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Colin Murray

@colinmurray.bsky.social
8.2K followers 1.1K following 1.9K posts

Professor of Law & Democracy @newcastleuni.bsky.social Constitutional Law | Human Rights | Brexit | Devolution | Political Violence | Colonialism | Other Assorted Dourness He/Him

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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 1h
There was a huge risk that the NI public inquiry into Laundries and Institutional Abuse was not going to get off the ground amid the turmoil of recent months - this is important news, and Langdale has vital experience as Counsel to other inquiries: www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/norther...
belfasttelegraph.co.uk
Appointment of Rachel Langdale KC to lead Truth Recovery Public Inquiry welcomed
Probe will cover mother and baby institutions, Magdalene laundries and workhouses
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 2h
Image manipulation like this only serves to heighten tensions by suggesting more support for forcing this march down Garvaghy Road than actually exists. May such efforts always be this inept...
Altered image of huge crowds at Orange Order protest of around 200 people.
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 8h
Splashy ministerial promises that a public inquiry will provide answers for the Finucane family, meet the persistent foot dragging and half-hearted engagement from public bodies that habitually accompany efforts to shine a light on wrongdoing in the UK authorities' involvement in the NI conflict:
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 9h
Richard Martin on the clash of interests at issue at Drumcree. For deep understanding, stop reading other analyses and sit down with this. For me, a coda on the "heckler's veto" point is that this works differently (Art 8) if people are on their own street: ukconstitutionallaw.org/2026/09/30/r...
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 21h
It is important to see the Art 11 ECHR right to peaceful assembly being highlighted as a significant part of the context in which law like rules around protests operate in NI law. But just after 5 minutes in Declan Harvey calls it all EU law and I lose my life: www.youtube.com/watch?v=F54f...
youtube.com
Drumcree Explained: 5. Was the law broken?
YouTube video by BBC News NI
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 21h
Even Allison Pearson, at her most supportive, acknowledges the SAS as being "feral" when it comes to operating outside of the laws that are supposed govern military conduct in a democracy. But you don't have to go past the standfirst for her to call investigations a witch hunt. Make it make sense.
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Clare Rice @clarerice.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Telling people repeatedly to "double down on compromise" is only highlighting how disconnected the SoS is from the sensitivities of the Drumcree issue
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PAT FINUCANE CENTRE @finucanecentre.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
www.declassifieduk.org/i-was-a-seni...
declassifieduk.org
I was a senior British army lawyer. This is the truth about ‘lawfare’
Concerns about elderly Northern Ireland veterans are being used to protect the SAS from the Afghanistan inquiry
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
With tensions running so high in NI, here's @conorjkelly.bsky.social and my account of what happens if the DUP or Sinn Féin walk out of the Executive, and why the arrangements put in place in 2022 will not lead to an early election unless those parties work together: ukandeu.ac.uk/what-happens...
ukandeu.ac.uk
What happens next if power sharing at Stormont collapses over Drumcree? - UK in a changing Europe
Conor J. Kelly and Colin Murray discuss what would happen next if one of the major parties pulled out of the Stormont...
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
If the last 15 years of work on things like MH17 and chemical weapon use tells me anything is you'll need a lot more than mere evidence to change the mind of any denialist.
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Anthropic have discovered that the secret to getting lots of headlines for their IPO launch is to keep talking up the existential threat they pose... www.ft.com/content/c768...
ft.com
Anthropic warns of ‘existential risks to humanity’ in IPO prospectus
Long-awaited S1 filing reports Claude maker lost $8bn last year on $4.6bn in revenue
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Aoife O'Donoghue @aoifemod.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
📣 It's #InternationalSafeAbortion Day & #TheMorrigan we are hosting a series of blogs edited & starting with @ruthfletcher.bsky.social on witnessing legal implementation after #repealedthe8th - 9 posts from across disciplines & experience #safeabortion #reproductivejustice dflw.ie/witnessing-l...
dflw.ie
Witnessing legal implementation after #repealedthe8th: Soft law and the curious case of discontinuous care after a failed early medical abortion - Doing Feminist Legal Work
“It was like an epiphany. We just felt a weight lifted off us to know that there was even an option. They told me someone local to me where I could go and
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Bryant actually did "there are good people on all sides". Not seeing London riding to the rescue, TBH.
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Looking forward to this event at The MAC on Thursday evening, depending on how the place looks at that juncture given how the week is shaping up...
