Public Sector Lawyer
@publicsectorlawyer.bsky.social
25 years lawyering, in Government Departments & independent public bodies in the UK. Statutory interpretation, constitutional, regulatory & criminal law.
"So not only are Labour fighting the last war, they are fighting it with a battle-plan that didn’t actually work. It’s Labour’s very own winter invasion of Russia."
Short new post from me about Bloc Politics. A lot of commentators have argued, with evidence from @profjanegreen.bsky.social, @robfordmancs.bsky.social and others, that British politics has split into blocs. So what does that mean for electoral strategy? 1/n
benansell.substack.com/p/bloc-parties
benansell.substack.com/p/bloc-parties
Bloc Parties
In a world of bloc politics, what's a good offensive strategy?
benansell.substack.com
December 15, 2025 at 1:29 PM
"So not only are Labour fighting the last war, they are fighting it with a battle-plan that didn’t actually work. It’s Labour’s very own winter invasion of Russia."
Most attacks on wokery in the public sector are nonsense, but this article makes a number of fair points.
thecritic.co.uk/issues/decem...
thecritic.co.uk/issues/decem...
The danger of civil service overreach | Baroness Amanda Spielman | The Critic Magazine
It cannot be right that a scrupulous approach to working within the law and one’s remit could be deemed to be in breach of the Civil Service Code.
thecritic.co.uk
December 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Most attacks on wokery in the public sector are nonsense, but this article makes a number of fair points.
thecritic.co.uk/issues/decem...
thecritic.co.uk/issues/decem...
You’d have thought the glaring Covid errors would’ve warned people off this.
“She said she expected both service providers and people using these services to "follow the rules". “
Guidance is what it says on the tin: guidance. Not rules. Not binding.
The head of an organisation responsible for drafting guidance really ought to know this & not use language that so misleads.
Guidance is what it says on the tin: guidance. Not rules. Not binding.
The head of an organisation responsible for drafting guidance really ought to know this & not use language that so misleads.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss
Doubling down on effectively excluding trans and non-binary individuals from public spaces.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Doubling down on effectively excluding trans and non-binary individuals from public spaces.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
December 14, 2025 at 10:12 AM
You’d have thought the glaring Covid errors would’ve warned people off this.
Eminent historian Niall Ferguson is a fan of Trump’s foreign policy & can’t find anything in the National Security Strategy that anyone could reasonably disagree with.
On the policy of indiscriminate murder, theft, & threatened unprovoked invasion of Venezuela:
www.thetimes.com/article/d341...
On the policy of indiscriminate murder, theft, & threatened unprovoked invasion of Venezuela:
www.thetimes.com/article/d341...
December 12, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Eminent historian Niall Ferguson is a fan of Trump’s foreign policy & can’t find anything in the National Security Strategy that anyone could reasonably disagree with.
On the policy of indiscriminate murder, theft, & threatened unprovoked invasion of Venezuela:
www.thetimes.com/article/d341...
On the policy of indiscriminate murder, theft, & threatened unprovoked invasion of Venezuela:
www.thetimes.com/article/d341...
Send the "beloved working class" back down the mines, & all will be right with the world.*
(*And his wife.)
(*And his wife.)
Blue Labour covering itself in glory once again. www.desmog.com/2025/11/28/l...
Labour Group Slams Lord Glasman Over Climate Denial Lecture
An influential Labour peer has been criticised for being the star speaker at the UK’s main climate science denial group, which says carbon emissions are a “benefit to the planet”. Lord Maurice Glasman...
www.desmog.com
December 12, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Send the "beloved working class" back down the mines, & all will be right with the world.*
(*And his wife.)
(*And his wife.)
Brilliant new tactical plan due to be announced shortly by the Blue Labour masterminds.
bsky.app/profile/brit...
bsky.app/profile/brit...
December 12, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Brilliant new tactical plan due to be announced shortly by the Blue Labour masterminds.
bsky.app/profile/brit...
bsky.app/profile/brit...
Hopefully the Court of Appeal can resolve this issue, which IMV took a wrong turn in the High Court last year.
It’s an offence for juries to acquit other than on the basis of evidence, & the courts shouldn’t IMV be qualifying that by reference to any ancient right to give perverse verdicts.
It’s an offence for juries to acquit other than on the basis of evidence, & the courts shouldn’t IMV be qualifying that by reference to any ancient right to give perverse verdicts.
Do jurors have the right to apply their conscience to a case or could it be a criminal offence for them to do so?
A recent hearing before the RCJ puts the centuries-old principle of jury equity on the line.
I’ve written about it for @prospect_uk
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/71...
