Jennifer Blair

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

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.

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...

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

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.

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

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!

‘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

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.

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.

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

‘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

'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

Armed police threatened to arrest Kent protester for holding Palestinian flag Officers accused Laura Murton who also had a sign saying ‘Free Gaza’ of supporting a proscribed organisation

Alarming but predictable - Armed police threatened to arrest Kent protester for holding Palestinian flag www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

The secret to Baltimore's extraordinary year This April, Baltimore saw five homicides.

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

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...

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"

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

❗️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...

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

this is good

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Updated kitten shots:)

a woman in a white dress stands in front of three other women with wheel time written in the corner Alt: From episode 5 season 1 Moiraine stands in front of Nyneave and Alanna all in white thumping her chest. with wheel time written in the corner

I have signed!!! #SaveWoT #TheWheelofTime