@uncivil-s.bsky.social
Barrister, ex-public sector, semi-demi-retired, various legal part time jobs. Legal interests public law, housing and some property, crime, statutes, and most other things. Lives Birmingham, works in a 150/mile 270 degree crescent therefrom. Has sons.
I’m going out. There are Christmas jumpers on the train.
December 3, 2025 at 6:32 PM
I’m going out. There are Christmas jumpers on the train.
Why is someone who has never posted or replied called @openmindedly.bsky.social adding me to a list?
December 2, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Why is someone who has never posted or replied called @openmindedly.bsky.social adding me to a list?
It’s not exactly a border, but as a geographic remnant, the Quaker Southern Marches Area Quaker Meeting might be interesting (eg @jonnelledge.bsky.social ?). It’s got constituent meetings in Abergavenny, Brecon and up to Llandrindod Wells, and then Ludlow, Hereford, right up to Clun in Shropshire.
December 2, 2025 at 5:53 PM
It’s not exactly a border, but as a geographic remnant, the Quaker Southern Marches Area Quaker Meeting might be interesting (eg @jonnelledge.bsky.social ?). It’s got constituent meetings in Abergavenny, Brecon and up to Llandrindod Wells, and then Ludlow, Hereford, right up to Clun in Shropshire.
Well, also, you could spend a lot less than 12 minutes learning what theft is.
Listen, if you tell me that “taxation is theft” I’m going to need you to quit driving on highways or walking on sidewalks or attending a public school or using police or fire services or city snow removal.
I would mention libraries, but…
I would mention libraries, but…
December 2, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Well, also, you could spend a lot less than 12 minutes learning what theft is.
I am at a bit of a lose end, having just finished a big thing and not started the next big thing yet. But still, I’m fucked if I’m wasting TWELVE WHOLE MINUTES on this.
But mostly Die Hard is a Christmas movie because its director says it is.
I invite you to take 12 mins to learn why.
In this 2020 AFI video, John McTiernan talks about making DIE HARD + why the film is a Christmas movie,
+ voices some other things to consider about where we are.
Where America is.
I invite you to take 12 mins to learn why.
In this 2020 AFI video, John McTiernan talks about making DIE HARD + why the film is a Christmas movie,
+ voices some other things to consider about where we are.
Where America is.
Why DIE HARD Is A Christmas Movie | Director John McTiernan Explains
YouTube video by American Film Institute
www.youtube.com
December 2, 2025 at 5:31 PM
I am at a bit of a lose end, having just finished a big thing and not started the next big thing yet. But still, I’m fucked if I’m wasting TWELVE WHOLE MINUTES on this.
My prediction is that the row about jury trials will go on for about 18 months, with the end result being a bit of tinkering here and there, but during that time nothing will be done about either the backlog or the general crumbling of the system. Things will just mostly continue getting worse.
December 2, 2025 at 2:07 PM
My prediction is that the row about jury trials will go on for about 18 months, with the end result being a bit of tinkering here and there, but during that time nothing will be done about either the backlog or the general crumbling of the system. Things will just mostly continue getting worse.
Reposted
In early Old English, there's a handful of cases of the verb 'do' appearing as "dōm", bearing an archaic first-person singular ending (-m).
This -m is ancient and found across Indo-European languages (e.g. Latin sum, Czech jsem). In English, it's long lost from 'I do', but still survives in 'I am'.
This -m is ancient and found across Indo-European languages (e.g. Latin sum, Czech jsem). In English, it's long lost from 'I do', but still survives in 'I am'.
November 30, 2025 at 8:34 PM
In early Old English, there's a handful of cases of the verb 'do' appearing as "dōm", bearing an archaic first-person singular ending (-m).
This -m is ancient and found across Indo-European languages (e.g. Latin sum, Czech jsem). In English, it's long lost from 'I do', but still survives in 'I am'.
This -m is ancient and found across Indo-European languages (e.g. Latin sum, Czech jsem). In English, it's long lost from 'I do', but still survives in 'I am'.
As I get older, the thing I think I need more of is the virtue and practise of frivolity.
