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Colin Murray

@colinmurray.bsky.social

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 21d

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...

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 43m

Not so long ago this dangerous "naming and shaming" of judges shtick would have been caught by the offence of scandalising the judiciary. If Robert Jenrick wants to bring back all the old arrangements around the judiciary, I wonder is he as keen on that one?

www.thetimes.com/article/1b67...

Robert Jenrick names judges he would sack for ‘pro-migrant bias’

The shadow justice secretary has accused ‘activists’ within the judiciary of having links to political causes that compromise their independence

www.thetimes.com

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 11h

100000 thousand places, without replacing funding (lol) would be a hammer blow to English universities (the only ones that will be directly subject to her policy given devolution). It is wantonly destabilising to even suggest it.

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 11h

We'd like to ensure a much less well educated next generation in the UK is yet another bold Conservative pitch amongst a cornucopia of proposals this week which range from the deranged to the dangerous...

Times Higher Education (THE) @timeshighered.bsky.social · 12h

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is expected to announce plans to cut the number of UK university places by about 100,000 annually by reintroducing student number controls, reports Patrick Jack #edusky
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/badenochs-number-caps-plan-would-cut-100000-university-places

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 16h

We're across a v dangerous line in "acceptable constitutional thought" today, and the media really are struggling to convey how mad things just got.

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Reposted by Colin Murray

The Secret Barrister @barristersecret.bsky.social · 1d

This is a lie.

There are many criticisms you might sensibly and truthfully make of the Sentencing Council and the Sentencing Guidelines. I’ve been making them for years.

But this is an outright lie. Pure fabrication. A fraud on the public.

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 23h

Some thoughts, with @emilyjones.bsky.social & Romain Chuffart, in Critical Legal Thinking, on the UK's recognition of Palestine and the implications it might have had, but conspicuously has not had, for UK Govt responses to the Samud flotilla's seizure:

criticallegalthinking.com/2025/10/07/t...

The UK’s recognition of the State of Palestine is meaningless without the proper recognition of international law on the aid flotillas

Israel has boarded the Global Sumud flotilla, representing a further escalation of their response to flotillas seeking to deliver aid to Gaza. The

criticallegalthinking.com

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 1d

Thanks, now that's in my head.

Reposted by Colin Murray

Raffi Melkonian @rmfifthcircuit.bsky.social · 1d

My real concern is whether Amicus, the mascot of the Canadian Supreme Court, has also been compelled to change robes.

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 1d

More in the breathless, breaking stop-the-presses, and not at all confected story, that judges, before they were judges, were involved in practising law. Take 5 seconds to appreciate just how hard into "swivel-eyed loon" Robert Jenrick is being allowed to lean:

www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

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Reposted by Colin Murray

Ben Yong @bymyong.bsky.social · 2d

I‘m giving a public talk at UCL on Thurs 16 Oct. The title is “Bureaucracy and distrust: the civil service in the constitution” looking at the civil service’s constitutional foundations, and how it might respond to a populist govt. @sirJJkc.bsky.social will chair!
www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/...

Hybrid | CLP - Bureaucracy and Distrust: The Civil Service in the Constitution

This lecture will be delivered by Dr Ben Yong, as part of the Current Legal Problems Lecture Series 2025-26

www.ucl.ac.uk

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Reposted by Colin Murray

Paolo Sandro @paolosandro.bsky.social · 1d

Lord Wolfson's legal advice to Kemi Badenoch on ECHR withdrawal has now been published. In this thread I'll highlight a few passages that stood out for me - not meant to be a full analysis (in [] are the paragraph numbers). /1

rozenberg.substack.com/p/how-uk-cou...

How UK could leave ECHR

Withdrawal would allow EU to end criminal law enforcement co-operation

rozenberg.substack.com

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 1d

Robert Buckland epitomises the branch of conservatism that pays attention to the Union (and the legal commitments underpinning it), values personal liberty and instinctively distrusts silver bullet solutions to multi-faceted issues. Feeling for him today:

conservativehome.com/2025/10/05/r...

