Weekly Update 14 January 2022

Weekly Update 14 January 2022

Dear Friends,

A New Year, but not a fresh start, as the same Rule of Law story dominates the headlines: has the Government regarded itself as above the law that it has laid down for the rest of us?

Two years on from the start of the pandemic, the Prime Minister apologised in the House of Commons on Wednesday for his attendance at a gathering in the 10 Downing Street garden at the height of the first lockdown on 20 May 2020. The affair may prove to be a stress test for the UK's constitutional mechanisms for holding those in power to account, as the country awaits the results of senior civil servant Sue Gray's investigation into Downing Street parties.

The Bingham Centre will also soon reflect upon the lessons to be learned from the pandemic, as an upcoming event on Wednesday 19 January on parliamentary scrutiny, evidence, and the rule of law will consider our Research Fellow Katie Lines' report on the first 18 months of coronavirus legislation.

Beyond the UK situation, this week the International Organizations Law Review published a special issue on challenges and opportunities from the perspective of good governance arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic curated by our Senior Research Fellow Julinda Beqiraj.

Away from COVID-19, we also have an event upcoming on Tuesday 8 February co-organised with the University of Strathclyde and the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights on the incorporation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Scotland's wider human rights journey in the context of devolution.

Further items in this week's update report on an op-ed published on withdrawal from the EU and the ongoing Rule of Law crisis in the EU by Maurice Wohl Research Fellow Oliver Garner, a UKCLA blog post by Senior Research Fellow Ronan Cormacain on the obligation for Northern Ireland Ministers to attend North South Ministerial Council meetings, an appearance for the BBC by Research Leader Michael Olatokun on self-representation in court, and our work editing the RECONNECT blog in December 2021 from our Research Fellow Daniela Nadj.

You can read the whole Weekly Update here.