Sign in

mwhoyle96.bsky.social

@mwhoyle96.bsky.social
314 followers 68 following 2.8K posts

Sometime Oxford lawyer

PostsRepliesMedia
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The idea that "deindustrialisation" is a phenomenon that started 40 years ago is silly. Take the British car industry: it was in ruins by the 1970s as a result of (a) government planners setting out to wreck Birmingham (b) forced mergers (c) terrible industrial relations and (d) poor management.
100
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I do find these kind of cases odd. The Gillick-style challenge leads to this, litigating hypothetical questions of criminal law abstracted from tue facts of any real case or dispute. caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/admin/2...
caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk
Sex Matters, R (on the application of) v Director of Public Prosecutions - Find Case Law - The National Archives
220
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
This list of charges is quite amusing. A colleague from South Africa gently noted my worldview took much for granted. www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/lawyers...
lawgazette.co.uk
Lawyers lament UK’s ‘backsliding’ on rule of law
A lengthy list of concerns flagged in global bar survey includes government attacks on immigration solicitors.
120
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
In reality, no amount of money that might even hypothetically be made available could fix the problems in the CJS for the reasons Leveson has identified. But the reality is that money isn't going to be made available in a world where the government is going to need to cut spending further.
100
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
If this wasn’t just entirely predictable. Wait until we also get a wave of challenges to rent as well. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
England’s housing courts at breaking point as renters battle no-fault evictions
Courts said to be ‘overloaded’ as landlords sell properties and tenants with nowhere to go try to delay evictions
231
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
We have spent the 57 years since the Family Law Revision Act 1969 slowly reversing the heresy that 18 year olds are adults. It will soon be complete.
000
Reposted by @mwhoyle96.bsky.social
Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I kinda get the sentiment but I really don't think it's a good idea to be blaming Thatcher in 2026.
7912715
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
This is such a complicated analysis that I’m not convinced it tells you much.
000
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Just have them contribute to a central fund for building renewables at scale. It’s silly to tax developers by compelling them to build localised and less efficient energy projects.
130
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
The idea that the founding fathers were clueless as to the risk of a failing political culture seems implausible to me. The problem is that you can’t really solve that risk by constitutional design. You are at the mercy of future generations maintaining that culture.
110
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Can't believe Michael Gove did this! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Graduate job vacancies drop by almost 50% in a year
Job site Adzuna said the number of graduate vacancies was the lowest since 2016
000
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
The route by which these have been “banned”, such as to justify trading standards seizing them, is highly opaque as @giffordhead.co.uk noted. I struggle to see how an ordinary person can make heads or tails of it. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Dozens of disposable barbecues seized in Hull after ban
Officers visited more than 60 local premises and found five were still selling the single-use items.
131
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
I agree with this policy, but the point of devolution is that local authorities get to make choices about services locally. Burnham is bragging that something he did with devolved power is now being imposed nationally. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Free bus travel for disabled people in England to be extended to 24 hours a day
The change, which has been welcomed by campaign groups, will come into effect in England from April.
110
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Inevitable really, once you start to interfere with the normal market mechanism for pricing scarce goods. This is just a different way of ascertaining what people are willing to pay. www.londoncentric.media/p/london-lan...
londoncentric.media
London landlords’ latest tactic: Inverse bidding wars
Plus: London’s most ‘given up on August’ street • What caused the big fire? • Dodgy shops raids to come • Buy a kayak, the floods are coming.
351
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
NIMBYs love an affordability mandates because they are effectively very high taxes on new housing, while looking altruistic. They have suckered in progressives that way, but if we really want housing to allocate on a social basis the gov should simply build it itself.
162
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Labour will do anything to help businesses except (a) make energy affordable (b) make employing people affordable (c) permenantly reduce business rates (d) incentivise local government to encourage growth (e) remove the power of local government to block growth or (f) cut the regulatory burden.
110
Reposted by @mwhoyle96.bsky.social
Scott Wortley @scottwortley.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
samaritans.org
Tips on posting about suicide online safely
Tips on posting about suicide online safely
022
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
As I posted on the other place, the Samaritans advice is to ask people to not try to attribute suicide to a sungle cause or event, not least because it encourages people facing similar circumstances to see suicide as the obvious or only response.
140
Reposted by @mwhoyle96.bsky.social
ironeconomist.bsky.social @ironeconomist.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
We took two hours to go from the government telling everyone it’s an emergency if you have a bbq to the emergency services begging everyone to stop calling about the bbqs that were apparently such an emergency that we used the emergency broadcast system. Incredible work. No notes.
39726
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
No one is ever better off not being here with us, or their families. Suicide is preventable, not inevitable.
020
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
The government is just re-arranging deckchairs on the Titanic. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
Unemployed young people to join AI boot camps to get job-ready
Pilot scheme will provide three weeks of training as part of UK government’s latest attempt to address Neets crisis
100
Reposted by @mwhoyle96.bsky.social
