The evidence of officials abusing public powers to help Palantir profit off our data and gut the British state keeps coming...
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT
Really important intervention from @daniellalock.bsky.social into why both grounds for the High Court finding the Palestine Action ban unlawful matter, and that notwithstanding some of the criticism of the Court, why it matters that the court is asserting a high bar for such a ban to be justified:
This is an excellent piece from @daniellalock.bsky.social that underscores the importance of context when approaching and understanding UK counter-terrorism powers.
ukconstitutionallaw.org/2026/03/02/d...
I've written a post setting out why I think the Divisional Court reached the right conclusions in its recent Palestine Action ruling.
"We are committed to restoring trust in Government by ensuring that Ministers are held to the highest standards," Josh Simons told MPs last year.
"The ethics of service must always guide all of us"
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Thanks @daragh.bsky.social!
Here are some thoughts on the Palestine Action ruling for the @lrb.co.uk. The ruling shows the importance of the UK Government's national security assessments being challenged - which doesn't happen enough under our current system.
This morning the High Court found that the government's decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation was unlawful. Explanation and analysis from @finishedloading.bsky.social and me below.
Yesterday: we exposed the terrifying extent of corporate capture in British politics
Three Labour select committee chairs came out calling for urgent action in response
Today: Labour government's Elections Bill lands. Does almost *nothing* to tackle any of the issues we exposed. 🤦
'In this sense, the Palestine Action cases expose not an extraordinary emergency but the ordinariness of constitutional erosion.'
Fantastic piece
🟨 Print Edition — Drowning in Denial
As Nigel Farage’s party scraps climate schemes around the country, Nafeez Ahmed reports on new data that shows flood risk surging across the 10 councils it leads
🔗 https://subscribe.bylinetimes.com/edition/82/drowning-in-denial/
New on FT website:
Downing Street has refused to say whether Sir Keir Starmer knew Palantir was a client of Peter Mandelson’s lobbying firm when they both visited the company in Washington last February — ahead of it winning a £240mn UK government contract.
www.ft.com/content/5bba...
On access by Palantir (and other companies) to the UK's national security infrastructure, this recent paper sets out developments in contracting out UK national security protection and raises questions about what this means for the UK's operational independence: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Six Palestine Action activists were cleared today of aggravated burglary over a protest at an Israeli weapons firm in 2024. The jury also cleared three defendants of violent disorder and failed to reach a verdict on a GBH charge – charges that are the basis of the group's labelling as "terrorists"
Companies including Palantir and Deloitte have collectively reaped more than $22bn from contracts linked to Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown.
www.ft.com/content/c741...
I was on BBC News, saying the new Water White Paper does not stop £22bn going to shareholdes and banks up to 2029, raising bills + starving water from investment to stop pollution + keep the taps running.
We need to shift to modern, accountable public ownership.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpuA...
Many thanks for this great collection and pleased to have my article 'Public Power and Private Hands: Outsourcing in UK National Security Law' included.
New from 404 Media: ICE's facial recognition app, which the agency is using to decide who to detain and deport, misidentified a woman. Twice.
ICE says results of the app are definitive and override a birth certificate; obviously this case shows the app is inaccurate
www.404media.co/ices-facial-...
From Argentina to Zimbabwe, Big Tech is lobbying to roll back digital regulations across the globe. 🌍
Our new map tracks 200+ policies in 60+ jurisdictions that Big Tech lobbyists have asked Trump to attack. See it for yourself ⬇️
What is #lobbying — and why should you care?
This new video series breaks down how power, influence, and politics really work behind the scenes.
Watch the first episode with @marcellablues.bsky.social and follow along as we unpack lobbying and its impact on everyday life.
Stephen Sedley's important intervention here highlights the problems with the government's argument that it cannot intervene in relation to the hunger strikers, who are now close to death. It can and should.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
I am a clinically vulnerable person, and I wear a respirator mask everywhere indoors or in crowded outdoor spaces. I would not be able to freely exercise my right to protest if face coverings were banned at protests. This is an attack on my rights, and I feel very strongly about it.
I am clinically vulnerable, so I would not go into crowded areas without a face mask. Forcing disabled people like me to unmask is surely disability discrimination?
As a single woman I do not want to be identified and risk being targeted by potentially violent or aggressive men. Women who have experienced domestic abuse may cover their faces for the same reason.
I have to wear a mask whenever I'm out and about because I'm immunosuppressed and Covid or flu could kill me... The people who look after me also wear masks, to help keep me safe. We shouldn't lose our democratic rights as a result.
Liberty supporters shared their concerns about Government plans to ban face coverings at protests.
This law, if passed in the Crime and Policing Bill, will make it unsafe for them to protest and limit their voices.
Our right to protest must be protected. For everybody. No exceptions.
'Evidence of British complicity surfaced in two UK parliamentary reports in 2018, which revealed that MI5 and MI6 had fed questions to the CIA to ask Abu Zubaydah, in the knowledge that he was being tortured.' www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
The minister stated the gov could not meet the hunger strikers as it 'would be entirely unconstitutional and inappropriate for ministers to intervene in ongoing legal case'. However, it's not clear how the mere act of meeting with them would represent a legal intervention.
I have a new article in the Howard Journal of Crime & Justice: 'The UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery on the Labour Rights of Incarcerated People: A Case Study of England and Wales'.
Thanks to Rob Jones & Greg Davies for inviting me.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
New report from @hrw.org assessing the recent dramatic changes to protest law in the UK. The human rights organisation is calling for the restrictions to be repealed.
Please re-share this - there aren't many permanent law jobs available in the UK right now! #academicjobfairy
