Cllr Dr Alex Powell

Oh wow! That makes me feel slightly better. When I was looking for my phone earlier I had music playing into my headphones from it, which really should have been a sign that it was, in fact, very close!

I don't want to say that my brain is overwhelmed, but I just 'lost' my phone for 5 minutes while it was in my pocket the whole time.

Every so often you hear calls for ministers to be more robust (or something) in the face of legal advice.

But one can be fairly certain government lawyers warned about both proscribing Palestine Action and cancelling local council elections.

And here we are - a defeat and a reversal respectively.

It was quite the time to start!!

I started my first academic job in September 2020 and it nearly broke me. There is no period where many university staff worked harder within the confines of what was possible and permissable.

Students begin Covid compensation claim against 36 more universities It comes after University College London settled a claim from students there over lost learning in the pandemic.

The consumerist mindset radiates from the quotes here. Universities do a whole bunch of things wrong. But this was a once in centruy pandemic where congregation was legally restricted. What were their expections in that context?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The link didn't copy over... Register here: warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fa...

Book launch flyer with full details of Alex's launch. The same description as is featured here can be found at the link in the post in a screen reader friendly format.

Tomorrow at 5pm, I am presenting an online launch of my book 'Queering UK Refugee Law: Sexual Diversity and Asylum Administration'. The event is free and open to all. With thanks to the Borders, Race, Ethnicity, Migration cross faculty group at the University of Warwick.

Register at the link

n.b. LGR = Local Government Reorganisation.

By cancelling these elections and leaving weeks where cancellation was the operating assumption. Labour ensured that elections will have a much more significant impact on the time and capacity of Chief Executives. There is no course of action more likely to undermine LGR than what has transpired.

District councils are responsible for the delivery of electoral services. All of these councils have elections teams in place. The relationship between LGR and elections was tangential, but predominantly must have rested on the capacity implications for the Council Chief Executives.

English councils face ‘race against time’ to arrange elections, leaders say Government drops plan to delay May ballots for 30 councils undergoing reorganisation, leaving 11 weeks to prepare

This is the consequence of thoughtless policy decisions from government. The councils who requested delays are by the government's own criteria those with capacity concerns. Yet they now have to put together elections in much more difficult circumstances.

www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

A smug picture of Matthew Goodwin from the metro captioned METRO MATTHEW GOODWIN INTERVIEW "Reform will give incentives to women who have more children and will penalise those who don't. Change is coming"

to be clear, Matthew Goodwin has one (1) child and should thus be penalised for failing to meet the replacement rate under the incentive scheme that he’s established here

This government has painted itself into the most utterly absurd situations in a manner that is simply staggering in terms of its incompetence.

Just bin fire of wasted political capital on objectively stupid decisions that, even if they had panned out, were low return for the government themselves.

Frameworks initially developed to help legal advisors support LGBTQ+ asylum claimants are increasingly used by decision-makers as reasons for refusal. @apowelllaw.bsky.social discusses the findings in his new book, Queering UK Refugee Law 📖👇

blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/border-crimi...

Recentring the Human in Representations of HIV A discussion of how public health campaigns and media representations reflect the realities of living with HIV.

At the Think Human Festival 2026 join me and @matthewhodson.bsky.social in the East Oxford Community Centre, 5pm April 16th, to discuss representations of HIV in a world where treatments have made the virus managable and untransmissible. #UequalsU

Register here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/recentring...

Thanks so much to @bordercrim.bsky.social for hosting this blog. One of the core findings of my book was around how models which were intended to support legal practitioners in helping their clients to show that they are, for example, a gay man were actually often working as a reason for refusal.

I should also say, I fully expect the UK government to ban under 16s from social media, and to ban them from using VPNs.

They'll do it, to get great headlines, but in the process ruin the lives of some marginalised teens and make most kids less safe.

Alex, Lois, and Kat with Hannah Spencer.

Great to be campaigning for @greenpartyhan.bsky.social in Gorton and Denton today!

Alex, Lois, and Kat with Hannah Spencer.

Great to be campaigning for @greenpartyhan.bsky.social in Gorton and Denton today!

Green members in Manchester to campaign for Hannah Spencer

Oxford and Oxfordshire Greens were up bright and early this morning to campaign for @greenpartyhan.bsky.social in Gorton and Denton!

So many Green posters and placards in the constituency!

‘Handmaid’s Tale future’: Reform’s Matt Goodwin sparks outcry with fertility comments Byelection candidate accused of indulging ‘alt right fantasy’ by suggesting women need ‘biological reality’ check

The distance between people like Matt Goodwin and outright white supremacist conspiracism is minescule. This kind of natalism is the other side of the Great Replacement Theory coin.

Racism, xenophobia, transphobia and patriarchy all stem from the same root.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

National Student Pride to end after reduction in sponsorship Organisers say sponsorship has dwindled over recent years, meaning this weekend's event will be its last.

This is extremely sad news. Obviously, there are reasons to be deeply critical of corporate sponsorship. But, at the same time. the existence of spaces specifically for queer students was a real positive for so many.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This is an interesting development. Allowing police forces to develop their own approach here risks deeply problematic (and arbitrary) inconsistency. The Home Secretary should confirm a national approach.

Until and unless the High Court makes an Order quashing the prescription, the law today and tomorrow is the same as the law yesterday.

Nothing at law has (yet) changed.

The proscription remains in effect. So, their position is the same as it was before. Additionally, anyone expressing support now still commits a criminal offence. The government are appealing. So, the status quo will hold for the time-being.

Now off to teach public law. This seems a good day to test whether my students are paying attention to the news 👀

If it goes up to the Supreme Court, it could in theory be years. But, there are already further hearings later in February. I would imagine, given the significance, the appeal will be fast tracked. Protracted appeals are in nobody's interest.

This speaks both to the ridiculousness of the situation and how wide of an effect proscription can have. There will be many ordinary members of the public raising 'reasonable suspicion' without realising what they are doing.

From a Rule of Law perspective, what comes next is vital.

To explain the ridiculousness of this, holding up a sign at a protest saying that you are pleased with today's HC judgment, could give rise to a 'reasonable suspicion' that you support a proscribed organisation.