Sitemap - 2023 - The Empty City - a law and polity blog
The coming constitutional excitements in the United States
What is often left unsaid in complaints about pesky human rights law and pesky human rights lawyers
Were the "Elgin Marbles" lawfully acquired by the British Museum in the first place?
On yesterday’s Supreme Court judgment on the Rwanda policy
The return of a former Prime Minister
How a court settles a stark dispute of fact
The "Potemkin meetings" of Downing Street
Proportionality as a legal concept
Proportionality is an incomplete legal concept
Why are litigation letters often so dire?
Whatever happened to the short sharp shock?
Commissioner Breton writes a letter
Tomorrow - the first instalment of a series of posts on the Post Office litigation scandal
Why the "public" in public procurement matters
Next Essay - when the House of Lords ruled against equal pay
Whatever happened to ‘the best-governed city in the world’?
One year on from one thing, sixteen months on from another thing...
The ballad of Broomfield bridge
Tension, Contradiction, Crisis
Constitutionalism vs constitutionalism
Government lawyers cannot "block" ministers
The Letby case and media framing - an observation
Performative justice and coercion
Of impeachments and indictments
The legal predicament of Donald Trump
Sir Keir Starmer and the Litigation Turn of Mind
Why the Northern Irish Border Poll of 1973 was both unimportant and profoundly important
A close reading of Twitter's legal letter to Meta
A modest proposal for helping the Prime Minister keep on top of government
Understanding the significance of today's Court of Appeal decision on the Rwanda removals policy
The Human Rights Act 1998 is safe - for now
“How did this person die? - And what lessons can we learn?”
The government is running out of time
Change of name for this Substack
From "Tories" and "Whigs" to "Brexiters" and "Remainers"
Update and new production schedule
Life after Brexit – and “exceptionalism”
The remarkable fall of Boris Johnson
Why the United Kingdom should not “re-join” the European Union
Process and evidence will cause severe setbacks for populists like Johnson and Trump
Telling the story of how the “serious disruption” public order statutory instrument was passed
Why the Covid Inquiry publishing reports as it goes along is brilliant news
Did the “Blob” block Brexit and force out Boris Johnson?
The resignation of Boris Johnson from the House of Commons
Astrud Gilberto, The Girl from Ipanema, and the inequity of intellectual property
A detailed explanation of the government’s judicial review of the Covid Inquiry
Understanding the government’s judicial review of the Covid Inquiry
How the Covid Inquiry may have set an elegant spring-trap for the Cabinet Office
Who controls the flow of evidence is crucial to the outcome of any public inquiry
Understanding Boris Johnson’s difficulty with the Cabinet Office lawyers
Tick tock, tick tock Cabinet Office
Two set-backs for animal welfare law
“Not a promising start” – a close read of the Covid Inquiry ruling against the Cabinet Office
And if Braverman goes, then what?
The commercialisation of private prosecutions
The commercialisation of private prosecutions
Can anything actually be done to improve parliamentary scrutiny?
The “center” ground of politics
A possible implication of the recent “Will of the People” rhetoric of ministers
Why the dropping of the REUL sunset clause may be very bad news for Rejoiners
Today’s Metropolitan Police apology shows they are still failing over Daniel Morgan
Big “P” Party vs little “p” party
Coronation notes from a non-militant republican
Somebody should copyright “flawed music copyright cases”
ESSAY: the famous Coronation Cases of 1902
Hurrah for this latest move towards transparency of the UK Supreme Court
Why Raab’s frontal attack on the Human Rights Act failed
The significance of the resignation of Dominic Raab
Waiting for yet another report
A look at why Fox and Dominion settled
This Substack shall resume on Monday
The indictment of a former president
Cute baby dragons and the law of copyright
The Indictment of Donald Trump
The tragedy of the Human Rights Act
Essay: Factortame and Sovereignty
The Committee of Privileges and the Equality of Arms
Johnson at the Privileges Committee
The submission of Boris Johnson is a document of wonder and delight
An Arrest Warrant for Vladimir Putin
The failure of Brexit to return real power to Westminster
The foreign policy of the United Kingdom is improving
ESSAY: The prehistory of referendums in the United Kingdom
Legislation as an annual or biennial virility event
The Illegal Migration Bill is about political theatre
Why the appointment of Sue Gray is both a mistake and not a mistake
Johnson’s choices, Johnson’s choice
Is the “Stormont Brake” an instrument or an ornament?
A latter-day tale of the unexpected
ESSAY: How the courts improvised legal solutions in the hard case of George Blake
Why can we not record what a judge says in open court?
Why there should be a “no fault” compensation scheme for serious personal injuries
Imagine what would happen if – if – the Northern Irish Protocol issue is resolved
The resignation of the First Minister of Scotland
Will there be a deal on the Northern Irish Protocol? And what then?
Private nuisance and Tate Modern
ESSAY: Thinking about Lady Justice
Whole Life Orders when there is not loss of life
Is it, at last, time to say “good bye” to Thoburn and the idea of “constitutional statutes”?
Government departmental reorganisations are a form of magical thinking
Another weekend, another threat to leave the European Convention on Human Rights
ESSAY: The trial of Jane Wenham and the end of English witch trials
Beware of judges employing rhetoric: a note on Lord Denning and his “appalling vista”
The Tate Modern viewing platform case – why did they not mention Denning?
Due process and ministerial matters
Tax law should be as boring as constitutional law
ESSAY - Taff Vale - perhaps the most important case in trade union history
Why historical cases are not only fascinating but instructive
The importance of giving important legislation very dull names
Nadhim Zahawi, his lawyers, and a blogger
Here is evidence that we are moving – at last – into post-Brexit politics and policy-making
ESSAY: The 1610 case of Dr Bonham, and the question of whether parliament is really sovereign
The police officers who want to be armed are perhaps the ones who should not even be police officers
The striking paradox of the police
Artificial Intelligence and how it will affect commercial lawyering (and legal blogging)
The law and lore of the offside offence
ESSAY "A decision so unreasonable that no reasonable authority could have come to it"
Courts and politics and the job of judicial review
We have a coalition government, and we have had for some time
Good bans v. bad bans, and how can you work out the difference?
Banning the right to strike by key public sector workers
ESSAY: Perhaps the most significant UK constitutional case of the last fifty years
A look at Keir Starmer's proposal for a "Taking Back Control" Bill