iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

Will only be on this platform intermittently for the foreseeable future and won’t be checking DMs Email me or find me on LinkedIn

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

Genuine request: Can anyone share links to credible articles that argue that Maduro *won* the 2024 presidential election? Trying to get my head round the arguments. Plenty of articles stating he lost the 2024 election, but struggling to find reliable sources suggesting he won

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Useful analysis by @joshuarozenberg.bsky.social on the history and legal issues around Shamima Begum’s latest attempt to challenge the removal of her British citizenship open.substack.com/pub/rozenber...

open.substack.com

Begum tries again

Former ISIS bride says she may have been victim of traffickers

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

As her lawyer, Gareth Pierce, points out: “It is impossible to dispute that a 15-year-old British child was lured and deceived for the purposes of sexual exploitation... It is equally impossible not to acknowledge the catalogue of failures to protect a child known to be at risk”

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Good to see reports that the European Court of Human Rights is pressing the UK government to justify whether it acted lawfully in stripping Shamima Begum of her British citizenship

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

That we seem to be collectively losing our minds over the granting of citizenship, several years ago, to someone who expressed some awful views on social media more than a decade ago, says something about the state we are in, I think

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

If you can’t string together a coherent argument without degenerating into childish insults and name-calling, your argument isn’t up to much

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

The shadow Home Secretary, Chris Philp, describing a British citizen as a “despicable scumbag” is something of a new low for British politics

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

“These reports raise serious questions about compliance with international human rights law and standards, including obligations to protect life and prevent cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment... Preventable deaths in custody are never acceptable” www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

theguardian.com

UN experts raise ‘grave concern’ over treatment of Palestine Action-linked hunger strikers

Special rapporteurs say handling of prisoners raises questions over UK’s obligations under human rights laws

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

What does this kind of stunt achieve, apart from adding to the already long list of pointless arrests, prosecutions and potential imprisonment? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

theguardian.com

Greta Thunberg arrested in London over ‘Palestine Action prisoners’ placard

Two other people held on suspicion of criminal damage after protest at insurance company’s offices

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

Statement from the PCS Union on the hunger strikers, urging the Justice Secretary, David Lammy, “to meet with their legal representatives at the earliest opportunity to discuss matters” www.pcs.org.uk/news-events/...

pcs.org.uk

PCS statement on treatment of hunger strikers on remand

PCS is deeply concerned about the developing situation facing eight pro-Palestinian prisoners on remand who are currently on hunger strike.

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

“She says she dealt with serious criminals including drug dealers and terrorists in her day-to-day duties... She says the job ruined her life as she was traumatised by it, ‘not so much from the prisoners but from the other staff, who were vile’.” insidetime.org/newsround/pr...

insidetime.org

Prison appoints underage girl to officer post

A 17-year-old girl was hired by the Ministry of Justice to work as a prison officer at HMP Erlestoke – despite a rule saying that no-one under 18 can do the job. The recruitment of officers is hand…

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

“Nobody wins in this. Individuals cannot use blackmail to compel democratically elected government …[but] in this case humanitarian grounds trump a kind of bloody-minded decision to keep these people remanded in custody” www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

theguardian.com

‘It feels like being suffocated’: Palestine Action activist in HMP Peterborough vows to continue hunger strike

Teuta Hoxha says she remains determined despite growing fears for her health and five other prisoners staging protest

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

What happens to the body when a prisoner is on hunger strike, and needs to be done to prevent an avoidable tragedy? Here's Dr James Smith, an accident and emergency physician, speaking at the press conference earlier this week www.youtube.com/live/czGxW-r...

youtube.com

Live: Palestine Action hunger strikers - family members of prisoners hold press conference

YouTube video by The Independent

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

“The government must... examine the arguments for bail and the questions around prison communication. At present it looks dangerously complacent, given the prisoners’ rapidly deteriorating health” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

theguardian.com

The Guardian view on the Palestine Action hunger strikers: the government is trying to ignore this protest | Editorial

Editorial: Doctors have warned that the lives of these prisoners are now in danger. Pretending this is not happening is not good enough

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

This feels like one of those moments where we risk passing the point of no return, not only for the six prisoners, but for what it says about how the state exercises its power when life is at risk

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

If ministers do not act, it will be difficult to avoid the conclusion that they just do not care, or that they care more about gaining clout points for appearing tough, than about demonstrating what a compassionate and empathetic politics looks like

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

At such times, there is a vital, and honourable, role for the state to intervene This is particularly the case when an individual is detained and has little or no say over what happens to them

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

There will be those who argue that the solution is easy: the hunger strikers can start eating again And while there is reason in this view, there are many situations where the weight of circumstances can leave individuals feeling overwhelmed and in despair

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

The rights or wrongs of the alleged offences, are not the issue here The question is: are MPs and the public prepared to allows ministers to continue to avoid taking even the most minimal steps to establish what options there may be to resolve the situation before someone dies

