News @irishlegal.com · 18h
Professor Kim Lane Scheppele has been appointed as visiting full professor at UCD Sutherland School of Law.
Professor Kim Lane Scheppele joins UCD Sutherland School of Law
Professor Kim Lane Scheppele has been appointed as visiting full professor at UCD Sutherland School of Law.
www.irishlegal.com

Reposted by Steve Peers, Colin Murray, Edgar Morgenroth , and 4 more

rikefranke.bsky.social
Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.bsky.social · 1d
This story should be covered waaaaayy more than it is.

The US has sanctioned six judges if the international criminal court ICC, because Trump didn’t like them issuing arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.

www.lemonde.fr/en/internati...
Nicolas Guillou, French ICC judge sanctioned by the US: 'You are effectively blacklisted by much of the world's banking system'
Six judges and three prosecutors at the International Criminal Court have been sanctioned by the Trump administration. In an interview with Le Monde, Guillou discusses the impact of these measures on ...
www.lemonde.fr

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 1d
Look, NYC has shown everyone that you can't fight a social media savvy campaign like this using an old-school turn to rights-based arguments...

Reposted by Colin Murray

k-interarma.bsky.social
Sarah Kay (she/her) @k-interarma.bsky.social · 2d
Three different articles on the BelTel alone today, showcasing appropriate anger at PEACEPlus (the EU programme) and Co-operation Ireland for financing proscribed organisations, specifically the South East Antrim UDA, that was behind the Ballymena race riots in June.
Splashing a million pound of our money on a gang of thugs is beyond sick
Public services in Northern Ireland are collapsing, and we’re constantly told there’s not enough money to fix them.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 3d
Major plenary from @ulsterunischlaw.bsky.social's Ciara Fitzpatrick on the devastating impact of educational cuts in the context of a divided school system and the multiple ways in which this ingrains social disadvantage in NI:

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 3d
We're really lucky to have a plenary from @tmulqueen.bsky.social on the interlinkage of legal advice centres and university law clinics and the job of work of systemic change rather than one-off problem solving amid widespread need and scarcity of legal support.

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 3d
A great paper from @rjjoconnell.bsky.social on the ebb and flow of equality protections, bringing particular focus to The Executive Office committee inquiry into NI equality law...

Reposted by Aoife O’Donoghue

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 3d
Great to be at @ulsterunischlaw.bsky.social for the Irish Association of Law Teachers for the Annual Conference - including a significant panel on the framing of rights in Northern Ireland law, kicked off here by @aoifemod.bsky.social and Kathryn McNeilly:

Reposted by Scott L. Greer, Steve Peers, Colin Murray , and 2 more

colinyeo.bsky.social
Colin Yeo @colinyeo.bsky.social · 4d
Quite the correction by the Telegraph. The publication in question is @freemovement.bsky.social

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 5d
But played with such gusto! Thought the place was going to lift off!

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 5d
I know. Amazing. Clearly big Van energy in the Bob camp today!

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 5d
Over twenty years since Bob Dylan was last in Belfast and I think he came back just to warble "I can tell a Proddy from a mile away" on Goodbye Jimmy Reed and know that only a few folk will have any idea what he just said. Golden.

Reposted by Colin Murray

irishstudiesqub.bsky.social
Irish Studies at QUB @irishstudiesqub.bsky.social · 5d
Book Launch: Consociational Powersharing in Northern Ireland, 25 November at 4pm
www.qub.ac.uk/events/whats...
Book Launch: Consociational Powersharing in Northern Ireland
www.qub.ac.uk

Reposted by Colin Murray

clairemullaly.bsky.social
Claire Mullaly @clairemullaly.bsky.social · 5d
If you read one thing today, let it be this article from @lukejbutterly.bsky.social. Discriminatory policing, the handing down of impunity to loyalist terror groups and supporters, and according to the @cajni.bsky.social - the 'risked discriminatory impact against nationalists.'
Palestine Action: PSNI faces questions on policing of support for proscribed groups
Despite arrests and advisory letters since Palestine Action was banned, no similar action was taken over displays of support for paramilitaries
thedetail.tv

Reposted by Steve Peers

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 5d
An idea is gaining traction in pieces like this that NI is stuck with old EU rules even if the EU tightened its immigration policies. This is a significant misreading of WF Art 2 - if "but for" Brexit, EU law would permit UK action, then Art 2 doesn't prevent it:

www.irishnews.com/opinion/newt...
Newton Emerson: Is Northern Ireland facing a Windsor Framework immigration fiasco?
Framework is so poorly conceived that the whole of Europe could tighten up its immigration rules and Northern Ireland might be unable to follow
www.irishnews.com

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 5d
Every Grain of Rice is an incredible cook book which everyone who loves to cook should have handy:

www.theguardian.com/food/2025/no...
‘The English person with a Chinese stomach’: how Fuchsia Dunlop became a Sichuan food hero
The long read: The author has been explaining Sichuan cuisine to westerners for decades. But ‘Fu Xia’, as she’s known, has had a profound effect on food lovers in China, too
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Paddy Hillyard

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 6d
The Telegraph churns out these stories almost daily, but this one about the reduced range of tumble dryers is v funny. Reduced range simply means that people in NI can't buy inefficient models which can't be sold in EU. And no, Robin Swann, by definition that means folk can't buy them from Ireland:

Reposted by Tobias Lock

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 6d
With dizzying power imbalances at "prestigious" institutions and frightening levels of precarity for junior scholars, UK academia is rife with these stories:

www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
Oxford University Has Failed Women Over Harassment Concerns, Staff Say
The university has repeatedly been slow to act against male academics accused of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior, a Bloomberg investigation found.
www.bloomberg.com

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 6d
Fear is such a misplaced word here. The concept of women having to look a certain way to be accepted as women has to be what would scare people with any inkling of feminism, and maybe even Philipson?
hleehurley.com Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 6d
"Trans people could be banned from single-sex spaces based on how they look. The Times has seen the equalities watchdog’s final guidance, which Whitehall figures fear Bridget Phillipson is delaying to avoid a political backlash" [Times]

www.thetimes.com/article/82ee...
Trans people could be banned from single-sex spaces based on how they look
The Times has seen the equalities watchdog’s final guidance, which Whitehall figures fear Bridget Phillipson is delaying to avoid a political backlash
www.thetimes.com

Reposted by Colin Murray

hleehurley.com
Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 6d
"Trans people could be banned from single-sex spaces based on how they look. The Times has seen the equalities watchdog’s final guidance, which Whitehall figures fear Bridget Phillipson is delaying to avoid a political backlash" [Times]

www.thetimes.com/article/82ee...
Trans people could be banned from single-sex spaces based on how they look
The Times has seen the equalities watchdog’s final guidance, which Whitehall figures fear Bridget Phillipson is delaying to avoid a political backlash
www.thetimes.com

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 6d
Paul Givan being unavailable for interview on the day of a UK Supreme Court judgment with massive ramifications for school policy in NI is so dispiriting. It just plays into a narrative that no one is in charge and having power sharing functioning isn't very different from when it has collapsed.

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 6d
Congratulations Donal!

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 6d
For the bluster, see here. For v many NI politicians a UKSC judgment is only above reproach when dunking on trans people:

m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/educati...
DUP and TUV react after UK Supreme Court rules religious education in NI schools is unlawful: ‘Deeply disturbing’
A TUV MP has said he is “deeply disturbed” by a court ruling on religious education, as the DUP vows to “stand up for Christian ethos” of NI schools.
m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk