Top recent posts by UK Constitutional Lawyers on Bluesky

Competition for most British sign on the Trump March won handily by: “Don’t give him the good biscuits!”

Reminder that if Air Canada cancel your flight out of the UK and say they can't rebook it same day, you can ring them and say: "You are obliged to check sister carriers." Then they will magically remember to do so. This post brought to you by me now flying BA to Toronto, 5hrs later than planned.

Exactly. Politics in the US is no longer a debate about which policies to adopt within a liberal framework of accepted rules. It's now a blood sport and one side playing it like it's still cricket won't work

Benedict Cumberbatch reciting powerful words by the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish at the Together for Palestine concert at Wembley, London. Happening right now and live streamed (link below).

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov today: * Russia never strikes civilian targets in Ukraine. * The drones that flooded Polish airspace were Ukrainian not Russian. Just hit the mute button whenever a Russian spokesperson comes on.

Kemi Badenoch's somewhat hectoring, patronising voice really grates on me now. Just another disastrous Tory leader from the House of Brexit.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Israel: “We propose to sanction extremist ministers and violent settlers, and suspend trade concessions with Israel.” Bilateral support for Israel will be put on hold.

Morning Bluesky. The good news: you finally got your flying cars. The bad: two of the Xpeng AeroHT vehicles crashed during a rehearsal for China’s Changchun Airshow, one catching fire on landing.

Keep wondering when Lord Glasman will defect to Reform, but actually wonder if he'd go all the way to the furthest right. He is certainly an ongoing embarrassment to any idea of a progressive Labour Party.

EU-Ukraine ties are strengthening. Head of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola just told the Ukrainian parliament that a permanent European Parliament representation will open in Kyiv.

Today's proceedings at Windsor should be watched with the aid of a sick bucket.

Evolution famously something that happens in a single year

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee creating an alternate reality: "What destroyed the negotiations for the hostages was the European nations going and having this push for a unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state... it destroyed negotiations."

This is genuinely (academically) dystopian — Kings featuring a lecturer who has to mark 100 scripts in a fortnight (!) and presenting AI as the approved workaround to that problem. This is why we can’t let this stuff into our working practice…

Here's one factor English commentators will miss: on the left is a map of Welsh speakers, on the right is voting intention

🚨🚨 "Keir Starmer is betting everything on an America that doesn’t exist any more". Great column by @rafaelbehr.bsky.social on the gamble of British foreign policy

Today we are presenting our proposals to the Council to suspend trade concessions with Israel and to place sanctions on extremist ministers of the Israeli government and on violent settlers. The horrific events taking place in Gaza on a daily basis must stop. Press release: link.europa.eu/nx3DrG

Free speech banned in Windsor prior to Trump visit bit.ly/4pnBOrr I cannot see how this accurate photo is ‘malicious communication’ which must be indecent, grossly offensive, or menacing but I guess the police needed an arrest to take it down.

The reply to Lavrov should be "There are NO legitimate targets in Ukraine for the Russian military, because Russian troops are in Ukraine illegally. But that makes Russian troops legitimate targets - for Ukraine, & countries that Ukraine invites to join it in exercising its right to self defence."

Dan is on the money again.

King Charles to Trump: "In two world wars we fought together to defeat the forces of tyranny. Today, as tyranny once again faces Europe, we and our allies stand together in support of Ukraine to deter aggression and secure peace."

Right, I have seen altogether too much Trump in my timeline today, and nowhere near enough cats, and you all need to fix this now, please.

This government, this "Labour government" has ignored, repeatedly, protections for people who have been trafficked and faced modern slavery. We don't need to further weaken protections, we need a damn government which protects those who need it. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

We have a standard double sized bed and Bixby Snyder can take up all of it. He’s not even that big for a Maine Coon cat at a mere 9.5kg, but well over a metre long when he stretches out. Also this is one of his most refined and elegant poses. Please admire his surprisingly ginger tummy

This is horrendous and a solid confirmation that the US is no longer operating democratically.

This legendarily happened with a mixed group of BA execs and engineers once, heading back from the US. Flight got cancelled. Execs pulled rank to grab all available basic seats on next flight and yeeted themselves off. Engineers got left with lottery of next available that day. It was Concorde.

"[Johannes] Kepler, as court mathematician to the Holy Roman Emperor, had to cast horoscopes and draw conclusions. At the beginning of his career, he was fortunate enough to predict a cold winter, peasant uprisings and war with the Turks, which did more for his reputation than all his later work".

That i shouldn't waste 35% of my waking life? Is that it? Is that the learning?

Four USAF C-17 and C-5 transport aircraft have landed at St Croix Air Guard Station in the US Virgin Islands to deliver military supplies for the force off Venezuela.

Susanna Reid sanitising Charlie Kirk's views with support from Andrew Pierce while Kevin Maguire battles to get a word in edgeways. Reid not accepting Maguire's correct summary of Charlie Kirk's views. #ShutdownGMB

Honestly he’s not having a great week. First being shot, now this.

