David Anderson

A reminder of the HL Constitution Committee’s report on the appointment and removal of permanent secretaries, including the cabinet secretary publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5803/ld....

The most dangerous man in America Understanding Stephen Miller: “Trump’s Prime Minister”

New post out:

"The most dangerous man in America"

Understanding "Trump's Prime Minister" Stephen Miller - the nexus of all the streams of right-wing thought and behaviour that embody the current regime.

(£/free trial)

open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...

Spotlight are spot-on, as so often

Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill - Hansard - UK Parliament Hansard record of the item : 'Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill' on Wednesday 4 February 2026.

I no longer sit on the constitution committee, but some of your concerns (which I share) have been raised with the main parties and were aired at second reading this evening: hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2026-0....

Meet Hereditary Peer Lord Hampton – The Only Serving Teacher In Parliament Lord Hampton, believed to be the only serving teacher in Parliament, tells Matilda Martin of a life divided between the work bench and the crossben...

This is great: Meet Hereditary Peer Lord Hampton – The Only Serving Teacher In Parliament www.politicshome.com/news/article...

He certainly brings his experience to bear – as here, on the need for flexibility over pay for support staff

Murder and MI5: the extraordinary battle over what stays secret Can the state, especially when it is implicated in killing, be trusted as the arbiter of what should remain confidential?

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

As National Security Adviser, I was often at the UK’s HQ in Helmand, Camp Bastion. Too often, the tannoy would announce medevac helicopters inbound. The huge base w’d fall silent, out of respect for the young men or women who were fighting for their lives. No, they had not stayed a little back.

It is an excellent speech.

bsky.app/profile/pete...

Full text: Charter of Trump’s Board of Peace No mention of Gaza, which bolsters ToI's reporting that US also envisions panel helping resolve other conflicts worldwide; member countries must pay $1 billion for permanent spot

www.timesofisrael.com/full-text-ch...

Lord Reed announces his retirement from the UK Supreme Court - UK Supreme Court Lord Reed of Allermuir to retire from the UK Supreme Court

share.google/jJRhLszTf3k1...

wikipedia turns 25 today! the last unenshittified major website! backbone of online info! triumph of humanity! powered by urge of unpaid randos to correct each other! somehow mostly reliable! "good thing wikipedia works in practice, because it sure doesn't work in theory" - old wiki adage

This is so true, David. Good constitutional intentions wilt in face of the short term realities of power: see the HL constitution committee evidence session with then Cabinet Office Ministers Pat McFadden and Nick Thomas-Symonds committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence..., especially QQ 52 and 53.

@justicehq.bsky.social @bigbrotherwatch.bsky.social @privacyinternational.org any interest? My Amts 390/391 to Crime and Policing Bill were very well supported today, including in principle by both Opposition parties.

Parliamentlive.tv House of Lords

Happy for the police to hang on to your phone, laptop and cloud data indefinitely without even a requirement of reasonable suspicion? Such laws and proposals look dry on the page but erode personal freedom. Cracking debate this afternoon in the House of Lords: parliamentlive.tv/event/index/...

Fantastic news that a government body is now on here. Zero excuse at this point for all others not doing the same

I wrote about this last month. Overshooting on reducing migration is going to be very costly.

samf.substack.com/p/the-oversh...

Minute from Tony Blair's Chief of Staff, Jonathan Powell, regarding future postings for Lord Irvine of Lairg (Lord Chancellor) and Helen Liddel (Secretary of State for Scotland). It notes that Powell had discussed the matter with "Hayden" (likely Hayden Phillips, the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery) who was opposed to making Irvine a judge of the European Court of Justice or allowing him to periodically sit as a Law Lord. Powell noted that he was still keen on the ECJ option. Helen Liddel's fate is only discussed at the very end when it's noted that the Foreign Secretary was content for her to be sent to Australia (presumably as High Commissioner).

After deciding to give Lord Irvine of Lairg the sack, No. 10 debated what to do with him afterward. One option was to make him a senior judge of the European Court of Justice ("Derry could learn French between now and October"). Another was to let him sit as a Law Lord. 1/2

Interview with John Bew - adviser to four Prime Ministers On Whitehall, Ukraine, Trump and the global challenges facing Britain

New post out:

We have an interview with John Bew - one of the most influential people in British politics over the past decade + foreign policy adviser to four PMs.

(Free to read)

samf.substack.com/p/interview-...

Elon Musk @elonmusk • 6год. X The EU should be abolished and sovereignty returned to individual countries, so that governments can better represent their people 18 тис 2] 26тис 146тис 1l 18млн Д 企 Dmitry Medvedev • @MedvedevRu... . 5 год. ... Exactly

Everything you need to know about the US’ slow turn against the EU.

An overlooked alternate reason for rising claims in UK as fall in Europe is that data-sharing + finger-printing is now a barrier to making a second claim to a second EU country (but not to UK)

Being outside that system can make UK a court of appeal for failed claims in the EU, says Alan Manning

Could America win the AI race but lose the war? [FREE TO READ] The US has gone all-in on artificial intelligence. But the idea of an end-of-times battle with China over tomorrow’s key technology is part delusion, part lobbying tool for Silicon Vall...

Good morning and welcome to your FT Weekend highlight giftlink thread. We start with this fantastic essay by Tim Wu, one of the big brains of web 1.0, cautioning that Silicon valley may be winning the AI battle to lose the bigger economic war to China as.ft.com/r/83deb81e-3...

Video: Annual Human Rights Statement 2025 Launch | Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission - The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission promotes and protects the rights of everyone in Northern Ireland. Read updates on our latest work or find out how to get in touch.

Video of the session - which features some excellent questions - is here nihrc.org/news/detail/...

Video of address and subsequent excellent Q&A session is here: nihrc.org/news/detail/...

What's going on in Strasbourg today - and how is it relevant to the case for continued UK membership of the European Convention on Human Rights? Updated text of my lecture this week in Stormont is here: www.daqc.co.uk/2025/12/10/t...

It was Question Time for Schools in Putney - The Constitution Society Dexter Govan discusses the recent success of the Constitution Society and the UK Parliament Learn with the Lords Programme's event in Putney.

Last Friday the Constitution Society and Learn with the Lords welcomed thousands of students in person and online across the UK to participate in a special question time event at the home of the famous Putney Debates. Dexter Govan has the story: https://consoc.org.uk/question-time-in-putney/

As Nick says here, this really is a 'gem of a story' and told expertly and brilliantly by @victoriancommons.bsky.social

My speech of today to NIHRC now published in full by Joshua Rozenberg: “The ECHR - the view from London and Strasbourg”

Stopping the migrants UK to join other European states in sending message to human rights court

Senior members of the UK government will meet ministers from 45 other Council of Europe member states in Strasbourg on Wednesday to discuss the challenges posed by “irregular” migration.

rozenberg.substack.com/p/stopping-t...