November 30, 2025 at 3:59 PM
As I get older, the thing I think I need more of is the virtue and practise of frivolity.
Where did he find this? (But presumably he didn’t - he wouldn’t be wondering around the tube system with a photographer to find something horrid). I haven’t seen a tube train like this since the Thatcher years.
Tucker Carlson is a rightwing conspiracy theorist and Putin apologist who was sacked by FOX.... yes FOX
BUT The Spectator is happy to pay him to talk down our capital city... despite it thriving and crime falling.
Whose side are you on Mr Gove?
BUT The Spectator is happy to pay him to talk down our capital city... despite it thriving and crime falling.
Whose side are you on Mr Gove?
November 28, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Where did he find this? (But presumably he didn’t - he wouldn’t be wondering around the tube system with a photographer to find something horrid). I haven’t seen a tube train like this since the Thatcher years.
v. int. thread.
I say this as someone who is very much anti-intellectual - few politicians in this country did more to make anti-intellectualism central to political communication than Tony Blair
He wasn't anti-intellectual himself, but New Labour was very self-conscious about cultivating a "common touch"
He wasn't anti-intellectual himself, but New Labour was very self-conscious about cultivating a "common touch"
November 28, 2025 at 9:09 PM
v. int. thread.
I’m all for mocking Josh for being a dick about money. Less enthusiastic about all the posts homing in on what he looks like.
Poor Josh won’t be able to save more than £12k a year tax free! However will he cope?
Josh Hall, 20, is 'worried' about how the cash ISA allowance cut announced in Wednesday’s Budget will affect his long-term savings plans
➡#Read More: trib.al/UPCzygg
➡#Read More: trib.al/UPCzygg
November 28, 2025 at 9:02 PM
I’m all for mocking Josh for being a dick about money. Less enthusiastic about all the posts homing in on what he looks like.
Reposted
once more I am begging everyone to do policy based on evidence, not on vibes from the loudest-shouting pressure groups. What the NHS is leaning towards - targeted screening for those most at risk - is the right way to do this. Blanket screening with an unreliable test causes harm.
🔺UPDATED: Start prostate cancer testing regardless of advice, Wes Streeting told
Start prostate cancer testing regardless of advice, Wes Streeting told
Start prostate cancer testing regardless of advice, Wes Streeting told
www.thetimes.com
November 28, 2025 at 12:30 PM
once more I am begging everyone to do policy based on evidence, not on vibes from the loudest-shouting pressure groups. What the NHS is leaning towards - targeted screening for those most at risk - is the right way to do this. Blanket screening with an unreliable test causes harm.
The core problem with the Palestinian Action proscription is that there is a reasonable argument that it is a terrorist organisation *according to the 2000 Act definition* of terrorism. It’s just that that definition is stupidly wide.
November 26, 2025 at 10:54 PM
The core problem with the Palestinian Action proscription is that there is a reasonable argument that it is a terrorist organisation *according to the 2000 Act definition* of terrorism. It’s just that that definition is stupidly wide.
Looking at his timeline, @stephenkb.bsky.social has the patience of a saint, but a somewhat acerbic saint.
November 26, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Looking at his timeline, @stephenkb.bsky.social has the patience of a saint, but a somewhat acerbic saint.
I’m not a jury-worshipper, and it seems likely that professional judges will (often) be better at fact-finding. But that the system has to cope with the input of non-professionals does provide imp safeguards, well beyond jury nullification. Above all, it conditions prosecution decision making.
November 26, 2025 at 4:39 PM
I’m not a jury-worshipper, and it seems likely that professional judges will (often) be better at fact-finding. But that the system has to cope with the input of non-professionals does provide imp safeguards, well beyond jury nullification. Above all, it conditions prosecution decision making.
Reposted
Why the two-child limit has to go, in a chart.
November 25, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Why the two-child limit has to go, in a chart.