We have had many years of leaders promising to invest in "left behind" communities, and reports saying it isn't being felt. So here's another one. Perhaps better to ask why settled cross party consensus hasn't delivered. Because the aim isn't clear. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

My compliments to all the UK newspaper editors who went for a Robert Redford cover image today instead of the state visit.

1) a policy of moving closer to the USA on crypto is de facto a policy of moving away from the EU on financial services in general, absolutely crazy from a growth standpoint 2) the US government's "crypto friendly approach" is based almost entirely on "deregulation through non-enforcement"...

"You may not see them that way, because you have the right look and accent, but you are not the intended audience of most of the people putting them up. I am. And they intend to send precisely the message that I receive." @sturdyalex.bsky.social speaking for many who don't look or sound 'English'.

This is even more Peak Guardian than any other Peak Guardian piece you could possibly imagine. "I will turn up on the poors' doorsteps and write poems about them and they will be grateful to me for seeing nobility in their wretched lives."

Today we are presenting our proposals to the Council to suspend trade concessions with Israel and to place sanctions on extremist ministers of the Israeli government and on violent settlers. The horrific events taking place in Gaza on a daily basis must stop. Press release: link.europa.eu/nx3DrG

And one is required for security access at work, but breaks all the other Omnis whenever it updates.

"Mr Trump has diverted 28,000 federal law-enforcement personnel—including one in five FBI agents—to do the work of ICE." www.economist.com/united-state...

As Trump begins his state visit in UK I explore the difficulties countries face in trying to work with an unserious president, looking at S Korea, India, and Brazil, as well as UK. (£/free trial), samf.substack.com/p/unserious-...

Tomorrow, open-access operator RegioJet launches a daily lo-cost Warsaw-Krakow train. Look at those prices and weep (then realise that €16.30 Business class one includes complimentary fizz & Illy coffee and bawl your eyes out...)

also an argument that had every historian of genocide deeply frustrated, given that it hasn’t been true of any modern genocide to date

Ex-Concorde pilot used to live in the same village as my father-in-law. Only met him once. Bavarian. Spectacularly odd in a very German way. But clearly INSANELY brilliant and serious as a pilot. Invited everyone in the village over to watch "Dinner For One" at Xmas with accompanying free booze.

Livestream of the Together for Palestine fundraiser event happening right now at Wembley, London 👇🏽 www.youtube.com/live/RWBVHFv...

This is a good example of the "America brain" that has afflicted large parts of the British right. It's discussed - with some input from me - in today's Wednesday Briefing by @archiebland.bsky.social. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Rereading some George Orwell, I was struck by this quote: "In England all the boasting and flag-wagging, the 'Rule Britannia' stuff, is done by small minorities. The patriotism of the common people is not vocal or even conscious."

We are hiring at The Economist. This is not just any internship. You will be a paid staff member and writer for 6 months. www.economist.com/finance-and-...

This is v informative. And a real indictment of the official figures.

I'm never going to vote Tory, but the Tories did at least used to have a pretty strong sense that the kind of bullshit we've seen from the far right was completely unacceptable, and they'd condemn it. That's completely collapsed now, and it's enabling the very worst kind of behaviour from racists.

Remember when Labour refused to set out its policies in the election to ‘make the target as small as possible’? They no longer have that excuse. They can’t please the press or their critics so they should go back to being a Labour Party and remember who they are here to help.

Trump to King Charles at the UK state banquet: "We are as a country, as you know, doing unbelievably well. We had a very sick country one year ago. And today, I believe we're the hottest country anywhere in the world."

Imagine Susan Hall releasing something like this.

This pleased me ✅

To be fair, cancelling Jimmy Kimmel does seem like an appropriate way for MAGA to honour Charlie Kirk’s totally insincere support for freedom of speech.

JD Vance is right: Europe has a problem with freedom of speech

Out of curiosity, how the ever loving hell is Kate's broach getting more coverage than the thousands of people protesting the autocratic sex offender getting a second state visit?

It should be obvious that a march whose organising principle is that the mere existence of Badenoch is a crisis and that Starmer needs to be overthrown can’t be beaten by either politician equivocating on whether they are wrong Excellent from @stephenkb.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/fbbd...

🚨🚨It would be a "big mistake" if the EU does not integrate Ukraine into its #defense architecture, @andriuskubilius.ec.europa.eu , the European Commissioner for Defense Industry and Space, told @kyivindependent.com Independent in an interview published Sept. 16. kyivindependent.com/it-would-be-...

Some interesting work here from More in Common. Reform lead among those who went to state school and grammars. Big Labour lead for those who were privately educated.

Did you know? EU + India together represent ¼ of the world’s population and of the global economy. Today, we adopted a Joint Communication on India - setting out a forward-looking strategic agenda that ⬇️

Never let it be said that we do not recognise excellence in question-asking.

Haha people can’t go fishing because haha they know we might murder them hahaha. We’re so cool.

