Thom Dyke

“The trouble with you, Spode, is that just because you have succeeded in inducing a handful of half-wits to disfigure the London scene by going about in black shorts, you think you're someone…”

- The Code of the Woosters

En passant, but if PG Wodehouse has taught us anything, it’s that we should be suspicious of any group which insists on wearing a uniform:

Hugely proud of Jason Brickhill for his work - anyone who doubts the efficacy of deploying IHRL in domestic litigation should take a look at paragraphs 20 to 23.

"Human dignity has no nationality. The fact that an individual is a non-citizen or undocumented does not mean that her / his basic human rights can be violated without consequences. That flies in the face of the founding provisions and values of our Constitution".

The judgment of Adams J in Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia and Others v Operation Dudula and Others (2023/044685) [2025] ZAGPJHC 1102 is a recent classic of the genre, and deserves to be read far beyond SA: www.saflii.org/cgi-bin/disp...

I’m struck by the tone in which judgments are written in South Africa. Not just in the Constitutional Court, but across the board, where they often provide an object lesson in the power of quietly dignified judicial writing.

The great poet of the English Republic and of free speech comes to @innertemple.org.uk
“Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.”
#milton #Paradise_Lost #Areopagitica PS that Royal Proclamation is Charles II banning his books

Are you in Oxford on November 6? If so, consider joining me for my talk, "War Unbound"! Details below.

Vote Camembert and Brie!

#stopthesteal #makekittiesgreatagain

lawpawcalendar.com/vote-now-for...

Periodic reminder that Erskine May is freely available online

Grey cat sleeping inside a lever arch file on a table.

Not how. Why.

Many thanks to my instructing solicitors and opponents for saying kind words about me, and for Chambers and Partners for bumping me up to Band 4 in crime for 2026! Special thanks go to my fantastic clerking team, not least David Landa and Lauren Carter.

Having been described in previous years as “punchy” and “pugilistic”, it’s a genuine pleasure to have my advocacy recognised in Chambers and Partners as compassionate and empathetic. It goes to show that you can be every bit as effective without any need for aggression in court.

The two books I recommended were:

(1) Vicarious Trauma in the Legal Profession, by Fleck and Francis (lnkd.in/eMXZgxut); and

(2) Graphic, by Alexa Koenig and Andrea Lampros (lnkd.in/e7WVfY97).

Special thanks to Emma Fielding and Aaron Dolan for their organising prowess (and for inexplicably elevating me to KC on my name badge!).

…Green, Lady Justice Whipple, The Hon. Mrs Justice Maura McGowan, HHJ Dean, HHJ Nott, HHJ Lucas KC, Heidi Stonecliffe KC, Sarah Clarke KC, Claire Davies KC, Ben Aina KC, Samuel Skinner KC, and Sally Hobson.

Congratulations to The Criminal Bar Association for their inaugural Young Bar Day which took place on Saturday. It was a pleasure and a privilege to to speak to the next generation of advocates about wellbeing and mental health issues, alongside a stellar cast including The Rt Hon Lord Justice…

If you're in Copenhagen October 10, come see Andrew Cayley KC, who ran the Palestine investigation at the #ICC, give a
Centre for Military Studies talk entitled "The Future of International Criminal Justice: An Insider’s View." 15:00 at the Law Faculty. Register: cms.polsci.ku.dk/events/the-f...

www.dekachambers.com/2025/10/10/t...

It’s an expensive time of year…!

Good to be here, in such esteemed company! I can offer nothing more than blood, sweat and tears. And cat photos. And the odd meme. And the usual self-congratulatory twaddle which spills over from LinkedIn.

Wotcha!

Murder victim jokes in Cambridgeshire Police WhatsApp chat - BBC News Messages "read like a grotesque carnival of discrimination and abuse", a misconduct hearing is told.

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

It was great fun to give a lecture to the Criminal Law and Constitution Research Group at PUCRS, alongside Thiago Alves Pinto and John Burke, on the vexed question of the relationship between the UK and ECtHR in the context of the whole life sentences and Hutchinson: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJZk...

Today is the 89th anniversary of The Battle of Cable Street when the people of the East End of London halted the march of Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts through Stepney.

It's always nice to be recognised in the Legal 500, where I'm ranked in the 2026 edition as a leading junior in the areas of crime, fraud, and police law. Thanks to my solicitors and referees for your kind words!

Proving Genocide: A Follow-up to Marko Milanovic In his recent – as always highly inspiring – post on proving genocide, Marko Milanovic makes five points on the “correct legal position” of which I will challenge here the second and fifth one. 1. Fir...

Proving Genocide: A Follow-up to Marko Milanovic | by Kai Ambos

Pop by New College for the #OxOpenDay! We’d love to show you around and have a chat about studying at Oxford

#oxford #openday #newcollege

Targeted Killings: Israeli soldier from Munich allegedly shot unarmed men in Gaza Two snipers in the Israeli army are thought to have committed war crimes in Gaza. Video evidence appears to corroborate those accusations. One of them is a young man from Bavaria.

Two snipers in the Israeli army are thought to have committed war crimes in Gaza. Video evidence appears to corroborate those accusations. One of them is a young man from Bavaria. #GazaSniper www.spiegel.de/internationa...

A fascinating examination of the politics underlying the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine by Kate McInnes. Along with the decision in the al-Assad warrants case, is this an inflection point in the battle between international law and the rules based international order?