iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Jennifer Blair

Senthorun S. Raj @senthorun.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

The UK has a “hostile immigration environment” acutely felt by people who seek asylum. For queer folk, this means dealing with patronising interviews, bureaucratic disbelief, and narrow stereotypes about what it means to be gay. I’ve written more about this here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

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Chai Patel @chaipatel.net · 15/04/2026

The real issue this highlights is decades of cutting legal aid, and creating a complicated, unfair and impossible to manage system, make people very vulnerable to anyone who tells them they can help, and can I have all your money please? Another way asylum seekers are exploited.

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Reposted by Jennifer Blair

Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

The ECHR doesn't oblige the UK to have a ramshackle & underfunded asylum system that is possible to exploit, the UK does that all by itself. It does oblige its states to provide protection to LGBT people facing very real threats of persecution, which gets missed here: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Legal advisers help migrants pose as gay to get asylum, undercover BBC investigation finds

The BBC exposes a shadow industry charging migrants thousands of pounds to help them cheat the asylum system.

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Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

This reminds me of when Braverman claimed people were pretending to convert to Christianity to claim asylum. As then, it ignores that majority of people only feel safe being out when they reach a country of safety. It ignores the obstacles they face. 7/ www.opendemocracy.net/en/abdul-eze...

opendemocracy.net

OPINION: No, religious conversion isn’t an asylum loophole

Clapham attack suspect Abdul Ezedi’s Christian conversion is under scrutiny. But faith can make asylum claims harder

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Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

This reporting puts LGBTQIA+ as well as migrants' rights, groups at more risk of far-right attacks, undermines safe spaces for LGBTQIA+ individuals, and makes it harder for LGBTQIA+ people seeking asylum, who already face significant barriers, to be recognised, all based on a handful of anecdotes 4/

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Jennifer Blair @squeakinglyjen.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

They never got compensation, an apology or publicity that their names were cleared. This seems likely to be more of the same. If you want people to be able to get reliable advice (not in skeezy women's bedrooms) then you need to fund a functioning legal aid system.

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Jennifer Blair @squeakinglyjen.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

The utterly threadbare nature of this 'sting' and the complete lack of evidence that any fake asylum claims are being granted in volume does not seem to trouble the racist and populist politicians piling on. After the Mail sting people's careers were ruined before they were exonerated

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Jennifer Blair @squeakinglyjen.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

LGBTQI+ claims can be very tricky, unless sexual orientation and abuse are well documented. I have acted in two LGBTQI+ claims where I was suspicious the client wasn't being truthful (not my job to police) and both were refused. Every reason to believe this fake claim would have been refused too.

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Jennifer Blair @squeakinglyjen.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

So all the BBC have is one creepy woman, an initial general call with a lawyer and the suspicion the creepy woman got the journalist's number from a lawyer, but it might also have been from an LGBT group. There's no reason to believe the journalist's fake claim would have been granted.

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Jennifer Blair @squeakinglyjen.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

There is a reference to initial info one lawyer gave them on the phone later on, but I'll remind you that lawyers can give general info out on the phone - that isn't the same as advancing a false claim. The lawyers from the similar Mail sting were cleared: www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/...

legalfutures.co.uk

Third Daily Mail sting solicitor cleared of misconduct

All three solicitors accused by the Daily Mail of offering to help an undercover reporter concoct false asylum claims have now been cleared of misconduct.

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Jennifer Blair @squeakinglyjen.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

The BBC article is here: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article.... They don't declare how many lawyers they contacted, but presumably they called around and got nothing interesting out of the immigration lawyers they called so went with their story about this one random woman.

bbc.co.uk

Legal advisers help migrants pose as gay to get asylum, undercover BBC investigation finds

The BBC exposes a shadow industry charging migrants thousands of pounds to help them cheat the asylum system.

