Alistair Sloan
@alistairsloan.bsky.social
Advocate (Lawyer) at the Scottish Bar. Member of Optimum Advocates. #FOI, #privacy & #DataProtection nerd. Enjoy public law. Opinions expressed are my own.
Last full day in Tenerife today. Looks like it will be another lovely day.
November 17, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Last full day in Tenerife today. Looks like it will be another lovely day.
This “Labour” government is a disgrace. Almost no sign of Labour values in government policy (except, perhaps, on employment law and renters rights in England) What Mahmood seems not to get is that many of the people she is pandering to with her immigration policies don’t want her here either.
Shabana Mahmood on the BBC this morning talking about desperate people fleeing war and persecution as being given a "golden ticket" and "handouts" and saying she's got a "moral mission" to take them away from them
Indistinguishable from the rhetoric of Reform www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/shabana-ma...
Indistinguishable from the rhetoric of Reform www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/shabana-ma...
Shabana Mahmood and the Politics of Extortion
Labour's strategy of telling its supporters to back Reform-style policies, or get a Reform Government, is the politics of the protection racket and it is not going to work
www.adambienkov.co.uk
November 16, 2025 at 12:42 PM
This “Labour” government is a disgrace. Almost no sign of Labour values in government policy (except, perhaps, on employment law and renters rights in England) What Mahmood seems not to get is that many of the people she is pandering to with her immigration policies don’t want her here either.
For the second time in my 37 years on the planet, I am enjoying my birthday in the warm sunshine rather than the Scottish winter.
November 15, 2025 at 10:21 AM
For the second time in my 37 years on the planet, I am enjoying my birthday in the warm sunshine rather than the Scottish winter.
Good morning from Tenerife. Here for some much needed downtime and relaxation.
November 14, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Good morning from Tenerife. Here for some much needed downtime and relaxation.
Reposted by Alistair Sloan
I’ve written on my personal blog about an extraordinary CoA judgment in which the Chief Constable of Northants Police has been found in contempt over egregious BWV disclosure failings informationrightsandwrongs.com/2025/11/13/c...
Chief Constable in contempt over BWV footage disclosure failures
The Court of Appeal has handed down an extraordinary judgment (Buzzard-Quashie v Chief Constable of Northamptonshire Police [2025] EWCA Civ 1397) in which the Chief Constable of Northamptonshire wa…
informationrightsandwrongs.com
November 13, 2025 at 5:13 AM
I’ve written on my personal blog about an extraordinary CoA judgment in which the Chief Constable of Northants Police has been found in contempt over egregious BWV disclosure failings informationrightsandwrongs.com/2025/11/13/c...
Controllers who lazily automatically ask for scanned copies of photo ID in response to subject access requests as proof of ID will always rile the data protection lawyer in me. Verification must be reasonable and proportionate and, above all, must actually be capable of verifying ID.
November 5, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Controllers who lazily automatically ask for scanned copies of photo ID in response to subject access requests as proof of ID will always rile the data protection lawyer in me. Verification must be reasonable and proportionate and, above all, must actually be capable of verifying ID.
Reposted by Alistair Sloan
Conor Casey: The Attorney’s Bridle: The Constitutional Convention Disciplining the Attorney General’s Discretionary Powers ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/10/20/c...
Conor Casey: The Attorney’s Bridle: The Constitutional Convention Disciplining the Attorney General’s Discretionary Powers
The Attorney General is one of the most powerful and influential officers in the British Constitution. They are the chief adviser of the Crown on points of law and the chief counsel for the governm…
ukconstitutionallaw.org
October 20, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Conor Casey: The Attorney’s Bridle: The Constitutional Convention Disciplining the Attorney General’s Discretionary Powers ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/10/20/c...
In my humble opinion a Bill of Renunciation and Deprivation should be introduced to Parliament. He should be deprived of those titles, the style and titular dignity of a Prince of the United Kingdom, his right to the style of HRH and of his place in the line of succession. No Commonwealth Realm
Let’s be clear: he is not losing his titles. He has been told to stop using them. There’s a difference; he still legally has the Dukedom, Earldom and Barony. An Act of Parliament is required in order for him to “lose” them.
The decision for Andrew to lose his titles is a major one for the royal family trib.al/ICbdUuk
October 18, 2025 at 9:26 AM
In my humble opinion a Bill of Renunciation and Deprivation should be introduced to Parliament. He should be deprived of those titles, the style and titular dignity of a Prince of the United Kingdom, his right to the style of HRH and of his place in the line of succession. No Commonwealth Realm
Let’s be clear: he is not losing his titles. He has been told to stop using them. There’s a difference; he still legally has the Dukedom, Earldom and Barony. An Act of Parliament is required in order for him to “lose” them.