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 1d

Sorry, the combined document is pretty much unreadable. I've reposted.

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 1d

These papers are held in File CJ 4/12832 in the UK National Archives, which holds many newly released files on the UK Govt's preparations for the HRA and how these were intertwined with the peace talks in NI. Huge thanks to
@garywenvhist.bsky.social for helping me with speedy access to this file!

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 1d

Today will see a flurry of speculative claims about the GFA & ECHR. Most significantly that rights weren't important/were late additions/didn't mean the whole ECHR in NI law. I'm begging journalists to push back. Civil Servants were planning for Labour's Rights Agenda for NI from the 1997 election:

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 1d

*late additions. Oops.

Reposted by Colin Murray

Ruth Houghton @ruthhoughton.bsky.social · 1d

Looking ahead to what's coming up this month, I'll be speaking at Durham Cathedral with my colleagues Henry and @benedictdouglas.bsky.social about Magna Carta (1225) as part of the ongoing exhibition

Prof Deirdre McCann @profmccann.bsky.social · 14d

Fast approaching! On 15th October, see Henry Jones @durham-university.bsky.social Ruth Houghton @ruthhoughton.bsky.social & Benedict Douglas @benedictdouglas.bsky.social reflect upon Magna Carta, chaired by Thom Brooks @thombrooks.bsky.social. Tickets: durhamcathedral.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/...

Ticketbooth

durhamcathedral.ticketsolve.com

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 1d

These papers are held in File CJ 4/12832 in the UK National Archives. There are a host of newly released files on the UK Govt's preparations for the HRA and how these were intertwined with the peace talks in NI. Huge thanks to @garywenvhist.bsky.social for helping me with speedy access to this file!

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 1d

Today will see a flurry of speculative claims about the GFA & ECHR. Most significantly that rights weren't important/were late editions/didn't mean the whole ECHR in NI law. I'm begging journalists to push back. Civil Servants were planning for Labour's Rights Agenda for NI from the 1997 election:

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Reposted by Colin Murray

Aoife O'Donoghue @aoifemod.bsky.social · 2d

The Wolfson Report treats #NorthernIreland and the international legal commitments of the UK Government - which are very clearly spelled out in the #1998Agreement - as mere political agreements.
Once again it is a Treaty & requires #ECHR rights - not UK versions of them
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Aoife O'Donoghue @aoifemod.bsky.social · 2d

Ehm...

1) Because it is an integral part of the UK - not an overseas territority etcs., - & UK wide law applies to it

2) Direct Rule is always a possibility

3) Nice to the Conversative & Unionist Party looking for yet another sea border, as that is so popular.

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

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 2d

It's more than that, it is a parsing of the fact that it is a breach of treaty commitments that causes these consequences. It's an extended effort to talk away anything that isn't domestic law as "not law".

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 2d

Newcastle too!

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Reposted by Colin Murray

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 2d

‘The current members of the Supreme Court, ten men and two women, all of them white, seem to regard the Human Rights Act as an unwelcome remnant of a past era.’

In his final piece for the 𝘓𝘙𝘉, Conor Gearty writes on the Supreme Court’s reinterpretation of the HRA: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Conor Gearty · Unwelcome Remnant: Erasing the Human Rights Act

The Supreme Court is quietly editing the Human Rights Act out of existence. In cases where human rights cannot be...

www.lrb.co.uk

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Reposted by Colin Murray

Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 2d

This detailed demolition of @gullyfoyleuk.bsky.social's "75 Brexit Benefits" by @alanbeattie.bsky.social deserves wider circulation.

Intellectual garbage disposal is a valuable public service!

Alan Beattie @alanbeattie.bsky.social · 2d

OK, let's take this seriously. I had an odd half an hour and via Apple Books had a quick look at the three claims I knew most about - two re the post-Brexit bilateral preferential trade agreements replicated from the EU versions and one about cheaper bananas. All are wrong or wildly implausible. 1/n

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 2d

It is quite amazing how little is here. Hope everyone involved is happy with the pay day.