Gaia Marcus, director of the Ada Lovelace Institute think tank, told Politico this week that what’s being described as an investment pact could actually be a submission to tech vassalage. davekeating.substack.com/p/the-uk-is-...

As much as I find this government's attacks on marginalised communities and the most vulnerable utterly abhorrent, if you're switching from Labour to Reform don't pretend that you feel "Labour has left you". Own the fact you never believed in protecting those who need it. www.bbc.com/news/article...

A UK-US tech deal appears to have become a bunch of investments that multinationals would probably have made anyway, because that's how they operate. Once again our politics will fail to learn lessons from this in a clash of glib soundbites. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Ok America. How much will you pay us to lock him up in the Tower of London?

Reposting at a more sociable time. Same old stale thinking on local economics, in urgent need of a new understanding of how the world has changed.

Ok America. How much will you pay us to lock him up in the Tower of London?

Oh www.theguardian.com/education/20...

About bloody time too

Give it five years and only the most elite universities will be able to boast of their artisanal, hand-crafted student feedback

Imagine going to Windsor and not even getting to go to Legoland

'Offering prisoners university courses works for those who read and feel comfortable with writing. But philosophy can be done just by conversation, to include both those with high levels of education and those who have little. Anyone may participate; disagreement itself generates a toleration'.

Just no. Really no. The answer to the challenges we are facing now is not more Brexit.

Looks like she's about to follow him out the door.

If you’ve experienced authoritarianism previously in your life as a citizen & now you live in a democracy at risk of being demolished you gotta speak up. You gotta tell those with no lived experience how awful & terrifying it is. How degrading to your dignity as a human. You gotta warn the careless.

FFS, even Gerrard's Cross has St George flags everywhere.

Boy it’s boring putting in the references after you’ve written the paper. Next time I’ll do it as I write. (Yeah, right.)

Not sure I agree with this, mainly because Europe as a whole isn't strong enough to be an alternative to the US that was, and China won't be a strategic partner, so holding out the hope of continuing something is still worth doing, even if it won't be as it was

Now is the time for world leaders to come together and work to bring the bloodshed in Gaza to an end. We have a responsibility to stop this and bring the perpetrators to justice.

In the hereafter, Orwell rotates and vomits

Important and timely contribution by the Attorney General, reported here.

The current largest installed wind turbine is 26MW (that's gigantic btw - it has a rotor diameter as wide as London's Shard is tall). But there are plenty of signs that we will see turbines significantly bigger than that fairly soon... share.google/FHxWdy8rr24x...

fuck off, Ocado

Meanwhile, in the real world away from politics, war, and influencers, intelligent people take another step to probe further into the nature of reality bit.ly/3VFJZ4N

Have just recorded an episode of @bunkerpod.bsky.social on AI-induced psychosis with the brilliant @drkatedevlin.bsky.social – coming this week I think. If governments won’t regulate and AI businesses won’t regulate themselves (lol), the courts may effectively force them into harm reduction.

St George's chapel at Windsor is so beautiful - my mum worked for the Dean at the end of the 80s. It hurts my heart to see that orange barbarian inside it.

Worth reading Obama’s comments. More worth reading the replies to this post to get a sense of how insane this place is sometimes…

The trouble is that Haldane's "growth strategy" for the UK as a whole is the same "crude deregulationism" that forms the basis of Reevesonomics. So what is this extra support for deprived areas going to be?...(1/3) www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

My voice? My LIKENESS? But… why

Friends! Readers! Countrymen! The paperback version of my book is out today. Please buy it: bookshop.org/p/books/carm...

Tonight's episode of The Oz Katerji Show is now on YouTube, featuring Polish journalist Michal Kujawski discussing the latest developments following Russia's unprecedented drone incursion into Polish airspace. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0xX...

Westminster Voting Intention: RFM: 31% (-1) LAB: 22% (+1) CON: 18% (=) LDM: 14% (+1) GRN: 8% (=) SNP: 3% (=) Via @moreincommonuk.bsky.social, 12-15 Sep. Changes w/ 5-8 Sep.

Don’t call the US a banana republic. Because of tarrifs banana stocks are running low.

Don’t call the US a banana republic. Because of tarrifs banana stocks are running low.

"Cutting the VAT rate on restaurant meals, for example, was not one of the most pressing priorities coming out of the Munich Security Conference." Well put, Deutsche Bank. (On the disappointment with Germany's infrastructure fund helping to finance giveaways.)

“By carefully balancing the intimate rhythms of the everyday with major political debates & vociferous activisms, Riley has produced a compelling & readable work… consistently anchored in the messy web of feelings that continue to make empire such a powerful feature of British life.” I’ll take that!

Lots of lawyers saying many times that laws require people to want to use them and others to enforce them and this is what happens if you don't have those things.

Good afternoon to everyone except the *three* people who kept checking their phones in this morning's press screening, good grief, go get another job if you can't keep it in your pants for 100 minutes.