A recent hearing before the RCJ puts the centuries-old principle of jury equity on the line.
I’ve written about it for @prospect_uk
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/71...
Is it criminal for jurors to act on conscience?
Judges disagree on whether juries should consider evidence alone
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
December 12, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Hopefully the Court of Appeal can resolve this issue, which IMV took a wrong turn in the High Court last year.
It’s an offence for juries to acquit other than on the basis of evidence, & the courts shouldn’t IMV be qualifying that by reference to any ancient right to give perverse verdicts.
It’s an offence for juries to acquit other than on the basis of evidence, & the courts shouldn’t IMV be qualifying that by reference to any ancient right to give perverse verdicts.
Reposted by Public Sector Lawyer
Let us just say I have an injunction hearing today solely because a Judge read my post...
December 12, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Let us just say I have an injunction hearing today solely because a Judge read my post...
December 11, 2025 at 5:32 PM
"British" & "European" here assumed to mean whites only, in the Times today, & the Standard a couple of weeks ago, as though it's not even worth arguing about.
www.standard.co.uk/comment/gen-... www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
www.standard.co.uk/comment/gen-... www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
December 9, 2025 at 1:01 PM
"British" & "European" here assumed to mean whites only, in the Times today, & the Standard a couple of weeks ago, as though it's not even worth arguing about.
www.standard.co.uk/comment/gen-... www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
www.standard.co.uk/comment/gen-... www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
Not a bad test to see where people stand, including those who talk about "saving the West": whether they think, say, Starmer's UK or Putin's Russia is preferable.
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
December 8, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Not a bad test to see where people stand, including those who talk about "saving the West": whether they think, say, Starmer's UK or Putin's Russia is preferable.
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
‘Straight-talking’, but you wouldn’t get the impression from this that he previously defended the 2 child limit as a necessary ‘tough decision’, & suspended 7 MPs who disagreed.
keirstarmer.substack.com/p/politics-t...
keirstarmer.substack.com/p/politics-t...
December 7, 2025 at 2:25 PM
‘Straight-talking’, but you wouldn’t get the impression from this that he previously defended the 2 child limit as a necessary ‘tough decision’, & suspended 7 MPs who disagreed.
keirstarmer.substack.com/p/politics-t...
keirstarmer.substack.com/p/politics-t...
"It could have been three if Duckett held a simple chance."
No! If Carey had been out ball 2, the universe would've taken a different course, & ball 4 would've been different, so in all probability wouldn't have got Smith out.
No! If Carey had been out ball 2, the universe would've taken a different course, & ball 4 would've been different, so in all probability wouldn't have got Smith out.
December 5, 2025 at 10:50 AM
"It could have been three if Duckett held a simple chance."
No! If Carey had been out ball 2, the universe would've taken a different course, & ball 4 would've been different, so in all probability wouldn't have got Smith out.
No! If Carey had been out ball 2, the universe would've taken a different course, & ball 4 would've been different, so in all probability wouldn't have got Smith out.
@hugorifkind.bsky.social on Your Party's founder turning on its "bureaucrats".
www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
December 4, 2025 at 1:30 PM
@hugorifkind.bsky.social on Your Party's founder turning on its "bureaucrats".
www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...
Reread Handful of Dust. The writing is just brilliant, but it's tough working out what we're supposed to make of Waugh's characters. It seems that Tony Last is punished for liking the *wrong sort* of Gothic Revival. Essay here if you're interested in such things. www.connotations.de/wp-content/u...
www.connotations.de
December 3, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Reread Handful of Dust. The writing is just brilliant, but it's tough working out what we're supposed to make of Waugh's characters. It seems that Tony Last is punished for liking the *wrong sort* of Gothic Revival. Essay here if you're interested in such things. www.connotations.de/wp-content/u...
More solid evidence of the suicidal delusional path the Government's still sticking to.
Which does prompt the question why. Presumably something to do with the paranoid bunker mentality inside No10.
bsky.app/profile/samf...
Which does prompt the question why. Presumably something to do with the paranoid bunker mentality inside No10.
bsky.app/profile/samf...
New post just out:
Six lessons from the 2024 election.
And what they mean for the next one.
Covering: Labour's fatal misunderstanding about why they won; effects of a more fragmented system; changes in media/polling.
(£/free trial)
samf.substack.com/p/six-lesson...
Six lessons from the 2024 election.
And what they mean for the next one.
Covering: Labour's fatal misunderstanding about why they won; effects of a more fragmented system; changes in media/polling.
(£/free trial)
samf.substack.com/p/six-lesson...