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Ministers have repeatedly refused to meet with MPs, lawyers of family members to discuss the situation Indeed earlier this month David Lammy gave the impression that he was unaware that the hunger strike was taking place

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Yet while staff are required to make every effort to understand why prisoners are refusing food, those in a position to act – notably those in the Ministry of Justice and Downing Street – have shown a complete lack of curiosity

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Prison Service policy emphasises that staff “must make every effort to try and find out why the prisoner is refusing food and/or fluids and address the reasons for their refusal”

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

The letter goes on to argue that the Justice Secretary is “uniquely placed” to “bring about a resolution of the situation, such that the increasing deterioration of our clients’ health does not lead to their death”

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

In a letter to the Justice Secretary, David Lammy, lawyers for the hunger strikers warned that their deaths were “increasingly more than a mere possibility. It is a likelihood”

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

All six, ranging in age from 20 to 31 years old have been, at the time of writing, on hunger strike for between 13 and 47 days

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

The six prisoners – all in prison awaiting trial – have been charged with various offences related to a break-in at a defence firm in Bristol and a separate break in at RAF Brize Norton None of them have been convicted of any offences

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Does the government believe that it has more to gain from inaction over six young, unconvicted prisoners currently starving themselves to death, than it does from acting to prevent an avoidable tragedy? A thread

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

This, from @chetanbhatt.bsky.social’s “The Revolutionary Road to Me”, on home workers subsidising their employer’s failure to provide office space (and the broader commodification of their lives) is spot on I think

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

“Could have been worse”. The Starmer government political epitaph

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

I’m not making a party political point here As an old Comms professional, I just think that government Comms should at least be competent

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

That Starmer “letter to my son” video is just so bad. Who on earth thought it was a good idea? The Downing Street Comms operation appears to be in full sabotage mode

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

There are many, quite mundane, reasons why prisoners might be released in error, I told BBC Verify “No number of cell checks will help you identify the error”, I said, if the prison is unaware that a mistake had been made www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cl...

bbc.co.uk

BBC Verify Live: Debunking AI video claiming to show moment of Delhi Red Fort car blast

Latest updates from the BBC's specialists in fact-checking, verifying video and tackling disinformation.

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

I spoke to BBC Verify the other day about the silly suggestion by Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, that prisons could check prisoners’ cells to work out if they have been accidentally released

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

There are a number of good, hard-working Police and Crime Commissioners I’ve also never been a fan of the Police and Crime Commissioner model So this is a welcome development, though let’s see the detail of what is to follow www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

theguardian.com

Police and crime commissioners to be abolished, government to announce

System introduced in 2012 across England and Wales has faced criticism from police chiefs

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

In short: * The government department responsible for the courts * headed by the Lord Chancellor, David Lammy, who has a legal responsibility to uphold the rule of law appears openly to be flouting the law and dismissing what the Prime Minister told parliament Extraordinary

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Today The Times reports that the Ministry of Justice “has no plans to move biologically male criminals from a women’s jail despite the Supreme Court ruling that single-sex institutions must be based on biology” www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

thetimes.com

Biological men still in HMP Downview women’s jail despite trans ruling

The Ministry of Justice has no plans to move the five prisoners six months after the Supreme Court ruling requiring single-sex institutions

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Yesterday the Prime Minister said the Supreme Court ruling on the meaning of sex in the Equality Act “must be implemented in full and at all levels” This was in response to a question from Rebecca Paul MP on why male prisoners were still being held in Downview women’s prison

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

The Sentencing Bill is due for Second Reading in the House of Lords tomorrow (12 Nov) Second Reading is the first opportunity for the Lords to discuss the purpose and principles behind the Bill The House of Lords Library has produced this briefing: lordslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri...

lordslibrary.parliament.uk

Sentencing Bill: HL Bill 142 of 2024–26

The Sentencing Bill is a government bill that started in the House of Commons. It received its first reading in the House of Lords on 30 October 2025 and is scheduled to have its second reading in the...

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

In politics, as in other walks of life, what we tolerate tends to become the norm The current norm in relation to prisons, and criminal justice more generally, is terrible Perhaps it’s time for us to work for a new one

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

And while we should always have high expectations of our political leaders, I wonder whether we should also be better at making our expectations of them clearer We should not be self-censoring in our criticism for fear of being consigned to the naughty step

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

But he didn’t. And there lies the problem If senior politicians are not prepared to say what needs to be said, loud and clear, in public, should we be surprised that systems change in our prisons and wider criminal justice system is so difficult to achieve?

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

I feel uncomfortable writing this Lord Timpson is someone who appears to care about prisons and prisoners Had he said what he thought, rather than what the government message grid demanded, he would probably have given a better speech

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Richard Garside @richardjgarside.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

After that, his speech degenerated into the kind of routine Ministry of Justice talking points familiar to anyone who has had to sit through a ministerial address It was a missed opportunity

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