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Jennifer Blair @squeakinglyjen.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

This BBC undercover 'sting' alleging a sophisticated conspiracy of fraudulent immigration claims is complete rubbish. Their main story isn't about a lawyer, just 1 unethical creepy woman who brought a stranger into her bedroom to fleece him for a fake claim that would likely have been refused anyway

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Jennifer Blair @squeakinglyjen.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

Or their definition of legal representation basically being a duty phone line or something.

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Jennifer Blair @squeakinglyjen.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

I'm a bit concerned that the main reason for the new body seems to be to give Parliament more control over their procedures and administration (and yes recruitment), but a bit alarmed about the prospect of a new DfT appearing.

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Colin Yeo @colinyeo.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

1. At last a few details on the proposed new immigration and asylum appeals body. Letter from Home Sec to chair of the Justice Committee. Full text here committees.parliament.uk/publications...

committees.parliament.uk

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Reposted by Jennifer Blair

Dr Alex Fitzpatrick @animalarchaeology.com · 20/11/2025

Labour is effectively pushing to make it impossible for mixed nationality families to have a stay-at-home parent.

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Reposted by Jennifer Blair

KS_1968 @karenroberts.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

Jenrick making things up again. His Dad was clearly never a gas fitter. Otherwise he certainly couldn't have afforded to have sent him to private school.

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Reposted by Jennifer Blair

Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

The news from the past few days is a stunning example of what happens when the state decides it wants to crush just one guy

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Jennifer Blair @squeakinglyjen.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

This rescue kitten has been brought to my door (I co-run a local cat rescue group). A foster has been lined up immediately because I should think if you spend more than 5 seconds with him you’d keep him. He is suffering starvation issues but otherwise seems ok. VERY CUDDLY!

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Reposted by Jennifer Blair

Dr Jo Wilding @jowilding.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

Great to see the brilliant McIntoshes in the Guardian, arguing for the right to funded legal representation for the Windrush Compensation Scheme. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025... Please sign their petition (link in the article) if you haven't already.

theguardian.com

‘It’s about justice’: the couple pushing for legal aid for Windrush scandal claims

Home Office behaviour has convinced Hetticia and Vanderbilt McIntosh that only experts lawyers can change system

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Jennifer Blair @squeakinglyjen.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

I think charities still use cheques. I opened a community organisation bank account recently and got a chequebook and paying in book. Weirdly paying in cash is actually harder for me because I don't live near a branch and you can photograph or even just post to branch a cheque but not cash.

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Reposted by Jennifer Blair

Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 07/08/2025

The student newspaper. This fell. To the student. Newspaper.

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

'The number of student-initiated PhD scholarships funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) is set to fall by 60 per cent when new doctoral training arrangements come into effect next year, new figures show.' 1/3

timeshighereducation.com

‘Student-led’ AHRC PhD places ‘to fall by at least 60 per cent’

Internal modelling released under Freedom of Information enquiry reveals extent of PhD scholarship cuts, with academics fearing impact could be greater still

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Reposted by Jennifer Blair

Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

1. We interrupt this programming for some LEGITIMATELY GOOD NEWS Violent crime in Baltimore has PLUMMETED to historic lows How did the city do it? Baltimore adopted a comprehensive set of "woke" policies, treating violence as a public health issue

This April, Baltimore saw five homicides.

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Reposted by Jennifer Blair

Dr Maja Grundler @majagrundler.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

I am looking for UK immigration law practitioners to fill in a short survey about their engagement with legal academic work. There is also an option to take part in an interview at the end. Please do consider taking part and share with your networks: app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/northumbri...

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Reposted by Jennifer Blair

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

Reverend Clive Foster speaking as the first Windrush Commissioner. He talks of encountering the scandal & those affected in his Nottingham church. "One by one, people came quietly and anxiously ... people who suddenly feared being treated as strangers in the only country they had ever known"

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Reposted by Jennifer Blair

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

At Hackney Town Hall, where the Office of the Windrush Commissioner is launching today

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Declassified UK @declassifieduk.org · 12/06/2025

❗️BREAKING — The UK Ministry of Defence admits it is “currently training” Israeli military personnel in Britain. The Labour government has until now refused to answer questions about this, which we covered last year. 👉 www.declassifieduk.org/amid-lebanon...