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
There has been so much comment on the Gravaghy Road protests being illegal. That call isn't as simple as reading out the relevant bits of the PPA 1998 were a spontaneous and peaceful demonstration is at issue. The counter protesters have Art 11 ECHR rights: hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-17...
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Patrick Graham has some (unfortunately timely) thoughts on Stormont durability and reform. There's a lot of food for thought in here, but it is strange to suggest that major Stormont reform would need a referendum supermajority (when reunification wouldn't): ukconstitutionallaw.org/2026/09/28/p...
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Dr Adam Evans @a-b-evans.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
For devolution anoraks with a keen sense of nostalgia for the simpler, happier times of English votes for English laws, this is an interesting retrospective from Dr EVEL himself @danielgover.bsky.social on how the system operated as system of legislative consent for English* MPs #devolution
tandfonline.com
The operation and abolition of ‘English Votes for English Laws’ in the UK parliament: differentiated voting rights and English ‘legislative consent’
In 2021 the UK House of Commons rescinded its short-lived ‘English Votes for English Laws’ (EVEL) procedures, which had delivered differentiated voting rights to MPs to compensate for asymmetric te...
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
There's being uninvolved and irrelevant, and then there's telling everyone that you are uninvolved and irrelevant... Chris Bryant has opted for the latter.
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Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Personally, I’d rather have healthy kids than mollycoddled millionaires
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The next election will now be the Drumcree Election one way or another. But it won't come in a month even if one party leaves the Executive. Other ministers remain in post for 24 weeks under the 2022 Act, so we'd still be looking at a Spring 2027 election. But will that lead to any "cooling off"?
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I don't want to just dunk on Bryant, who is new in post, but successive UK Govts have been profoundly complacent about the stability of NI even after several summers of rioting. That the Secretary of State is only coming to NI now is jaw dropping.
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Extra-constitutional action, to put it politely, is part of governance in NI. Jamie Bryson was not shouting about how horrified he was at illegal actions when the DUP were defying a series of court orders during their Brexit walkouts. None of this is a good thing, but one group can't claim virtue.
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Lisa O’Carroll @lisaocarroll.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Full story from Belfast’s high court Judge injuncts tomorrow’s March down Garvaghy Road as she urged all parties to “step back from the abyss” and consider the whole of society in NI www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Belfast court injuncts decision to allow Orange Order march down Garvaghy Road
Andy Burnham calls for calm as fears of unrest grow after request for countermarch in mainly nationalist area
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Quite a night at the Royal Courts of Justice...
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The horror that keeps happening over and over to the point where it is just part of the background news in NI: www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/courts/...
belfasttelegraph.co.uk
Belfast man beat pregnant mother of his two children to death with ‘Dad’ water bottle
Zak Hughes admits brutal murder of Sarah Montgomery that also resulted in loss of her 32-week-old unborn son Liam
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The Parades Commission decision on the Drumcree parade rests in large part on the police assessment of disorder. This is a huge call by the police and I can only think how awful this renewed attention must feel for the Quinn, O'Reilly and Nelson families: www.paradescommission.org/viewparade.a...
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
These campuses have been tried for decades by UK institutions and they are almost always either a distraction or a full on curse. The current Irish Government is now so immigration-obsessed that effective higher education policy doesn't get a look in...
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The Foggy Jew @hmcevansoneya.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
"I would be willing to consider changes, such as changing the flag and anthem and joining the Commonwealth" Now why would you include the Commonwealth in the question but not the headline? And then paywall the article? This is deliberate, misleading, atrocious journalism and abuse of polling data
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
We're through the looking glass...
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Splutter. Gasp. Pained noise. If I say anything I'm in big trouble, etc. World leading: www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Backlash as Indian oil heir made professor of sustainability by Newcastle University
Role for Anant Ambani, son of India’s richest person, who also runs a controversial mega-zoo, met with incredulity
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Far from being luddites, NI's legislators are world leading in dialing-in chamber speeches by feeding them into AI (Alex Easton is a stand out performer in Westminster in this regard). The public representative role is easier to hive off than constituency work: www.economist.com/britain/2026...
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Aoife O'Donoghue @aoifemod.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Really important report from colleagues @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social 👇 The education selection process in #NorthernIreland is all about those with money keeping it that way - hurrah for the middle classes while 10-11 years olds are stressed out of their minds! www.qub.ac.uk/News/Allnews...
qub.ac.uk
Featured Research
A new study has found that academic selection at age 10 -11 contributes to educational inequality, places unnecessary pressure on children and families, and is sustained more by social and political f...
