Colin Murray | Lightnews

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 2h

'Despite all their difficulties, universities remain an enormous and irreplaceable national asset. As well as educating millions of people, they generate about £24bn in export earnings, which is about 1% of GDP – more than aircraft manufacturing and legal services combined'. 1/2

The Guardian view on universities: Labour needs a clearer plan | Editorial

Editorial: Ministers promised a ‘change of approach’, but their new tax could tip weaker institutions over the edge

www.theguardian.com

Dr Emma L Briant @emma-briant.co.uk · 3h

How has Grok not been shut down yet and those responsible at X been arrested over actively generating CSAM?

Douglas Guilfoyle @djag2.bsky.social · 4h

New Called to the Bar episode: the full crew unpacks the US bombing of Venezuela and the abduction of Nicolás Maduro. UN Charter violations, head of state immunity, and why Washington no longer seems troubled by illegality. Bleak, sharp, and very 2026.
#CalledToTheBar
soundcloud.com/calledtotheb...

63. Bombing Caracas: The Use of Force, Abducting a Head of State, and the Unravelling of International Law

In this special bonus episode of Called to the Bar, the full podcast crew assembles to confront the legal fallout from the US bombing of Venezuela and the abduction of its sitting president, Nicolás M

soundcloud.com

RTÉ News @news.rte.ie · 19h

Legislation which will overhaul the judicial review process has been published by Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan. He pledged that it would result in greater transparency and a more streamlined process

New legislation aims to overhaul judicial review process

Legislation which will overhaul the judicial review process has been published by the Minister for Justice.

www.rte.ie

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 2d

Here's how much I've enjoyed hiding while the world has lurched sideways...

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 15d

Epic "huge if true" energy.

Colin Yeo @colinyeo.bsky.social · 19d

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

Gaby Hinsliff @gabyhinsliff.bsky.social · 19d

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

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 19d

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:

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 19d

Spoiler Alert: It's the most depressing of all rubber stamps!

Anurag Deb @anuragdeb.bsky.social · 19d

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? 🤷

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 19d

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 @anuragdeb.bsky.social · 19d

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? 🤷

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 19d

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

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 19d

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.

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 19d

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

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 21d

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

Shamim Malekmian @shamimmalekmian.bsky.social · 21d

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

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 21d

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

Rivkah Brown @rivkahbrown.bsky.social · 21d

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

Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission @nihrc.bsky.social · 21d

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 Professor Aoife O'Donoghue presenting.

Photo of Professor Colin Murray presenting.

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 22d

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

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 22d

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.

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 22d

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

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 22d

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).

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 22d

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.

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 23d

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...

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 23d

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

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 23d

'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

Research Professional News @resprofnews.bsky.social · 23d

REF 2029: High-handed approach erodes confidence in changes.

Headline moves look sensible, but document drop is riddled with potential nasties, says Anna Grey.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...