ironeconomist.bsky.social @ironeconomist.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Anyone claiming national grid has neglected investment doesn’t know the first thing about national grid. National grid is investing £70B over five years, more than two years of total household spending on electricity!
98526
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
JBM is right that the problem is mostly not too many grads per se, but too many grads in a world of high minimum wage, low market wage growth and terrible housebuilding.
100
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
The reality is that much of English law only works because its too time consuming and expensive for most people to do anything with it. Once that control goes it all gets a little squiffy.
110
Reposted by @mwhoyle96.bsky.social
Matthew Holehouse @matthewholehouse.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Public use of AI is doing weird, unpredictable and damaging things to the state. A dive into how Grok lawyering is upending the employment tribunals www.economist.com/britain/2026...
22238106
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
UEFA / FIFA rn: youtu.be/VpwEX8fAt1A?...
youtu.be
The Day Today - WAR - edited for brevity.
YouTube video by itsaride
000
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
JBM needs to produce a further article on this issue. I know why left leaning people like this argument, because it means (a) the “rich” are at fault and (b) we don’t need to work with evil “developers” www.ft.com/content/42ad...
ft.com
Letter: Why construction alone won’t solve housing crisis
From Katie Eimear Hogben, Brussels, Belgium
100
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
You would think that experienced Kings Counsel would not need to be told blow by blow that he was breaching an order the judge had made just days before.
100
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
The rule of law is when lawyers can do whatever they want, even disobey a judge to his face.
100
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Sorry someone accidentally used the Black Mirror script in real life again.
010
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Lammy is “incompetent“ because he dared to even slightly question the criminal bar’s inexplicable and often jingoistic love of the jury.
230
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Doing things that work long term and doing things that people feel quickly are not at all the same.
000
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Authoritarianism is when you are held accountable for, prima facie, disobeying express orders of the court.
120
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Very intrigued by this dissent in Pinhal v Portgual. It seems to confirm what sceptics have been saying for a long time, i.e. that "practical and effective" and "living instrument" together operate as an incessant one-way rachet. Indeed, for Judge Serghides, that is the point.
120
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
I recall that this was one area where the late lamented Giles Peaker and I were fully in agreement. These cases (other than the judgment of DJ Cridge) have gone completely wrong. caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewcc/2026/42
caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk
Stonewater Limited v Rosie Marie Harris - Find Case Law - The National Archives
000
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Not four weeks ago I was joking with colleagues that this is what we were going to end up with.
000
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
As @ironeconomist.bsky.social knows all too well, this is the kind of data/narrative confrontation which really upsets people on this site in particular.
000
Reposted by @mwhoyle96.bsky.social
Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
I don't usually write personal stuff, but a few words about my experience of being interviewed by Gary Stevenson. It started with a nice chat, comparing taste in hoodies... then the tone changed. He demanded to know why I'd deleted a tweet criticising him.
43436124
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
But the problem is that lots of activists are promoting these wealth taxes on the basis they will raise tons of revenue for all different kinds of public spending. It has become all things to all people.
110
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
We’ve entered a complete doom spiral. Planning law means we don’t get the energy or homes we need. NIMBYs then use the lack of homes and energy to object to further development. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Curry, bagels … and AI? Londoners fight plan for huge datacentre in Brick Lane
Residents and council say creating affordable housing is more urgent than ‘high-frequency trading’ in nearby City
120
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Well yes, if officials within the system stop following a particular rule, then thats the end of said rule. The rule of law, and respect for individual rights, is everywhere and always a political phenomenon, not a legal one.
100
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Very sad news, such a lovely and clever man. A more complete version of this story appears in Peter Millett‘s monograph, but I will do my best.
171
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Britain and France were not tactically or strategically defeated by the Egyptians - they would have retaken the Canal. They were defeated by the Americans who were desperate to end Europe‘s ability to intervene abroad. The irony underscoring eg Vance begging Europe to intervene in the Strait now.
100
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Relevant again.
000
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
www.standard.co.uk/homesandprop... The focus on ”empty“ homes is a distraction, and a dangerous one.
standard.co.uk
London councils told to acquire empty homes to help solve housing crisis
The number of unoccupied dwellings in London has increased by 81 per cent since 2016, when Sir Sadiq Khan took office
100
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Joshua’s reporting remains head and shoulders above anyone else - in particular, noticing that the Filton 4 themselves were concerned that the terrorism connection angle was potentially prejudicial to their having a fair trial and wanted it suppressed.
100
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Expect more of the same, also coming to landlord and tenant/rents. it’s all well and good passing laws and saying they ultimately make a good compromise between X and Y, but they have to be operated in the real, imperfect and finite world.
000
mwhoyle96.bsky.social @mwhoyle96.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
I look forward to a satirical take on how oppressive Paddington Culture has become.
010
Reposted by @mwhoyle96.bsky.social
Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 31/05/2026
I get their emails for some reason and every single one of them is basically "X wants to do Y, here's how to object", infuriating
710910