Six lessons from the 2024 election
And what they mean for the next one
samf.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 1:01 PM
More solid evidence of the suicidal delusional path the Government's still sticking to.
Which does prompt the question why. Presumably something to do with the paranoid bunker mentality inside No10.
bsky.app/profile/samf...
Which does prompt the question why. Presumably something to do with the paranoid bunker mentality inside No10.
bsky.app/profile/samf...
Thread below on the implications of the proposed changes to appeals from the magistrates' courts.
This feels like an idea that hasn’t properly been thought through.
As has been noted, there is currently an automatic right of appeal from the mags to the CC. Takes the form of a complete re-trial. Whilst there is in theory a chance of a higher sentence, my experience is that this rarely happens.
As has been noted, there is currently an automatic right of appeal from the mags to the CC. Takes the form of a complete re-trial. Whilst there is in theory a chance of a higher sentence, my experience is that this rarely happens.
December 3, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Thread below on the implications of the proposed changes to appeals from the magistrates' courts.
Straightforward breaches of promises to the public made in a manifesto seem to be ok, but arguable untruths to the media in pre-budget briefings apparently a big no-no.
November 30, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Straightforward breaches of promises to the public made in a manifesto seem to be ok, but arguable untruths to the media in pre-budget briefings apparently a big no-no.
The speechwriters are really going for the "kitchen table" thing.
November 27, 2025 at 1:19 PM
The speechwriters are really going for the "kitchen table" thing.
Transcript of the BBC evidence session with the Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee.
committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence...
committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence...
committees.parliament.uk
November 26, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Transcript of the BBC evidence session with the Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee.
committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence...
committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence...
As KB mentioned at the last PMQs, increasing the freeze period on income tax thresholds to 2030 would breach a manifesto promise on the Chancellor's own interpretation of it.
hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2024...
The promise has been so stretched & twisted you wonder whether it's worth keeping.
hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2024...
The promise has been so stretched & twisted you wonder whether it's worth keeping.
November 26, 2025 at 9:25 AM
As KB mentioned at the last PMQs, increasing the freeze period on income tax thresholds to 2030 would breach a manifesto promise on the Chancellor's own interpretation of it.
hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2024...
The promise has been so stretched & twisted you wonder whether it's worth keeping.
hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2024...
The promise has been so stretched & twisted you wonder whether it's worth keeping.
Reposted by Public Sector Lawyer
The government’s progress on constitutional & ethical standards has been welcome but underwhelming. It should go further to put the business appointments rules and the new standards regulator on a statutory basis, protect the electoral process and ensure the independence of the Electoral Commission
ON THE BLOG: Monitor 91: Starmer's constitutional timidity
In the lead article from the latest issue of Monitor, Meg Russell & @alanrenwick.bsky.social argue that the government could be seeking to lead, and to set the tone on constitutional standards, but changes instead feel timid and reluctant.
In the lead article from the latest issue of Monitor, Meg Russell & @alanrenwick.bsky.social argue that the government could be seeking to lead, and to set the tone on constitutional standards, but changes instead feel timid and reluctant.
Monitor 91: Starmer's constitutional timidity
In the lead article from the latest issue of Monitor, Meg Russell & @alanrenwick.bsky.social argue that the government could be seeking to lead, and to set the tone on constitutional standards, but changes instead feel timid and reluctant.
constitution-unit.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:07 AM
The government’s progress on constitutional & ethical standards has been welcome but underwhelming. It should go further to put the business appointments rules and the new standards regulator on a statutory basis, protect the electoral process and ensure the independence of the Electoral Commission
Particularly good, thought-provoking article here.
My column in today’s FT: the vision since 2016 has been that the lever British governments pull to fight poverty is to increase the minimum wage. Time for government to start pulling its weight again too:
The minimum wage is not a cure all — we’re asking too much of business
Politicians spend too much time uttering cheap rhetoric about cheap labour
www.ft.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Particularly good, thought-provoking article here.
Reposted by Public Sector Lawyer
Again looks to have called it right (contrary to most media narratives), & incidentally revealing about how dysfunctional the US Government is.
New post from @ldfreedman.bsky.social
On how Ukraine should respond to the US "peace plan" and looking at some new details that emerged over the last 24 hours.
(£/free trial)
samf.substack.com/p/how-should...
On how Ukraine should respond to the US "peace plan" and looking at some new details that emerged over the last 24 hours.
(£/free trial)
samf.substack.com/p/how-should...
How should Ukraine respond?
And more details on the "peace plan"
samf.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Again looks to have called it right (contrary to most media narratives), & incidentally revealing about how dysfunctional the US Government is.