Reposted
Meanwhile... we could have seen this coming:
Medical bodies warn that hostility towards migrants is behind a 26% rise in departures that imperils NHS
> Overseas-trained doctors leaving the UK in record numbers
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Medical bodies warn that hostility towards migrants is behind a 26% rise in departures that imperils NHS
> Overseas-trained doctors leaving the UK in record numbers
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Overseas-trained doctors leaving the UK in record numbers
Medical bodies warn that hostility towards migrants is behind a 26% rise in departures last year that imperils NHS
www.theguardian.com
November 21, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Meanwhile... we could have seen this coming:
Medical bodies warn that hostility towards migrants is behind a 26% rise in departures that imperils NHS
> Overseas-trained doctors leaving the UK in record numbers
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Medical bodies warn that hostility towards migrants is behind a 26% rise in departures that imperils NHS
> Overseas-trained doctors leaving the UK in record numbers
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
I agree with the criticisms; but this BBC report looks a bit garbled. It looks like what the Gov means is automatic bench trials for offences up to 5 years max, and a discretion for judges to order them in some other cases (complex fraud et)? Quite how interests of justice test comes in isn’t clear.
Imagine coming up with a proposal so stupid, so unworkable, so thoughtless, that it makes Robert Jenrick look sane by comparison.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
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
November 25, 2025 at 6:00 PM
I agree with the criticisms; but this BBC report looks a bit garbled. It looks like what the Gov means is automatic bench trials for offences up to 5 years max, and a discretion for judges to order them in some other cases (complex fraud et)? Quite how interests of justice test comes in isn’t clear.
But, in the Turkish language, what was the name of the country when we called it “Turkey” in English?
Question for those way more knowledge than I
If Turkey changed its name why does it keep being called Turkey by news agencies instead of Türkiye
Even the AP often does it
If Turkey changed its name why does it keep being called Turkey by news agencies instead of Türkiye
Even the AP often does it
November 25, 2025 at 3:07 PM
But, in the Turkish language, what was the name of the country when we called it “Turkey” in English?
I’m beginning to think that when I say “I quite like [a food]”, other people say ”I don’t like [that food]”, and when I say “I don’t mind [another food]“, you all say “God, I can’t stand [the second food], how could anyone possibly like it, it’s utterly awful”.
November 25, 2025 at 2:54 PM
I’m beginning to think that when I say “I quite like [a food]”, other people say ”I don’t like [that food]”, and when I say “I don’t mind [another food]“, you all say “God, I can’t stand [the second food], how could anyone possibly like it, it’s utterly awful”.
“Not with intent” is pretty dashed odd. I mean, the phonemes to make up those words came together in that order by accident?
Asked again and again whether he ever racially abused his fellow pupils, as 20 people at his old school have now said he did, Nigel Farage will only say that he never did so in a "hurtful way" or "with intent"
November 25, 2025 at 2:41 PM
“Not with intent” is pretty dashed odd. I mean, the phonemes to make up those words came together in that order by accident?
Curry’s, I’m flattered to announce, have decided I am a baron.
November 25, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Curry’s, I’m flattered to announce, have decided I am a baron.
If Ukr manage to manoeuvre the Russians into rejecting the “peace plan”, that would be some achievement.
Scoop @financialtimes.com: Under the US-Ukraine deal, Kyiv agreed to cap the size of its army at 800,000, according to senior officials who say they're pleased with the plan. Points left are territorial matters and security guarantees, which are TBD by Zelensky and Trump. www.ft.com/content/b0d9...
Russia signals it could reject modified US peace plan for Ukraine
Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov suggests Moscow would walk away from proposal that differs substantially from Alaska talks
www.ft.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:36 PM
If Ukr manage to manoeuvre the Russians into rejecting the “peace plan”, that would be some achievement.
Jesus wept. We are a bit lost already if this happens.
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
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Jesus wept. We are a bit lost already if this happens.
Reposted
On the ‘it’s pretentious to style yourself Dr’ debate – sure, it probably is, but on the other hand the titles and the robes are just about the only fun part left in academia, and I’m not willing to cede them to the grey, managerial fun police just yet. Embrace the pomposity.
November 24, 2025 at 5:21 PM
On the ‘it’s pretentious to style yourself Dr’ debate – sure, it probably is, but on the other hand the titles and the robes are just about the only fun part left in academia, and I’m not willing to cede them to the grey, managerial fun police just yet. Embrace the pomposity.