@dlsmithies

Criminal barrister, based in Leeds but roving across the wonderful North Eastern Circuit šŸ³ļøā€šŸŒˆ

 Leeds
Joined March 2009
  • Tweets14.2K
  • Following1.4K
  • Followers1.1K
408Media
People often imagine that each of London's private members' clubs are bursting with vast libraries. Not true. Many have closed down - as underused as public libraries - or been converted into conferencing rooms. Many never had a library. ThisšŸ§µlooks at those which survive...
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On 16 June 1983 MPs queued up to take the oath of allegiance. Newly-elected Tory MP Edward Leigh was a few places ahead of new Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn. Didn't matter until today. But that's why Leigh - and not Corbyn - is now Father of the House, with all the ceremonial roles.
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Watch this itā€™s fascinating - I asked James Timpson what heā€™d do about prisons and sentencing if he was in charge. He believes only a third of prisoners in jail should definitely be there. Heā€™s now in charge of prisons (but not sentencing).
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Reeves tells Treasury: "I will judge my time in office a success if I know that, at the end of it, there are working-class kids from ordinary backgrounds living richer lives, their horizons expanded, and their potential realised."
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As pundit discussion turns to the apparent deficiencies of our electoral system in a new multi-party landscape, itā€™s weird that nobody has mentioned that we held a referendum on proportional representation in 2011. It was one of the Lib Demsā€™ conditions for coalition.
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67% voted to reject the Alternative Vote system and retain FPTP. If the pundits are now suggesting that we should revisit that 2011 referendum decision - is there a parallel to be drawn with another referendum decision that in retrospect was perhaps ill-judged..? #Election2024
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For those angry at the treatment of our justice system from 2010 to 2024, a word of comfort. Not a single one of the 10 justice secretaries from that period is still an MP.
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In the last few days I've seen that three independent comic/book shops have announced their imminent closure. Well-run, well known, established shops owned, operated and curated by people who have put their heart and soul into the businesses. There will be more. This is a thread
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If youā€™re driving over the Tyne bridge today, the reason it looks tired and shabby is because somewhere in London, someone in Government who either doesnā€™t know or doesnā€™t care about the North East is sat looking at a spreadsheet and saying ā€œwell thatā€™s not important to meā€ (1/2)
Graemewhitfield@Graemewhitfield18 Jan 2024
This story is utterly maddening. The Government spent years granting funding to repair the Tyne Bridge, and now that it has, won't hand over the money chroniclelive.co.uk/news/norā€¦
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Bryan Habana was asked on the Boks Office podcast who the top RWC try-scorer was as they wanted him to say himself (he's tied with Jonah Lomu with 15 tries). But instead he answered Portia Woodman-Wickliffe (she has 20). That's how representation grows šŸ‘šŸ‘
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New post just out "The Disconnect: lessons from the slow-motion collapse of the criminal justice system". (Free to read) open.substack.com/pub/samf/pā€¦
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When people come to West Yorkshire in search of a safer life, we welcome them into our community with open arms. šŸ¤ Weā€™re funding guided walks with @htafcfoundation ā€“ helping refugees find their way around, meet new people and feel settled in their new home. ā€“ at Huddersfield, England
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The Troubles (1960-1998)
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Moderately obsessed with the new Swiss passport design situation
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Three minutes work for technically-barely-literate me to banish that silly X and get the bird back. Three minutes well spent.
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And these wage increases... are they with you in the room right now?
Sky News
@SkyNews22 Jun 2023
"We cannot continue to have the current level of wage increase" Bank of England Governor, Andrew Bailey, says the current levels of price setting and wage setting are "unsustainable", after the BoE raises interest rates to 5%. trib.al/gF4NSmX šŸ“ŗ Sky 501, Virgin 602
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Although Leeds and Manchester are 36 miles apart as the crow fliesā€”less than the length of the London Undergroundā€™s Central lineā€”setting off from one city to the other feels like an expedition, writes Julian Glover prospectmagazine.co.uk/politā€¦

Northern Powerhouse Fail

Centuries-old tunnels below the Pennines reveal the glory of a previous rail revolution. Now we need another Ā 

prospectmagazine.co.uk
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The women didn't have an #Ashes trophy, so they made their own... šŸ‘©ā€šŸ³Ingredients ā–ŖA bat signed by both sides ā–ŖA rule book #BBCCricket #ENGvAUS
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I LITERALLY stopped working on my memo so I could read this indictment. I am on page 24 and JESUS LUPITA NYONG'O CHRIST. HOW this man still has the capacity to shock me after everything that's happened, i'll never know. but I am sitting here *STUNNED*.
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