Colin Murray
@colinmurray.bsky.social
Professor of Law & Democracy @newcastleuni.bsky.social
Constitutional Law | Human Rights | Brexit | Devolution | Political Violence | Colonialism | Other Assorted Dourness
He/Him
Constitutional Law | Human Rights | Brexit | Devolution | Political Violence | Colonialism | Other Assorted Dourness
He/Him
"How did you go bankrupt?"
"Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly."
Wonkhe covering how close a lot of UK Higher Education providers are getting to the "suddenly" phase, and how few answers ministers seem to have:
share.google/fklT7uq2ZY1c...
share.google/fklT7uq2ZY1c...
"Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly."
Wonkhe covering how close a lot of UK Higher Education providers are getting to the "suddenly" phase, and how few answers ministers seem to have:
share.google/fklT7uq2ZY1c...
share.google/fklT7uq2ZY1c...
November 27, 2025 at 5:08 PM
"How did you go bankrupt?"
"Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly."
Wonkhe covering how close a lot of UK Higher Education providers are getting to the "suddenly" phase, and how few answers ministers seem to have:
share.google/fklT7uq2ZY1c...
share.google/fklT7uq2ZY1c...
"Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly."
Wonkhe covering how close a lot of UK Higher Education providers are getting to the "suddenly" phase, and how few answers ministers seem to have:
share.google/fklT7uq2ZY1c...
share.google/fklT7uq2ZY1c...
If the Palestine Action case does nothing else (and you'd need a lot of faith in the power of rights in security contexts to think it will) it spotlights once again the lamentable mess of Closed Material Procedures that the UK Govt has so far gotten away with:
www.theguardian.com/law/2025/nov...
www.theguardian.com/law/2025/nov...
November 26, 2025 at 9:53 AM
If the Palestine Action case does nothing else (and you'd need a lot of faith in the power of rights in security contexts to think it will) it spotlights once again the lamentable mess of Closed Material Procedures that the UK Govt has so far gotten away with:
www.theguardian.com/law/2025/nov...
www.theguardian.com/law/2025/nov...
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:
November 25, 2025 at 9:58 AM
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:
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/...
curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/...
November 25, 2025 at 9:38 AM
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/...
curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/...
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...
November 24, 2025 at 1:37 PM
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...
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:
November 22, 2025 at 3:01 PM
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:
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.
November 22, 2025 at 2:49 PM
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.
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...
November 22, 2025 at 2:25 PM
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...
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:
November 22, 2025 at 11:40 AM
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:
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.
November 20, 2025 at 11:02 PM
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.
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:
November 19, 2025 at 11:07 PM
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:
Significant changes likely coming down the line for religious education in NI... In a nightmare for Paul Givan, the UKSC blows through the NICA's (pretty contorted) efforts to maintain the status quo with a straight application of unambiguous Strasbourg case law:
supremecourt.uk/uploads/uksc...
supremecourt.uk/uploads/uksc...
November 19, 2025 at 10:37 AM
Significant changes likely coming down the line for religious education in NI... In a nightmare for Paul Givan, the UKSC blows through the NICA's (pretty contorted) efforts to maintain the status quo with a straight application of unambiguous Strasbourg case law:
supremecourt.uk/uploads/uksc...
supremecourt.uk/uploads/uksc...
Great post from Kirsty Hughes on Labour's flailing efforts towards a statutory redefinition of the meaning of family rights for immigration purposes:
ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/11/19/k...
ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/11/19/k...
November 19, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Great post from Kirsty Hughes on Labour's flailing efforts towards a statutory redefinition of the meaning of family rights for immigration purposes:
ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/11/19/k...
ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/11/19/k...
This line from the AIA 40th anniversary conference should remind UK policy makers and NI unionists that before the GFA locked in the ECHR in NI law, other options to build nationalist confidence were on the table. What comes back on the agenda if the ECHR goes?
www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...
www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...
November 11, 2025 at 10:54 PM
This line from the AIA 40th anniversary conference should remind UK policy makers and NI unionists that before the GFA locked in the ECHR in NI law, other options to build nationalist confidence were on the table. What comes back on the agenda if the ECHR goes?
www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...
www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...
The Bingham Centre report on UK counter-terrorism law has landed. Apply its findings to anything from the Kneecap prosecution to the banning of Palestine Action and you find just how draconian UK counter-terrorism law is, and the extent of necessary reform:
binghamcentre.biicl.org/documents/22...
binghamcentre.biicl.org/documents/22...
November 11, 2025 at 10:08 AM
The Bingham Centre report on UK counter-terrorism law has landed. Apply its findings to anything from the Kneecap prosecution to the banning of Palestine Action and you find just how draconian UK counter-terrorism law is, and the extent of necessary reform:
binghamcentre.biicl.org/documents/22...
binghamcentre.biicl.org/documents/22...