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Remarkable, and yet not, that the Tony Blair Institute thinks it can plot a credible pathway to rejoining the EU & not mention NI (or any aspect of devolution) once but pushes the EU buying the UK's new "EU vision". They learned nothing and forgot ... everything. institute.global/insights/geo...
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Simon Usherwood @simonusherwood.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Tony Blair is at it again institute.global/insights/geo...
institute.global
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
If only all of the underlying legal problems and attendant difficulties for the UK's international relations went away this easily...
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
It's a good thing that parts of the British right have woken up to the fact that only they can properly kill this mad stuff, at least:
youtube.com
The English are a mongrel people, not an Aryan master race
YouTube video by Jacob Rees-Mogg
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The DUP's position on the Drumcree parade really is quite something. Article 11 is a qualified right. The authorities can restrict it in light of the rights of others and in the interest of preventing disorder. If it was an open and shut question, then there could never be parade restrictions in NI:
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Conor J. Kelly @conorjkelly.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Thanks to @irishtimes.com for publishing this article by @dkennytcd.bsky.social and me on the criteria for calling a border poll. www.irishtimes.com/politics/202... #BorderPoll #Ireland #BorderPoll #SpéirGorm #NorthernIreland #UKPolitics #IrishPolitics
irishtimes.com
How would a Border poll on Irish unity get called in Northern Ireland?
The Belfast Agreement sets out rules for calling a unity referendum, but is vague on some details
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Amazed it's news to university leadership that students are already getting lots of work experience through their degrees, given how hard it is for students to make ends meet even with multiple part time jobs. Maybe more VC focus on learning experience? www.timeshighereducation.com/news/paid-em...
timeshighereducation.com
Paid employment ‘biggest barrier’ to rolling out work placements
Survey comes after vice-chancellors said they wanted every undergraduate in England to undertake work experience as part of their degree
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Thanks to Sarah, I can't now unsee this. So you have to see it too...
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Yair Wallach @yairwallach.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
There are so many things wrong in this article, let me focus on two: on the perverse logic argument against sanctions, and on the betrayal of Israel's human rights and anti-occupation activists. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
This Israeli election could be the country’s last – this week I saw that for myself | Jonathan Freedland
Spend time on the ground and you see how high the stakes are for next month’s contest – for Israelis and Palestinians alike, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Exceptional timing for #calledtothebar to have this podcast lined up and ready to go before Donald Trump made the promotion of Irish unity international news:
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
The purest "careful now" Irish Times article imaginable on unification, in which Northern Catholics can have complex pro UK identities because it suits the argument, but the same apparently can't be said for Northern Protestants: www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Badenoch finally recognises the risk of inadequate UK climate policies as Europe spends the summer literally burning? Alas, no reader, she does not: www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Kemi Badenoch accuses Andy Burnham of ‘fiddling while Europe risks burning’
Tory leader claims prime minister is avoiding difficult decisions as she urges him to increase defence spending
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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 19/09/2026
I think it should be a source of deep embarrassment – and perhaps even shame – that Rishi Sunak has spoken out on this before Andy Burnham has.
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Wendy Lyon @wendylyon.eurosky.social · 18/09/2026
Facebook whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams:
Before the meeting closes, Prime Min-
ister Kenny has a favour to ask. Europe
is steaming about privacy and Facebook,
and they're about to adopt a law--the
General Data Protection Regulation
to crack down on how Big Tech uses per-
sonal data. Exactly who will enforce this
law is still being negotiated. Kenny wants
it to be Ireland. We do too. But we've got a
problemn because no one believes Ireland
will be tough enough on the tech com-
panies. With good reason.
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
So much nonsense from Reform that it's remarkable the DUP conference is swallowing, which all starts from the notion that the CTA is part of the peace process, when it dates to partition. Big immigration fines will mean operators must check/disrupt all travellers: www.irishnews.com/news/norther...
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
British journalism and polling are both utterly implicated in the Farage funding scandal iandunt.substack.com/p/british-jo...
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Anna Girling @annagirling.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
These cuts disproportionately target the arts & humanities: the Business School loses only three courses; the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures loses 48 – many of these are joint degrees, removing the optional breadth of study which has always been one of the appeals of a Scottish degree
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Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The pity of NI Unionism, from 1912, to 1985, to today, is its constitutional incoherence. It can't conceive that, in a UK Constitution based around parliamentary sovereignty, Westminster can assent to things it doesn't like, including the Windsor Framework: committees.parliament.uk/committee/76...
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