Colin Murray
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colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray
@colinmurray.bsky.social
7.6K followers 1.1K following 1.4K posts

Professor of Law & Democracy @newcastleuni.bsky.social

Constitutional Law | Human Rights | Brexit | Devolution | Political Violence | Colonialism | Other Assorted Dourness

He/Him

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Political science 58%
Law 17%
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colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · Sep 16
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...

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 4d
Epic "huge if true" energy.

Reposted by Colin Murray

colinyeo.bsky.social
Colin Yeo @colinyeo.bsky.social · 7d
From yesterday: Home Secretary ordered to allow man to return to UK after telling airline not to fly him and cancelling his eVisa | Sonia Lenegan
Home Secretary ordered to allow man to return to UK after telling airline not to fly him and cancelling his eVisa - Free Movement
This is one of those real train wrecks from the Home Office, where you may want to make yourself a large cup of coffee and read through the whole judgment. It
freemovement.org.uk

Reposted by Steve Peers, Colin Murray

gabyhinsliff.bsky.social
Gaby Hinsliff @gabyhinsliff.bsky.social · 7d
This piece is billed as ‘father of girls thinks misogyny lessons are unnecessary’ but right at the end he actually asks the girls he is confidently speaking on behalf of and they…disagree. Amazing. www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...
I’m a father of teen girls. I don’t want misogyny lessons for boys
The government is planning classes to combat prejudice against women. Andrew Billen isn’t sure it will work
www.thetimes.com

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 7d
Some of the takes on the UKSC's Thompson decision on legacy secrecy amount to gaslighting. There's no threat to security personnel inherent in an abstracted gist of events entering the public domain. And there is no clandestine effort to "rewrite" the conflict. These inquests were delayed for years:

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 8d
Spoiler Alert: It's the most depressing of all rubber stamps!
anuragdeb.bsky.social Anurag Deb @anuragdeb.bsky.social · 8d
Also featuring reflections on some difficult to follow reasoning on merits review in natsec contexts. Is it merits review? Is it reasonableness review? Does the court only care about whether executive decisions have been rubber stamped? 🤷
colinmurray.bsky.social Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 8d
New post that I hope anyone who cares about human rights/the rule of law reads. If the UK Govt can use a 30 year old threat of terrorism to conceal the release of *outline* information about its agents' connection to murder, it really can act with impunity:

ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/12/18/a...

Reposted by Colin Murray

anuragdeb.bsky.social
Anurag Deb @anuragdeb.bsky.social · 8d
Also featuring reflections on some difficult to follow reasoning on merits review in natsec contexts. Is it merits review? Is it reasonableness review? Does the court only care about whether executive decisions have been rubber stamped? 🤷

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 8d
This piece on yesterday's (really troubling) Thompson judgment in the UKSC wouldn't have come together at all, or so quickly, without @anuragdeb.bsky.social and @finishedloading.bsky.social. Thanks to the @ukcla.bsky.social for hosting.

Reposted by Rory O’Connell

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 8d
New post that I hope anyone who cares about human rights/the rule of law reads. If the UK Govt can use a 30 year old threat of terrorism to conceal the release of *outline* information about its agents' connection to murder, it really can act with impunity:

ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/12/18/a...
Anurag Deb, Colin Murray and Gabriel Tan: Legacy Issues: In re Secretary of State for Northern Ireland [2025] UKSC 47
Introduction It is a rare case where the UK Government initiates a judicial review against an independent public body. The Thompson case is just such a case. The Secretary of State for Northern Ire…
ukconstitutionallaw.org

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 9d
A judgment to fit a dull day. The UK Supreme Court blithely allows the UK Govt free rein to determine the weight of security issues at more than three decades remove from events in Thompson, and pretty much dooms NI never to get more light on the conflict's legacy:

supremecourt.uk/uploads/uksc...
supremecourt.uk

Reposted by Colin Murray

shamimmalekmian.bsky.social
Shamim Malekmian @shamimmalekmian.bsky.social · 9d
DFA argued that releasing feedback on plan to label Algeria as “safe” would hurt diplomatic relations. “It’s probably fair to assume that if the DFA said anything positive about Algeria’s human rights record, they wouldn’t be so determined to withhold it". www.dublininquirer.com/dfa-argued-t...
DFA argued that releasing feedback on plan to label Algeria as “safe” would hurt diplomatic relations
“It’s probably fair to assume that if the DFA said anything positive about Algeria’s human rights record, they wouldn’t be so determined to withhold it.”
www.dublininquirer.com

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 10d
I'm not sure what disgusts me more, that the UK Government straight-up unlawfully imprisoned people in hellish conditions in the BIOT, that two administrations have continued to dispute and fight this finding, or how little attention the whole saga has received...

www.leighday.co.uk/news/news/20...
Asylum seekers were unlawfully detained on Diego Garcia
A ruling that 64 Tamil individuals, including 16 children, were unlawfully detained on the island of Diego Garcia for more than three years has been upheld
www.leighday.co.uk

Reposted by Colin Murray

rivkahbrown.bsky.social
Rivkah Brown @rivkahbrown.bsky.social · 10d
Read my @novaramedia.com report on the Peggie affair, and the stumbling block the gender-critical movement appears to have hit, here: novaramedia.com/2025/12/16/a...
Anti-Trans Groups Want a Bathroom Ban. Judges Aren’t Giving Them One | Novara Media
Gender-critical campaigners had hoped that this year’s Supreme Court ruling would tee up US-style bathroom bills across the UK, throwing hundreds of thousands of pounds at lawsuits to exclude trans wo...
novaramedia.com

Reposted by Colin Murray, Aoife O’Donoghue

nihrc.bsky.social
Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission @nihrc.bsky.social · 10d
The research findings are now being presented by the report’s authors, @anuragdeb.bsky.social (@qubelfastofficial.bsky.social), @sylviademars.me (@newcastleuni.bsky.social), @colinmurray.bsky.social (@newcastleuni.bsky.social) and @aoifemod.bsky.social (@qubelfastofficial.bsky.social).
Photo of Anurag Deb. Photo of Professor Aoife O'Donoghue presenting. Photo of Professor Colin Murray presenting.

Reposted by Steve Peers, Colm O’Cinneíde

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 10d
The @nihrc.bsky.social are today launching a major new report, by @anuragdeb.bsky.social, @sylviademars.me, @aoifemod.bsky.social, Eleni Frantziou and me, on the novel arrangements for remedying breaches of the UK's obligations for rights and equality in NI under Art 2 WF:

nihrc.org/assets/uploa...
nihrc.org

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 11d
That would be very hard to argue on the terms of the Windsor Framework - Article 2 relates to the application of elements of EU law in Northern Ireland as a jurisdiction.

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 11d
Gordon Lyons calls for Call-In Procedure to be changed in a sure fire recipe for nothing ever happening in NI's local councils:

share.google/kQcAmwNK5qAd...

On this, see a new @nilegalq.bsky.social paper from Daniel Holder at the @cajni.bsky.social:

doi.org/10.53386/nil...
Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly
In a speech at the time of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement (GFA), Mary Robinson, then United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, remarked that the new Agreement was ‘conspicuous by the centrali...
doi.org

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 11d
For me, if there is an intention angle here, it must be that Parliament cannot have intended to consider these issues separate from the requirements of EU discrimination law when they were legislating, which is side stepped in the judgment (with serious consequences for applying it in NI law).

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 11d
This might reflect (in part) my own prejudices against according a lot of weight to parliamentary intention in statutory interpretation. At best, its an approach that actively deprioritises the judiciary's interpretive role. At worst, there are often multiple conflicting markers of such intention.

Reposted by Aoife O’Donoghue

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 11d
So much of the commentary on the FWS judgment has been driven by reflexive responses to the outcome, but there are so many gaps and leaps in its reasoning that it will spawn litigation for years to come - @aoifemod.bsky.social and I flag some failings in judge craft:

nilq.qub.ac.uk/index.php/ni...

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 11d
Even though West Belfast still has the worst rates of further & higher education attendance in NI, the rejection of a JR challenge to RAISE funding that deprioritised Belfast shows up the very limited nature of the PSED in NI law (because it requires ECNI action):

www.judiciaryni.uk/files/judici...
www.judiciaryni.uk

Reposted by Colin Murray

eicathomefinn.bsky.social
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 11d
'announcing something so major at a paid-for conference...might not be the best communication strategy. It is not helped by the publication of a huge number of reports and detailed guidance just as the session ended, rather than the morning before.' 1/3

Reposted by Colin Murray, Colin Harvey

paulfscott.bsky.social
Paul F Scott @paulfscott.bsky.social · 12d
From the IPT on Friday - lots of NCND around recently: investigatorypowerstribunal.org.uk/wp-content/u...

Reposted by Colin Murray, Elliot Gold

admincourtblog.bsky.social
Administrative Court Blog @admincourtblog.bsky.social · 14d
Judicial Review of the First-tier Tribunal: Overlapping Errors of law and errors of fact administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com/2025/12/12/j...
Judicial Review of the First-tier Tribunal: Overlapping Errors of law and errors of fact
Introduction In the field of judicial review, courts have traditionally distinguished review for error of law and review for error of fact. When it comes to reviewing errors of law, courts have typ…
administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 14d
THE SKIBBEREEN EAGLE WANTS ITS HEADLINE BACK. Some (okay, many) op ed writers in Ireland need a bit of a break.
ernekid.bsky.social Conor @ernekid.bsky.social · 14d
What if the Tsar of Russia
And the King of Prussia
Landed in the Phoenix Park
In a big Balloon?

Reposted by Colin Murray

irishlegal.com
Irish Legal News @irishlegal.com · 14d
Criminal barristers in Northern Ireland are to fully withdraw from all Crown Court cases early next year in a dispute over legal aid fees.
Northern Ireland barristers to strike over access to justice crisis
Criminal barristers in Northern Ireland are to fully withdraw from all Crown Court cases early next year in a dispute over legal aid fees.
www.irishlegal.com

Reposted by Colin Murray

ernekid.bsky.social
Conor @ernekid.bsky.social · 14d
What if the Tsar of Russia
And the King of Prussia
Landed in the Phoenix Park
In a big Balloon?

Reposted by Colin Murray

lrb.co.uk
London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 14d
‘The frequency, intensity and visibility of the violence leave only two possible conclusions: either the Berlin police operate beyond democratic control, or the city’s government wants them to behave like this.’

@harrystopes.bsky.social on German police violence.

www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
Harry Stopes | Police Violence in Berlin
In the last six months human rights officials at both the Council of Europe and the United Nations have written to the...
www.lrb.co.uk

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 14d
I did, however, lol at the text caption on the picture. Dog, that's the ECNI Chief Commissioner.

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 14d
A story that wouldn't come to light without effective local reporting - the idea that AI takes on Equality Screening in Lisburn just shows how (un)seriously this Council takes its obligations. Doing a job really badly for years is not a basis to punt it to AI:

www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/norther...

Reposted by Aileen McHarg

colinmurray.bsky.social
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 14d
New article out in the @nilegalq.bsky.social in a significant special issue edited by @livunislsj.bsky.social's Katie Johnston. A wake up call for both the NI Bill of Rights debate and to public lawyers across the UK to watch out for developments under Scotland's UNCRC Act:

doi.org/10.53386/nil...