The decision for Andrew to lose his titles is a major one for the royal family trib.al/ICbdUuk
October 18, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Let’s be clear: he is not losing his titles. He has been told to stop using them. There’s a difference; he still legally has the Dukedom, Earldom and Barony. An Act of Parliament is required in order for him to “lose” them.
The King should go further and request that the Government introduce a Bill to formally deprive him of the titles of Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh (the only way that they can actually be removed). He may have agreed to stop using them, but legally he still possesses the titles
Prince Andrew will stop using titles and honors, including the Duke of York, Buckingham Palace says.
Prince Andrew says he's giving up the royal Duke of York title
Prince Andrew says he is giving up his royal title of the Duke of York after his friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein returned to the headlines.
bit.ly
October 17, 2025 at 6:21 PM
The King should go further and request that the Government introduce a Bill to formally deprive him of the titles of Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh (the only way that they can actually be removed). He may have agreed to stop using them, but legally he still possesses the titles
Certain sections of the media printing/reporting obviously nonsense stories (such as people not being deported because they had a cat or because they liked a certain type of chicken nuggets) as if they were fact probably hasn't helped www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
How Britain's ECHR membership became a political hot potato
The extent to which leaving the Convention would make a difference to immigration has been greatly exaggerated, argues Lord Sumption
www.bbc.co.uk
October 8, 2025 at 11:59 PM
Certain sections of the media printing/reporting obviously nonsense stories (such as people not being deported because they had a cat or because they liked a certain type of chicken nuggets) as if they were fact probably hasn't helped www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Absolutely terrible idea from the Conservatives. Ministers absolutely should not be issuing guidelines to the independent judiciary. Does Robert Jenrick not understand the meaning of the word "independent"? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Conservatives vow to scrap Sentencing Council
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick will set out plans they say would put ministers in charge of sentencing policy.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 6, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Absolutely terrible idea from the Conservatives. Ministers absolutely should not be issuing guidelines to the independent judiciary. Does Robert Jenrick not understand the meaning of the word "independent"? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
The Scottish Law Commission has published a draft Homicide (Scotland) Bill which would abolish the common law crimes of murder and culpable homicide in Scotland replacing them with statutory crimes (of the same name). The report and draft Bill are here: www.scotlawcom.gov.uk/files/3017/5...
www.scotlawcom.gov.uk
September 25, 2025 at 10:32 AM
The Scottish Law Commission has published a draft Homicide (Scotland) Bill which would abolish the common law crimes of murder and culpable homicide in Scotland replacing them with statutory crimes (of the same name). The report and draft Bill are here: www.scotlawcom.gov.uk/files/3017/5...
I don't think anyone is particularly interested in my thoughts on what occurred in the USA yesterday. Incidents of this kind often require nuance and an ability to hold more than one thought at the same time; that is, sadly, something that appears increasingly difficult in modern society and fairly
September 11, 2025 at 11:58 AM
I don't think anyone is particularly interested in my thoughts on what occurred in the USA yesterday. Incidents of this kind often require nuance and an ability to hold more than one thought at the same time; that is, sadly, something that appears increasingly difficult in modern society and fairly
Not unsurprising given that people are spending longer on pre-trial remand (about a quarter of Scotland's prison population are on remand) and those who are convicted are being sent to prison by the courts in greater numbers and for longer than they were historically: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Scotland's prison numbers now higher than before early release scheme
More than 300 inmates were freed from Scotland's jails in February and March to free up space.
www.bbc.co.uk
September 9, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Not unsurprising given that people are spending longer on pre-trial remand (about a quarter of Scotland's prison population are on remand) and those who are convicted are being sent to prison by the courts in greater numbers and for longer than they were historically: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Following on from the launch of "Court of Session Live" in 2023, the first livestream of a Scottish criminal appeal will take place on Friday 29 August. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
First livestream to come from Scottish criminal court
An appeal in a trial that has been delayed three times will be the first livestream under a new service from the Scottish courts.
www.bbc.co.uk
August 26, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Following on from the launch of "Court of Session Live" in 2023, the first livestream of a Scottish criminal appeal will take place on Friday 29 August. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
All political parties in the UK use this tactic and have been for years. If a political party invites you to sign a petition or support a particular campaign and it’s not on a government website, then it’s simply a data harvesting operation by the party concerned.