Trump rumoured to be consulting Albert Reynolds using a Oui Ja Board for advice on foreign leaders using defamation law against UK media...
November 10, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Trump rumoured to be consulting Albert Reynolds using a Oui Ja Board for advice on foreign leaders using defamation law against UK media...
The Ivan Yates interview is hilarious in its refusal to even contemplate the key ethics issue. Media coaches can maintain the confidentiality of clients. The problem was Yates' choice to then engage in campaign media as a commentator, not a paid adviser to one campaign.
www.rte.ie/news/politic...
www.rte.ie/news/politic...
November 10, 2025 at 12:34 PM
The Ivan Yates interview is hilarious in its refusal to even contemplate the key ethics issue. Media coaches can maintain the confidentiality of clients. The problem was Yates' choice to then engage in campaign media as a commentator, not a paid adviser to one campaign.
www.rte.ie/news/politic...
www.rte.ie/news/politic...
As Alan Rusbridger points out, the cabal of "news" organisations attacking the BBC have far greater shortcomings and are already delighted to skew our information environment:
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/...
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/...
November 10, 2025 at 11:41 AM
As Alan Rusbridger points out, the cabal of "news" organisations attacking the BBC have far greater shortcomings and are already delighted to skew our information environment:
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/...
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/...
The reality is that Brexit is a cold place full of tough choices when next door to the EU as a mega trading bloc. Either try to shut yourself off as much as possible, as the Tories did, suffering checks & dislocation, or you'll have to pay (£££) to pig-a-back on EU rules:
www.ft.com/content/8963...
www.ft.com/content/8963...
November 7, 2025 at 10:48 AM
The reality is that Brexit is a cold place full of tough choices when next door to the EU as a mega trading bloc. Either try to shut yourself off as much as possible, as the Tories did, suffering checks & dislocation, or you'll have to pay (£££) to pig-a-back on EU rules:
www.ft.com/content/8963...
www.ft.com/content/8963...
Everyone gets their own article in The Telegraph, this week and any week, provided they're willing to hail the transformative benefits of leaving the ECHR, but deny the reality that parts of the UK think very little of the quality of British justice shorn of international oversight.
November 6, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Everyone gets their own article in The Telegraph, this week and any week, provided they're willing to hail the transformative benefits of leaving the ECHR, but deny the reality that parts of the UK think very little of the quality of British justice shorn of international oversight.
I've a new paper out in the Discrimination Law Association's Briefings on the distinct Windsor Framework's rights/equality arrangements applicable to Northern Ireland law, which give ongoing significance of a broad sweep of EU protections even after Brexit:
discriminationlaw.org.uk/assets/docum...
discriminationlaw.org.uk/assets/docum...
November 4, 2025 at 3:25 PM
I've a new paper out in the Discrimination Law Association's Briefings on the distinct Windsor Framework's rights/equality arrangements applicable to Northern Ireland law, which give ongoing significance of a broad sweep of EU protections even after Brexit:
discriminationlaw.org.uk/assets/docum...
discriminationlaw.org.uk/assets/docum...
The PSNI is presenting a defence to the data breach case that's basically "we can't afford a remedy". But data protection rights derive from EU law, and affected officers could invoked the EU Charter's right to effective remedy under Art 2 WF. Fun to come:
www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/co...
www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/co...
November 3, 2025 at 8:28 PM
The PSNI is presenting a defence to the data breach case that's basically "we can't afford a remedy". But data protection rights derive from EU law, and affected officers could invoked the EU Charter's right to effective remedy under Art 2 WF. Fun to come:
www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/co...
www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/co...
Given Richard Dannatt's repeated indiscretions, it's surprising he still gets to spout, but the major problem with his ‘two-tier justice’ claim is there weren't effective investigations into security personnel during the NI conflict. That's why it's still spilling out:
share.google/I1YJ43BzKGjP...
share.google/I1YJ43BzKGjP...
November 1, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Given Richard Dannatt's repeated indiscretions, it's surprising he still gets to spout, but the major problem with his ‘two-tier justice’ claim is there weren't effective investigations into security personnel during the NI conflict. That's why it's still spilling out:
share.google/I1YJ43BzKGjP...
share.google/I1YJ43BzKGjP...
Folk at the Ulster American Folk Park having too much fun with the run in to Halloween, and why not when it's so beautiful...
October 28, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Folk at the Ulster American Folk Park having too much fun with the run in to Halloween, and why not when it's so beautiful...
Most people in NI are really not surprised by the Soldier F outcome - but this was no show trial or witch hunt. The judge excoriated the soldiers' conduct, but because of a passing of time caused by extreme state failings, could not convict. That is the scandal. These headlines are grotesque:
October 24, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Most people in NI are really not surprised by the Soldier F outcome - but this was no show trial or witch hunt. The judge excoriated the soldiers' conduct, but because of a passing of time caused by extreme state failings, could not convict. That is the scandal. These headlines are grotesque: