Carl Gardner
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carlgardner.bsky.social
Carl Gardner
@carlgardner.bsky.social
2.2K followers 980 following 2.6K posts
Backroom legal obsessive. Former law lecturer and government lawyer. https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlgardner/ Also books, beer, films, and a bit of politics. London and Warrington.
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Reposted by Carl Gardner
uncivil-s.bsky.social
The Supreme Court is again assuming (I think) that a decision it makes binds all UK legal systems (except Scotland in crime). But I never quite see how that stands with Constit Reform Act 2005 s 41(2) - a decision is that of a court of the part of the UK the appeal comes from. R (Jwanczuk) v SoSWP.
January 6, 2026 at 11:36 AM
Reposted by Carl Gardner
stevepeers.bsky.social
January 5, 2026 at 4:13 PM
Reposted by Carl Gardner
chrislhayes.bsky.social
But what if Maduro’s involvement in the drug trade was an “official act”?
January 3, 2026 at 3:32 PM
carlgardner.bsky.social
I think it's in episode 1, which apparently went out at New Year, that the Doctor enjoys some wine and gorgonzola. And when I was a nipper around then, I remember stinky gorgonzola being a staple joke in comics. Maybe there was a fad for it in early 70s Britain.
moralavenger.bsky.social Richard Binns @moralavenger.bsky.social · 6d
ON THIS DAY... In 1972, Day of the Daleks was first broadcast on BBC1, launching Season 9.

Originally broadcast from 1st - 22nd January 1972.

Ratings: Episode One: 9.8M. Episode Two: 10.4M. Episode Three: 9.1M. Episode Four: 9.1M.

Art by Lee Johnson 🎨

#DoctorWho
January 2, 2026 at 12:25 PM
Reposted by Carl Gardner
hoppe.law
Watched Back to the Future 1-3 with the kids yesterday as we were waiting for the New Year.

The portrayal of Biff Tannen as a grotesque, sexist, criminal millionaire who has taken over America now seems painfully prescient rather than comedic. The parallels (also optically) are mind boggling.
January 1, 2026 at 1:06 PM
carlgardner.bsky.social
I’ve been saying for a while that it’d be great if you could watch The Traitors without knowing who they were. The BBC have granted my wish in part so I should be happy now. But I wonder if this way of doing it will improve the game, or detract from it.
January 1, 2026 at 11:02 PM
Reposted by Carl Gardner
publicsectorlawyer.bsky.social
Good thread of comments here on advocacy undertaken by Government Law Officers.
bsky.app/profile/giff...
giffordhead.co.uk Jacob Gifford Head @giffordhead.co.uk · 7d
Worth noting the demands of prosecuting have increased dramatically in the 20 to 30 years since Lord Goldsmith and Sir Derek were law officers. (And even more since the period of AGs prosecuting poisonings and the like.) Not just in terms of court time but also general workload.
December 31, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Reposted by Carl Gardner
joshuarozenberg.bsky.social
As I wrote here in 2021, the last three British judges to serve as members of the EU judiciary were snubbed by last Conservative government. Finally, all have received the recognition they deserved.

rozenberg.substack.com/p/injustices...
Injustices put right
Snubbed judges finally recognised
rozenberg.substack.com
December 30, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Reposted by Carl Gardner
danielsugarman.bsky.social
Having had a day to think through everything about El-Fattah, here's where I stand. Yes, it's possible to believe all of these things at once! In fact, it really shouldn't be that hard.
1) His tweets are hideous, I don’t believe his ‘apology’ for an instant, I hate that he's now here and I believe that his presence, and the presence of any others who believe what he believes does, in fact, make the community I am a part of here less safe. 2) He had a right to citizenship based on the legal parameters (his mother was born here. It doesn’t matter that she was born while her own mother was here as a student and then left when she was two. That’s not how the system works). 3) I don’t believe that his citizenship should be somehow ‘revoked’ for his tweets. Apart from anything else, that’s a terrible precedent to set up. And no, he’s not in the same bracket as someone who literally went to join ISIS. 4) Among other things, he repeatedly supported the killing of civilians. Just dismissing that as “some tweets” minimises the issue. People in my community have the right to be vehemently critical about someone who doesn’t believe we’re human and has tweeted about how he thinks our relatives should be murdered. 5) The government was unbelievably stupid to actively celebrate him coming here 6) The Tories suddenly clutching their pearls on this is pretty hypocritical, especially since they worked very hard when they were in power to help him come here. 7) Watching Farage and others in Reform UK who celebrated someone who tweeted incredibly repulsive sentiments last year suddenly acting outraged at this guy is fairly revealing about their attitude towards someone’s actions based on their ethnic and racial background. 8) Watching some people bend over backwards to pretend that his tweets aren’t a problem or were a ‘long time ago’, doesn’t sound very different to those who ignore the accusations against Farage at school simply because they happened ’50 years ago’.
December 29, 2025 at 11:10 AM
carlgardner.bsky.social
I think it's obvious Putin has some hold over Trump, even if a purely psychological one, that makes Trump a Russian asset objectively speaking. I wonder if we'll ever know what the nature of the hold is, whether psychological, ideological, financial, "kompromat", or what.
portlandken.bsky.social Ambassador Ken Fairfax (ret) @portlandken.bsky.social · 9d
Before every meeting or even phone call with Zelinskyy, Trump first calls Putin. That should tell you something.

It is a strictly one-way street since he never calls Zelinskyy, EU leaders, or anyone else before talking with Putin.

Clearly, Putin's approval matters to him.
December 29, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Reposted by Carl Gardner
publiclawproject.bsky.social
Are you involved in (or planning) a judicial review claim?

Join our ✏️ Online Judicial Review Academy – a complete guide to how to do judicial review.

9 to 12 Feb 2026 | Zoom | With @gardencourtlaw.bsky.social

🔗 Register: https://shorturl.pulse.ly/v3uh1lsfkl
Online JR Academy February 2026 - Public Law Project
9 February 2026 - 12 February 2026 @ 12:00 am - A complete online course on how to do judicial review, run in short sessions on Zoom over 4 days. Presented in partnership with Garden Court Chambers. This training is ONLINE ONLY. All sessions will be recorded and shared with attendees afterwards.  Who should attend: Junior and trainee lawyers, advisers, advocates and anyone likely to be involved [...]
shorturl.pulse.ly
December 22, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Reposted by Carl Gardner
kirkkorner.bsky.social
Today is my final day as the Standard's Courts Correspondent

After a decade, it's time for a new challenge
I'll continue to cover the courts & remain obsessed with open justice

The joy of this job has been working with very talented & hard-working people who I will miss a lot
December 22, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Reposted by Carl Gardner
giffordhead.co.uk
This is wholly unsurprising but absolutely appalling. This is like concluding a coin always lands on heads because every time it lands on tails you discard the result.

And, I am afraid, yet again, this is a symptom of volunteer Magistrates just not getting it.
Following the Chief Magistrate’s rules, the agent swore on oath to tell the truth and answered general questions about all 131 applications he was presenting, suggesting all those affected by the warrants had been visited, properly informed of their human rights, and there is justification for entering the premises. Then ten applications were selected at random and checked in detail. However, two failed as the agent accepted that one of the rules on giving time to respond had not been complied with. Those two warrant applications were withdrawn and two more were selected at random, and they passed. With a total of ten now satisfactorily scrutinised, the magistrate then approved the rest of the warrants in a stroke, bringing the hearing to a close.
December 22, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Reposted by Carl Gardner
cyberleagle.bsky.social
Progress update from IPCO. www.ipco.org.uk/news/investi...
Investigation into the provision of false evidence to the High Court and Investigatory Powers Tribunal in relation to Agent X – Update - IPCO
www.ipco.org.uk
December 19, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by Carl Gardner
philipstephens.bsky.social
Big donor to Boris Johnson's 2019 election campaign Murtaza Lakhani has been sanctioned by Britain for fuelling Putin's war in Ukraine. No surprise there...
December 18, 2025 at 11:22 PM
carlgardner.bsky.social
Fair point, but I'd still rather have that stuff than Peroni.
stephencollins.bsky.social Stephen Collins @stephencollins.bsky.social · 28d
(*One of my favourite Nirvana songs)
[TWO PINTS OF BEER are on a pub bar, one is PERONI and one is a brown Christmas-themed beer] 1 PERONI: Hello there CHRISTMAS BEER: Hello Peroni 2 PERONI: So nice to have someone new on the lineup! And you are…? 3 CHRISTMAS BEER: You know who I am, Peroni. 4 CHRISTMAS BEER: I am Brown Christmas Liquid. I come back each year. 5 CHRISTMAS BEER: Every time with a new name, and a new horrible ingredient. Last year I was Reindeer Stomper. This year I am... Cheeky Elf. 6 PERONI: Oh god You were on the bar for two months and… CHRISTMAS BEER: Three pints sold, aye. 7 CHRISTMAS BEER: I’m a seasonal blend of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, orange peel, nutmeg and this year, for reasons of late-capitalist sadism, vanilla. 8 CHRISTMAS BEER: My name is Cheeky Elf, I taste of jam, and I want to d*e. 9 PERONI: Well somebody’s trying you CHRISTMAS BEER: Poor bastard [A hand comes down to lift CHRISTMAS BEER to sip the pint] 10 [CHRISTMAS BEER being sipped, off-scene] 11 [CHRISTMAS BEER being sipped, off-scene] 12 [CHRISTMAS BEER gets put back on the bar ] PERSON [who just drank CHRISTMAS BEER]: Oh my god CHEEKY ELF: SEE? [Ends]
December 19, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Reposted by Carl Gardner
henrymance.ft.com
Paul Marshall said he always thought there would "short-term economic downside" to Brexit. Does anyone remember him mentioning this at the time? www.ft.com/content/42b3...
December 19, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Reposted by Carl Gardner
markpackuk.bsky.social
Christmas carols, as written by Parliamentary lawyers
Christmas carols, as written by Parliamentary lawyers
The Parliamentary Counsel Office has been putting its skills to work drafting legislatively clear versions of Christmas carols. How many can you identify?
buff.ly
December 19, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Reposted by Carl Gardner
rmcunliffe.bsky.social
I'll say it again: if any other ethnic or religious minority said "please don't use this particular term or chant, you might not have bad intentions but it is deeply racist and threatening to us", the reaction would be mortified apology.

And that's without a mass terror event four days ago
December 18, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Reposted by Carl Gardner
seva.bsky.social
ok so maybe I was wrong when I said Putin would never invade. and maybe I was wrong when I said Putin will win in a week and we should not help. But now we’re here, and I'm going to tell you what putin is thinking, and I’m going to do it in the most patronizing way possible
December 18, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Reposted by Carl Gardner
katebevan.com
this is bang on. Why would you continue to use a slogan that people actively beg you not to use?
jamesrball.com James Ball @jamesrball.com · 20d
I don’t support criminalising slogans, except when they’re directly used to harass or intimidate.

But I think it’s a profound moral (and tactical) failure that campaigners didn’t stop using them long ago.

www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-b...
That is not, however, how everyone means them. It has never been how Hamas nor many of its regional allies mean the slogans, and it is not how some extremists, fuelled by hate, intend them either. It is also not how many Jews across the world hear them. “From the river to the sea” is heard as a call to abolish Israel, and “globalise the intifada” as a call for violence against Jews across the world. To ignore this, at a time when innocent Jewish civilians around the world are being targeted and slaughtered in terror attacks is a profound failure of solidarity from people who believe themselves above such myopia. It is as wrong to blame Jews for the actions of Israel in 2025 as it was to blame Muslims for the actions of Al Qaeda in 2001. In truth, the slogans probably contribute little to the motivations of fanatics who would kill – but they contribute to the very real atmosphere of fear.
December 18, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Reposted by Carl Gardner
crimegirl.co.uk
One of those sad days when a person you remember as a toddler becomes a defendant in a case…. you check the name, place and date of birth about three times before giving up any hope that you’re possibly mistaken. The cycle continues.
December 18, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Reposted by Carl Gardner
stevepeers.bsky.social
CJEU, rule of law

New judgment: Polish Constitutional Court is not independent, breached EU law by failing to uphold primacy of EU law 🦘🦘 curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/Jo...
Press release summary of the judgment. Full text in the link
December 18, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Reposted by Carl Gardner
nearlylegal.co.uk
I just don't believe this article. First, the supposed explanation of the barrister's test makes no sense. (This may be the author's fault). What was fed to Grok? If it was the barrister's skeleton, then what was the AI improving? If just the facts, I don't believe it.

spectator.com/article/ai-w...
December 17, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Reposted by Carl Gardner
legalactiongroup.bsky.social
🏛️Costs: Investigating 'public law's disgrace'

📊@publiclawproject.bsky.social launched a new research project (funded by Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer) on legal practitioners’ experiences of & opinions about costs in #JudicialReview.

✍️Lee Marsons of PLP.

Read on 👉 hi.switchy.io/lIOY
December 17, 2025 at 10:30 AM