Reform UK’s Data Harvesting Websites
Reform UK have a habit of creating ‘do nothing’ campaigns to harvest user data for wider Reform UK marketing. Most of these do not allow you to sign the petition or register support without signing up to Reform UK marketing.
Reform UK have a habit of creating ‘do nothing’ campaigns to harvest user data for wider Reform UK marketing. Most of these do not allow you to sign the petition or register support without signing up to Reform UK marketing.
August 20, 2025 at 5:49 PM
All political parties in the UK use this tactic and have been for years. If a political party invites you to sign a petition or support a particular campaign and it’s not on a government website, then it’s simply a data harvesting operation by the party concerned.
The thing that surprises me is that people are surprised that a man with obvious authoritarian desires and who came into office threatening to forcibly take the territory of another sovereign state is aligning himself with an authoritarian dictator who is stealing territory from a sovereign state.
August 18, 2025 at 6:53 PM
The thing that surprises me is that people are surprised that a man with obvious authoritarian desires and who came into office threatening to forcibly take the territory of another sovereign state is aligning himself with an authoritarian dictator who is stealing territory from a sovereign state.
Reposted by Alistair Sloan
Calling all barristers and solicitor-advocates. If you are able to help with my PhD research on the jury, please do get in contact with me. Thank you in advance!
August 14, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Calling all barristers and solicitor-advocates. If you are able to help with my PhD research on the jury, please do get in contact with me. Thank you in advance!
I've written a short piece on my blog concerning Bristol City Council's unsuccessful appeal against an Enforcement Notice served on it by the Information Commissioner in relation to delays in responding to FOI requests: blog.alistairsloan.co.uk/2025/08/08/f...
August 8, 2025 at 10:00 AM
I've written a short piece on my blog concerning Bristol City Council's unsuccessful appeal against an Enforcement Notice served on it by the Information Commissioner in relation to delays in responding to FOI requests: blog.alistairsloan.co.uk/2025/08/08/f...
Scottish exam results day today and it is always important to reinforce that not getting the results you wanted or needed isn't the end of the world. I didn't get the results that I needed, but ultimately I still ended up where I wanted to be. It was by a different route, but that doesn't matter.
August 5, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Scottish exam results day today and it is always important to reinforce that not getting the results you wanted or needed isn't the end of the world. I didn't get the results that I needed, but ultimately I still ended up where I wanted to be. It was by a different route, but that doesn't matter.
Last week the first Regulations commencing the DUAA were made; the provisions of the Act identified in the Regs will come into force on 20 August. In my latest blog post, I look at some of the data protection provisions that will come into force on 20 August: blog.alistairsloan.co.uk/2025/07/28/t...
July 28, 2025 at 6:58 AM
Last week the first Regulations commencing the DUAA were made; the provisions of the Act identified in the Regs will come into force on 20 August. In my latest blog post, I look at some of the data protection provisions that will come into force on 20 August: blog.alistairsloan.co.uk/2025/07/28/t...
Got asked for ID and to confirm my date of birth when buying (in store) an age restricted product today…I will take that!
July 27, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Got asked for ID and to confirm my date of birth when buying (in store) an age restricted product today…I will take that!
I've written a short post looking at yesterday's 3-2 judgment of the Supreme Court on the proper approach to conducting the public interest test in the Freedom of Information Act 2000 where more than one qualified exemptions applies to the same information: blog.alistairsloan.co.uk/2025/07/24/w...
July 24, 2025 at 12:17 PM
I've written a short post looking at yesterday's 3-2 judgment of the Supreme Court on the proper approach to conducting the public interest test in the Freedom of Information Act 2000 where more than one qualified exemptions applies to the same information: blog.alistairsloan.co.uk/2025/07/24/w...
I've seen suggestion that Mr Speaker was concerned about the super-injunction. Proceedings in Parliament are immune from sanction by the courts. The ISC could, in my view, have held secret hearings to hold ministers and officials to account without undermining the injunctions that were in place.
What good reason could there be for not involving security cleared MPs? This was brought up by successive judges. Did the Speaker ask for their involvement?
July 18, 2025 at 9:22 AM
I've seen suggestion that Mr Speaker was concerned about the super-injunction. Proceedings in Parliament are immune from sanction by the courts. The ISC could, in my view, have held secret hearings to hold ministers and officials to account without undermining the injunctions that were in place.