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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Quitting my lucrative job as an international fentanyl smuggler to pursue my true passion, vacuuming the hallways of a Holiday Inn Express

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Reposted by Jennifer Blair

Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

this is good

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Reposted by Jennifer Blair

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

Efficiency is when you make the troops homeless *before* they're veterans

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Jennifer Blair @squeakinglyjen.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

It's one thing to have rules - as strict as you like - about who can come and study and work in the UK but it's totally different when you have rules that keep a husband and wife apart. It's not a comparative situation. The requirements should be extremely modest, like in other countries.

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Jennifer Blair @squeakinglyjen.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

I was appalled at the pressure put on her, just for her to have her husband live with her. Of course he'd work once here, but that couldn't be considered in the test. Just her earnings. We had a hearing adjourned and she put her head on the table and sobbed because it meant she had to keep going.

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Jennifer Blair @squeakinglyjen.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

Her mental health was very badly affected by separation from her husband throughout that time and he was desperately worried about her. He couldn't get a visit visa to come to the UK. And she was working a full day as a careworker and then working a second job in the evening, again care work.

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Jennifer Blair @squeakinglyjen.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

She'd had a miscarriage but couldn't take time off sick (even though she was) because if she didn't work for 6 months consistently her partner visa couldn't go in. She couldn't visit her husband abroad after her miscarriage for the same reason. She therefore couldn't try again to get pregnant either

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Jennifer Blair @squeakinglyjen.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

The report doesn't really humanise the issues very much so I wanted to share an example of the cruelty of the financial requirement for partner visas. I represented a British woman working two jobs to bring her partner to the UK. 0 hours contract care work.

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Jennifer Blair @squeakinglyjen.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

The MAC reports how much higher the current partner financial requirement is compared with other countries and how it doesn't effectively balance family life - including the harm caused to children separated from a parent. Apparently partner visa holders have fairly low income on average

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Jennifer Blair @squeakinglyjen.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has reported back to the government on the financial requirement for a partner visa - assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/684704... - vague but recommending a financial requirement in the £25k region.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk

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Reposted by Jennifer Blair

Siân Pearce @sianp.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

This really gets me. I'm 45, there's not many front benchers a lot younger than me, and Northern Ireland was a massive part of life as we grew up. The idea that settlement should be tossed is incomprehensible to me.

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Reposted by Jennifer Blair

Ian Fraser @ianfraser.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

The Telegraph has deleted the seemingly made-up article titled “We earn £345k but soaring private school fees mean we can’t go on five holidays” featuring “Al & Alexandra Moy” from its website... but, if interested, you can access an archived version here. h/t @alanrew.bsky.social archive.is/s1GPF

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Jennifer Blair @squeakinglyjen.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

So if youve had your asylum claim withdrawn automatically+further submissions rejected without a right of appeal, can you actually be removed from the UK without anyone ever deciding your asylum claim? Seems...wrong?! (Reading this case fyi: tribunalsdecisions.service.gov.uk/utiac/jr-202...)

tribunalsdecisions.service.gov.uk

Tribunal decisions

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Alasdair Mackenzie @alasdairmackenzie.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

In my experience most refugees are desperate to learn English and if they don’t, the reason usually isn’t that they somehow lack motivation to integrate but that funding for English classes has been slashed over the course of many years

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Jennifer Blair @squeakinglyjen.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

I'd really, really like to see this covered with the prominence of the original Mail article. It deserves it and represents a very serious injustice as part of a picture of far right attacks on human rights defenders in the UK.

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CJ McKinney @cjmckinney.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

"Despite being entirely innocent of any professional misconduct, Khan was ruined by the combined actions of the Mail, the government and the SRA"

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Jon Featonby @jonfeatonby.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

Ahead of report stage next week, the government have tabled their amendments to the Border Security bill, including trying to set a time limit for the hearing of some asylum appeals publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbi...

publications.parliament.uk

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